February i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



161 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT SAN FRANCISCO. 



BV A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



ONE of the good indications that point to a good year for 

 the rubber business on the Pacilic coast is the manner 

 in which the season's rains are coming. It is not a flood of 

 rain for one week and then two or three weeks without a 

 drop, but there is a rain every week, and of the gentle and 

 continuing kind, that does real good. Throughout the coun- 

 try districts the hopes of the farmers have been raised and 

 they are looking forward to a favorable year, and the mer- 

 chants in tlie interior towns, encouraged by the conhdence of 

 the farmers, are beginning to make purchases, whereas here- 

 tofore they have ben letting their stocks run very low. The 

 rubber establishments in San Francisco have been to a large 

 extent holding their traveling men back during the quiet 

 times, but those who have sent their men out through the in- 

 terior are getting good results. From points as far south as 

 Los Angeles, through the northern sections of the coast ter- 

 ritory merchants are getting more liberal in their orders and 

 show signs of getting back to their old buying capacity. In 

 San l'"raMcisco the report from all of the rubber liouses is that 

 judging from all indications, business conditions will be 

 normal again in a month or two. Collections are still quiet 

 in some lines, but as a general rule they are getting easier 

 every week. 



The branch establishment of the Revere Rubber Co. 

 (Boston) in San Francisco, located on Mission street, between 

 First and Second, was destroyed by fire a fortnight ago, and 

 the stock consumed. The stock, however, was covered by 

 insurance. Telegrams were in at headquarters for stock 

 to take the place of that destroyed as soon as the fire was 

 over, and Mr. A. T. Dunbar, the local agent, was soon ready 

 to receive it and go on with business at a location which 

 he has taken at No. 507 Mission street. This firm has been 

 doing a very active business on the coast. 



The Pacific Coast Rubber Co. are moving from the tempor- 

 ary quarters in which they have been compelled to do busi- 

 ness since the big fire, to their new quarters at No. 416 Mis- 

 sion street, in a massive reinforced concrete building just 

 completed. The new store has a large balcony running 

 around both sides, and in front the office fixtures have been 

 built with elaborate finish and beauty. It is noticeable that 

 the rubber merchants, as other merchants in San Francisco, 

 in spite of the talk of quiet times and adversity, are all 

 moving into more elaborate and more substantial quarters 

 than they occupied before the fire. 



Barton-Squires-Byrne, Inc., report that they have just re- 

 ceived their two additional hydraulic presses and rubber mill 

 machinery and are now installing it, and will soon have that 

 new part of the plant in active operation. R. J. McNeilly, 

 sales manager, reports that market conditions are showing 

 gradual improvement, and the outlook is good. 



The Gorham Rubber Co. have everything in running order 

 now at the big new store on Fremont street, between Market 

 and Mission, and all departments are reported to be busy. 

 Mr. Gorham states that he expects trade to get back to about 

 normal by next April. The outlook for a big business, he 

 states, is excellent. 



Mr. Grant, formerly with the Gorham Rubber Co., and 

 more recently with the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., is back 

 again with the Gorliam. 



The Sterling Rubber Co. report that business has so im- 

 proved that it can be called good now, in comparison to 

 what it was a month ago. Collections have greatly im- 

 proved. Salesmen who have started through the interior 

 of the state have been much encouraged by the good orders 

 they have secured, and the trend seems to be for a gradual 

 resumption of normal conditions. 



L. L. Torrey, of the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., is satisfied 

 with the way matters are developing in money and com- 

 mercial matters on the coast. "People are a little more con- 

 servative than they used to be," he said, "but that is a good 

 thing. Business is picking up and collections are getting 

 better. Conditions are unquestionably improving." 



R. H. Pease, of the Goodyear Rubber Co., reports cheer- 

 fully on the general conditions for the rubber business. "We 

 enjoyed a successful business for last year," he said. "It 

 was one of the best years in our business. We expect to 

 get into the new building which we are erecting some time 

 in May. That will place us in the same location which we 

 have occupied for nearly 40 years." Mr. Pease will go to 

 Portland to visit the northern branch for some 10 days, and 

 after his return, about the middle of February, will go on 

 to New York. 



Both Mr. Kanzce and Mr. Ralph, of the Phoenix Rubber 

 Co., report that the rubber business is showing steady im- 

 provement and that although it is still quiet as a result of 

 the money scare, improvement is noticeable everywhere. 



POPULARITY OF THE RUBBER PEDAL. 



W/llILE it is hardly likely that the rubber pedal will oust its 

 "^ old rival, the "rat trap," as it once was ousted, that it is 

 due for a considerable measure of renewed popularity appears 

 certain. It is due to the demand of the motorcyclists that the 

 rubber pedal has made its reappearance and that it has met with 

 a warm and general welcome is evident. Practically every motor- 

 cycle manufacturer has been quick to adopt it. There also al- 

 ready has developed an appreciable demand on the part of riders 

 of motorless bicycles and it is reasonable to suppose that this 

 demand will be enlarged with the return of the outdoor season. 



Abroad the rubber pedal never lost its vogue and its extinction 

 in this country was largely assisted by the craze for lightness. 

 The rat trap has obtained a hold that is too secure to be easily 

 shaken, but granted only that the rubber blocks are not too small 

 or too hard, there are those who will find in the rubber pedal a 

 grateful comfort that is not to be denied and that will add some- 

 what to the pleasure of cycling. He is a wise dealer who stocks 

 a few pairs of the pedals and calls the attention of his patrons 

 to them. — The Bicycling World. 



BORING IN THE EARTH FOR RUBBER. 



THE commissioner of public works of Tacoma, Washing- 

 ton, according to the local newspapers, believes there 

 has been something akin to an india-rubber tree forest bur- 

 ied 200 to 300 feet below the surface of the earth on the wide 

 stretch of prairie land south of that city. 



The force of men who are boring a 1,000 foot well for the 

 city have run into this rubber-like stratum of earth, and the 

 commissioner has gone out to the well several times to in- 

 vestigate the formation. The earth, or mud, it is asserted by 

 local authorities, is black in color and of the consistency of 

 gluey rubber before it is tempered for commercial purposes. 

 It will stretch with about an equal elasticity of crude rubber, 

 and it is a hard task to punch a hole through or cut it. 



For weeks it has been the despair of the well borers, as the 

 sugar would scarcely make an impression upon it, and kept 

 "slogging." The commissioner believes it may be a vege- 

 table formation commingled with silt washed down by rivers 

 to some prehistoric sea, which aeons ago was covered 

 through some subterraneaous cataclysm by the gravel and 

 sand composing the prairies. 



The electrical equipment of the Maurctania, the newest ship 

 of the Cunard line, embraces nearly 100 tons of insulated wires, 

 with a length of some 250 miles. 



