296 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June i, 1908. 



THE ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY. 



BUSINESS OF THE GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. 



THE sixteenth annual report of the General Electric Co. 

 (Schenectady, New York) for the year ending January 

 31, 1908, shows: Goods billed to customers during the year, 

 $70,977,168; orders received, $59,301,040; profits (after writing 

 off $3,745,989.06 for depreciation of plants). $6,586,653.37; 

 dividends paid, $5,183,614; surplus at the end of the year, 

 $16,513,836.14. The capital stock issued to date is $65,513,- 

 836.14. In the ten year period ended in January last, sales 

 billed increased from $12,396,093 to $70,977,168, an average 

 increase of 19.8 per cent, per year. Sales billed during 1907 

 increased 18.2 per cent, over the previous year. The gain was 

 in the first half of the year, however, the general depression 

 of business later aiifecting the company's operations mate- 

 rially. The number of employes declined from 28,000 to 

 20,000. The company have purchased land at Erie, Pennsyl- 

 vania, for additional works, instead of increasing the estab- 

 lishment at Schenectady, deeming it wise to have facilities 

 for production farther west. They will not build, however, 

 until business improves. The report emphasizes the increase 

 ill the use of electrical apparatus for industrial purposes. 

 [Last year's report in The Indi.\ Rubber World, August i, 

 1007— page 354.] 



A GERMAN ELECTRICAL JUBILEE. 



The largest German electrical manufacturing company, the AU- 

 gemeine Elektricitiits Gesellschaft (General Electric Co.), at 

 Berlin, celebrated on April 20 the twenty-fifth anniversary of its 

 founding. The business was begun in 1883 as the Edison-Gesell- 

 schaft with a capital of 5,000.000 marks [^$1,190,000] primarily 

 to introduce into Germany the Edison incandescent lighting sys- 

 tem. The present name was adopted in 1887 and the scope of the 

 company's work has extended until it covers the production of 

 every class of electrical apparatus, including insulated wires and 

 cables. The company have gradually absorbed other concerns 

 in the same field, and in 1903 a community of interests wa'? 

 established with the General Electric Co. of America. The num- 

 ber of employes in Germany alone is 30,700. The factories in 

 Berlin occupy 272.800 square meters [^ 2,935,328 square feet] 

 of space. Outside of Germany the company own several fac- 

 tories and maintain 40 agencies. The volume of sales increased 

 from 1,213.000 marks in 1884 to 216.081,000 marks [= $51,427,278] 

 in 1907. The share capital is now 86.000,000 marks [=; $20, • 

 468,000] . 



ELECTRIC WIRING OF THE "MAURETANIA." 



The electrical equipment of the new British steamer Maii- 

 rctaitia, the latest addition to the Cunard line, embraces over 

 200 miles of wires and cables. Power is transmitted from 

 the generators by means of 48 cables, referred to as being 

 of Henley's vulcanized rubber insulated type, covered with 

 asbestos on account of their warm position. They are sys- 

 tematically placed on porcelain insulators and protected with 

 steel plating in both engine and boiler spaces. Where pass- 

 ing through bulkheads and decks the cables are fitted in 

 watertight glands with fiber packings. Rubber insulated 

 wire in wood casing is employed beyond the auxiliary boards, 

 with a view to f-'cilitating alterations and extensions, and 

 great pains has been taken to conceal the wiring. 



THE COTTON SITUATION. 



THE London Economist reports that cotton weaving in Great 

 Britain was in a poor way at the beginning of the year, 

 and matters have gone from bad to worse, particularly on account 

 of the declining demand from India. It was estimated recently 

 that 15 per cent, of the weaving machinery in Lancashire was 

 idle, with 30,000 operatives unemployed. The exports of cotton 



piece goods amounted to 1,508,120,600 yards for the first three 



months of this year against 1,639,018.700 yards for the first three 



months of 1906. The British exports of cotton yarn, however, 



for the first quarter of igo8 were larger — that is, 62,030,400 



pounds, compared with 55,108,700 pounds for the first quarter 



of 1906. New mills are in erection to contain 4,000,000 spindles, 



and the Economist says it looks as if there will be too much 



yarn on the market for the looms. 



* * * 



At the recent West Indian Agricultural Conference, in Bar- 

 bados, considerable attention was devoted to the increase in 

 cotton culture in the West Indies. It is estimated that there are 

 now more than 24,000 acres under cotton, of which 20,000 are 

 planted to Sea Island cotton, which has proved very successful 

 as to quality of the product and is becoming profitable. The 

 West Indian export of cotton increased from 328,530 pounds in 

 1902 to 2.013,698 pounds in the first nine months of 1907, the 

 value of lint and seed in the latter period reaching £186.510 

 [:=$907,650.92]. The opinion prevailed that the production of 

 West Indian Sea Island cotton will yet prove of great importance 

 to the cotton industry of England. 



RUBBER INDUSTRY IN NEW JERSEY. 



' I ■ HE rubber industry in New Jersey is reported in con- 

 •^ siderable detail from time to time in the yearly reports 

 of the bureau of statistics of labor and industries of that 

 state, the latest of which covers the statistics for the cal- 

 endar year 1906. For the purpose of illustrating the growth 

 which has been made in the industry within a few years past 

 it may be of interest to contrast the latest figures with those 

 reported for the year 1899, as follows : 



1899. 1906. 



Establishments reporting 33 38 



Number of private firms 2 4 



Number of partners 4 9 



Number of corporations 31 34 



Number of shareholders 356 4.937 



Total capital employed $6,700,548 $13,143,208 



Value materials used $8,205,344 $15,840,571 



Value of goods made $12,441,996 $22,824,737 



Total wages paid _ $1,739,918 $3,075,239 



Average number employes 4-034 6.280 



Average yearly earnings $431.31 $489.76 



Average days operated 280.27 298.28 



Proportion business to capacity 81.97% 84.34% 



The establishments reported on above embrace manufac- 

 turers of hard rubber and soft rubber, and also rubber re- 

 claimers, which are not. in the truest sense, rubber manufac- 

 turers. At the same time, it is to be inferred that they do 

 not embrace certain concerns where rubber goods are not 

 the most important product, though in the aggregate their 

 rubber production is large. Such concerns, for example, 

 would be the John A. Roebling's Sons Co. (Trenton), insu- 

 lated wire manufacturers, and the Joseph Dixon Crucible Co. 

 (Jersey City), pencil manufacturers. For various reasons it 

 is practically impossible at any time, in any state, to ascertai:i 

 accurately the statistics for any industry; there are difficulties 

 in the matter of classification, disinclination on the part of 

 manufacturers to supply figures (which arc not forced to 

 do), and so on. 



The figures given above are of value, none the less, because 

 the concerns referred to have reported year after year on 

 blanks of the same character, and the table shows how their 

 volume of trade has devcliped. 



Rubber substitutes figure for tlie first time in tlie work of 

 the LTnited States census in the report for 1905. According 

 to Bulletin 92 of that census the production of such substi- 

 tutes in this country amounted to 254.892 pounds, of the value 

 of $63,724, or an average of about 25 cents a pound. 



