March 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



309 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



l^y Our I\ri;i(lar Corrcs[>ondi-nt. 

 /GENERAL PROSPERITY is visiting the various branches 

 ^^ of the rubber trade, and the expectations are that he will 

 tnake a lengthy stay. Mechanicals arc having a good call. There 

 is joy for the belting men in the scarcity of leather, and the 

 consequent increased demand for rubber belting. A call for fire 

 hose is always expected soon after town-meeting days in March. 

 Orders for garden hose begin to flow at the same time. Cloth- 

 ing manufacturers already have more business than they can 

 comfortably handle and salesmen now out are sending orders 

 for more. The tire manufacturers are busy right along with 

 orders ahead, and no trouble has been found in securing business 

 at the advanced prices. Druggists' sundries are. at least, nor- 

 mally active. 



ruary 14, and to its middle states customers at New York City 

 on February 23 and 24. On these dates the orders are taken for 

 samples, and these are combined and put through the factories 

 as one order, and then all shipped simultaneously, so that no 

 favoritism is shown. All the jobbing houses thus receive their 

 samples on approximately the same date. 



Mention was made last month of the consolidation of the 

 .American Rubber Co. and the Stoughton Rubber Co., and the 

 removal to new offices and salesrooms early this month. This 

 combined concern is the largest manufacturer of rubber and 

 rainproof clothing in the world. The first-mentioned company 

 manufactures 3,000 garments per day, and the latter 1,200. 

 It is the intention of the new management to increase this by 

 alinut 20 per cent, in the near future. 



The Stoughton Rubber Co.'s F.\c 



Since the second week in February, New England has had all 

 the snow it cared for, and while the general public may not have 

 been pleased with the snow, thaw and slush, the rubber hoot 

 and shoe trade has flourished. 



Occasionally a traffic policeman is run over or crowded be- 

 tween moving vehicles, and some have been severely injured. It 

 is claimed that the dark uniforms they wear, especially the black 

 rubber coats, blend too easily with rain and fog. Some time ago 

 a prominent rubber clothing man endeavored to interest the 

 police officials in the matter of apparelling their crossing offi- 

 cers in white rubber uniforms on rainy and dark days, but no 

 sale was made. 



Late in January a mechanical traffic regulator was put on trial 

 at Winter and Tremont streets. This was in charge of its in- 

 ventor, who, on a rainy day, donned a complete suit of white 

 rubber, a cap with shoulder cape, overcoat with cape, and rub- 

 ber boots. This man was so much more conspicuous than the 

 police officer stationed near him that the question was at once 

 on the lips of pedestrians, teamsters and inotorists, "why 

 shouldn't the police be so dressed?" 



Undoubtedly there are arguments in favor of making the 

 "Traffic King" more conspicuous than he is todaj', encased in a 

 black rubber coat. It would be a good sale for some concern 

 to outfit 130 or 140 policemen with white rubber helmets, coats 

 and boots, but so far, no one has been smart enough to secure 

 such an order. 



The Revere Rubber Co., whose main office and factory are at 

 Chelsea, has leased the second floor in the handsome new 

 business building, 62 High street, where it will move its 

 Boston office. The accounting and sales departments will be 

 located here, and stock will be carried to fill detail orders. This 

 new location is especially appropriate for the business, being 

 situated in a section very largely devoted to machinery and lines 

 to which this company caters. 



The American Rubber Co. exhibited its line of clothing sam- 

 ples to its western jobbing customers at Chicago, Illinois, on Feb- 



This merger will remove from the trade lists the time-honored 

 name of the Stoughton Rubber Co., though only in name will the 

 change be noted. All its specialties will be made as heretofore, 

 and its customers served as they have been in the past. The his- 

 tory of the Stoughton Rubber Co. is interesting. It began in 

 1877 as the Mystic Rubber Co., with a capital of $13,000. Ira F. 

 Burnham, who at the time of its organization became one of its 

 two traveling salesmen, was made superintendent and manager in 

 1881. This company was the second to manufacture rubber 

 gossamer garments, the cloth being coated in Stoughton and 

 the garments made up in Boston. In 1883 the manufacture of 

 calendered clothing was begun and much machinery was added. 



In February. 1889. the Stoughton Rubber Co. was organized, 

 with a capital of $100,000, to succeed the Mystic Rubber Co. 

 In April of the same year the capital was increased to $200,000, 

 and the company took over the assets and good-will of the Hall 

 Rubber Co., of VVatertown, Massachusetts. New buildings were 

 added, and the stitching department removed to Stoughton, 

 where this company was the first to discard foot-power sewing 

 machines for steam power in the manufacture of rubber cloth- 

 ing. In 1893 the company started the manufacture of mackin- 

 tosh clothing, and two years later a line of cravenette rain gar- 

 ments was added. Mr. Burnham became president and general 

 manager in 1903. Since then the history has been one of steady 

 progress. Large additions to the plant have been frequent, tene- 

 ment houses for its workmen have been built, and the works 

 now employ between 300 and 400 hands. 



The history of the .A.merican Rubber Co., of East Cambridge, 

 is too well known to need telling here. This immense plant is 

 devoted to the inanufacture of footwear and clothing. The lat- 

 ter department has been under the sales management of N. 

 Lincoln Greene, who is well known throughout the entire trade. 

 In the new organization, in which both Messrs. Burnham and 

 Greene are vice-presidents, Mr. Greene will be manager of the 

 clothing department, while Mr. Burnham will have general over- 

 sight of manufacturing. Mr. Greene will have as assistant man- 

 ager of the clothing department Ellsworth H. Hicks, who was 

 vice-president and principal salesman of the Stoughton Rubber 



