April 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



in 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN GERMANY. 



By Our l\ri:iiUir Corrcs/'oiid.-nt. 

 /"^O.XDITIOXS here have not improved since my last writing. 

 We are still isolated from those parts of the world which 

 could furnish us the raw materials we need, and we all know 

 that this state of affairs will continue until victory is won by 

 our brave troops. In the meantime we continue to do as best 

 we can with substitutes for all those materials which are no 

 longer to be had. We have sufficient crude rubber for our 

 military requirements, but none is available for other purposes. 

 This situation is very difficult for those of our manufacturers 

 who have not the good fortune to have orders for the army or 

 for the navy. 



WAR RUBBER QUALITIES. 



I have already written much regarding war quality rubber 

 goods, which are made wholly or largely of substitutes for 

 crude rubber. 



It cannot be denied that our rubber manufacturers have done 

 wonders, and we can rely upon their doing better still. Our 

 rubber industry has prevented the wheels of our other indus- 

 tries coming to a full stop, and at the same time it has kept 

 our army and navy adequately supplied with the ruliber goods 

 they require in enormous quantities. 



Prior to the war, crude rubber prices were so low that our 

 manufacturers used less and less reclaimed rubber. Bitter 

 necessity has obliged them to reverse this policy, and they are 

 now using reclaimed rubber and substitute with the same skill 

 that previously characterized their handling of crude rubber. 

 Of course the substitute quality goods are not as good as stand- 

 ard qualities but, nevertheless, they answer their purpose. The 

 regrettable feature of it all is that consumers generally fail to 

 comprehend that present prices have little relation to quality. 

 They are too ready to believe that war quality goods, because 

 higher priced, should be at least as good as before-the-war 

 standard qualities. The increasing demand for reclaimed rubber 

 has naturally caused the prices to advance until now it costs 

 much more than did crude rubber prior to the war. Of course 

 goods made of such material are far less durable, and manu- 

 facturers cannot be blamed if the war qualities do not give the 

 service that was obtained from normal products. 



In this connection our rubber manufacturers should be grate- 

 ful to your German contemporary, the "Gummi-Zeitung." for its 

 incessant efforts to instruct dealers and consumers as to what 

 they reasonably can expect from the goods the manufacturers 

 have so much difficulty in producing. 



War qualities vary considerably, their durability being natu- 

 rally affected by the origin of the substitute used in manufactur- 

 ing them. The variations in the quality of reclaimed rubber 

 make it impossible for manufacturers to work on established 

 formulas. The manufacturer has to take what he can get, and 

 the reclaimer is not always able to obtain the chemicals he 

 would prefer in order to turn out the best possilile product. 



CEMENT DIFFICULTIES. 



One of the most difficult problems our manufacturers had to 

 solve was the making of rubber cements from reclaimed rubber, 

 especially those to be used in the manufacture of such articles 

 as inner tubes for pneumatic tires, for which purpose the ce- 

 ments made from the best crude rubber are used in normal 

 times. 



POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF WAR QUALITIES. 



Our rubber manufacturers and dealers in rubber goods are 

 much concerned regarding the effect war quality goods may have 

 upon the future of their business. Our rubber industry has 

 proved that it is independent of foreign countries, and can do 

 wonders even without importing crude rubber. -As war quali- 

 ties do not materially differ in appearance from standard quali- 

 ties, there is much conjecture among dealers and consumers as 

 to qualities after the end of the war. It is feared that manu- 



facturers will continue to produce substitute goods along with 

 regular qualities, and thus bring all qualities into disrepute. 

 There is really no basis for this fear, for all our factories will 

 return to crude rubber as soon as it is available at reasonable 

 prices because of the fact that it is far more simple and less 

 expensive to use crude rubber than it is to work as they are 

 now doing with its substitutes. 



TAXES AND WAR LOANS. 

 The authorization of war loans by the Imperial Parliament is 

 generally considered as a matter of course, but it is not quite 

 so with the imposition of new taxes, which will be necessary 

 to cover these loans. Here opposition is evident, and to avoid it 

 as long as possible the government is first turning its attention 

 to taxing persons who have profited by the war. Thus we have 

 the proposed "Excess Profit Tax," which, though it will not 

 directly affect the masses of the people, is of much concern to 

 our leading industries. This proposed "Excess Profit Tax" is 

 very likely to become a law. and it is to be expected that it 

 will prove especially severe upon our rubber manufacturing 

 companies who have been put to great expense by the war, and 

 who have already contributed their share to the defense of the 

 fatherland by generously subscribing to the several war loans. 

 Our rubber manufacturers are receiving high prices for their 

 products, but it must not be forgotten that much has been ex- 

 pended for special machinery for handling war orders, and for 

 experiments with substitutes, while the cost of both materials 

 and labor is infinitely higher than in normal times. 



CUSTOMS UNION. 



-A. subject which is attracting much attention here is the agita- 

 tion in favor of a customs union or "zollverein" between the 

 Central European powers. Generally speaking such a proposi- 

 tion has always been favorably considered by German interests, 

 whereas, in Austria-Hungary, many leading people were bitterly 

 opposed to any closer economic union with Germany than ex- 

 isted before the war. In October last, however, the Vienna 

 chamber of commerce adopted a definite policy in this connec- 

 tion, and gave the first official outlines of the proposition, at the 

 same time bringing forward specific demands, and establishing 

 a basis for negotiations, which have been making good headway 

 and regarding which I hope to be able to write more at length in 

 my next communication. 



TRADE NOTES. 



The Globus Gummi und Asbestwerke, G. m. b. H., Ahrensbock, 

 near Liibeck, manufacturer of rubber and asbestos goods, has 

 increased its capital from 200,000 marks [$47,600] to 780,000 

 marks [$185,640]. 



The Gummiwerke Max Biihling. G. m. b. H., was recently in- 

 corporated at Eschweiler, near .Aix-la-Chapelle, with a capital 

 stock of 60,000 marks [$14,280], to purchase and sell crude 

 rubber, gutta percha and similar materials, also to reclaim scrap 

 rubber, and to manufacture and sell rubber goods. 



The Norddeutsche Gummi und .Asbestmanufaktur Miillcr & 

 Eggeling, Hanover, has been dissolved, and Gustav Eggeling. of 

 the firm, has been made liquidator. 



Karl Flothow has retired from the board of directors of the 

 B. Pollack Co., Walterhausen, and the vacancy thus created has 

 been filled by the election of Paul Strobel. 

 AUSTRIAHUNC.ARY. 



The Kaiser Franz Josef's .Akademie der Wissenshaften 

 (Kaiser Francis-Joseph's Academy of Sciences), Prague, Bo- 

 hemia, has ofTered a prize of 5.000 crowns [$1,015] for the best 

 work on a substitute for rubber automobile tires. 



DUTCH EMBARGO ON RUBBER EXPORTS. 



The Netherlands Government has placed an embargo on all 

 exports of rubber and gutta percha and goods made of or con- 

 taining these materials. 



