January 1, 1920. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



243 



Los Angeles during the progress of a tour of inspection in all 

 the western territory. 



Los Angeles city officials are just now wrestling with the 

 problem of completing Municipal Power Plant No. 2 in the 

 San Francisquito canyon by May 1, so that it will be ready to 

 supply power to the $12,000,000 Goodyear Tire &. Rubber Co.'s 

 plant. More money is required at once, some $750,000 being 

 needed to meet outstanding contracts on Plant No. 2 and at the 

 Owens river gorge. 



F. A. Seiberling, president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co.. recently arrived in Los Angeles to inspect the progress on 

 the company's new plant. He is confident it will be completea 

 by July 1, and declares that fully 15 per cent of the company's 

 total output will come from the local factory. Mr. Seiberling 

 states that other eastern tire manufacturers are preparing to 

 iocate plants here and that automobile manufacturers will follow. 



Speaking of cotton prospects, Mr. Seiberling said that the 

 development of the Salt river district has been something mar- 

 vellous, the acreage having been expanded until this year there 

 are more than 50,000 acres planted. Growers are predicting the 

 best crop in the history of the valley. Floods have done some 

 damage, but this will not amount to more than IS per cent of 

 the entire crop. The Goodyear company has bought two-thirds 

 of the Salt river crop and would have purchased it all had that 

 been possible. 



Work on the installation of the fire-fighting facilities in the 

 city's new cotton compress building at Los Angeles harbor has 

 been completed and work on the first orders of cotton has al- 

 ready been started. Orders for the compressing of 3,000 bales 

 were received during December, while dozens of inquiries were 

 rceived from Imperial Valley planters. The cotton compress 

 has a maximum capacity for 24 hours of 2,500 bales, or about 

 1,000 bales for an eight-hour day. 



\\'ord received in Los Angeles indicates a rapid increase in 

 the rubber and tire vulcanizing business in Honolulu. The great 

 influx of tourists has taxed the automobile capacity of the 

 Hawaiian Islands to its utmost capacity. The Honolulu Rub- 

 ber Works has been forced to enlarge its salesrooms and vul- 

 canizing department. A thoroughly up-to-date tire repair de- 

 partment will be established. 



A novel use for rubber tires was recently discovered at Long 

 Beach, the largest city in close proximity to Los Angeles. The 

 suspicions of the police were aroused by the frequent visits to a 

 bicycle store, and a detective paid a visit to it. 



"A little puncture," he remarked to the proprietor. 



"Whata you lika, wiska or branda?" was the enigmatic reply. 

 The detective said he was taken to the back of the shop where 

 two tires, one full of brandy and the other of whiskey, dangled 

 from a rack. By placing his mouth over the valve stem a 

 most exhilarating puncture preparation could be obtained at 50 

 cents a swallow. The detective seized a small still operated in 

 connection with the tire establishment. 



Bruno J. Becker, general manager of the Gale Henry Comedy 

 Co., of Los Angeles, has an invention which he hopes may serve 

 to prevent tire thefts from which he has suffered recently. 

 Locks on the tires proved to be of little avail, so he has con- 

 cealed underneath his car a bell, which will start ringing imme- 

 diately the tire is removed from the rack in the rear and con- 

 tinue until the battery has run down. 



R. C. Schlesinger, sales manager of the Keystone Tire & Rub- 

 ber Co., New York City, is in Los Angeles to spend the winter. 

 He has seen the organization grow from one store to its present 

 chain of 180. He will visit all the Keystone stores in the West 

 during his visit. 



J. E. Argus, of San Francisco, who has been district manager 

 of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., has been transferred to 



Lcs .Xngeles to become manager of the mechanical goods de- 

 partment. Mr. Argus joined the force in, San Francisco on July 

 15, 1913, and became rrianiager of the nicch'ahical goods depart- 

 ment on November 15, 1915. Frank E. Carroll was appointed to 

 succeed Mr. Argus in San Francisco. Mr. Carroll has been in 

 the employ of the company for 12 years, having entered its serv- 

 ice on April 10, 1907. He is president of the Downtown Asso- 

 ciation and a member of the Olympic Club. 



SAN FHANCISCO NOTES. 



The United States Rubber Co., San Francisco, will shortly 

 occupy larger quarters at Second and Folsom streets, where 

 all business of the branch will be conducted. 



Sam J. Turnis, general sales manager of the tire division of 

 the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., New York City, has per- 

 fected plans for an active sales campaign in northern Cali- 

 fornia. The Frank A. Busse Sales Co. has been appointed 

 Brunswick tire dealer in San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda and 

 Berkeley. San Francisco is to be the headquarters of the com- 

 pany in the Far West. • 



H. Senn, head of the tire department of Chanslor & Lyon 

 Co., San Francisco, distributer of Lee tires, has just returned 

 from a distributers' conference held in the Lee factory at 

 Conshohokon, Pennsylvania, where sixty were in attendance.. 



The Ideal Tire & Rubber Co., Cleveland, Ohio, plans to com- 

 plete its representation on the Pacific coast. A. S. Davies, 

 treasurer, and D. C. Hathaway, general sales manager, were 

 recent visitors in San Francisco for the purpose of appointiiig 

 a northern California distributor for the Greyhound line. They 

 visited their distributers in Spokane, Portland and Seattle. ; 



Roy R. Meads, president of the Pacific Rubber Co., of Los 

 .\ngeles, has opened a new salesroom for the company at 9S0 

 Mission street, San Francisco. P. H. Stortz, former sales man- 

 ager, is in charge. The company is distributer of the Horse- 

 shoe pneumatic tires on the Pacific Coast. 



The Power Rubber Co., of San Francisco, distributer of 

 Racine tires, entertained its dealers, agents and branch mana- 

 gers recently. The men came from the entire territory, in- 

 cluding Del Norte County in the north and Bakersfield in the 

 south. After a series of business talks they were guests of the 

 company at Tait's at the beach. Over 100 covers were spread. 

 Horace de Lisser, president; R. Y. Cooke, general sales mana- 

 ger, and Robert B. Crane, manager of the material and sundries 

 department, were present at the gathering. 



MISCELLANEOTJS WESTERN NOTES. 



L. B. Broering, factory representative of The Mason Tire & 

 Rubber Co., Kent, Ohio, was recently in Sacramento in con- 

 nection with a large warehouse which his company is preparing 

 to establish on the Pacific Coast. 



George Bellis, recently Los Angeles branch manager of the 

 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., has been promoted to the posi- 

 tion of district manager of the northwestern district, with head- 

 quarters at Portland, Oregon. Mr. Bellis started his career 

 with the Goodyear company as mechanical goods salesman on 

 July 27, 1913, covering Nevada and northern California, and 

 since that time has been one of the prominent factors in the 

 rapid growth of the Goodyear Pacific Coast business. In De- 

 cember, 1914, he was appointed branch manager at Sacramento, 

 and was there until June, 1917, when he was ordered south to 

 lake charge of the Los Angeles branch. Since Mr. Bellis has 

 been located in Los Angeles he has taken an active part in 

 public aflfairs and has become very well known to the tire trade. 



The Rubber Committee of the J.\maica AcRicuLTintAL Society 

 has reported that the planting of Caslilloa is not profitable, and 

 that it is not advisable to continue planting the trees for shade 

 on the cacao plantations, save in certain cases. 



