May I, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



259 



I disagree rather broadly with some of the makers of fire hose 

 with reference to the specifications in question. With one or two 

 exceptions they are the fairest lot of specifications we have ever 

 had submitted to us by any board of underwriters in the past. 

 If the said board of underwriters would make the few changes 

 we would suggest, we would be perfectly willing to agree to 

 make hose to their specifications. One of our objections, of 

 course, is to the time guarantee, simply on the ground that if we 

 follow as a rule any board of underwriters sets out to specify 

 how any hose should be made, then the burden of the guarantee 

 should be on them, and if a time guarantee is to be given, then 

 the manufacturer should be allowed to make the hose any way he 

 saw fit. In other words, the dictator of the specifications should 

 assume the guarantee, but we are so little at odds with reference 

 to this particular set of specifications themselves, we could hardly 

 feel warranted in giving you any expression of opinion that 

 would condemn them as a whole. 



I don't believe the trade at large would care to have expres- 

 sions published that would be as mild in character as ours, as of 

 course the trade as a majority are distinctly averse to the set of 

 specifications in question, and if the trade as a majority can 

 reduce these specifications to a much easier degree upon the 

 manufacturer, we should naturally be perfectly willing to accept 

 as easy specifications as could be evolved. We are none the less 

 perfectly willing to adopt the specifications with a few changes, 

 and so we are not a real important factor in this struggle to have 

 the same materially altered. 



April 16, 1908. 



SOME BRIEF COUMENTS. 



To THE Editor of The Indi.\ Rubber Wori,d: That was a 

 choice bit of ridicule in your April number. Keep "'Mr. Hooli- 

 han" busy ! 



April 4, 1908. 



To the Editor of The Indi.\ Rubber World : You deserve a 

 vote of thanks from the rubber trade for your "Hoolihan" article. 

 It's a "dandy." Won't you please keep it up? 



April 6, 1908. 



UNDERWRITERS' SPECIFICATIONS DEFENDED. 



To the Editor of The Ixiu.x Rubber World. Referring to what 

 has appeared in your columns recently on the subject of fire hose 

 specifications, this company believes and advocates the adoption 

 by the National Board of Fire Underwriters of specifications 

 covering the manufacture of fire hose. We feel that the under- 

 writers are justified in taking action to protect their interests 

 relative to purchase of fire hose by different cities. 



It is a fact that hose furnished New York city, under specifica- 

 tions governing the placing of recent orders, will guarantee that 

 city the best hose ever placed in fire department service. 



I should think it rather peculiar action to criticize an endeavor 

 to purchase the best and to obtain proper values. 



New York city specifications are not impractical, but they are 

 severe. We believe hose can be made and will be made in strict 

 accordance with each detail of the required specifications. 



April 10, 1908. 



LETTERS IN HTJMGRGUS VEIN. 



To the Editor of The Indw Rubber World: We saw the re- 

 port of Mr. Hoolihan in your last issue and at a meeting of our 

 board of directors we decided to insist on an apology from you. 



Why should the modest request of the Underwriters be criti- 

 cized? Their requests are milder than our trade has any right 

 to e.xpect. 



Some fire hose has been known to last for ten years, and if one 

 piece can be found that has lasted ten years, why should not all 

 hose last ten years, and if so, why not guarantee it fo." that length 

 of time? 



This is an era of education of the fire hose manufacturers by 

 the underwriters. Away with the old methods and on with the 

 new. The rubber men and cotton men who have been droning 

 over business for ten or twenty years, fooling with the problem, 

 ought to give place to the new scientists. Away with the old 

 trick of frictioning duck and have it "well and properly cemented 



to secure adhesion and durability.'' Tliat's the latest method 

 from the source of light. 



Suppose the fire departments do not take care of our hose. We 

 will ask the bureau to give us a solution. Suppose the new 

 specifications do "bust'' a few concerns, won't there be plenty 

 left? 



The chiefs and fire committees may think they know from 

 experience what kind of hose to buy, but what do they know 

 about "saponifiable matter" and "acetone extraction"? 



Our corporation has been greatly benefited by a study of the 

 specifications, and especially by that clause which tells us that "in 

 double jacketed hose it is recommended that spiral filler threads 

 be run in opposite directions in the fabric to prevent twist." It is 

 so simple it is a wonder it had not occurred to us. 



VVliat if the underwriters incure no risks by the new formulas 

 and guarantees ; have they not done enough for us in making 

 specifications for underwriters' mill hose to make us yearn to do 

 something for them? the wayback cotton and rubber co. 



X. P. RiExcE, President. 

 ITie Crossroads, April 6, 1908. 



Mr. Hoolih.\n, Overwriters' Inspector, care of The India 

 Rubber World — Dear Stir: Won't yez plaise come up here and 

 inspecht us? The chaif divil in our compounden room ait soome 

 pigs nuckles with ice crame on top ov em for deesert last noight, 

 and droonk the contints of two bottles labeled by the Overwriters 

 Labothry as "Apple Jack-ass-a-tone extract" and we are afeered 

 that he has pin holes in his loinings. 



Coome quick — we'll pay the frate. Yours trooly. 



RUBBER NECK HOSE CO. 

 Neverleak, X. J., April 4, 1908. 



COMMENDED BY AN EDITOR. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World: In your April 

 number appears a very clever illustrated article entitled "Hooli- 

 han's Fire Hose Specifications." We should like very much to 

 reproduce it in our columns, giving you credit therefor, and 

 would also like to know upon what terms we could have the use 

 of the cuts. 



An answer at your earliest convenience will greatly oblige. 



April I, 1908. 



RUBBER HEELS AND RELIGION. 



[LONDON LETTER IN THE NEW YORK "sUN. '] 



■ I ' HE Strength which religious conviction can attain has 

 ■*■ lately been illustrated in a curious way to the manu- 

 facturers of rubber boot heels trading in Ireland. They 

 have found that when the rubber is corrugated in the form 

 of a cross the sales of these heel pads have been almost nil. 

 This state of affairs was most noticeable in districts where 

 Roman Catholicism predominates. 



"It appears," says the manager of one firm of heel pad 

 manufacturers, "that the Celtic belief as to the power of 

 the cross is so strong that the thought of treading it in the 

 dust under one's heel is to be regarded with nothing but 

 horror. In these circumstances we have had to withdraw 

 all stock bearing the objectionable cruciform design and 

 substitute heels which are not calculated to offend religious 

 susceptibilities. It was only recently that we discovered 

 the cause of the widespread refusal to buy heels of our 

 usual design." 



Another manufacturer said that in the north of England 

 he had noted an entirely contrary state of affairs. The 

 presence of the cross was considered there an especial reason 

 for buying heel pads. 



The American consul at Colombo reports the exportation of 

 rubber tree seeds from Ceylon to the United States during 1907 

 of the value of $2,624. What may have been the exact destina- 

 tion of these seeds is not indicated, but it probably was the terri- 

 tory of Hawaii. 



