Al'RIL 



I904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER 'WORLD 



221 



IS THERE A "CORNER" IN RUBBER? 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 150 NASSAU ST.. NEW YOEK. 



Subscriptions : $3.00 per year, $1.76 for six months, postpaid, for the United 

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COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



Entered at New York Post Office as mail matter of the second-class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial : 



Is There a "Corner" In Rubber ? 221 



•' Rubber-Like Gums." 2z2 



The " Northern Securities" Decision 222 



Minor Editorial 223 



Death of William R. Grace 224 



[With Portrait.] 



Rubber Plantingjin Ceylon a nd the Malay States.— I The Edi(.» 225 



[Crossing the Atlantic. English Manufacturers and Ceylon Rubber. 

 On Board the Himalaya. The Red Sea and Aden. Ceylon and its 

 People. Director Willis and the Peradeniya and Heneratgoda Gar- 

 dens.] 



A New Law of Vulcanization 231 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain 



Our Regular Correspondent 233 



[Mineral Caoutchouc. The State of Trade. Elastine GoH Ball. Li- 

 berian Rubber. Manchester Motor Show. Safety Appliances for 

 Mixing Rolls. Rubber in the Law Courts.] 



Some Successful Men in the Rubber Trade 235 



[Sketch of James Bennett Forsyth, with Portrait.] 



New Goods and Specialties in Rubber (illustrated) 237 



[The Machine Made Rubber Shoes. " Boston Joker." " Marigold " 

 Automatic Self Closing Tobacco Pouch. Rubber Sleeves or Arm- 

 lets. New Vehicle Wheel Tire. " Stitch-in-Time " Vulcanizer. 

 Book Finishers' "Gold Rubber." Ornamental Rubber Tiling. 

 Chase Muff Lap Robe. The " Drimosit " Kug. Marsh's Hygienic 

 Rubber Finger Pad. Ramie Fiber in Rubber Hose. Bright Colored 

 Substitutes. Vulcanizing Silk Hats.] 



Recent Rubber Patents 240 



[United States. Great Britain. Germany. France.] 

 New Trade Publications 242 



The " Picradenia " and the Graphic Chart 243 



[With 4 Diagrams.] 



Miscellaneous : 



Probst's Life Saving Suit (Illustrated) 232 



Substitute for India-Rubber 234 



Squires Quick Drying Apparatus (IHusiraU d) 236 



The G. if Ball Trade 236 



Telephone Switchboard Cleaner (Illustrated) .. ... 23€ 



India-Rubber Goods in Commerce 239 



Rubber Notes from Europe 244 



Advance in Raw Materials 252 



Mr. Banigan as a Labor Agitator 266 



For All Black Rubber Compounds 266 



News of the American Rubber Trade 248 



The Trade iu Trenton Our Correspondent 245 



The Trade in Akron Our Correspondent 2(6 



The Trade in Chicago Our Correspondent 247 



Another Advance in Rubber Shoe Prices 253 



The Textile Goods Market » 255 



Review of the Crude Rubber Market 256 



"THE prices of rubber boots and shoes in the United 

 States have been advanced twice within two months. 

 The second, and most marked advance for years, was 

 made simply by the sending out of telegrams, without 

 warning, to the leading jobbing houses. It is worth con- 

 sidering, by the way, that the company signing these tele- 

 grams consumes in its factories about one-tenth of the 

 world's total production of crude rubber. So large a con- 

 cern naturally occupies a position of independence in the 

 trade and one that enables it to act without particular re- 

 gard to its competitors. In the present case, the compet- 

 ing companies are likely to welcome the advance, under 

 which they can profit without the necessity of any effort 

 on their own part to put up prices. 



Without regard to the causes of the prices of raw mate- 

 rials, it must be recognized that the making of rubber 

 footwear is not philanthropy, and that nowhere does any 

 obligation exist to make and sell goods for a lower price 

 than will yield a profit. There may be a lesson for future 

 study in the fact that the apparently necessary advance on 

 " rubbers " was made by a great corporation ; suppose the 

 problem had had to be met by a dozen or twenty compa- 

 nies, all working independently ! 



The situation has been made in part by the interests 

 which have been speculating lately in cotton The price 

 of this material, for some time past, has been purely arti- 

 ficial, not merely in the United States, but all over the 

 world. The leaders in the " bull " movement have oper- 

 ated daily in New York, New Orleans, Liverpool, and 

 Alexandria (Egypt), and have practically bottled up the 

 world's supply of cotton. It is well enough to claim that 

 no great commodity can be " cornered " ; that ultimately 

 disaster must overtake whoever attempts anything so rash. 



Nevertheless, the visible supplies of many great com- 

 modities can be controlled for awhile, and the temptation 

 always exists for attempting it. The fact that an attempt 

 to "corner" cotton had well nigh bankrupted certain 

 speculators not so many months ago, did not prevent Mr. 

 Daniel Sully from appearing on the scene just as they 

 were dropping out, and, with his financial backers, carry- 

 ing on the speculative movement in just the same way. 

 The failure of Mr. Sully is just now one of the sensations 

 of the day, but evidently the " bull " position in cotton is 

 so strongly supported in some quarter or other that no 

 promise exists of materially cheaper textiles in the near 

 future. 



The rubber industry does not stand alone now, if it ever 

 did. High as may be the price of raw rubber, the price of 

 other materials entering into rubber goods is also very im- 

 portant. The first belting produced by the rubber facto- 

 ries was advertised as " combination belting," on account 

 of the employment in it of cotton duck, and the designa- 

 tion might properly have been continued. And the use of 

 cotton is no less essential in other lines — in rubber foot- 

 wear, for instance. Hence the importance to the rubber 

 trade of the cotton situation. What the rubber trade can 

 do to remedy the situation is a serious question, especially 



