190 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[J.' 



seasonable dishes. Soups are lurnished at 7 cents ; cold meats 

 with potatoes, 17 cents : hot roast meats with "rtxin's," 23 cents ; 

 sandwiches, pies, puddings, tea and coffee, 5 cents. 



The restaurant is run on the cafeteria plan (a self-serving 

 system), and employees may purchase a full meal, or any part of 

 a meal from the menu. Those who prefer to bring their lunches 

 are required to eat them in the restaurant, where they have 

 tl'e use of' the tables free. This rule is made in order to bring 

 thf workers to.nethor socially. .\ secondary result is cleaner 

 oltices and less refuse in the waste baskets. 



!:i -TAiRAXT Used .\s Lecture Room. 



riicre is also a private dining room where the heads of depart- 

 ments and the salesmen are served, and where any customers 

 visiting the factory may be invited. Here a course dinner is 

 served, .-\djoining this is a rest room with current magazines 

 and the nucleus of a library. 



Thus the company is caring for the health and comfort of its 

 employees and the results are mutually beneficial. The workers 

 are healthier and happier, and give more efficient service to 

 their employers. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



EX'ERY branch of the rubber trade is getting a share of the 

 country's prosperity. In many lines production slows 

 down the last two weeks in the year, but instead we 

 hear of cases where demand is making overtime necessary. 

 The clothing business is one of these, and the leading com- 

 panies have orders enough ahead to keep them running full 

 time, and also immediate or delayed orders which make full 

 output imperative. Rubber heels and soles are in demand, and 

 one company, at least, is working nights, and even holidays to 

 keep abreast of orders. The mechanical goods people usually 

 slow down the whole month of December, but the month just 

 closed has proved a notable exception. The demand for rubber 

 belting is greatly increased by the tremendous advance in 

 leather belting costs, though this is in part supplied, where 

 applicable, by rope transmission. Druggists' sundries manufac- 

 turers are about as busy as usual at this season. They have 

 had good business, but it generally drops off about the first of 

 December, to start up again after the year is really going. 

 Hoot and shoe men had an unusual streak of business the middle 

 of the month, when a big snow storm made a consumer's 

 demand which caused the shipping forces of the wholesale 

 houses se\eral nights' extra work. 



* * * 



.■\s is very generally known, the Stoughton Rubber Co. and 



the .American Rubber Co. are subsidiary to the great United 



States Rubber Co. Following the newly established policy of 



concentration, these two companies have been merged into one 

 big corporation, which will continue to run the rubber clothing 

 factories in Cambridge and in Stoughton, but will consolidate 

 the sales departments into one, centrally located and fully 

 equipped for carrying on the combined business of the two com- 

 panies. The same officers will manage the business, which is 

 expected to be the most complete, best systematized organ- 

 ization in this line in the United States. The goods will be 

 sold under the same trade brands, namely Stoughton Rubber 

 Co.. .American Rubber Co. and Boston I'iubber Co. The loca- 

 tion for the new selling department has not yet been decided 

 upon, but will be at some point in the district where large buy- 

 ers congregate, wjio \ isit the clothing trade. 



The Stoughton Rubber Co. has for years been the Boston 

 agent for the New York Belting and Packing Co., and this 

 agency occupies one half of the large floor at 232 Summer 

 street. Now that the previously mentioned merger is prac- 

 tically effected, the New York corporation will take over the 

 management of its Boston business, and this will be transferred 

 In some new location as soon as the right one is found. 



One of the special advantages of the United States Rubber 

 Co.'s consolidation of the boot and shoe units of distribution in 

 Boston under one roof was proved during the middle week of 

 last month, when the storm caused such an influx of rubber 

 shoe orders that only a thorough system enabled Manager 

 Porter to get out the goods with the despatch demanded by the 

 emergency. For instance, on Friday, the 17th, nearly one thou- 

 sand different shipments were packed and sent out, and these 

 lots were considerably larger than the average orders. This 

 company has an immense store and storehouse of ten large 

 floors, and the shipping department is proving its efficiency in 

 Inisy times. 



The storm emphasized what was most evident for weeks be- 

 fore it happened, namely, the vexatious delays caused by freight 

 congestion. Both shipments and deliveries have been so de- 

 layed as to cause actual loss of business, supplies failing to 

 arrive when expected, and the car shortage interfering with the 

 forwarding of orders. The Monatiquot Rubber Co., at South 

 Braintree, solved the shipping problem most satisfactorily, by 

 trucking their goods over the road to Boston, and shipping by 

 boat to their customers who could be reached advantageously 

 that way. Mr. Turner is in receipt of several most com- 

 mendatory letters because of this accommodation to the custom- 

 ers of the company. 



The last week in December was a busy one with the branch 

 store footwear salesmen of the United States Rubber Co. They 

 gathered from Omaha, St. Louis, Indianapolis. Des Moines, St. 

 Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit. Toledo, Columbus, Pittsburgh, 

 Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Baltimore and New York, meeting 

 in Boston on Tuesday, the 28th. 



On that day the salesmen selling "American" rubber shoes 

 visited the mill at Cambridge, and the Banigan men proceeded 

 to Woonsocket. The next day they visited the National mill at 

 Bristol. 



The Candee, Hubmark and Wales-Goodyear salesmen in- 

 spected the Bristol factory, Tuesday, and their respective facto- 

 ries in New Haven, Maiden and Naugatuck on 'Wednesday. 



Thursday the clothing salesmen had a session at the American 

 mill in Cambridge, and after a lunch at the .American House, the 

 afternoon was spent there at a business meeting. 



Thursday night a reception was given to Colonel Colt, fol- 

 lowed by a dinner in the great banquet hall of the City Club, at 

 which nearly 500 were present. Felicitous addresses were made 



