May 1, 1920.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



The Goodyear company recently announced the establishment 

 of a complete rubber plant in Rio Janeiro, Brazil, primarily to 

 take care of the rubber products business of South America, 

 but also to prepare crude rubber for the manufacture of rubber 

 goods in Akron. The BraziHan plant will cost approximately 

 $1,000,000. 



The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is about to build a rim plant 

 in the southern part of Akron on thi.- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. 

 This move naturally follows the success of the Firestone entry 

 into the rim and steel products business. The new factory will 

 be a one-story brick and steel structure 250 feet wide and 660 

 feet long and will accommodate 500 workmen. Steel for the 

 structure is arriving daily and a large part of the rim making 

 machinery, for which contracts were let many months ago, has 

 arrived on the ground. It is expected that the new rim factory 

 will be completed about July 1, at which time the present rim 

 department, of 600 daily capacity, will move into the new 

 building. 



The Firestone rim plant is being practically doubled and the 

 new addition is nearly complete and ready for operation. 



Akron business men and rubber manufacturers do not look 

 upon The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s Los .\ngeles and 

 Canadian projects as in any way injuring the position of 

 Akron in the rubber world. Figures prepared by the Akron 

 Chamber of Commerce indicate that if the rubber factories of 

 the city do not expand in the future it will still require the city 

 at least five years completely to catch up with its present 

 industrial development. Much gossip has gone the rounds re- 

 garding the moving of rubber plants from Akron, but a personal 

 interview 'by the writer with practically all the leaders in the 

 rubber industry indicates that these men look upon Akron as 

 the center from which their industries will expand. Akron, they 

 hold, will always be the center of the industry. 



For the present, at least, the housing situation in Akron has 

 seriously handicapped the expansion of the industry here. It 

 is estimated that the city is at least 20,000 homes short. Manu- 

 facturers hesitate to ask thousands of men to come to the city 

 to fill their plants to 100 per cent capacity when it is practically 

 impossible at present to bring their families and establish homes. 



The Akron plan tor .Americanization promises to be a model 

 for the whole country. The plan was approved at a meeting of 

 Americanization directors at New York City recently and will 

 probably be adopted at a national meeting to be held in Minne- 

 apolis, Minnesota, next sumirier. E. C. Vermillion, formerly 

 with the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., is now director of 

 Americanization for the city. 



Statistics prepared l)y the Chamber of Commerce of Akron 

 show that .\kron plants import an average of 103,374 ship tons 



of raw materials a year and export 58.016 ship tons. Approxi- 

 mately 42.120 ship tons of tires and rubber goods are exported 

 yearly through Atlantic ports and 6.124 through Pacific ports. 



The peak demand for automobile tires in the world will be 

 80,000,000 a year, it is stated in a report recently made public 

 by the Akron Chamber of Commerce. The estimate includes 

 tires for both pleasure cars and trucks. .According to the same 

 report, 45,600,000 tires are being manufactured in the United 

 States at the present time. 



.At the end of the present year the demand will be 57,000,000 

 tires a year, it is stated. The figures are based upon the esti- 

 mates of automobile and truck manufacturers that during the 

 present year 1,600,000 pleasure cars and lictwcen 375,000 and 

 450,000 trucks will be turned out. 



With an enrolment of 5,700, the new Goodyear Industrial Uni- 

 versity was dedicated in Akron last month. The Industrial 

 University makes its advent into the educational world with 

 a faculty of 117, the school's 65 class-rooms being housed in a 

 new $2,500,000 recreational hall of the Goodyear Tire & 

 Rubber Co. The classes, which are free, offer 33,000 employes, 

 courses ranging from Americanization work to post graduate 

 studies for college men and women. 



The B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, is preparing "New Goodrich 

 Field," formerly Liherty Park, for spring athletics. It contains 

 ten acres and improvements will cost $15,000. Athletics at the 

 plant are under the direction of Eddie Connors. 



The executive committee of the board of directors of The 

 B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, has announced that the employes of 

 the company will be permitted to purchase .stock of the com- 

 pany. Plans for a campaign to sell the stock to the employes 

 will be announced before July 1. 



A large part of the electricity used. in The B. F. Goodrich Co., 

 Akron, will be brought 100 miles from West Virginia. The 

 power plant near Wheeling has a capacity of 120,000 kilowatts. 



Among the rubber companies which have announced that they 

 will have haseball teams in the field this spring are the Amazon, 

 General Tire, Goodrich, Goodyear, Kelly-Springfield, Miller, 

 Philadelphia and the Star companies. 



Rubber company officials are assisting in the formation of a 

 flying club in Akron. The membership will be made up of 

 ex-army fliers. The government war work in aviation in Akron 

 has given the industry a boost here upon which the fliers are 

 depending for a great portion of their success. Commercial 

 aerial transportation will be the main object of the new club. 



The Miller Rubber Co. has announced that all unsalaried 

 employes of the company will be given a two-weeks' vacation 

 with pay. Salaried employes will continue to have their regular 

 vacations with pay. If the employes recently granted vacations 



Has Expanded 



ABLE Growth of Akron During the Last Few Years Is Shown by the Accompanying Photograph. The View Wa» 

 A 250F00T Brick Smokestack Being Erected by The B. F. Goodrich Rubber Company and Shows How the City 

 ECTioNS to Maintain Its Place as the Rubber Center of the World. 



