432 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1904. 



= F. Haskell Smith, formerly with the Milwaukee Rubber 

 Works Co., and recently with the Boston Woven Hose and 

 Rubber Co., has accepted a position with the Fisk Rubber Co. 

 (Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts). 



PERSONAL MENTION. 



Mr. Henry C. Pearson, Editor of The India Rubber 

 World, has been appointed e. Juror of Awards for the St. 

 Louis World's Fair, in Jury 11, which will review exhibits of 

 India-rubber and Gutta-percha and manufactures thereof. He 

 will be detained at St. Louis by this duty until about Septem- 

 ber 15. 



= Mr. Amad6e Spadone, president of the Gutta Percha and 

 Rubber Manufacturing Co. (New York), has spent several 

 weeks this summer in travel in Italy, Germany, and France, in- 

 cluding a visit to his native village near Arras, in the French 

 department of Pas de-Calais. He reports an enjoyable vaca- 

 tion, repeating now after a considerable interval what used to 

 be with him an annual tour. 



= Colonel Samuel P. Colt, president of the United States 

 Rubber Co., who has been in Europe for several weeks, is ex- 

 pected to return early in the present month. 



= Mr. Charles H. Dale, president of the Rubber Goods 

 Manufacturing Co., sailed for Europe on August 19, for a va- 

 cation of a few weeks. 



= Signor Alberto Pirelli, a member of the important rubber 

 manufacturing firm of Pirelli & Co. (Milan, Italy), who is in 

 the United States to attend the International Electrical Con- 

 gress, in connection with the St. Louis World's Fair, favored 

 The India Rubber World offices with a call during the 

 month. 



= Mr. Fred C. Hood, treasurer and general manager of the 

 Hood Rubber Co. (Boston) is one of the rubber men from the 

 United States who have been spending a vacation in Europe 

 this summer, and whose return is expected shortly. 



= Mr. Isaac B. Markey, secretary of the Eureka Fire Hose 

 Co. (New York), has recently been ill — so much so that he 

 probably will not be able to attend the convention of the Inter- 

 national Association of Fire Engineers at Chattanooga, Tennes- 

 see, on September 13 16, as he intended— but at last accounts 

 his condition was improving. 



= Colonel Harry E. Converse, president of the Boston Rub- 

 ber Shoe Co., and his family are visiting the Louisiana Pur- 

 chase Exposition, at St. Louis. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



Edmund Field Heath, one of the oldest manufacturers of 

 Newark, New Jersey, died at his home in that city on August 

 n. He was born in London nearly 80 years ago, and settled in 

 Newark with his parents early in life. He had carried on for 

 over 50 years the manufacture of rubber and enameled carriage 

 cloth, in which he had built up a large business, conducted 

 laterly under the style E. F. Heath & Son. 



=J. A. Vining, of Akron, Ohio, died on August 18, at his 

 mother's home at Monument Beach, Massachusetts. He was 

 a director in the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Co., and 

 had charge of their manufacturing in Akron and Chicago. He 

 had been with the firm for 25 years, was 47 years of age and un- 

 married, and a member of the Akron lodge of Elks. 



= Hugh Murphy died at his home in Franklin, Massachu- 

 setts, on August 20, in his sixty-fourth year. A native of Ire- 

 land, he came to America at an early age and in time entered 

 the rubber industry, being for a time with the late Mr. Bani- 

 gan, in the Woonsocket rubber factory. Later, with Patrick 

 Wren and Horace Jenckes, he built the rubber factory at 

 Franklin which came under control of George H. Hood— the 

 Boston Rubber Co. — and worked there until the factory, then 

 owned by the United States Rubber Co., was closed, in 1896. 

 One of Mr. Murphy's sons is now employed by the Hood Rub- 

 ber Co., at Watertown. 



REVIEW OF THE CRUDE RUBBER MARKET. 



IN addition to a greater scarcity of supplies of fine rubber 

 than has yet been reported at any time, and exceptionally 

 high prices for all grades, there is to be reported thus far 

 lighter arrivals at Amazon ports than for several seasons 

 past. The topic of paramount interest with rubber manufac- 

 turers everywhere is the continued high cost of their raw ma- 

 terials, and the lack of indication of any early relief. Below 

 are given the quotations ruling at this writing. There have 

 been transactions in America at even higher rates. One firm 

 reports: "The highest we have heard for regular market in 

 Upriver rubber is $1.20, at which regular business has been 

 done. What old rubber or special buyers have paid we do not 

 know, but we have sold a few tons at $1.25 — not old rubber.' 

 Another house reports the sale during the month of old Boliv- 

 ian fine at $1.25. London advices of August 19 recorded sales 

 of fine hard and Bolivian fine at $s.2%d. [=$1.27], but un- 

 doubtedly the highest price to date is that obtained at the 

 London auction, on the date mentioned— 5.?. T%d. [ = $(.37] for 

 cultivated rubber from Ceylon, Para variety. 



The reports may readily be credited that manufacturers are 

 not buying beyond their more pressing immediate require- 

 ments, in the hope of an early decline in prices. In this con- 

 nection this suggestion comes to hand : " It is just this policy 

 that gives speculators in rubber their opportunity. In fact, 

 there are houses today interested in discouraging the buying 

 of rubber, by which means they hope to see an accumulation of 

 rubber — something which now nowhere exists— when they will 



buy freely on their own account. Later in the season, when 

 the manufacturers will be obliged to buy heavily, they will have 

 to deal with the houses which have thus acquired supplies of 

 rubber. No speculatively inclined house," this suggestion goes 

 on, " will buy rubber at present prices in the hope of liberal fu- 

 ture profits, and they are concerned in bringing about a decline." 

 But while American manufacturers may not have been buyers 

 on a large scale, still a great deal of buying has been done. A 

 single firm of brokers report having made 16S contracts during 

 August. 



It is understood that the rubber sold at Antwerp during the 

 month was bought largely for American account, but as it was 

 purchased for filling orders, the arrivals now almost due at New 

 York will not contribute materially to stocks here. It has been 

 claimed on this side of the Atlantic that for some time past 

 Antwerp offerings have been overvalued, but in the same quar- 

 ters it is admitted that the August estimations more accurately 

 represented values. The figures on another page indicate the 

 advance recorded over former prices. 



Arrivals at Pard during July last (including Caucho) were 

 1250 tons, against 1270 tons in July, 1903. Arrivals in August, 

 up to the 29th, amounted to 1040 tons, against 1230 tons for 

 the whole month last year. In other words : July and August 

 last year, 2510 tons; to August 29 this year, 2290 tons. 



In regard to the financial situation, Albert B. Beers (broker 

 in India rubber, No. 68 William street. New York), advises us 



"During August the money market has continued in the 



