168 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1904. 



the value of pleasant weather during the early riding season, 



especially in Chicago. 



* * # 



While cycling has been at low ebb in Chicago for three years 

 at least, the demand for the country trade and western cities 

 has been good. It has been the belief each year that the trade 

 would revive in Chicago. It did increase some last season, but 

 was far behind former big years. Local dealers say that the 

 trade this year will depend much upon the weather. If Chi- 

 cago has an early and open spring, cycling is expected to be- 

 come more popular than it has been for years, and this is what 

 the tire men are hoping for. 



The heaviest bicycle trade in Chicago last season was carried 

 on through the mail order houses, one house having handled 

 75,000 pairs of bicycle tires last year. But even this was a de- 

 cided falling off in trade as compared with theshowing for 1899, 

 when this same concern handled 90,000 wheels, and tires con- 

 siderably above that number. This trade extends all over the 

 world, but it is exceedingly large in the west and south. 



* * * 



To get back to footwear, local dealers say that the trade riv- 

 alry between St. Louis and Chicago has led the merchants of 

 the former city to boast that the general shoe trade carried on 

 there is larger than that done in Chicago. But despite that 

 fact, according to those familiar with the rubber shoe business, 

 St. Louis can never come " within a gunshot " of Chicago in 

 the volume of business done in rubber footwear. Chicago has 



always been a large rubber center. 



* * * 



The Chicago headquarters of the Joseph Banigan Rubber 

 Co. will be removed on February 1 from Monroe street near 

 Market to Nos. 131-133 Market street, to store rooms better 

 adapted to the needs of the trade. The agency here is now in 

 charge of Mr. George S. Miller, late of the New England Rub- 

 ber Co., ol Boston. 



Mr. Samuel M. Engs, resident manager of the Bowers Rubber 

 Co. (San Francisco), left during the middle of the month for a 

 tour of the trade in the northwestern, central, and southern 

 states. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



TO the Editor of The India Rubber World : The fact 

 that the tire manufacturers here had no rest last season 

 was commented on recently in these columns, but they will not 

 be able to make the same claim for 1904, as the first month of 

 the year finds them without a special rush of orders. It is 

 probable that different manufacturers will be found to assign 

 different reasons for the present condition of affairs. An offi- 

 cial of one important concern expressed himself to your corre- 

 spondent as follows: 



" The selling pool is responsible for the lack of business at 

 this time. Before it was formed it was customary for tire man- 

 ufacturers to sell goods in January to the automobile makers, 

 and allow them to pay for the tires in March. The selling pool 

 has put a stop to this practice. Now, if the automobile maker 

 wants tires he must pay for them in 30 days or give his note. 

 In the latter case he will have to pay interest, and he objects 

 to this. In the former case, he is tying his money up in tires 

 which he will not be able to sell until the automobile trade 

 opens in the spring. Naturally he won't do this. 



" My idea is that about the time the automobile trade opens 

 up there will be such a demand for tires that by working day 

 and night the tire manufacturers will hardly be able to supply 



it. There is nothing wrong with the tire trade. To my mind 

 this is a logical conclusion, and when spring comes we will see 

 such an enormous trade in automobile tires that all records 

 will be broken. More automobiles will be sold this year than 

 ever before, and more tires, of course, will be needed to supply 

 them. There is just one feature of the selling pool which is 

 wrong. That is, the price of tires is too low. It is true that 

 the pool raised prices a little, but it did not raise them enough. 

 Automobilists have not yet been educated properly in the use 

 of tires, and until they are — or better still, until the selling pool 

 boosts the price a little — too many poor tires will be marketed, 

 and these are the bane of the manufacturers' existence. The 

 automobilist does not realize that it is cheaper to pay a little 

 more for good tires than to buy poor ones and have to replace 

 them in a very short time. 



" But, as I said before, the user has not yet been educated, 

 and until he is, the tire manufacturer will have to put a poorer 

 quality of material in his tires. Of course we sell a great many 

 good tires, but they are bought by men who have come to a 

 realization of the fact that poor tires are not cheap tires. I 

 could cite a number of instances where we have been ordered 

 to produce a set of good tires, no matter at what cost. When 

 we receive an order like that we put in the best material we 

 have, and the result is a set of tires which will outwear three 

 ordinary sets, at a comparatively small cost over the price of 

 the poor ones. Every tire maker is using the best material he 

 can considering the price he is getting for his product, but the 

 trouble is that the price is too low and the user suffers. ' The 

 poorer the quality the dearer the tire,' is a homely statement 

 which should be pasted in every automobilist's hat. 



" There are a few companies who are turning out tires which 

 are really good, but they are not making any money on them. 

 They are preparing for the future. They realize that when the 

 time comes that owners of automobiles begin to realize that 

 good tires mean cheap tires, they will be rewarded. Although 

 every tire maker realizes that such a course will in the end 

 inure to his benefit, not all of them have the courage of their 

 conviction. Last year one rubber company lost $40,000 on a 

 contract from a single automobile manufacturer, because their 

 tires were made from such material that nearly all had to be 

 replaced. The company received a 'black eye' to which they 

 were not entitled, simply because they could not get the right 

 prices for their goods, and other instances could be related of 

 the troubles of the tire maker, in this era of cheap tires. 



" The selling pool can, and will, I think, correct this evil be- 

 fore long. But the evil which demanded the most urgent at- 

 tention when the pool was formed, was the practice of manu- 

 facturers of automobiles of suiting themselves in regard to the 

 size and weight of tires used on their machines. The auto- 

 mobile maker made all kinds of money, and the user and tire 

 maker suffered. For instance, suppose the manufacturer 

 would receive an order for a car, and the specifications should 

 call for a 4 inch tire. He would place a 3 inch tire on the car, 

 charge the buyer for the larger size, and pocket the difference. 

 He argued that it was none of his business if the user of the 

 tire did not get good results, and was willing to have the buyer 

 and the maker fight out the tire question. Naturally the tire 

 would not wear as well as the larger tire would have worn, and 

 the maker would have to replace it. The selling pool put a 

 stop to this practice, and as soon as it adds enough to the price 

 of tires to enable the manufacturer to put better material into 

 his tires, it will have accomplished its purpose. The tire 

 manufacturer does not want the additional amount as profit ; 

 he simply wants to turn out a tire that will stand the wear and 

 tear of hard usage, and will be a credit to him." 



