March 1, 1916.1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



The Obituary Record. 



CHARLES H. ARNOLD, 



CHARLHS IIEXRV ARNOLD, for years a leading figure in 

 tlie crude rubber business, died at the Hotel JManhattan, 

 New York City. February 20. He had been an invalid for 

 over a year, having never fully rallied from a severe attack of 

 pneumonia. Some three weeks ago he left his home in Stone- 

 ham. Massachusetts, and came to New York to arrange certain 

 business affairs prior lo a visit to .\ugusta. Georgia. The effort 

 was too much for him in his enfeebled condition, and the end 

 came from physi- 

 cal exhaustion. 



.Mr. Arnold was 

 burn in Ro.xbury, 

 now a part of Bos- 

 ton, November 14, 

 1860. He attended 

 the Boston public 

 schools, and when 

 14 years of age en- 

 tered the employ 

 of Henry A. Gould, 

 who was then a 

 Boston commission 

 merchant. Soon 

 after Mr. Gould 

 began to import 

 gutta percha, and 

 later india rubber. 

 Both of these com- 

 modities were sold 

 to rubber manu- 

 facturers by the 

 enterprising voung 

 clerk. 

 IJurini; hi^ visit- to the rul)!)er factories he met Colonel N. 

 Chapman .Mitchell, who was just beginning the reclaiming busi- 

 ness that later became the great Philadelphia Rubber Works Co. 

 With Mr. Gould's consent, Mr. .\rnold began on his own ac- 

 count to purchase "gossamer" rubber scrap from the Conants, 

 Klous, Columbia, Mystic and other New England factories, 

 having it reclaimed and reselling the product. 



This became so profitable that at the age of 21 he embarked 

 in business for himself under the firm name of C. H. Arnold & 

 Co., with Frank H. Atwood as partner, selling gutta percha and 

 reclaimed rubber. This business prospered, but in 1894 he liqui- 

 dated it and became Boston representative of the firm of 

 Reimers & Mever, later Reimers & Co. On the retirement of 

 Hermann Reimers in 1903 the firm of Poel & Arnold was formed, 

 representing Heilburt, Symons & Co., of London, the head- 

 quarters being in New York City. In 1911 Mr. Poel retired, and 

 the firm name was changed to .Arnold & Zeiss, which it has since 

 remained. 



Mr. .'\rnoId was widely known and universally respected by 

 the rubber trade at home and abroad. .X man of marked in- 

 dividuality he impressed all with his sturdy common sense, 

 rigid uprightness and uncompromising fairness. Serious and 

 <5ften reserved, he nevertheless made firm friends, and where he 

 gave his own friendship it was loyal, frank and enduring. 



Of the five sons who survive him two are connected with 

 the rubber trade: W. H. Arnold, who is the Boston repre- 

 sentative of Arnold & Zeiss, and H. C. Arnold, who is the as- 

 sistant superintendent to the Converse Rubber Shoe Co. 



In accordance with Mr. .Arnold's last wishes the funeral ser- 

 vices held at his home in Stoneham, Massachusetts, were of tlie 



simplest character. Many prominent men in the rubber trade 

 were present, including members of the Rubber Club, Mr. 

 Arnold having been one of the founders of the New England 

 Rubber Club, a charter member of the Rubber Club of America, 

 and a director in both organizations. 



JAMES H. McKECHNIE. 



James H. McKechnie, president of tlic Canadian Consolidated 

 Rubber Co., Limited, Montreal, Canada, died at his residence in 

 that city on Febru- 

 ary 8 after an ill- 

 ness of ten days. 



Mr. McKechnie 

 was born in Granby, 

 Quebec, in 1849. 

 He received a pub- 

 lic school education 

 and early in life 

 was engaged in a 

 general store busi- 

 ness. While inter- 

 ested in a saw mill 

 near Granby he went 

 to Montreal to ar- 

 range for a pur- 

 chase of rubber belt- 

 ing. Visiting the 

 Goodyear store, he 

 noticed a large quan- 

 tity of gossamer 

 coats that had been 

 made in the States. 

 He obtained his belt- 

 ing and also a sug- 

 gestion that resulted in the large business he later developed. 



When he returned to Granby he started a factory for making 

 gossamer coats. That was in 1877. In 1883, in company with 

 the late S. H. C. Miner and others, he organized and became 

 general manager of the Granby Rubber Co., Limited. This cor- 

 poration, as every one knows, was very successful and had built 

 up a large and profitable trade when it was merged with the 

 Canadian Consolidated Rubber Co., Limited, and Mr. McKechnie 

 became a vice-president. In .■\pril of last year he was made 

 president of the company and since that time he was elected 

 president of the Canadian Consolidated Felt Co., Limited. 



For nearly two score years, Mr. McKechnie devoted his time 

 and energies to the study of the rubber industry. Much of the 

 remarkable success of his undertakings is due to his indomitable 

 will and indefatigable energy. A number of improvements in 

 rubber footwear have been the result of his inventive genius. 

 His keen foresight and wise judgment have been recognized as a 

 benefit to the companies with which he has been associated. Mr. 

 McKechnie possessed sterling qualities and his noble character 

 exerted an influence not only on business conditions, but on the 

 community in which he lived. He stood for courage, integrity, 

 intelligence .and prudence, and his death is mourned liy many 

 personal and business friends. 



SIR CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM. 



Sir Clements Robert Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., F.S.A., D.Sc, 

 late president of the Royal Geographical Society, the distin- 

 guished scientist, who was prominent in the movement that 

 developed rubber cultivation in the East, died at his home, 

 London, England, on January 30, aged 85 years. 



