THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1920. 



The Obituary Record. 



Geo. E. Jj. Putnam. 



DEAN OF SHOE TRADE JOURNALISM. 



GEORGE K. B. Putnam, deun of shoe and leathei- journalists 

 of Boston, died of apoplexy at his home in Newton Centre 

 early on the morning of December 11, 1919, aged 67 years. 

 For thirty-two years Mr. Putnam had been connected with 



the editorial staff of the "Boot 



and Shoe Recorder," four years 

 as editor, and was affectionately 

 known as the "encyclopedia" of 

 the staff. He was an authority 

 on footwear matters and the his- 

 torian of the shoe trades. He 

 was a very prolific writer, and 

 veterans of the trade still quote 

 his "shop tales" in early issues of 

 the "Recorder," and recall the 

 tone and timeliness of his news 

 letters and market reports. 



Early in his editorial career he 

 perfected his knowledge of mer- 

 chandising by extensive travel in 

 practically every State in the 

 Union, and hundreds of footwear 

 men may remember his pilgrim- 

 ages of a quarter of a century ago. His trips to Central and 

 South America, the West Indies, Canada and other sections of 

 the Western Hemisphere to study foreign trade extension for 

 the benefit of manufacturers of shoes and rubbers desiring ex- 

 port business, supplied the material for numerous illustrated 

 travelog lectures of interest and charm. 



."^bout nine years ago Mr. Putnam relinquished his editorship 

 of the "Recorder," but continued as an associate editor, writing 

 weekly "The Leather Market" and "The Rubber Realm," which 

 had been popular features of the paper for many years. Turn- 

 ing to rubber research work some five years ago, he joined the 

 editorial staff of The India Rubber World, and became its 

 Boston correspondent, directory and biographical writer, and 

 librarian, a position w-hich he filled with rare faithfulness. 



George Edwin Ballard Putnam, a descendant of the famous 

 Putnams of Revolutionary days, was born in Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts, December 29, 1851. He attended the Quincy School, 

 and was graduated from the English High School in 1869, being 

 awarded the Franklin Medal for distinguished scholarship. For 

 a time he engaged in the directory business, but gradually 

 drifted into amateur journalism and writing for the trade press. 

 "The Youth's Companion," in the old days when Mr. Ford, its 

 founder, was alive, numbered him on its editorial staff. 



Mr. Putnam was a member of the Old Boston Schoolboys' 

 Association, and at one time president of the English High 

 School Class of 1869 Association. Being among the earliest 

 amateur journalists, he became one of the founders of "The 

 Fossils," a New York City club composed of former publishers 

 of amateur papers throughout the country. He was a member 

 of Dalhousie Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Newtonville, Massa- 

 chusetts, also of the Boston Shoe Trades Club, and had not 

 missed a single meeting of the Boston Boot and Shoe Club 

 until the session on the evening of December 10, only twelve 

 hours previous to his death. Prominent in church work, he 

 had for the past seven years officiated as a deacon of the First 

 Baptist Church. Newton Centre, Massachusetts. 



Every branch of the Boston footwear, rubber and leather 

 trades, and the publications dealing with these industries, joined 

 in honoring his memory at the funeral, which was held in the 

 First Baptist Church at Newton Centre. In the gathering were 



representatives of the Rubber Club of America, the Boston Boot 

 and Shoe Club, the Boston Shoe Trades Club and the Dalhousie 

 Lodge of Masons. Rev. Charles N. Arbuckle, pastor of the 

 parish, conducted the service, and also read prayers at the 

 family home at 16 Elmore street, Newton Centre. The inter- 

 ment was in Forest Hills Cemetery. 



The bearers were : Oscar Blaisdell, of the G. W. Armstrong 

 News Co.; Charles H. Clark, Master of Dalhousie Lodge; 

 Henry H. Kendall, a deacon of the Newton Centre Baptist 

 Church; George W. R. Hill, vice-president of the "Boot and 

 Shoe Recorder"; Arthur D. Anderson, editor of the "Boot and 

 Shoe Recorder"; Harry Olsen, editor of the "Export Record- 

 er"; James H. Stone, manager of the "Shoe Retailer," and 

 Phil M. Riley, of the editorial staff of The India Rubber World. 



One of those rare gentlemen of the old school, Mr. Putnam 

 closed his Book of Life with that quiet calmness that had char- 

 acterized his serene and happy, though withal very busy, life. 

 He was a patriotic, clean American, lovable and widely loved. 

 Thinking ill of no man, he embittered none and made a friend 

 of everybody he met. No one ever heard a profane word from 

 his lips. A familiar and a popular speaker at thousands of 

 local and national rubber and shoe trade gatherings, he was 

 "Colonel" Putnam or "G. E. B. P." in affectionate daily greet- 

 ings. His faithfulness, fairness, integrity and ever ready spirit 

 of helpfulness was an inspiration to his associates, who mourn 

 his loss and by whom he will long be remembered. 



He is survived by his widow, Ellen H. Putnam ; a son, Russell 

 B. Putnam, of Waterbury, Connecticut, and a daughter, Mrs. 

 Harry B. Chesley, of East Sumner, Maine. 



PROMINENT IN THE WIRE INDUSTRY. 



William ElUs Rice, one of the pioneers in the New England 

 wire industry, died December 12, 191&, at his home in Worcester, 

 Massachusetts, aged nearly 87. 



As a boy of 18 he entered the employ of Ichabod Washburn 

 & Co., wire drawers and finishers. Seven years afterwards he 

 took a partner and entered the business, first in Connecticut 

 and later building a model plant, for that period, at Holyoke, 

 Massachusetts. In 1865, at the solicitation of Ichabod Wash- 

 burn, the business was joined with the Washburn & Moen Wire 

 Works, afterwards the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co., 

 Mr. Rice becoming a director and later an executive officer. He 

 introduced in this country the continuous rod rolling system, and 

 later was the first American to import Swedish iron. In 1891, 

 as president of the Worcester Wire Co., and of the A\'ashburn 

 & Moen Manufacturing Co., he effected the sale of the two cor- 

 porations to the American Steel & Wire Co., after which he re- 

 tired from business. 



Mr. Rice held membership in the Union Club of Boston, the 

 Worcester Boys' Club, Worcester Society of Antiquity, Tatnuck 

 Country Club, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester Art Society, 

 Worcester Club, Worcester Continentals, Worcester Board of 

 Trade and the Home Club of Worcester. He leaves his widow, 

 one son, and one daughter. 



R. E. Wright, European Manager for the I. B. Kleinert 

 Rubber Co., was taken suddenly ill in London in returning from 

 a business trip on the Continent and died of a stroke in the lat- 

 ter part of November. 



Mrs. Augusta Neidner, who died early in No\-ember in Mal- 

 den, Massachusetts, at the age of 85 years, was the widow of 

 Charles H. Neidner, who came to this country from Saxony in 



