178 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Uklkmhkk 1, 1919. 



dence, Rhode Island, manufacturer of druggists' rubber sun- 

 dries; P. R. Wesley, general manager; E. J. George, Chicago 

 office; G. A. Shechan, San Francisco office; E. G. Hartwell, 

 southwestern representative ; and John A. Burgess, southeastern 

 representative. 



The Record Tire & Manufacturing Co., a Delaware corpora- 

 tion, has dissolved under the laws of the State of New York, 

 but has been authorized to do business in that stale through 

 its representative, II. F. Hartjen, at 238 West 53d street, New 

 York City. 



The Seamless Rubber Co., Inc., New Haven, Connecticut, has 

 its new $2,000,000 plant well under way and has sold the prop- 

 erty on Ilallock avenue, where it is building, to trustees for 

 the Seainless Rubber Associates, Inc., who, in turn, have leased 

 it to the Seamless Rubber Co., Inc., for twenty years at $72,000 

 annually. The property is now being connected with the New 

 Hayen railroad by a spur track. It fronts on the harbor. 



The .\malgamated Tire Stores Corp., whose organization was 

 noted in our issue of November 1, 1919, has leased the five-story 

 building at 1974 Broadw^ay, New York-City, for its general offices 

 and eastern distributing point, and will open about thirty stores 

 in other cities. 



The Kokomobile Tire & Supply Co., Buffalo, New York, has 

 been organized to distribute to the retail trade in western New 

 York and northern Pennsylvania the products of the Kokomo 

 Rubber Co., Kokomo, Indiana, including bicycle tires, and the 

 Wright & Ditson- Victor Co. sporting goods lines. C. W. Barrell, 

 formerly with The B. F. Goodrich Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, 

 will manage the concern; G. B. Wilkins, of Indianapolis, will 

 have charge of sales, and R. V. Henery, of the office and direct 

 advertising. 



The Middletown Rubber Co., Inc., 280 Broadway and S Co- 

 lumbus Circle, New York City, has secured a most desirable 

 site for a factory on the main line of the Erie railroad, at 

 Middletown, Orange County, New York, and plans to erect 

 there a factory for producing cord tires. The officers of the 

 company, which was incorporated last August with an author- 

 ized capital of $1,000,000, are: Myron J. Friedman, Chicago, 

 Illinois, president; William Rusnak, Chicago, vice-president; 

 S. A. Thompson. Cleveland, Ohio, secretary; and J. T. Mac- 

 Donald, Cleveland, treasurer and general manager. 



The New Y'ork .Asbestos Co., formerly at 203 Front street. 

 New York City, has removed to 394 Canal street, where it has 

 leased a six-story loft building for a term of years. 



The Universal Rubber Products Co.,- J. B. Topham, presi- 

 dent, has completed the equipment of a modern tire manufac- 

 turing plant located at Zelienople, Pennsylvania. The output 

 will be lubes and unguaranteed tires. Manufacturing operations 

 will begin December I, 1919. 



The General Electric Co., Schenectady, New York, has com- 

 plieted the erection of an extension 100 by 100 feet, which has 

 been added to building No. 89. 



The Motor and Accessory Manufacturers' Association, Aeolian 

 Building, New York City, has arranged for its members to 

 participate in the show of the Minneapolis Automobile Trade 

 Association, to be held from January 31 to February 7, 1920. 

 In addition, shows at New York, Chicago, and Boston have 

 been sanctioned by the M. & A. M. A., the largest number 

 of official automobile shows ever sanctioned in any one year. 



Plans of the Beacon Tire Co., Beacon, New York, for the 

 coming year include the eight-hour day, an attractive insurance 

 feature free lo employes, a bonus system embracing all work- 

 ers, athletic games and meets, etc. The new building will soon 

 be completed and new machinery installed. 



A. Schrader's Son, Inc., Brooklyn, New York, manufacturer 

 of tire valves, gages, etc., is building a new ten-story building 

 of concrete and steel construction, 90 by 196 feet, to be adapted 

 for the operation of heavy machinery on every floor and to be 



ecjuippcd with automatic sprinklers, sland-pipe connections to 

 street with outlets on each floor to the two stair towers, sprin- 

 kler tank on roof cross-connected with sprinkler tank on Build- 

 ing No. 1, Manhattan district fire alarm system, hospital for 

 employes, lunch rooms, lockers, a library, etc. 



The J. & D. Tire Co., Charlotte, North Carolina, has changed 

 its name to the McClaren Rubber Co., from the name of its 

 president, H. L. McClaren. The plant will be enlarged and 

 distribution organized in the principal cities. 



The Pan-Rubber Products Co., 311 Steinway avenue. Long 

 Island City, New York, has been established as a retail store 

 to sell well known brands of rubber goods to small consumers 

 who cannot buy direct, and to act in an advisory capacity to 

 firms requiring special goods. F. K. Bodenschatz is president 

 and general manager. 



The Polack Tire & Rubber Co., has transferred its general 

 office from Broadway and 62d street, New York City, to its 

 factory at 145 Howard avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut. 



PROSPECTIVE VALUES OF RUBBER. 



The question of the valorization of india rubber is considered 

 again in "Le Bulletin de I'Association des Planteurs de Caout- 

 chouc," of Antwerp, which regarded it as not practical in 1913. 

 Valorization now is made to mean not merely the fixing of the 

 standard price by the government, by buying the surplus crops 

 or otherwise, but the regulation of prices by any combined effort 

 such as that of trusts or associations and by any means, such as 

 the restriction of output or exportation which the Rubber Grow- 

 ers' Association tried to put through with the plantation rubber 

 of the British Far East in 1918. 



The Bulletin has examined market conditions and believes 

 that under present conditions there is no prospect of a need of 

 restriction. .So long as the London price does not fall below 

 two shillings a pound, with the increased demand there seems 

 to be no danger of overproduction for two or three years, at 

 least, even if the Brazilian cost price were reduced far enough to 

 allow the Para sales to rise to 35,000 or 40,000 tons again. It 

 seems a proper time to put the plantations in order, to improve 

 the trees and the cultivation and not worry over valorization. 



The London prices for the highest grades for future delivery 

 in the first six months of 1920 went as high as 2 shillings 4J4 

 pence; first latex crepe rose from 22 pence in June to 28 pence 

 in September, while hard Para in the same period went up only 

 a half penny, and the better grades of plantation are taking its 

 place. It will not be surprising if the curve of plantation prices 

 does not again rise as high as that of Para prices. The stocks 

 in Europe and Malaya are in hands that are able to hold them. 

 The formidable increase in consumption in the United States 

 indicates that the Malay production will be absorbed into a 

 regular channel, and the market pays no heed to the steady 

 increase in Malayan production. 



With regard to the establishment of new markets in Europe 

 for the sale of rubber the Bulletin quotes a specialist's opinion. 

 He believes that the change made during the war, by which the 

 great increase in the United States demand was supplied by 

 sales and shipments direct from the Straits, renders the success 

 of new markets doubtful. London must retain its place as the 

 center for future sales, while Antwerp and Hamburg are favored 

 by their geographical position. A few years before the war broke 

 out France tried to establish a rubber market at Havre, counting 

 on regular shipments from the French Congo, but the experiment 

 was a wretched failure. Any market scheme counting on the 

 importation of wild rubbers by the countries whose colonies 

 produce it, seems likely to fail because the impurities of those 

 classes of rubber increase the relative cost of importation and 

 diminish their usefulness so that dealings in them will become 

 steadily less remunerative when competing with lower-priced 

 plantation rubber. 



