June 1, 1920.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



599 



t 



Rubber Co. gave $250 each ; the Acme, Hamilton, Luzerne and 

 United & Globe companies gave $200 each, while the Sanhican 

 Rubber Co. and the Woven Steel Hose & Rubber Co. contributed 

 $100 each. 



The Pocono Rubber Cloth Co., which recently purchased the 

 plant of the Howard Demountable Rim Co., along the main line 

 of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Trenton, is having erected one 

 of the largest tile signs in the country. The Bergougnan Tire & 

 Rubber Co., situated near the Pocono works, is also having a 

 similar sign erected. 



The Bergougnan Rubber Corporation, Trenton, has com- 

 menced work on an additional factory unit and a large ware- 

 house for storing raw materials and finished products. Improve- 

 ments will also be made in the interior arrangement of the 

 present model plant to facilitate economy in manufacture. 



The Thermoid Rubber Co., Trenton, announces that its capital 

 stock will be increased from $1,650,000 to $5,000,000 so that the 

 company may increase its plant and expand its business. The 

 company is now building a $500,000 addition to the works on 

 Whitehead's road, to be completed by early fall. It is one unit 

 of what will eventually be an entirely new factory for the con- 

 cern in which brake linings and other products will be manu- 

 factured. W. J. B. Stokes, J. Oliver Stokes, Robert J. Stokes 

 and Fred Wilson arc the owners of the Thermoid company. 



MISCELLANEOUS NEW JERSEY KOTES. 



The Cooper-Hewitt Electric Co. of Hoboken, New Jersey, 

 which was amalgamated with the General Electric Co. last year, 

 has bought land adjoining its plant, which will more than double 

 its floor space. Business has more than doubled. 



Hermann Weber, scrap rubber dealer, representing J. Schnur- 

 mann, Tottenham, England, has combined his offices, formerly 

 at 30 Church street. New York City, with his warehouse at 

 Newark and Jackson streets, Hoboken, New Jersey, where all 

 correspondence should be addressed in future. 



The Reliance Tire & Rubber Co., Keyport, New Jersey, has 

 appointed A. H. Mclntyre sales manager. 



The Ajax Rubber Company, Trenton, has just begun the con- 

 struction of a four-story brick addition to the plant to cost 

 $60,000. It is at North Olden and Breunig avenues, and will be 

 60 by 100 feet. The ground floor will be used for offices and the 

 upper floors as a welfare department for the employes. There 

 will be an assembly room for the men and also a cafeteria. Part 

 of the structure will also be used as a store-room for finished 

 goods awaiting shipment. The firm now employs 1,000 hands 

 and will have employment for many more when the plant is 

 finished. 



The pensioned employes of the United States Rubber Co. held 

 a reunion recently as guests of the company in the recreation 

 hall of the New Jersey factory at New Brunswick. The chief 

 features of the occasion were a tour of the plant, a musical pro- 

 gram and a supper. Addresses were made by Seymour Hada- 

 way and .A.. T. Hopkins, of the Central Service Department of the 

 company. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN RHODE ISLAND. 



By Our Regular Corrcsl^nndcnt. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS in* Rhode Island rubber manufacturing 

 circles have remained practically unchanged during the last 

 few weeks, all the concerns having good orders ahead and ca- 

 pacity operations being reported. The easing up of the trans- 

 portation situation has caused the manufacturers less worry 

 during the past month about their supplies of fuel and raw 

 materials. 



Wages of the operatives in the rubber factories of the state 

 continue to be a serious problem with the management of the 

 plants, and not withstanding the fact that the present 



schedules are more than double the scale ever paid previously, 

 the tendency is still upward with apparently "no limit but the 

 sky" in the estimation of the employes. How much longer this 

 is going to keep the manufacturers on nettles and the workmen 

 unsettled, it is difficult to foretell. 



Early in May new schedules went into effect at several of the 

 subsidiary plants of the United States Rubber Co., including the 

 National India Rubljer Co. at Bristol, with its 4,500 employes, 

 and the Alice Mill of the Woonsocket Rubber Co. at Woon- 

 socket and the Millville Mill of the same concern, at Millville, 

 having 1,600 and 600 employes, respectively. In this adjustment 

 particular consideration was given to the earnings of employes 

 whose wages were lower than the average, it was stated. This 

 increase, which is the second that has been granted by the cor- 

 poration in the past six months, adds a considerable amount to 

 the yearly payroll. 



Following immediately upon the announcement of this in- 

 crease in wages came an announcement that the employes of the 

 National plant at Bristol and the two plants of the Woonsocket 

 Rubber Co. will receive a week's vacation without loss of pay 

 this summer. This action, it was stated, was taken as a part 

 of a plan to give, if possible, all employes continuous employment 

 during the entire year. In the past the plants have closed down 

 about two weeks every summer and the employes have received 

 no pay during such periods of idleness. According to the pres- 

 ent plans the plants referred to will close July 31 and reopen 

 August 9. Pay for the week's vacation will be given to the work- 

 ers in the first pay envelope received in August after the vaca- 

 tion period. 



One of the outgrowths of the automobile industry is the de- 

 mand for textile productions for use in the manufacture of tire 

 fabrics. The rapid growth of this branch of the textile industry 

 of this State is plainly indicated by the great expansion that is 

 constantly being made by the corporations engaged in this line 

 of production. Not only are large additions being erected to 

 the cotton manufacturing plants in all sections of Rhode Island, 

 but substantial increases are being made to the capitalization of 

 the concerns. One of the most noticeable of these is the Jenckes 

 Spinning Co. of Pawtucket, which is not • only expanding its 

 plant to several times its capacity of a few years ago, but has 

 increased its capitalization from $3,000,000 to $20,000,000. This 

 increase makes the Jenckes Spinning Co. the largest capitalized 

 corporation in Rhode Island engaged in any line of industry. 

 The corporation has now issued common stock to the amount 

 of $2,000,000 and preferred stock to the amount of $4,500,000, 

 leaving a balance of $13,500,000 for later issuance. 



Notwithstanding the great expansions that are being made 

 by the textile concerns engaged in fabric production for tire 

 purposes, the production is said to be far from adequate to meet 

 the increasing demands. The shortage in the supply of long 

 staple cotton and the lack of spinning capacity is directly re- 

 sponsible for the present price of tire fabrics. The cotton mills 

 have not been able to keep pace with the tire industry, due to 

 the lack of loom manufacturing during the war and to the un- 

 settled conditions of labor in the cotton centers. Not only were 

 there no looms built during the war but the manufacture of a 

 single loom requires at least a year. The first of these manu- 

 factured since the armistice have just come into production and 

 these new ones are relieving those looms worn out by the con- 

 stant strain of the past fifteen months, which were the heaviest in 

 history. It will be months before the spinning capacity of the 

 mills will be equal to the demand for tire fabrics. 



The premises of the Mount Hope Spinning Co., at Warren, 

 Rhode Island, have been the scene of great activity during the 

 last month or six weeks, because of the extensive alterations and 

 additions, as well as other improvements to the plant that are 

 now under way. .Mthough a new mill was finished last summer 

 and another is now approaching completion, the company is 



