April i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



235 



That concern, however, held that the verdict awarded was in- 

 sufficient to cover the damages, and an appeal was talten to the 

 court of errors and appeals. After hearing argument the latter 

 court ordered a new trial. 



The rubber company claimed that on July 10, 1903, they en- 

 tered into a contract with Morris & Co., under which the latter 

 were to furnish duck to the former at a specified price. The 

 Empire company alleged that after some of the duck had been 

 delivered the price of the raw material advanced and Morris & 

 Co. failed to keep the contract The complainant company 

 averred that owing to this failure they were forced to buy duck 

 in the open market and pay a much higher price for it. The 

 suit was brought to recover the alleged loss, the total amount 

 claimed being $6,864. 



SOUTH AMERICAN INTERESTS. 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



BUSINESS conditions evidently are improving. "Our sales 

 during the months of February and March were greater 

 than those made during the same months a year ago," said one 

 of the officers of the Diamond Rubber Co. From the sales de- 

 partments of the other Akron companies come similar reports. 

 The demand for rubber goods, and especially tires, has been 

 growing steadily since the first of the year. During the dull 

 months of the past winter the various concerns, rather than lay 

 off their employes, did not stop manufacturing their products 

 until their warehouses were full. Now they are cutting down 

 this surplus stock before resuming operations in full. But at all 

 of the plants employes are being taken back every day, and 

 from present appearances it will be but a comparatively short 

 time before conditions will have reached the normal stage. 



At the plant of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. all of the 

 old employes are working full time. A night shift was put on 

 during March. The secretary of the company announces that 

 the sales for March are larger than a year ago. 



The Adamson Machine Co., the incorporation of which was 

 reported in the last issue of this paper, to succeed to the rubber 

 machinery business of A. Adamson, has been organized with the 

 election of Alexander Adamson, president and general manager; 

 W. E. Slabaugh, vice president; R. B. Koontz, secretary; and 

 C. J. Gilletly, treasurer. The incorporation of the company will 

 in no way change their general business, except that it is their 

 purpose to erect a new plant on a site of 5 acres recently ac- 

 quired, and for which plans are now under consideration. 



The Swinehart Clincher Tire and Rubber Co. have begun a 

 suit in the United States district court against Frank F. Tillot- 

 sen, cashier of the Citizen's Savings Bank of Detroit. Tillotsen 

 is charged with using a tire made by the Motz company, which 

 infringes upon the Swinehart concave patents. 



The Swinehart company are meeting with success in the 

 manufacture of their adjustable and quick detachable truck tires 

 and rims. They are something of a novelty in equipment for 

 vehicles using solid tires, and a decided improvement over for- 

 mer attempts along this line. 



The Diamond Rubber Co. have not yet entered extensively 

 upon the manufacture of insulated wire, although orders are be- 

 ing received and filled in considerable quantities. It will prob- 

 ably be several weeks before this new department of the plant 

 will be operated upon as extensive scale as has been contemplated. 



The Akron Toy Co., consisting principally of menibers of the 

 Swinehart Clincher Tire and Rubber Co., are manufacturing 

 outfits for the game of Diabolo. Already the sales are reported 

 as being unexpectedly large. 



The leading Akron manufacturers of rubber tires will be repre- 

 sented prominently in the automobile carnival to be held in 

 New York the first week in April. 



PHOPOSED RUBBER LEGISLATION IN BRAZIL. 



A BILL has been introduced in the Brazilian congress authoriz- 



M. 



ing the government to grant a premium of 50 contos [= 



about $15,000] to any one who shall invent an economic process for 

 the extraction of rubber without causing injury to the trees, and 

 for its prompt coagulation. To encourage the establishment of rub- 

 ber manufactories in Brazil, the bill also grants to the first five 

 rubber factories which within two years are established in the 

 Acre territory and in the states of Amazonas, Para, Bahia, Sao 

 Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro exemption from the payment of im- 

 port duties for a period of five years on all material and ma- 

 chinery imported for said mills. 



THE COMING BRAZILIAN EXPOSITION. 



M.AJOR J. Orton Kerbev, for some years United States consul 

 at Para, after which he traveled extensively in South America, 

 and especially in the rubber region of the Amazon, about which 

 he has written extensively, will be in attendance at the National 

 Brazilian Exposition of 1908, to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 

 May to December, inclusive. Major Kerbev will most likely, 

 while in Brazil, revisit the rubber regions in the north, keeping in 

 mind the collection of material for another book that he has in 

 prospect. He is now connected with the International Bureau of 

 American Republics, at Washington. 



Better facilities for reaching Rio from the United States exist 

 than formerly, and the management of the exposition will attempt 

 to secure a large attendance from the northern republic as a 

 means to bringing about closer relations between the people of the 

 two countries. 



Not a little interest has been expressed in the scientific expedi- 

 tion organized lately in Boston for exploring the southern water- 

 shed of the Amazon, under the leadership of George M. Boynton. 

 It is planned to begin at Pernambuco in July next, and to devote 

 five years to the work. The party starts with 35 members. No 

 doubt they will add considerably to the existing stock of 

 knowledge of the Brazilian rubber regions. 



AN OVERWHELMING RESULT. 



The president of the esteemed Amazon Trading and Develop- 

 ment Co. (Cleveland, Ohio) on March 7 took his pen in hand to 

 write a few lines to his friends to advise that Mr. J. W. Ranger, 

 of New York city, had just purchased $100,000 of the stock 

 of the company, "which means a great deal more than that simple 

 statement might convey under ordinary circumstances." Like- 

 wise, Mr. Ranger "has also secured several blocks of this stock 

 for his immediate friends." Furthermore, $500,000 of the stock 

 has been placed with an English syndicate. President Ewing 

 writes among other things : "We began the sale of our stock on 

 the tenth day of January and at once mailed out our prospectus ; 

 the result has been what you might call overwhelming: people 

 have grasped the possibilities and realized a number of things." 

 The company will not be surprised if their dividends should be 

 double the par value of the stock every year, which is not so 

 bad, considering that "this is not a speculative business." There 

 is no record of any rubber having reached New York from the 

 company's headquarters at Egos. P. S.— There is not much 

 record of Egos. 



S.^MPLES of Para rubber from the government plantations at 

 Mergui, Burma, sent lately to London for examination were re- 

 ported to compare favorably in composition and physical prop- 

 erties with samples of Para rubber from Ceylon and Malaya. 



Following a fire in Pittsburgh, said to have resulted from the 

 bursting of a rubber hose connecting a gas pipe and a small stove, 

 the authorities have taken the stand that the use of such devices 

 is fraught with danger, and a city ordinance has been proposed 

 prohibiting the use of rubber tubing for the purpose referred to. 



