January i, i<,3.;. | 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



101 



WFe^ 



Published on the Ist of each Month hy 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO., 



No. 35 WEST 21st STREET, NEW YORK. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWOBLD, NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 

 EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 

 ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 37. 



JANUARY 1. 1908. 



No. 4. 



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COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 



TUB INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHINO CO. 



Entered at New York postofflce as mall matter of the second class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 



IMPROVEMENT IN BUSINESS. 



THE financial and trade situation at any particular 

 time can hardly be reviewed adequately in a single 

 brief article, so complex and interrelated are the 

 currents of business, even when only one country is under 

 consideration. But nowadays no country stands alone in 

 matters of trade, and the business depression referred 

 to in these columns a month ago, as was then pointed 

 out, is not confined to the United States, though its most 

 striking symptoms may have been exposed through the 

 operations of certain New York banks now in process of 

 reorganization. It is possible to assert confidently, how- 

 ever, that business conditions, so far as America is con- 

 cerned, have shown a decided improvement during the 

 month, and that the general feeling is a hopeful one, 

 though the volume of trade remains on a lower scale than 

 usual and the interruption of credit and confidence has 

 not been fully recovered from. 



The prices of shares in the leading railway and in- 

 dustrial corporations have shown a decided advance above 

 the lowest quotations during the recent depression. This 

 Ij has been due, in part, to the tendency of people with 

 r, money to invest to take advantage of the opportunity to 

 buy on better terms than usual. The number of share- 

 holders in such corporations has increased very largely 

 of late. A statement relative to eight of the most im- 

 portant railways shows that whereas the total number 



of shareholders at the beginning of the year was 86,700, 

 it was lately 123,844. This signifies a more general dis- 

 tribution of wealth, which is a desirable condition, but 

 it could not have occurred but for the fact that the public 

 have a large reserve buying power. At the same time 

 the transfer of so many shares of stocks at reduced prices 

 means forced sales on the part of the former holders, who 

 for the time being must curtail their purchases of com- 

 modities, with the result of lessening the current business 

 of factories and merchants. 



A better feeling is reported in the iron and steel in- 

 dustry, though in this as in all other lines production is 

 being restricted to actual wants. But there is some inquiry 

 for near future wants, indicating that plans are under 

 way for coming construction. This industry is men- 

 tioned on account of its great relative size, and the fact 

 that its condition is regarded generally as virtually a 

 barometer of trade. The situation in the rubber industry 

 is apparently better than could have been stated a month 

 ago. Then reports were current of shutdowns about to 

 occur in a number of large mills, most of which have 

 not taken place. Some notices of shutdown have been 

 recalled, and mills that were closed have been reopened. 

 It is true, however, that the production of rubber goods 

 has been kept down to the line of actual demand. The 

 month's advance in crude rubber prices, though slight, 

 may be regarded as favorable, indicating a returning 

 demand for rubber. 



The foreign trade of the United States is now larger 

 than at any former period. While students of the business 

 situation refer to the recent crisis as a result of many 

 months of development, both the imports and exports of 

 merchandise for the first eleven months of 1907 were 

 largelv in excess of those of any previous eleven months. 

 There appear, in fact, no indications of other than a 

 favorable character, unless the fact be noted that very 

 many people appear to take it for granted, in advance, 

 that the year of a presidential campaign, such as this is 

 to be, will be marked by a reduced activity in business. 



CONCERNING SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 



LIBRARY 



NEW v^!"- 

 BOTA> 



JUST wh\- so many people think that they achieve syn- 

 thetic rubber, and why so many more — rubber plant- 

 ers, importers, and manufacturers — are fearful that 

 it will come and in some way upset their business, it is 

 hard to imagine. Reviewing the year's progress in this 

 line the producers of rubber by artificial means have done 

 everything but produce. Indeed, they seem to lack knowl- 

 edge as to what synthesis is. It is specifically the building 

 up of complex compounds by special reactions, whereby 

 their component radicals are so grouped that the resulting 

 substances are identical in every respeet iinth the natural 

 articles. 



The producers of so-called synthetic rubber group them- 

 selves into three classes. The first makes something of 

 the oil substitute type that may be used in connection with 

 india-rubber, but that has no particular value used alone. 



