THE INDIA T?UBBER WORLD 



The Thcrmoid Rubber Co., Trenton, has engaged ihe Osborn 

 Engineering Co.. Cleveland, Ohio, to prepare plans for a three- 

 story building, 100x275 feet, of reinforced concrete brick and 

 steel. 



The United States Rubber Co. recently unveiled a large bronze 

 tablet at its plant at New Brunswick. New Jersey, in honor of 

 the thirteen men who entered the war from that factory, and in 

 honor of Chester Brokaw, who made the supreme sacrifice. Desh- 

 ler Wilmot, factory superintendent, was in charge of the serv- 

 ices. Miss Hattie Brokaw, sister of Chester Brokaw, unveiled 

 the tablet, which bears the following inscription; "In honor of 

 the employes of the United States Rubber Company, Jersey fac- 

 tory, who at the call of their country, laid aside their vocations 

 and entered the service to fight in the great war for world 

 wide liberty, 1917-1919." 



The Sianwood Rubber Co. is installing new machinery in its 

 plant at Elizabeth, New Jersey, under the direction of Edward 

 Hutchens. vice-president and engineer. A 175-foot stack is being 

 erected tor the 1,000-kilowatt power plant. 



The pumping plant at the works of the India Rubber Co., New 

 Brunswiok. New Tersev, was nartiallv destroyed liv fire recently. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN OHIO. 



J5r Our Regular Correspondent. 



LITTLE INTEREST is shown here in resumption of trade with 

 Germany, or in foreign trade as a whole. Domestic business 

 is so good and the demand for tires so great that there is little 

 time to think of the resumption of trade with Europe. 



At the Firestone, ^Miller, Goodrich and Goodyear offices it is 

 stated that the financial and credit situation in Germany is the 

 greatest ^drawback not only to the rubber but to all trades, 

 and that the lack of shipping facilities is another factor which 

 renders commercial exchanges with Europe almost impossible. 

 France, England and Italy, it is asserted, are making deliberate 

 efforts to keep out American trade in order to foster their own 

 industries, while Holland and Sweden are very anxious to get 

 American rubber goods. The credit situation in both of these 

 countries, however, is also unfavorable. 



Local factories are looking to the Orient as the great coming 

 market for manufactured goods. China and Japan are beginning 

 to purchase rubber products in large amounts, and in a few- 

 years it is believed that the business with these countries will 

 have risen to a high level. 



AKKON NOTES. 



All the Akron rubber companies have agreed to cooperate 

 with the municipal university in a plan whereby employes will 

 be able to work part of their time and spend the remainder 

 in school. One of the plans sanctioned is that two men may 

 hold one job. each working half of the regular shift. 



Several companies have placed $6,000,000 in the hands of 

 their directors to solve the housing problem which is the chief 

 cause of the inability of the rubber factories in .-Xkron to meet 

 the demand for tires. 



The Home Owners Investment Co., embracing all the big 

 rubber manufacturers and other Akron business men, are ac- 

 cepting applications from prospective home owners if the pros- 

 pects have 10 per cent of the total cost of the home they wish 

 to build, and to date approximately 200 houses have been started 

 by those whose applications have been accepted. 



The Coventry Land and Improvement Co.. a concern which 

 has been sponsored by H. S. Firestone, has taken out building 

 permits for 62 additional homes to be built in Firestone park, 

 making a total of 450 houses which the company will have 

 built and sold within the past year. 



The sales of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. from November 

 1, 1918 to September 1, 1919, amounted to $69,475,197.14, which 

 was an increase of more than $3,000,000 over the same period 

 of last year. August was the biggest month the company ever 

 had. business being $2,456,994.30 more than for August, 1918. 

 The company will build a new $400,000 factory in the rear of 

 Plant No. 2 for the manufacture of tires. 



The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. is helping to reduce the 

 high cost of living for their employes by opening a cooperative 

 store in the Firestone Club House. The store is being operated 

 on a cost plus ten per cent basis and is well patronized. 



\V. W. Wildman has resigned as president and general man- 

 ager of The Portage Rubber Co., .^kron, but will retain his 

 posiiion as a director and his interest in the company. 



John W. Maguire, president of 

 the Mid-West Rubber Manufac- 

 turers' Association, has been 

 elected vice-president and general 

 manager of The Portage Rubber 

 Co., at Akron, Ohio, to fill the 

 position of W. VV. Wildman, who 

 recently resigned. Mr. Maguire 

 will have full charge of the com- 

 pany's affairs and will immediate- 

 ly inaugurate an energetic cam- 

 paign for increased business. 



Mr. Maguire has been identified 

 with the rubber industry for over 

 twenty years. He was formerly 

 general manager of the rubber 

 sales department of the Bruns- 

 wick-Balke-Collender Co., having 

 joined the organization when the 

 rubber tire department was added 

 about four years ago. Previous to 

 associated with the Republic Rubber 



John W. Maci ike. 



to the company's activities 

 this time Mr. Maguire was 

 Co., for 10 years. 



The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. indicate that 

 emocracy which was inaugurated in .■\ugust is 



Reports f 

 the industri 

 working even better than was expected by the employers. 



The conduct of the company with regard to matters of policy 

 as well as the settlement of all difficulties between the manage- 

 ment and the men, is in the hands of two legislative houses 

 made up along the lines of the national House of Representatives 

 and the Senate. The whole factory has been divided into 

 districts and wards, and the men vote for their representatives 

 by the secret ballot system. In the House there are 80 repre- 

 sentatives and in the Senate there are 40. P. W. Litchfield, 

 factory manager, sponsored the system's adoption. 



F. .\. Seiberling. president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co.. upon his return from the West, stated that the plant being 

 built by the company in Los Angeles is not to be taken as an 

 indication that the company expects to cease growing in .Akron. 



The new plant is intended primarily to take care of the ever- 

 increasing western trade. The cost of bringing crude rubber 

 from San Francisco to Akron and then hauling the tires back 

 over the same route can be materially reduced by building a 

 plant on the Coast where the crude rubber of the Orient and 

 the cotton of plantations in the Southwest can be brought 

 together. 



Mr. Seiberling stated that as soon as housing conditions made 

 it possible the company will employ 10,000 more men in order 

 to operate the Akron plant at 100 per cent instead of 70 per 

 cent as at present. 



George Hockensmith, well known in the aeronautic field, and 

 formerly overseer of the Goodyear experimental station in Ak- 



