March 1. 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



313 



Imperial Chancellor was prepared asking that he permit the 

 release for private use of sufficient quantities of rubber solution 

 and rubber sheet to make inner tubes. 



The Erste Deutsche Special Hartgummifabrik G. m. b. H. was 

 recently incorporated at Konigstein with 30,000 marks |$7.140| 

 stock capital, for manufacturing hard rubber goods. 



Imhof, Bocholtz & Vogeler, Barmen, manufacturers nf rub- 

 ber bands, presented their employes with a week's pay on the day 

 before Christmas. Wives of workmen now in the field received 

 a money present amounting to more than one week's salary, and 

 the men at the front were also remembered. 



Dr. William Berghegger and Paul Jander have lieen made 

 substitute directors of the Reinische Gummi & Celluloid l'"ai)rik, 

 Mannheim, Neckarau. 



Arthur Schalkau has l)een made Inisiness manager ut the 

 Gummifabrik W'estend, Spadau. 



PERSCJNALS. 



Professor Dr. Harries, director of the chemical laboratories of 

 the Kiel University and noted for his works on synthetic rul)l)er, 

 has resigned to become a director of Siemens-Schuckert Werke, 

 Berlin. 



Georg Oehlschlagel, of the .Xsbest-und Gummiwaren-Firma 

 Reinhardt Leupolt. Dresden, was recently presented with a 

 diploma of recognition by the Dresden Chamber of Commerce. 

 .\USTRI.\. 



The Helsingborgs Gummifabriks A. G. recently held its annual 

 meeting of shareholders in \'ienna and declared a 6 per cent 

 dividend. 



It is reported from Buda-Pest that, in spite of the cutting off 

 of all imports of crude ruliber, the Hungarian Rubber Goods 

 Manufacturing Co. has. l)y modilications of its methods, been 

 able to produce the most needed rubber articles. .■\n extraordin- 

 ary meeting of shareholders was held recently, and it was decided 

 to increase the capital stock from 1.500,000 to 6.(X)0.000 crowns 

 I $304,500 to $1,218,000). .\ dividend of 16/, per cent, wa.' 

 declared. 



THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA, 



By a Sl^ccial Correspondent. 



WAR has brought about great changes here in Russia. The 

 impossibility of any extensive exports and the difficulties 

 of domestic transportation, coupled with enormous wheat crops. 

 have resulted in great congestion and in the accumulation of 

 enormous quantities of foodstuffs and other merchandise. In 

 many districts the accumulation of wheat has become so large 

 that it has been found necessary to turn even the churches into 

 granaries, while in other districts famine is rampant, due to a 

 lack of shipping facilities. 



Generally speaking, the masses are more prosperous now than 

 in normal times. The mobilization has made labor less plentiful 

 than heretofore and wages all have greatly increased. Un- 

 skilled labor that formerly earned less than SO cents per day is 

 now receiving as high as $3, and the prohibition of the sale of 

 intoxicants prevents the lower classes from turning the bulk of 

 their wages into vodka, as in the past. 



The result is clearly shown m the operation? of the Govern- 

 ment Savings Banks. During the month of Novcmlier there 

 was an increase in deposits of 47,600,000 rubles |$24,514,000|. 

 and the total deposits on Decemlier 1, 1915, amounting to 2,384,- 

 200,000 rubles [$1,227,863.0001. The increased prosperity is evi- 

 denced by greater expenditures for wearing apparel, inchiding 

 greater consumption of rublier footwear. It is now common 1 1 

 see galoshes worn by people who before the war could not afford 

 "rubbers,' which here in Russia, even in normal times, cost prac- 

 tically twice what they do in the United States. 



EFFhXT OF W.\R ON Rl'liBER K.VCTORIKS. 



Prior to the war our two largest rubber manufacturing com- 

 panies, the Russian-.\merican India Rubber Co., "Treiigolnik," 



Petrograd, and the Russian-French India Rubber, Gutta Percha 

 and Telegraph Works, "Prowodnik," Riga, as well as most of 

 our smaller rubber manufacturing concerns were in the hands of 

 (Jermans. The management was German, and Germans were at 

 the head of the different departments. 



When war came all these foreigners had to be eliminated and 

 Russians found to fill the vacancies. This alone amounted to 

 almost total reorganization. .After our troops had evacuated War- 

 saw, the German armies pushed forward into Courland and 

 threatened Riga so that the vast supplies of ma'terial, machinery 

 and finished goods of the great Prowodnik works had to be 

 removed to the neighborhood of Moscow. The magnitude of 

 this operation will be realized when it is known that the 

 Prowodnik works employed more than 18,000 hands and required 

 20,000 horsepower. 



The class of labor at the Riga works was what is known here 

 as Baltic labor, composed of Russians, Finns, Hebrews, Scan- 

 dinavians, Germans and Poles. The war made it necessary to 

 reorganize and new help had to be recruited and instructed. 

 This was successfully accomplished with practically no interrup- 

 tion in manufacturing operations. Prowodnik has materially in- 

 creased its capital, has practically joined hands with Treiigolnik 

 and has opened large offices and salesrooms in Moscow and in 

 Petrograd. 



Our leading rubber manufacturing companies are tremendously 

 wealthy and had large quantities of crude rubber and other raw 

 materials on hand when the war broke out. Before Turkey joined 

 in the struggle much raw material was imported by way of the 

 Black Sea, but since the Bosphorous was closed most of our 

 supplies have come via Vladivostok and by way of Archangel. 

 These imports via Vladivostok alone amounted to 112.000 poods 

 [4.044,633 pounds] during the first six months of 1915, so we 

 have experienced no shortage of crude rubber. 



Our large rubber factories have been able to maintain their 

 enormous production. During 1914. in spite of war conditions 

 which affected the latter portion of the year. Russia exported 

 $1,196,000 of rubber footwear and $1,466,000 of other rubber 

 goods. We are able to produce both solid and pneumatic tires 

 in quantities sufficient for all our needs: the tires we have been 

 importing are mostly of .American measurements for the equij)- 

 ment of the motor vehicles we purchased in quantities from 

 .America after the war started. 



RfBIiER FOOTWE.NR REP.MR SHOPS. 



The higli cost of our rubber footwear and the natural frugality 

 of our people has created in this country a trade unknown in 

 .Am.erica, the repairing of rubber boots and shoes. In all our 

 cities, towns and villages there are shops where "rubliers" are 

 repaired "while you wait." These shoe menders state that the 

 pul^lic now discards "rubbers" which in normal times they would 

 havL repaired. 



RLHUER ST.\TISTICS. 



Statistics for 1914, recently published, show that our imports 

 of crude ruliber and gutta percha amounted in value to $14,- 

 807.(XX), of which $6,881,000 were imported from Great Britain, 

 $3,182,000 from Germany, $797,000 from the United States, 

 $560,000 from the Netherlands and $164,000 from F'rance. Dur- 

 ing the same period our imports of manufactured ruliber and 

 gutta percha only amounted to $714,000. 



RUUBER SCR.\P. 

 Comparatively speaking, very little rubber scrap is reclaimed 

 here. Our leading companies can handle little more than 200 

 tons per day. Practically all of the rublier scrap produced is 

 collected for export to England, the United States and Germany. 

 Exports to the United States alone, avera.ged 6,235,916 pounds in 

 weight and $492,425 in value per annum during the last three 

 normal years previous to the war. This consisted chiefly in 



