July i, iqoSI 



THE INDIA R'J^BER WORLD 



319 



Published on the Ist of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO., 



No. 395 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD, NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. , 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 

 ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 38. 



JULY 1. 1908. 



No, 4. 



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THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 



THE CONTROL OF THE INDUSTRY. 



THE constant increase in the volume of crude rub- 

 ber produced is due, not only to new uses which 

 are being found for this material all the while, 

 but to the fact that new users are found every year for 

 the staple articles of rubber manufacture. Wherever 

 civilized people exist to-day many kinds of rubber 

 goods regarded as necessaries, and every country in 

 which such goods are made on an important scale is 

 adding every year to its export trade this class of mer- 

 chandise. Very naturally attempts are made from time 

 to time to establish rubber factories in new fields, for if 

 rubber goods are a necessity in every country, why 

 should not every country provide for its own wants in 

 this line? 



The people of every country appear to be able to do 



something in the way of manufacturing at least the coarser 



C: textiles, leather goods, and so on, even if still dependent 



S^' upon foreigners for the finer or better grades. But with 



• rubber it appears to be different. It is true that the list 



of countries in which rubber goods factories exist is added 



to year by year. But the bulk of the production in this line 



_ remains confined to the few countries which took up the 



industry at once upon the discovery of vulcanization. 



Of course some of the countries in which rubber goods 

 are now made on a small scale may later take an impor- 



tant rank in this industry, but it is safe to predict that 

 the most of them will not. It is well enough to make , 

 coarse cotton cloths with native labor in a country where 

 the demand is mainly for a cheap product. But people,., 

 who use rubber hose or tires or footwear or druggists' , 

 sundries want good articles, and generally want the best — 

 a class of products possible to make only with experience, 

 a high degree of efficiency, and generally capable of being 

 made at a much lower cost on a large than on a small 

 scale. 



For all of these reasons it is natural that the control of 

 the industry should long be held by those few countries 

 which have led in it for the last half century. There is 

 another reason, however, not less influential. There is no 

 other industry, perhaps, in which changes of practice are 

 so frequent as in the making of rubber goods. What rub- 

 ber factory in America or Britain or Germany is making 

 any money to-day, depending upon the mechanical equip- 

 ment of ten years ago, the same compounds, and the same 

 general practice? What then must be the position of the 

 outsider who, ten years ago or more, equipped a rubber 

 works upon the basis of even the best that obtained in 

 these countries at that time and since has introduced noth- 

 ing new- ? 



The rubber manufacturer, to keep pace with the indus- 

 try, must be progressive ; to do better than he did for- 

 merly he must employ new ideas and new methods; the 

 rubber industry, as a whole, is controlled by inventive 

 genius. A people who temperamentally lack the quality 

 last mentioned need not be feared in competition by the 

 countries which now make the bulk of the world's rubber 

 goods, no matter how imitative they may be, no matter 

 how industrious, no matter how low the scale of wages. 

 Wherever the new practical ideas originate the control of 

 the industry must remain. Wherever the rubber manu- 

 facture must go abroad for its ideas, practice, and me- 

 chanical equipment — inventing nothing, dependent alone 

 upon imitation — there may be good work done and some 

 money made in supplying home demands, but important 

 rank in the industry will be out of the question. 



THE COMING OF THE TAXICAB. 



THE introduction of the taxicab in America is treat- 

 ed at some length on another page, as pointing 

 to a ne\\- and ultimately important demand for 

 rubber tires. \\'e might cite many reasons why the 

 use of these vehicles may be expected to become very 

 extensive in this country, despite the fact that horse- 

 drawn cabs never have come into general use here. 

 But for the present our purpose is rather to suggest 

 that a few failures of taxicab companies while the 

 business is in its infancy will not necessarily prove 

 anything against the general proposition which we 

 have stated. 



It is clear that so many vehicles running regularly at 

 so much an hour will bring in a certain amount of money, 

 and the expenses of upkeep and administration may be 



