May 1, 1916.1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLp 



435 



modern three-story building erected contiguous to tlie work- 

 rooms, connections made by means of winding iron stairways, 

 aiid additional fire escapes thus provided. 



The next feature tal<en in hand was that of the hospital. This 

 was located oflf the calendering room, where the liability of ac- 

 (idents is the greatest. It is linislied in white, with tiled walls 



™F^Wp *j' 



SfRGEON's ( IrER.XTINT, RllOM AT THK X\TI(I 



Rubber Co. 



and floor, and equipped as an operating and emergency service 

 room. On the second floor of the upper building, midway be- 

 tween the shoe and stitching room departments, where most of 

 the girls are employed, is a cheerful rest room, in which there 

 are two beds and a medicine cabinet. It is here that Miss Ruth 

 Graham, a graduate nurse, who has general supervision of the 

 health of the employes, has her headquarters. 



Inability to provide suitable homes for expert sewers, has handi- 

 capped the company in obtaining tlie services of a sufficient 

 working force. To overcome this trouble in part, the company 

 took over the D'Wolf Inn, expending more than $10,000 on re- 

 pairs and for suitable heating and toilet arrangements, and opened 

 this as a boarding house in April, 1915. As nominal board only 

 is charged, the Inn is run at a loss. At present there are about 

 60 boarding at the Inn. The company has contributed a phono- 

 graph, but the girls pay for the hire of a piano. There are nights 

 of reading and dancing and a competent instructor is training a 

 class in gymnastics that the girls themselves have formed. 



Following suggestions of those interested in welfare work, 

 the company has installed a very expensive ventilating system for 

 the workrooms and widened the passageways in, and those con- 

 necting the buildings, to a uniform width of 25 feet, thus pro- 

 viding for easy exit should there be occasion for hurried leaving 

 of the shops. 



The work of fitting up one of the rooms as a restaurant and 

 lunch room for the employes has recently been finished, and good 

 food is now being served at moderate prices. It is also proposed 

 to fit up a room for recreation purposes, where the female opera- 

 tives may enjoy themselves during the noon hour. This will be 

 done as soon as accommodations can be obtained, and this may 

 result in the construction of a special building for this purpose, 

 as every foot of space now available at the plant is needed for 

 manufacturing purposes. 



In common with all the plants of the United States Rubber 

 Co., the Revere Rubber Co. maintains a safety committee, com- 

 posed of manager, master mechanic, superintendent and two 

 others, which safeguards the employes from injury by applying 

 protective devices to all machinery. It also looks after sanitary 

 conditions and everything else that will conduce to the comfort 



and advancement of the help. Special welfare work is done 

 among the girl employes, individual drinking cups are provided, 

 and a rest room is maintained. There is also a hospital, in which 

 first aid is given minor injuries antiseptically treated. It is 

 intended to place this work in charge of a trained nurse in the 

 near future, and to establish a recreation room. No lunchroom 

 is provided, for the reason that it is required that all shall leave 

 the premises at noon, that the rooms may be thoroughly ven- 

 tilated and conditions for the afternoon work made better. 

 Tennis courts are maintained for the free use of the employes 

 during the noon hour. 



1. Victor Stone, chief chemist at the Revere Rubber Works, 

 \ alley street, has taken possession during the past few days of 

 the new laboratory that the company has recently finished in 

 addition to its plant on Eagle street. This addition is said to 

 be one of the most complete and up-to-date of its kind in the 

 country. 



The Washburn Wire Co., of Phillipsdale, has begun dredging 

 operations in the Seekonk river, preparatory to the building of a 

 dock at the plant. In the past the company has received its 

 water shipments from a dock owned by the American Electrical 

 Works. This method has entailed much handUng, which will be 

 eliminated when the proposed wharf is completed. Other im- 

 provements are being made or are in contemplation at the plant 

 of the Washburn Co., and will be commenced a,t an early date. 



Julian A. Read, of this city, has been appointed executive secre- 

 tary and accountant of the Kansas City Tire and Rubber Co., at 

 Kansas City. Mo., and will make his headquarters there with P. 

 .A. Werner, organizer of the concern. The concern has also 

 recently taken over a plant at Chester, West Virginia, which is 

 to be a subsidiary. 



Edward L. \'iets, of Detroit, State agent for Michigan for The 

 B. F. Goodrich Co., was a recent visitor in this city in the inter- 

 ests of his concern. 



RUBBER TRADE IN TRENTON. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 'T'HE demand for automobile tires is reported as unprecedented 

 *■ in the local factories. It is estimated that more than eight 

 hundred thousand tires will be turned out before the coming 

 season has closed. The total payroll of the tire manufacturers 

 is now $3,000,000 a year. This sum will be considerably in- 

 creased, according to plans under way for next season. One 

 factory will fall 10.000 tires short of filling the orders it has 

 already booked. 



It is possible that some of this business is due to users antici- 

 pating their tire wants in view of the expected increase in prices 

 in the near future, but, in the main, it is but the reflection of a 

 normal healthy growth. One Trenton firm by working every de- 

 partment to capacity on day and night shifts has been able to get 

 ahead of orders, and it is said this company has made up several 

 carloads of tires which have been placed in storage. These will 

 be held for the better prices which will undoubtedly be obtained 

 within the next few months. 



Zinc oxide, it is said, will be at a much higher figure within a 

 few weeks and at the present rate of increase the price will be 

 almost prohibitive in mid-season if the present war conditions 

 continue. Red oxide of iron is being substituted for antimony 

 as a coloring agent for red tubes and tires, but even this is be- 

 coming steadily more scarce and it looks as though the gray 

 product will have the call almost exclusively. 

 * * * 



.Among the concerns filing charters with the Secretary of 

 State in .April is the Dayton Tire Co., of New Jersey. Head- 



