THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August 1, 



devised most ingenious methods of quickening proc- 

 esses, new compounds and labor-saving machinery 

 and by cultivating "human" relations with their em- 

 ployes, have not only speeded up production in a mar- 

 velous degree but are also turning out better goods at 

 the lower price level. 



PLANTATION FUTURES. 



A FRIEND in the Far East advises the Editor of this 

 journal that within five years the rubber planta- 

 tions in India, Ceylon and the Malay States will be run 

 by Soviets. This change of ownership will come about 

 through a union of the Russians under Lenine and the 

 Hindus and Mohammedans of India, who will throw off 

 the "British Yoke." This would mean $10 rubber and a 

 greatly lessened production. It would also be "Red Rub- 

 ber" in the worst sense of the term. 



If memory does not play us false the same source pre- 

 dicted the destruction of Malaysian plantations by disease 

 before 1918. The disease came but the planters 

 promptly stamped it out. So, too, will the red disease 

 be stamped out in the Far Eastern possessions. 



Nevertheless, not that we believe there is any such 

 danger in sight, America as the biggest user of crude 

 rubber should look far ahead for its supplies. The Phil- 

 ippines for planting are ideal once the Filipino will al- 

 low it to be done as the rest of the world does it. Then, 

 too, there are our own rubber producers guayule and 

 Chrysothawmus. Of the latter, Luther Burbank, the great 

 plant wizard, in a letter to one of our staff, says that there 

 is not a shadow of a doubt that by analysis of the differ- 

 ent individual plants from different localities the 

 rubber content of some will be found to be double that of 

 others, and by starting with these high rubber content 

 plants, and growing from these, any good plant breeder 

 could originate a plant in a reasonably short period that 

 would produce twice as much as the average wild ones 

 do. He says this is a very moderate estimate, as it would 

 not be surprising that a plant should be constructed which 

 would produce ten times the results of the wild ones. Of 

 course vigor is one of the things to be considered, and 

 possibly compactness of growth, and other matters which 

 would come up during the work of improvement. 



A seven per cent content has already been found. 

 Double this would be fourteen per cent and ten times 

 as much would be a bonanza. Anyhow, fourteen or sev- 

 enty, it's worth working for. 



LEATHER RUBBER FOOTWEAR. 



FOR some time rubber has been closely pressing 

 leather in footwear lines. The rubber heel and the 

 rubber fiber sole have won a notable victory over 

 their leather counterparts. So far, however, the fine 

 leather shoe has not been disturbed in its supremacy. 

 The invention by the brilliant young English chemist, 

 S. J. Peachey, of a new process of vulcanization by 



the use of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide 

 opens new fields of which that now filled by leather 

 footwear is one. By the new process goods of any 

 color, and of almost any texture may be produced 

 without heat or pressure. In other words the fine 

 leather shoe can now be equalled and probably ex- 

 celled in rubber. Furthermore, this may be done 

 along rubber lines of building and cementing and 

 without the vast array of special machines that are 

 needed to stitch, polish, buff and shape leather shoes. 

 It looks as if a footwear revolution were toward. 



OPEN SHOP CITIES. 



STUDENTS of industrial conditions attach no little sig- 

 nificance to the figures given by the United States 

 Census Bureau showing that the two open-shop cities, 

 Los Angeles, California, and Akron, Ohio, have made 

 a greater growth in the past ten years than any other 

 two cities in their respective classes in the Union. 

 Los Angeles scores a gain of 80.3 per cent and Akron 

 an increase of 201.7 per cent, while Spokane, Wash- 

 ington, lost .2 per cent and Paterson, New Jersey, 

 gained but 8.2 per cent. In both of the latter cities 

 the closed shop still largely obtains, and agitators 

 have done much to foment discord between capital 

 and labor, discouraging not only the extension of old 

 industries but also the starting of new enterprises. 

 The metropolis of the Pacific Coast, on the other hand, 

 has fought long and successfully for industrial free- 

 dom and has flourished like the proverbial green bay 

 tree. And in like manner the nation's great rubber 

 center in Ohio, free of the shackles of the closed shop, 

 has prospered as has no other city of similar size in 

 the country. There, under the piece-work system, 

 production is always kept at high pitch, and there, 

 the diligent, faithful worker can rest assured that 

 extra pay will alwaj's reward his extra effort, instead 

 of his wage being measured by the meager perform- 

 ance of the laggard and the shirker. 



In an article on labor turnover in tire rRODUcrioN, 

 H. O. Smith of the Ajax Rubber Co., Inc., advances an 

 excellent argument to encourage apprenticeship in the 

 tire industry. He says : 



"There is a decided advantage in the fact that the 

 tire business attracts the fellow from 18 to 25 years 

 old who is thoughtful and considers his opportu- 

 nities, and who, realizing when it is too late that he 

 has missed the opportunity of an apprenticeship and 

 learning a trade, finds in the tire industry a remain- 

 ing chance to develop a possible earning power quite 

 equal to that of the machinist, the carpenter, or the 

 pattern maker. It requires only 60 to 90 days to 

 become an efficient tire maker, while an apprentice- 

 ship in other trades usually covers three to four 

 years. For this reason the tire industry can draw 

 from the best untrained material in America." 



