NOVEMBER I, I903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



51 



THE GERMAN RUBBER WORKMAN ABROAD. 



BY A WRITER IN THE " GUMMI ZEITUNG." 



THIS subject has received but little attention, and therefore 

 I desire to enter into its inner details. Not enough 

 publicity is given to what the German rubber worker has to go 

 through in foreign countries. How often has it occurred that 

 German workmen, allured by dazzling wage conditions, have 

 left their homes full of hope, and after many disappointments 

 and much suffering have returned to Germany to commence 

 anew. In place of their former permanent situation, which 

 they abandoned to go abroad, they will have to take any sort 

 of position in order to obtain employment again. But we do 

 not mean to say that it is ill advised to take positions in foreign 

 rubber factories at all, many workmen having made a fortune 

 abroad. Especially the young men should take advantage of 

 such offers and gain experience and knowledge and a broaden- 

 ing of their views in general by coming in contact with foreign 

 work, peoples, and customs. But the older and married work- 

 men, whose whole existence and that of their families depends 

 upon a good situation, should be very careful in accepting a 

 position abroad. 



Further on I will give a few instances which I have person- 

 ally observed. It is generally known that the German rubber 

 workman is held in high favor in foreign countries, on account 

 of his persistency, capability, and energy, but these very ac- 

 complishments lead them often to assume a rather independ- 

 ent attitude toward the factory management, oftentimes termi- 

 nating disastrously to themselves. I could mention many cases 

 where the workman himself was alone responsible for the fail- 

 ure to realize his anticipations. 



Only such workmen should accept foreign positions as are 

 thoroughly competent to manufacture the various articles in- 

 dependently ; for instance, if a workman accepts a foreign pos- 

 ition as hose maker, he must be positive that he is skilled in the 

 making of the various kinds of hose, from the ordinary garden 

 hose to those used for pressure with two or three spirals for hy- 

 draulic presses. 



In many of the smaller factories in foreign countries it is nec- 

 essary for a workman to draw his own sheets, which he never 

 did in Germany, where every rubber factory has a competent 

 calander master, who attends to that and also supervises the 

 mixing machinery. 



I am acquainted with several foreign rubber factories which 

 employ at the most from 15 to 20 men, each working inde- 

 pendently, attending to all details — a special superintendent not 

 being employed — the owner of the factory filling that position 

 himself, but in many)instances he has no practical knowledge of 

 the work. The workmen have to attend to all the details per- 

 taining to the washing, mixing, and calandering machines, and 

 produce whatever goods demanded, such as air hose, pneumat- 

 ics, sheets, valves for steam pumps, bottle stoppers, brewery 

 and water hose, etc., from A to Z, wholly by themselves. A for- 

 eign friend of mine owns a small factory of this kind, and once 

 having large orders for pneumatics, he requested me to furnish 

 him several skilled rubber workers. He paid good wages and 

 I gave him the names of some able workmen, and they entered 

 his employ. The manufacturer in question was well satisfied 

 with their work, but at the end of the season those well paid 

 men were discharged, and remained without employment dur- 

 ing the whole winter, this branch of work being almost at an 

 entire standstill. 



A similar case occurred abroad a few years ago. A foreign 

 rubber manufacturer came to Germany and engaged five com- 

 petent workmen — two hose makers, one pressman, and two for 



pneumatics. They received high wages, but no contracts were 

 made, and after working six months with good results two of 

 them were discharged and the other three remaining in the 

 factory had to submit to a material reduction in wages in order 

 to hold their positions. The two discharged workmen had 

 large families and appealed to the foreign trade court, which 

 compelled the manufacturer in question to furnish transporta- 

 tion for them, their families, and belongings back to Germany, 

 at his own expense. Their preference for foreign work no 

 doubt was thoroughly cured. 



Another foreign rubber factory (a stock company) engaged a 

 German director on two months trial. This director, not being 

 conversant with the foreign language, supplied himself with 

 several skilled German workmen. At the end of two months 

 he was dismissed and with him, naturally, the German work- 

 men employed by him. Therefore I would advise every Ger- 

 man rubber worker to be extremely careful in accepting a posi- 

 tion abroad. 



There are instances, as already mentioned, where German 

 workmen, by means of their capability, have attained positions 

 as foremen, enjoying permanent positions at good salaries; 

 and, in order not to end this recital so sorrowfully, I will men- 

 tion such a case. A few years ago a skilled German rubber 

 worker accepted a position abroad, through a notice in the 

 Gummi-Zeitung. He received at first 50 pfennigs [=12 cents] 

 per hour, and now has already advanced to a monthly salary 

 of 250 francs [=$48.25]. Such chances, of course, rarely occur, 

 and must not be taken as a standard. 



Generally, workmen are ignorant of the fact that in foreign 

 countries no institutions for the welfare of workmen exist, such 

 as sick benefit funds, invalid and old age insurances; and in 

 the event of sickness overtaking them they simply earn nothing 

 and are obliged to pay for the doctor and medicines out of their 

 savings, that is, if they have them. 



INVENTORS IN AKRON RUBBER FACTORIES. 



FROM THE AKRON TIMES-DEMOCRAT. 



AKRON is a great city of inventors, according to one who 

 has been brought in touch with many of them. Not 

 only are there native Akronians who are inventors and who 

 are working out their own ideas here, but Akron's many great 

 mechanical enterprises have drawn men with new ideas from 

 many other places to exploit them here. It has become so 

 now that every big factory has its own corps of inventors and 

 experts, who are well paid to experiment all th.e time, seeking 

 new ideas which may entail economy of production and greater 

 profit to their employers. 



Especially has this been true in the rubber factories, where 

 machinery has come, within the past very few years, to do the 

 work that had formerly been done by hand. The improve- 

 ments that have made the Akron factories the most complete 

 and modern in the world have also made Akron rubber manu- 

 facturers able to make lots of money in spite of the compe- 

 tition that has been steadily growing all these years. Not only 

 have the professional inventors been the life of the rubber 

 business, but they have also helped in each and every other 

 mechanical enterprise in the city which has proved successful. 



The Amazon Telegraph Co., Limited, proposes, if permitted 

 to raise its rates, to lay a duplicate cable between Pard and 

 Manaos. In view of the peculiar difficulties of maintaining 

 telegraphic service on the Amazon, frequent breakages have 

 occurred in the existing cable, and it is hoped that with two 

 cables a continuous service can be maintained. 



