392 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, 1904. 



RUSSIAN TAX ON RUBBER SCRAP. 



IT appears that the decree of the Russian government, im- 

 posing an export daty on rubber scrap, to which The 

 India Rubber World has referred more than once, has gone 

 into effect. It forms a part of the new Russian customs tariff 

 confirmed by the Emparor on January 13. 1903. with a view to 

 its going into effect when the occasion might arise. The 

 India Rubber World is in receipt of the Odessa District 

 Gazette, an official publication for the political district of which 

 Odessa (Russia) is the capital, of the date of June 15, 1904 

 (corresponding to June 27, Western time), stating that on 

 April 12 the E.nperor ordered that the new tariff be put in 

 force. While the new bill thus became a law on April 12, it 

 could not be enforced in any district until officially published 

 therein, and the publication above alluded to renders the law 

 valid as regards Odessa, the port whence very large exports of 

 rubber scrap are made. It may be added that early in July im- 

 porters in New York became aware that an export duty was 

 being levied on rubber scrap at Riga, a port on the Baltic sea. 

 For several months certain importers at New York had in- 

 cluded in their contracts for delivery of Russian scrap rubber a 

 stipulation that the same should be cancelled by the taking ef- 

 fect of the Russian export duty. 



The rate of the duty is 1 ruble 50 copecks per Russian pood 

 [ = 36 pounds], being equivalent to about $21 46 cents per 1000 

 pounds, or a little over 2)i cents per pound. 



The opinion prevails at New York that the effect of the duty 

 will be not only to render prices for Russian scrap firmer, but 

 to advance prices so soon as a revival of demand, after the sum- 

 mer months, leads to a resumption of imports on an active 

 scale. It is not felt that the total amount of the duty will be 

 added to the import prices of Russian scrap, but certainly a 

 portion of it, and probably half. It is considered that foreign 

 scrap is a necessity, and, therefore, that enough must be paid 

 for it to render its collection profitable. Doubts are expressed 

 whether the collection of much of the sc/ap now exported 

 from Russia would afford any profit if the tax of 2% cents a 

 pound were paid by the exporter. 



The following table indicates the total imports of rubber 

 scrap into the United States for fiscal years ending June 30, and 

 also the amounts direct from Russia. The table also specifies 

 the imports from Germany, a large portion of which are known 

 to originate in Russia, the figures denoting pounds: 



[899-1900. 1900-01. 1901-02. 1902-03. 



Total Imports 19,093,547 15,235.235 22,991,900 24,659,394 



From Russia 5,047,516 6,212,705 8,536,237 10,454,897 



From Germany 9,810,311 5,797,120 8,716,907 7,290,020 



From the above figures it will appear that Russia is in a po- 

 sition to derive a handsome income from her exports of rubber 

 scrap, considering that the rate equals $21,458.30 per million 

 pounds. It is possible that, in view of the new conditions, 

 there may be larger direct shipments to the United States in 

 future, instead of via German ports. 



AKRON AS A RUBBER CENTER. 



AN unnamed writer in the New York Herald of July 17, in a 

 lengthy article on the rubber industry, devotes consider- 

 able space to the city of Akron, Ohio, as one of the largest rub- 

 ber centers in the world. The B. F. Goodrich Co.'s factory is 

 mentioned as the pioneer rubber works west of the Alleghany 

 mountains, and its growth is recounted from the time when it 

 found sufficient room " in a little one story building which could 

 be completely hidden in the firm's present large factory." 



" As the business of this pioneer company increased," the 

 writer continues, "other wide awake men became interested in the 

 manufacture of rubber goods, and as the demand grew more and 

 more capital was invested, until at present there are twenty- 

 three rubber factories there, and Akron is known far and wide 

 as the ' Rubber City.' 



" Many people wonder what natural advantages Akron offers 

 as a home for rubber factories, and there can be but one answer 

 — there are none. It is an inland city, and every pound of rub- 

 ber used must be shipped there from the importers in seaport 

 cities. Labor there is no cheaper than in other places. The 

 fact of the matter is that rubber manufacturers realize the im- 

 portance of locating in a city where they may get skilled labor 

 without having to import it. 



"A large majority of the workmen in rubber factories are 

 adepts at the business, and when rubber factories get a rush 

 order there is an instant demand for men of this class. It will 

 be readily seen that it is a physical impossibility to secure 

 skilled workmen from other cities fora job of perhaps a month's 

 duration, so the manufacturers, as a rule, locate their plants in a 

 city where they are assured of skilled workers the year round. 



" When one factory is without orders it lays off its men, and 

 other factories pick them up. Thus a skilled rubber worker is 

 always assured of a position when he lives in a city of many rub- 

 ber factories. An instance of the practical working of this law 

 of supply and demand occurred in the spring of 1903. The 

 plant of the India Rubber Co., of Akron, caught fire one after- 

 noon about 3 o'clock, and was totally destroyed, throwing all of 

 its employes out of work, but even while the firemen were en- 

 gaged in an effort to save the plant, representatives of the other 

 rubber factories there were buttonholing the employes and en- 

 gaging their services. 



" More than 400 of them were again at work the next morn- 

 ing. Two days later rubber men from the East and West went 

 to Akron to secure workmen from the destroyed plant, only to 

 find that they had been eagerly snapped up by Akron manufac- 

 turers and could not be induced to leave the city." 



ARTIFICIAL LIMBS MADE IN JAPAN. 



WHATEVER artificial limbs the Japanese may require as 

 a result of the war now in progress with Russia will be 

 bought from their own makers, in the opinion of an American 

 manufacturer interviewed by the New York Sun. This manu- 

 facturer, apparently A. A. Marks, of New York, stated that his 

 house had ceased to receive any orders from Japan, where the 

 artificial limbs made by him had been imitated in every detail. 

 Even the Marks catalogue, an extensive volume, had been trans- 

 lated into Japanese, and, with the illustrations reproduced, was 

 made to do duty in advertising the Japan- made artificial limbs. 

 "And now," said the American, "with artificial limbs made in 

 their own country, the Japanese will buy no other. For they 

 are an intensely patriotic people, and however good ours may 

 be, and whether their own may be good or bad, the Japanese 

 requiring an artificial limb will buy one only of Japanese make." 



Chicle and Chewing Gum. — The import for consumption 

 in the United States in a single year of more than 3,000,000 

 pounds of Chicle has led to conjectures as to the number of 

 pieces of chewing gum this weight of material would yield. 

 But it appears that Chicle is far from constituting the chewing 

 gums of commerce. Thus the Druggists' Circular gives a 

 formula for chewing gum, using Chicle as a base, in which the 

 latter substance forms but 13/^ per cent, of the mass, by 

 weight. 



