Jam-. 



1916. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



191 



by President Colt and by J. Newton Gunn, George H. Mayo, 

 William E. Barker, E. S. Williams, Harry B. Hubbard, Charles 

 C. Chase, Raymond B. Price. George W. Perry and Homer E. 

 Sawyer. 



Every participant in this conference was presented with a 

 handsome gold badge, a Air simile of the trade-mark of the 

 company. 



The whole affair was a most successful one. .-Xll present were 

 filled with enthusiasm as they left for their liomes, determined 

 to beat their last year's record. 



Another event in the rubber footwear trade was the dedication 

 of the new building recently added to the Apsley Rubber Co.'s 

 plant at Hudson, which occurred too late to be fully chronicled 

 here. The event was celebrated by a banquet, and a ball, in 

 which all the employees of the company were invited to 

 participate. 



Owing to the demand for rubber heels and soles, I am 

 informed that orders were so heavy and so pressing that the B. 

 & R. Rubber Co., of North Brookfield, asked many of its em- 

 ployees to work Thanksgiving Day, paying extra wages to those 

 who availed themselves of the opportunity. The busy season 

 continuing, the workers themselves asked permission to put in 

 Christmas Day at the factory, an ofTer gladly accepted. Mr. 

 Richards promising to pay them double wages for this extra 

 time, they to work ten hours and receive pay for two 12-hour 

 days. 



The creditors' committee of the Walpole Tire & Rubber Co. 

 announced the sale of the land, buildings and equipment of the 

 company at Walpole and Foxboro, Massachusetts, to the Standard 

 Woven Fabric Co., Framingham, Massachusetts, for $188,000, 

 which was to be paid on or before December 15, 1915. The 

 Standard Woven Fabric Co. issued $500,000 worth of 6 per 

 cent preferred stock, to pay for the plant and take care of re- 

 equipment for its purposes, and the entire issue was promptly 

 underwritten. The Walpole plant includes 70 acres of land and 

 16 buildings, having 175,000 feet of floor space. It will be 

 utilized by the purchasers in the manufacture of Multibestos 

 brake lining and other specialties. Eventually the company ex- 

 pects to erect additional buildings, consolidate its business at 

 Walpole and dispose of the Framingham property. 



As a result of an all around increase in its business, the Em- 

 pire Rubber & Tire Co. has removed its headquarters to more 

 commodious accommodations in the large, new fireproof build- 

 mg at 179 Massachusetts avenue. 



In the suit brought by the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., which 

 upi>lied for an injunction to prevent the State treasurer, the 

 tax commissioner and attorney-general from taking steps to 

 enforce payment of an additional tax of $40,161.99, levied as 

 a franchise tax. as reported in The Indi.\ Rubber World of 

 December 1, Judge Pierce, in the Supreme Court, dismissed the 

 bill applying for the injunction, on the grounds that the com- 

 pany could raise the question as to the constitutionality of the 

 statute under which the tax is assessed in defending tlie pro- 

 ceedings which have been commenced by the State oflicials above 

 mentioned, to enforce payment of the tax. 



This year's annual meeting and dinner of the New England 

 Wholesalers' .Association was held at Young's Hotel, on Decem- 

 ber 8, 1915. The usual annual reports were presented and offi- 

 cers elected for the ensuing year. One of the post-prandial ora- 

 tions was an interesting address by William E. Barker, manager 

 of sales of the United States Rubber Co., who recently returned 

 from a business trip to Europe and spoke on the subject of "Rub- 

 ber Trade Conditions at Home and Abroad." 



Bankruptcy proceedings were instituted against the Columbia 

 Rubber Co. on December 22, by its creditors. The claims of the 

 petitioners amount to $2,140.79. 



E. S. Kidder, manager of the United States Tire Co., in this 

 city, attended the conference of the branch managers in Detroit. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN TRENTON. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THERE is a seeming incongruity in the statement that an un- 

 usual degree of prosperity caused the shutting down this 

 week of the Ajax Rubber Co.'s plant and two departments of 

 the John A. Roebling's Sons' Co., yet such was the case. The 

 odd situation was brought about by the congestion of the freight 

 yards and tracks in and around Trenton, preventing the move- 

 ment of carloads of coal destined for the establishments referred 

 to. Operations have been resumed, however, at both the .Ajax 

 and the Roelding plants and they are unusually busy. Not in 

 many years have the railroads been so severely taxed to take 

 care of both incoming and outgoing shipments of raw materials 

 and manufactured goods. The rubber manufacturing companies 

 are seriously inconvenienced by existing freight conditions. Re- 

 cent orders of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. prohibit the agents 

 from accepting consignments destined for New York with the 

 exception of foodstuffs. In many sections not a train of cars 

 can be moved, and it is estimated that 20,000 loaded cars are 

 blocked on the tracks between Jersey City and Pittsburgh. 

 Trenton rubber manufacturers generally agree that 1916 holds 

 promise of unusual prosperity for the trade, as many substantial 

 orders for next year have already been booked. 



The Ajax Rubber Co. has been incorporated, under tlic laws 

 of New York, with a capital of $5,000,000-- all common stock of 

 $50 per share par value — to take over the business of the .Ajax- 

 Grieb Rubber Co. Of the total stock. $3,000,000 will be issued 

 at once to exchange for outstanding Ajax-Grieb shares, and of 

 the remainder, part will be sold and the proceeds employed in 

 enlarging the Trenton plant. It is stated that this company's 

 contracts, with 300 dealers, aggregate $3,000,000, and for the pe- 

 riod ending August 30, 1916, gross sales of $4,500,000 to $5,000,- 

 000 and net earnings of $750,000 are predicted. The company's 

 annual earnings for four years ending August last, approxi- 

 mated $450,000, equivalent to $7.50 per share on the stock. 



The Essex Rubber Co. announces that the department in which 

 condensite was manufactured has been sold to the Pouvail- 

 smith Corporation, Poughkeepsie, New York, organized 

 with $2,500,000 capital by J. Wilson Poucher, Elias C. Vail and 

 Grant E. Smith, all of Poughkeepsie, to manufacture electrically 

 heated steering wheels for automobiles and other automobile 

 parts. The transaction was prompted by the fact that this de- 

 partment had outgrown the accommodations the Essex Rubber 

 Co. were able to afford it. The Pouvailsmith Corporation will 

 have the best of manufacturing facilities, and H. S. Morgan, 

 manager of the department for the Essex company, goes with 

 the new company as factory manager, besides being interested 

 in the corporation financially. 



The Roebling plant, which was recently visited by a very dis- 

 astrous fire, was again threatened this week when a blaze was 

 discovered in one of the cleaning departments. The prompt 

 discovery of the blaze was all that prevented a serious con- 

 flagration, as the flames were making rapid headway when the 

 alarm was turned in. 



General C. Edward Murray, head of the Empire Tire Co., was 

 one of the leading contributors to the poor children's Christmas 

 Fund raised in Trenton, 



