March 1, 1920.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



BOSTON NOTES. 



A s .\ RESULT of the exceptionally severe winter weather anri 

 ■**■ series of blizzards which have visited this section during the 

 past month, instances of profiteering in overshoe sales by retail 

 dealers in the down-town district of Boston have been reported 

 by inspectors for the state commission on necessaries of life, act- 

 ing on a communication from Thomas J. Boynton, United States 

 district attorney. Taking advantage of the abnormal conditions 

 and a shortage of rubber footwear, some dealers were charging 

 $5.50 or $6 a pair for overshoes that cost only $3.50 a pair. The 

 usual and fair profit on such footwear, the commission asserts, 

 is $1 per pair. 



The Firestone "Ship by Truck" movement is being energetically 

 organized and advertised throughout New England, and shippers 

 are invited to make use of the information being compiled by the 

 Firestone Ship by Truck Bureau at 656 Beacon street, Boston. 

 Fourteen routes radiating in all directions from "the Hub" have 

 been scheduled and large space in the local press is being de- 

 voted to listing the truck transportation companies operating on 

 the various routes. The Massachusetts routes embrace Lowell, 

 Springfield, Greenfield, Lynn, Brockton, Fall River, Haverhill and 

 Lawrence, Marlboro and Hudson, and Cape Cod points. Other 

 routes are to New York City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Provi- 

 dence, Rhode Island ; Manchester, New Hampshire, and Portland, 

 Maine. Every route covers numerous smaller intermediate cities. 



The employes' association of the Boston branch of the United 

 States Rubber Co. held a most successful dance at Heineman 

 Academy, Somerville, late in January. Some 400 persons were 

 in attendance, including executives of the company. Novel 

 dance numbers and other unusual features provided special en- 

 tertainment. The committee in charge included Helen Cullen, 

 Agnes M. Lintaman, Margaret H. O'Brien, Charles P. Abbott, 



A. A. Lappin and Roger Hewins. 



The Hood Tire Sales Co., with stores at 1041 Commonwealth 

 avenue, Boston, and in Watertown, selling Hood tires and tubes 

 exclusively at wholesale and retail, has opened a downtown Bos- 

 ton branch in Park Square at the corner of Church street. Lewis 



B. Clay is in charge. D. J. MacNichol, president of the com- 

 pany, states that other stores will be opened as suitable locations 

 can be secured. 



At the annual meeting of the Franklin Rubber Co., 134 Fed- 

 eral street, Boston, held February 4, the following officers were 

 reelected for the ensuing year: Asa C. Merrill, president; Ever- 

 ett L. Fuller, treasurer ; Lorin L. Fuller, assistant treasurer. 

 The company had a very successful year and is anticipating a 

 large increase for 1920. 



The Gillette Rubber Co., formerly at 110 Federal street, Boston, 

 has sold its furniture and fixtures and gone out of business. 



The recently organized Holland System Trading Corporation, 

 949 Commonwealth avenue, Boston, has become the exclusive 

 New England distributer for the Overman cushion tire for trucks 

 and is seeking live agents in every city of this territory. 



Coburn, Kittredge & Co., 10 State street, Boston, is among 

 the New England investment houses now specializing in rubber 

 company securities. 



H. O. Allyn, for several years at the head of the Springfield 

 branch of the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., has been promoted to 

 manager of the Boston branch. Mr. Allyn brings to his larger 

 w^ork long experience in the tire industry and an enviable record 

 of able salesmanship. 



The Boston branch of The Fisk Rubber Co. has a new man- 

 ager in the person of Corliss Wadleigh, who has resigned as man- 

 ager of the eastern department of the Youngstown, Ohio, or- 



ganization of the Republic Rubber Corp., to assume his new 

 duties. Mr. Wadleigh originally came from the Knox automo- 

 bile sales forces, and although young in years is old in tire 

 experience and has a wide acquaintance throughout New England. 



L. Arthur Watkins, one of Boston's best known automobile 

 accessory men, has been appointed to the New England district 

 managership of the Globe Rubber Tire Manufacturing Co., with 

 headquarters in Boston, succeeding A. H. Lane, who goes to the 

 factory at Trenton, New Jersey, as distributers' representative. 



The Madison Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., 30 East 42d street, 

 New York City, has arranged to occupy the building at 859 

 Boylston street, Boston, now occupied by The Miller Rubber 

 Co. This will be a direct factory branch in operation on March 

 1, in charge of J. H. Connor, formerly manager of the accessory 

 department of the Packard Motor Car Co. of New England. 



MISCZLLANEOUS MASSACHUSETTS NOTES. 



The Boston police appear to have unearthed a well organized 

 plot to steal rubber goods from the Boston Woven Hose & Rub- 

 ber Co., Cambridge, Massachusetts, obliterate the firm's name 

 from the goods and then dispose of them through jobbing houses. 

 Hose worth from $8,000 to $12,000 was seized in a Causeway 

 street cobbler's shop and in the buildings of a High street con- 

 cern by which it is alleged the hose had been distributed. It 

 is believed, however, that systematic thefts have been in progress 

 since last October, and that rubber goods worth $50,000 have been 

 taken. 



Following its usual custom, the Boston Woven Hose & Rubber 

 Co., Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 31, 1919, through 

 its president, George E. Hall, presented gold pieces to such of 

 its employes as had been with the company ten years or longer. 

 Work was stopped at four o'clock and special exercises held, 

 including a concert by the company band, an address of welcome 

 by J. William Fellows, factory manager, and community singing. 



Under the auspices of the Business Training Corporation, of 

 New York, the Converse Rubber Shoe Co., Maiden, is conduct- 

 ing a school for foremen and executives. The classes meet every 

 two weeks, at which time the men get together at dinner to dis- 

 cuss problems in connection with their work. Among the sub- 

 jects taken up are teamwork, handling labor, organization, ma- 

 chinery and materials, cost records. 



At a meeting of the directors of the Plymouth Rubber Co., 

 Canton, late in January, several of the former directors resigned, 

 including the treasurer, J. E. Stone. A new board of officers 

 and directors was then elected as follows: president, James J. 

 Clifford ; treasurer, Ronald T. Lyman ; directors, James J. Clif- 

 ford, Ronald T. Lyman, Nathan L. Amster, W. Lloyd Allen, 

 Daniel H. Harris, W. F. Edlefson and John Sweetser. John J. 

 Eatterman, who has been handling the sale of Toesans for the 

 company for some time past, was appointed sales manager. 



The ebonite bowling balls made by the Stowe & Woodward 

 Co., Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, have sold well this 

 season in spite of prohibition, which was expected to interfere 

 with the sport of bowling, as many alleys were attached to 

 saloons. Robert J. Wilkie, who is connected with the company 

 and is the originator of the ebonite bowling ball, states that 

 some of these hard rubber balls have been used constantly for 

 ten years. 



The Athol Manufacturing Co., .'\thoI, Massachusetts, has re- 

 organized its Metropolitan Air Goods Department under the 

 firm name of Metropolitan Air Goods Co., with L. S. Starrelt as 

 president and R. A. Whall, treasurer and manager. .'V two- 

 story cement building will be erected as soon as weather per- 

 mits, with every modern facility for making up pneumatic rub- 

 ber goods, to take care of the increased business of this de- 

 partment. 



