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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1916. 



The Rubber Trade in Germany. 



/vV.c'H/nr Cnnrst^ondc 



SINCE our country settled down to war conditions commer- 

 cial and industrial progress has been regular and from month 

 to month conditions have slowly but steadily improved. 

 With the exception of the building trade and the textile industries 

 all has been moving on as smoothly and as satisfactorily as could 

 be expected considering the many difficulties incidental to war. 

 Our rubber industry is in some instances more busy, in others less 

 occupied than it would be at this season in normal years. Most 

 tire factories are well provided with orders and the cable and in- 

 sulated wire industry is doing well. 



The readers of The India Rubber World will no douljt be in- 

 terested in the following brief review of the past year. 

 REVIEW OF THE YEAR. 



In spite of the war which had been progressing for five months, 

 the year 1915 began under conditions that were not unpromising 

 to our commercial and industrial life. 



The available supplies of both crude and manufactured ma- 

 terials were surveyed, and in some instances, were taken over by 

 the government or by organizations created by our rulers, and 

 their distribution was made to the best of all interests. While 

 our armies were fighting, the inventive, resourceful German minds 

 were working and creating serviceable substitutes for materials 

 and goods that threatened to be scarce. 



Trade was throughout the year confined to the domestic mar- 

 kets and to the neutral countries ; Sweden, Norway, Denmark, 

 Holland and Switzerland. Towards the end of the year, however. 

 Great Britain began to exercise so close a control over the trade 

 of these countries that they stopped sending us raw materials 

 and we were obliged to curtail our sales to them. 

 THE RUBBER SITUATION. 



The rubber manufacturers who had orders for the army and 

 navy, were very busy at the beginning of the year, while the 

 others had very little to do, chiefly on account of the high cost of 

 raw materials and the scarcity of skilled labor. 



Manufacturers, who had finished goods in stock, did a good 

 business, because the public realized the situation and purchased 

 heavily, providing for the future. Payments were generally sat- 

 isfactory although long credits were frequently looked for. 



Tlie heavy purchases and the measures taken by the govern- 

 ment to preserve sufficient crude rubber for the needs of the 

 army and navy forced rubber manufacturers early in 1915 to be- 

 gin extensive manufacturing of substitute or "war qualities" and 

 many rubber factories abandoned most of their rubber goods to 

 take up the manufacture of other lines of merchandise. Such 

 changes were not unaccompanied with great difficulties, as will be 

 readily realized by practical rubber men. 



No novelties in rubber goods appeared during the year, but 

 their absence was more than made up for by the almost complete 

 lines of substitute goods provided by our manufacturers who 

 justly consider these "war qualities" as the greatest achievement 

 of the German rubber industry. Our people have learned that 

 they can do without imported rubber goods and our manufactur- 

 ers believe that in the future they will have a far greater share 

 of the home business than formerly. The war has, further, done 

 away with many evil practices in systems of delivery and pay- 

 ments that had grown into our rubber trade and which we trust 

 will not appear again in the future. 

 TIRES. 



The enormous consumption of solid and pneumatic tires by our 

 army has given our manufacturers all they could handle in this 

 line. Towards the end of the year, however, army orders were 

 mostly completed and factories became less busy. The cycle tire 



industry, however, was not favored by war conditions. Only re- 

 claimed rubber was available for making casings and only very 

 limited quantities of crude rubber were allowed for inner tubes. 

 Then came the restrictions on the use of cotton fabrics which 

 practically stopped the manufacture of cycle tires for other than 

 military purposes. 



RUBBER TOYS AND DRUGGISTS' SUNDRIES. 

 Ihere was practically no call for rubber sporting goods, toys, 

 articles of luxury and the like and had a demand existed the 

 lack of the necessary raw materials would have greatly curtailed 

 manufacturing even in substitute qualities. .'\s an instance of 

 the effect of the crude rubber shortage, nipples, which prior to the 

 war were being made of transparent stock, have reverted to the 

 old-fashioned red and black qualities. 



Business throughout the year was very slack in sanitary and 

 surgical rubber goods, because the essential, fine crude rubber 

 could only be had for military purposes and skilled labor, which 

 is very important in this line, was really scarce. 

 MECHANICAL GOODS. 

 Some manufacturers of mechanical rubber goods report 

 good business, while others are dissatisfied. As few new ma- 

 chines were installed, and most old machines worked far 

 less than in normal times, there naturally was no great de- 

 mand for rubber mechanical goods. Their sale was further re- 

 duced by the stagnancy that prevailed in the building trades. Dur- 

 ing the summer much was expected of increased agricultural ac- 

 tivity and from the extensive use of machinery in this line but 

 this field did not prove to be sufficient to offset the lack of busi- 

 ness in othci lines. 



RECAPITULATION. 

 In spite of the lack of crude rubber, of the shortage of skilled 

 labor, the lack of naphtha, alcohol, sulphur and other accessory- 

 materials, in spite of the increased cost of coal and of lighting 

 material, not to mention the curtailed home trade and the almost 

 total interruption of foreign intercourse, our rubber industry is 

 still healtliy and full of life. It has learned the value of sub- 

 stitutes and will use iis knowledge in the future if any one at- 

 tempts to \\ ithold crude rubber supplies. 

 TRADE NOTES. 

 The Verband Deutscher Gummiwebwaren-Industrieller, G. 

 m. b. H. was recently organized at Barmen with 20,000 marks 

 [$4,760] capital, to promote the commercial interests of German 

 manufacturers of textiles for the rubber industry. 



GoIIert-Reifen, G. m. b. H., is the name of a new 50,000 mark 

 [$11,900] corporation recently formed in Berlin to manufacture 

 and deal in automobile tires in general and the Gollert patent 

 tire in particular. 



The Vereinigte Diirener Treibriemenfabriken G. m. b. H. at 

 Duren has been incorporated with a stock capital of 60.000 marks 

 [$14,280] to manufacture transmission behs, waterproof covers 

 and tents. 



At a recent joint meeting of the leading organizations of manu- 

 facturers and dealers in cycles and motor vehicles, a resolution 

 was passed emphasizing to dealers the importance of economy 

 and advising them to exercise a maximum of care in repairing 

 worn tires, to be cautious to discard none unless absolutely beyond 

 repair and informing them that they should not stock too much 

 rubber solution because the present qualities dry up fast even 

 when sealed in tubes and should therefore be sold rapidly. The 

 attention of dealers was also drawn to the necessity of holding 

 old and worn tire valves which they are permitted to sell 

 only in lots and after obtaining permission. A petition to the 



