Janiary 1. 1916] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



197 



THE RUBBER SITUATION IN FRANCE. 



By Our licgtiUir Correspondent. 



THE general position here remains much as it was at my last 

 writing. Manufacturers producing tires and other rubber 

 goods required by the army and navy continue to be very busy 

 wliile other rubber mills are comparatively idle. 



The evening of the day I mailed my last letter, a fire 

 broke out in the boiler-house of the Torrilhon rubber works at 

 Chamalieres, near Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dome. and a serious 

 conllagration would no doubt have resulted had it not been for 

 the promptness of the company's tire brigade. 



The workmen had left the factory at 6 o'clock and only a few 

 clerks were at work in the offices when at a quarter past seven 

 tire was discovered in an old brick building used as the boiler 

 room. The firemen on duty were prompt and intelligent enough 

 to open the steam blowoff valve, thus preventing an explosion, 

 which probably would have demolished the whole plant. The 

 property loss resulting from the lire was large; however, it will 

 not interfere with the operation of the plant or result in laying 

 off any of the employees. 



The Torrilhon company, or Societe Anonyme des Anciens 

 Etablissements J. B. Torrilhon, as it is registered, is one of the 

 oldest rubber manufacturing companies in this country and has 

 a capital of 6.000,000 francs [$1,158,000]. 



M.\CHI.\ERV IMPRESSMENT. 



Official notices were posted recently on the walls of every 

 town, village and hamlet throughout this country, calling for the 

 compulsory declaration to the local authorities of all lathes, 

 planers, drill-presses, hydraulic presses and steam hammers, with 

 the exception of those to be found in State workshops. This 

 declaration is incumbent on the owners, or in their absence, the 

 landlords, guardians or other persons in charge of the buildings 

 in which the machinery is to be found. Penalties varying from 

 $19 to $400 are imposed for failure to declare or for false declara- 

 tion. Obviously the object of this measure is to obtain the use 

 of all machine tools which are standing idle or at present in use 

 for other than military purposes. These idle tools are being 

 requisitioned or in certain cases being put into use where they 

 stand. The tire presses at the Continental factory near Paris 

 have been taken over by the military authorities for the manu- 

 facture of 75 millimeter shells. It will be remembered that this 

 factory is a branch of the Continental Caoutchouc & Gutta 

 Percha Co., Hanover. Germany. The French factory of the 

 British Dunlop Rubber Co.. Limited, is being almost entirely used 

 for shell making, and other tire factories possessing hydraulic 

 presses not absolutely needed for the tire business have been 

 turned over to the manufacture of shells. 



C.VSOLENE SHORTAGE. 



In my last letter I stated that the gasolene famine was not 

 affecting the rubber industry here. This also applies to the 

 use of motor vehicles generally, the supplies of gasolene are 

 ample for military purposes and, owing to war conditions, there 

 are very few motor vehicles in private use ; so the shortage is 

 not very severely felt except in Paris, where it has interfered 

 with the taxicab service. 



.'\s a general rule, Paris taxi-drivers purchase their own fuel 

 and retain a certain percentage of their receipts. In some in- 

 stances the companies operating taxis are able to supply gasolene 

 to chauffeurs at better prices than it could be obtained by them 

 in the open market. Prior to the war the amount supplied was 

 about iVi gallons per day. This has been cut down to 2li gallons. 

 with which the chauffeurs are expected to travel 60 miles. The 

 taxi-drivers claim that they cannot average more than 50 miles 

 with this quantity of fuel and when they have used up their 

 allowance of lYs gallons they return their cabs to the garage, 

 refusing to purchase gasolene in the open market. The result is 



that taxis are very scarce after nightfall, when they are most 

 needed by theatergoers and others. Motorbus services in Paris 

 are now practically non-existent and this, coupled with the lack 

 of taxis, is causing great loss to theaters and restaurants and 

 bringing protests both from the public and from the owners of 

 these establishments. Appeals have been made to the municipal 

 authorities who, however, have no power to ameliorate the situa- 

 tion. The few refiners who monopolize the gasolene supply of 

 France are being much criticised, as it is maintained that an 

 abundant supply can be obtained from America and therefore 

 there is no reason for the present shortage. The French Govern- 

 ment has not imposed any additional taxes upon gasolene since 

 the war started, yet prices have increased more than 35 per cent. 

 The retail price is 2.70 francs [52 cents] per gallon outside Paris, 

 where there are no local ta.xes, while the "octroi," or city tax, 

 raises the price to 4.25 francs [82 cents] per gallon within the 

 fortified walls of the capital. 



SEQUESTRATION OF TEUTONIC FIRMS. 



The Chamber of Commerce of Paris published last December 

 the first list of German and Austro-Hungarian concerns whose 

 property in France has been sequestered by the French authorities. 

 The following thirteen firms engaged in the rubber and allied 

 trades are taken from this list : 



Societe des Joints de Caoutchouc (rubber packing) ; Peter's 

 Union (tires) ; Societe Continentale (tires, etc.) ; Compagnie 

 Continentale (tires and other rubber goods) ; Dusendschon et Cie 

 (crude rubber) ; Bernhard Von Delden (rubber matting and 

 linoleum) ; Delmenorster (linoleum) ; Glaser (rubber garments) ; 

 Traun (rubber goods); Straus (rubber); Scherr (rubber 

 heels) ; Lazlo (rubberized fabrics and linoleum) ; and Charles 

 Xathan (electric wires and rubber). 



SPORTING GOODS. 

 The practice of outdoor sports, which for a number of years 

 has been receiving increased attention in France, is not languish- 

 ing, as might be expected under war conditions. Football, ten- 

 nis, hockey are still popular and tournaments are almost as 

 frequent as in time of peace. The government encourages sports 

 among the soldiers and every regiment of our army has several 

 Rugby or Association football teams. 



THE RUBBER SITUATION IN SWITZERLAND. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 HTHE position of Switzerland in the present struggle of na- 

 tions is peculiar. The war has been the cause of great loss 

 to this country; it is stated that the hotel industry alone has 

 lost over 500,000,000 francs [$100,000,000] since the outbreak of 

 hostilities, while the fact that it is necessary to keep the army 

 mobilized is a source of great expense. But these are not all 

 our troubles. This neutral country is like a little island in the 

 midst of the surging sea of fire and death by which it is sur- 

 rounded on all sides. We have commercial treaties with all 

 the fighting nations and do not wish to see any of these con- 

 tracts broken, so our position is very difficult. 



The Swiss national industries are all practically what might 

 be termed converting industries: they are engaged in improv- 

 ing and increasing the value of raw materials and partly man- 

 ufactured goods imported from abroad. Raw and partly manu- 

 factured materials are received from or through all the countries 

 now engaged in a struggle for life or death, for manufacture 

 and improvement, chiefly for re-exportation. 



Practically from the beginning of the war there have been 

 the Allies, on the one side, willing to furnish all the raw ma- 

 terials our industries could use and also all the manufactured 

 goods Switzerland is accustomed to import, on condition that all 

 these materials and goods be used at home and none exported to 

 the central European powers. England, for instance, is willing to 



