August i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



379 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



"T" HE past month finds conditions of trade in the rubber busi- 

 ■^ ness in San Francisco about the same as during the pre- 

 vious month, with some of the firms reporting a slight increase 

 in activity, and some stating that business has been shghtly more 

 quiet than last month. The general situation seems to be that 

 the trade is enjoying a steady although uneventful business. 

 While merchants seem sincerely to look forward to a satisfactory 

 increase, they will not say when the busier times will commence. 

 Most firms think that trade will begin to show increase in the 

 fall, and some contend that it will be next spring, and after the 

 new presidential regime has commenced that things will begin to 

 be something in the nature of "boom" times again. Corrmiercial 

 life is now at a comparatively low ebb, but there is enough to do 

 to keep all of the establishments going with fairly good results, 

 and in some cases the reports would indicate that confidence is 

 already sufficiently restored to have caused a considerable re- 

 vival in business. Reports from the interior of the coast and 

 country sections show that in the matter of crops the country 

 was never in a better condition, and it is only the unsettled state 

 of the money market that prevents conditions from being the 

 very best. 



Goodyear Rubber Co.'s New Building. 



[In the store and offices now completed at Nos. 587-591 Market Street, 

 the company have more room available than in the premises occupied 

 before the fire of 1906.] 



Mr. L. L. Torrey, manager of the Pacific coast branch of the 

 Pennsylvania Rubber Co., reports that business is getting into 

 pretty good shape and that collections are very good. In fact, 

 there is a great improvement in the trade in almost all lines 

 excepting perhaps the automobile business. So many people are 

 now away on their vacations, who have left their automobiles 

 idle, that there is not much buying or repairing in that line. 



Mr. Redding, sales manager of the Diamond Rubber Co., 

 states that the new store on Mission and Second streets is now 

 completely equipped with a full stock of mechanical goods and 

 tires, and that business is satis factorj-, although still quiet. 



The Barton Packing and Rubber Co., successors to Barton, 

 Squires, Byrne, Inc., have added two more hydraulic presses to 

 their rubber factory equipment and a new heater thus increasing 

 the capacity about 30 per cent. Mr. Barton returned this week 

 from an extensive trip through the Eastern states. The report 

 of R. J. McNeilly, sales manager, is that the outlook is good for 

 a fair fall business. The Boston company have issued a very 

 complete new illustrated catalogue. 



Mr. Matthew Hawe, treasurer of the Gutta Percha and Rub- 



ber Manufacturing Co. (New York), recently made a visit to the 

 Pacific coast, spending some time in San Francisco, where the 

 firm have an old established branch. 



William Eaton, representative of the New York Belting and 

 Packing Co., Limited, who was injured in an automobile accident 

 nearly a year ago, is again having trouble with his injured leg, 

 and may again have to go to a hospital. 



Mr. W. J. Gorham, of the Gorham Rubber Co., has returned 

 from Los Angeles, where he was looking out after the company's- 

 interest in the southern portion of CaUfornia. He reports that 

 things are picking up there, and in some respects he found busi- 

 ness better than in any other portion of the coast territory. 



Ed. Garrett, coast agent for the Yankey boiler and certain rub- 

 ber lines, has rented an oflice in the building occupied by the 

 Plant Rubber and Supply Co., on Beale street, near Market. 



Mr. R. H. Pease, president of the Goodyear Rubber Co., ex- 

 pects to go to Portland the ist of August. "Business is improv- 

 ing," he said, "and is getting on well up to the business of pre- 

 vious years. We now have a great many advance orders and it 

 looks as if the fall business would be very fair. We are settled 

 in the new lo-story building on Market street, near Second, and 

 have more ground floor space than in our old location before the 

 fire." The new store is handsomely fitted up in solid oak and is 

 well arranged for both style and convenience. In this issue is 

 shown a cut of the new building occupied by the company. It is 

 Class .\ in every particular, and in one of the most prominent 

 locations in the city. 



Coffin-Reddington Co., large wholesale dealers in druggists' 

 sundries, now occupy the new building which has been recently 

 completed at Nos. 35-45 Second street. 



Mr. W. Perkins, president of the Sterling Rubber Co., states 

 that trade seems to be getting some better, and that the outlook 

 is favorable for a good fall business. 



Mr. Sargeant, of the Gorham Rubber Co., states that from San 

 Francisco indications are that there will be a gradual improve- 

 ment, which will be more perceptible in the fall, and that in the 

 meantime business will continue to be rather quiet. 



Mr. Kanzee. of the Phoenix Rubber Co., is now showing a new 

 invention for which he has secured the agency — the invention of 

 a San Francisco man, on which a patent has been applied for. 

 The Phoeni.x company have secured the exclusive right to manu- 

 facture and sell the device in the United States. It is a sanitary 

 toilet seat, especially for public lavatories. It is made of hard 

 rubber, with rubber casket on the base. The seat is hollow on the 

 inside, and the hollow portion contains a sponge which extends all 

 around the seat and is kept saturated with a disinfectant. 



Mr. Caldwell, formerly sales manager for the rubber mechani- 

 cal department of Baker & Hamilton, is now in the employ of the 

 Phoenix Tool and Valve Co. 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



BY -\ RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



A L'GUST I marks the eighth anniversary of the establish- 

 *» ment of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., who now 

 claim to have become the largest concern in the world devoted 

 exclusively to the tire manufacture. The concern is the out- 

 growth of a business established by H. S. Firestone, August l^ 

 1900. At that time there were two employes — a bookkeeper 

 and a stenographer. The tires which put into practice Mr. Fire- 

 stone's patents in the line of sidewire solid tires, were manufac- 

 tured by another company. The business grew until the com- 

 pany now operate a factory of their own, in which 600 people 

 are employed. The business each month, according to the state- 

 ment of an official, amounts to a half million dollars. Branches 

 have been established in the principal cities of the United States- 

 and the tires introduced in all parts of the country. For a num- 

 ber of years the manufacture was confined to solid tires but 

 within recent years pneumatics have been placed on the market 

 extensively. 



