1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



The Rubber Trade in Germany. 



S_v Our Regular Correspondent. 



THli only article in which original qualities are jealously main- 

 tained — the rubber tire — has been placed under strict embar- 

 go, as far as domestic trade is concerned. Every owner of 

 rubber tires was ordered, as a preliminary step, to register them. 

 The next step was their inspection by government officials and, if 

 found suitable for military use, they were "commandeered," at 

 a government appraisement, by the Power Wagon Department 

 of the German Army. To prevent any tires slipping through its 

 lingers, the government issued a decree prohibiting the sale of 

 rubber tires of any description without the consent of the mili- 

 tary authorities. Add to this the requisitioning of all motor 

 vehicles that could be used by the army, and the position of the 

 tire industry in Germany may easily be understood. 



A "war meeting" of tire manufacturers was recently held in 

 Berlin to discuss means for the relief of the tire scarcity and 

 the advisability of establishing a central office, through which 

 manufacturers could conduct all their purchases of crude rubber 

 and thus prevent "corners" and speculation. 



Tire and automobile manufacturers recently addressed a 

 memorial to the war minister, calling his attention to the fact 

 that while the casjngs made in German factories answered all 

 requirements, the quality of the inner tubes was unsatisfactory, 

 it being impossible, from the material at their command, to make 

 good tubes. It was suggested that, at regular intervals, stipu- 

 lated quantities of crude rubber of suitable quality be released 

 to inner tube manufacturers, to enable them to maintain the 

 average of quality. 



Before the war broke out competition between German 

 and foreign tire manufacturers in Germany was so bitter 

 that prices were cut and overhead expenses increased to the 

 extent that no reasonable margin for profit was left. The 

 initial cause of the trouble appears to have been the opening 

 by tire manufacturers of too manj- branches. As soon as a 

 company opened a branch office with stock in a new place 



smiths and retail dealers in cigars and cigarettes, not to men- 

 tion the tremendous number of cycle dealers who handled 

 automobile tires. The principal object of all these dealers 

 was to make a showing. The sale of automobile tires 



aiiutlur company would do the same thing, with the result 

 that one factory after another was obliged to support an ever- 

 increasing number of branches and small stores, the turnover 

 of which was very often too small to pay expenses. 



In small places, where regular tire or automoliilc dealers 

 did not exist, and even in places maintaining garages, stocks 

 of tires were turned over to grocers, bakers, butchers, black- 



WoMEX Testing Inner Tube~. 



was merely incidental to their business and they were satisfied 

 with extremely small profit, but the legitimate trade suffered. 

 Prices were cut and under-cut, many people selling tires only 

 for "beer money". In many instances tires worth $40 were 

 sold with from 50 cents to a dollar profit. 



Tire manufacturers, at first, thought that the small dealer was 

 of little importance to them, that people had to have tires and 

 would buy them and that the dealer would have to sell even 

 if he made no profit. They soon found out, however, that the 

 price-cutting was as detrimental to their interests as it was 

 to those of the dealer. The automobile tire trade was profit- 

 able to no one, not even to the consumer, who was at a loss 

 to know what tire to buy and often bought the wrong one. 



A movement is now- under way in Germany to remedy this evil, 

 and it is expected that dealers and manufacturers will cooperate 

 in placing the automobile tire business on a solid commercial 

 basis. German tire interests are also advocating the boycott 

 of all foreign-made tires and an endeavor will be made to 

 prevent dealers selling foreign-made tires, even if the tires 

 are profitable to them. Attempts are being made to place all 

 the former troubles of the trade at the door of foreign manu- 

 facturers, whether maintaining factories in Germany or not. 

 SOLID RUBBER TIRES. 



The increasing demand of our army trucks for solid rubber 

 tires led many of our manufacturers to take up this line, with 

 whieh. in many cases, they were not at all familiar. Many costly 

 iiii-.takes were rnade in this way, the most common being the 

 -election of compounds on the sole merit of their cheapness. 

 .Mileai;e guarantees were handed out indiscriminately, with the 

 result that many have spent fortunes to learn that a rubber com- 

 iiouiid can never be too good for a solid rubber motor truck tire. 



( )ur tire manufacturers are all very busy and expect excep- 

 tionally good business to follow the war. Horses will be scarce, 

 and it is very likely that the use of motor vehicles will be further 

 extended by the low prices at which used, but .still serviceable 

 machines will be sold by the army. Special companies have 

 already been formed for rebuilding war automobiles. Auto- 

 mobiles require tires, and our manufacturers are going to see 

 that foreign competition does not get the business. The lack of 

 crude rubber will inconvenience our tire manufacturers for some 

 time after the close of hostilities, but other branches of trade and 



