200 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1916. 



industry will also be slow in getting under way and our manu- 

 facturers are organized and will see that the government pro- 

 tects their interests. Tire manufacturers and dealers here are 

 continuing their efforts to obtain the unification and the reduction 

 of the numbers of tire sizes. 



RUBBER CLOTHING. 



Manufacturers of rubber clothing are also feeling the pinch 

 of war times, and recently a deputation from the industry sought 

 an interview with the head of the War Materials Bureau, Ber- 

 lin, to request the release of enough crude rubber to enable them 

 to carry on their business. He replied that he would deal only 

 with a central organization of the industry, and the manufac- 

 turers thereupon took steps to form such an organization, with 

 a central bureau and distributing depot in Berlin. The members 

 are pledged to obtain their supply of rubber solution from this 

 depot, the distribution being based on the number of seam- 

 cementers employed. A kilogram of rubber, or its equivalent 

 in rubber cement, for each 50 garment cementers, is apportioned, 

 and for this the manufacturer must pay cost, plus 7 per cent. 

 ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. 



j\Iany skilled workmen have lost a limb or limbs in the war, 

 and our Association of German Engineers, realizing that these 

 crippled workmen could still be made useful citizens, has offered 

 a first prize of 10,000 marks [$2,380] and a number of lesser 

 prizes for improved artificial hands, arms and legs, that will 

 enable maimed soldiers to be useful in the mechanical industries. 

 The prizes will be awarded on February 1, 1916. by a jury com- 

 posed of representative members of the technical, manufacturing, 

 medical and orthopedic professions. 

 EMBARGO. 



Our export embargo has been extended to cover all so-called 

 rubberized materials, garments and the like, whether coated, 

 impregnated or inlaid with rubber, or made up with rubber 

 tlireads. 



The controversy in regard to the placing of cotton on the con- 

 traband list by the Allies will be to some extent simplified by 

 the action of the German Government in placing an embargo 

 on all exports of raw or ginned, or otherwise manufactured cot- 

 ton, yarns of cotton, with or without mixtures of vegetable or 

 animal fibers (excepting silk and cotton thread and sewing 

 thread), and coverings for hose, of woven cotton or flax. 



In regard to the scarcity of rubber, I note in a recent issue 

 of The India Rubber World, the French claim that E. Ronxe- 

 ville's reclaiming process is the secret of our being able to con- 

 tinue to use rubber tires, in spite of the fact that we have been 

 cut off from sources of crude rubber supply for more than 12 

 months. This is an error. We have just as good, perhaps bet- 

 ter, reclaiming processes than the Ronxeville method, and we 

 are clever enough to obtain some crude rubber from time to 

 time. We admit that we are suffering from a scarcity of crude 

 rubber that obliges us to collect waste rubber in every form, for 

 reclaiming. The use of automobiles is now limited to the army 

 and to physicians for use in attending to their increased practice, 

 caused by the absence of many medical men called to the mili- 

 tary service. But these are only precautionary measures, and 

 the rubber question alone will not end the war. Our official 

 and semi-official organizations for purchasing, collecting and 

 conserving raw materials are doing wonders in distributing them 

 judiciously and supplying any pressing needs which become 

 manifest. As an example of the care these organizations take in 

 the exercise of their duties : jute sacks, formerly used for ship- 

 ping sugar, salt, cement, hops, etc , are no longer permitted to 

 be used for such purposes, on account of the scarcity of jute. 

 Barrels, cellulose sacks and metal containers are used instead. 

 "WAR QUALITY" RLTRBER GOODS. 

 On the principle that "necessity knows no law," manufacturers 

 and dealers handle and consumers use substitutes for raw ma- 



terials and the finished product, without question. The food, 

 clothing and other commodities we thus accept as an unavoid- 

 able result of the war would, in time of peace, be made of better 

 and even altogether different materials. 



Substitutes are used extensively in the rubber manufacturing 

 industry, and rubber manufacturers, lacking a sufficient supply 

 of raw material, are turning out war hose, war transmission and 

 conveyer belts, war rubber garments, etc., etc. While not by 

 any means as good as the regular lines, these "war qualities," as 

 they are termed, answer their purpose and relieve us from abso- 

 lute want. 



An exhibition of substitutes was recently opened by the 

 "Housewives' Association of Greater Berlin" to reassure the 

 public' by showing how completely the lines made from unavail- 

 able imported materials have been covered by resourceful manu- 

 facturers. There were substitute food supplies, raiment and other 

 articles of everyday use, including, of course, substitute rubber 

 articles in great variety, from garden hose to nipples for nursing 

 bottles, squeegees, rubber sponges, etc. 



TAXATION OF WAR PROFITS. 



A topic much discussed here is the proposed special taxation 

 of all profits made on contracts for supplies to the army and 

 navy. The levying of such special taxes would be an injustice 

 to manufacturers who have reorganized their plants and equipped 

 them with special machinery for serving our defenders. No 

 system of taxation could take account of the cost of these trans- 

 formations, nor could it allow for what it will cost these manu- 

 facturers to return to their peaceful pursuits when the war is 

 over. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



We learn from Austria that the government has taken posses- 

 sion of all rubber tires, regardless of size, quality or condition. 

 It is presumed that partly worn tires will be repaired and used 

 for military purposes, while those past repairs and unsuited 

 for army use will be reclaimed and re-manufactured for the 

 government. 



TRADE NOTES. 



A recent meeting of the Vereinigte Gummiwaren-Fabriken 

 Harburg-Wien, held in Hamburg, was attended by 18 sharehold- 

 ers, representing 1,968,900 marks [$468,598] capital and 6.563 

 votes. An 18 per cent dividend was declared. 



SCANDINAVIAN NOTES. 



■VJ ORW.A.Y, like some other neutral European countries, has 

 ■^ ' been suffering from the effects of the British embargo on 

 rubber and rubber manufactures. The automobile tire famine 

 prevailing in Norway was mentioned in a recent issue of The 

 India Rubber World. The situation has now been relieved, 

 thanks to the joint efforts of the Association of Norwegian 

 Automobile Tire Importers and the Royal Norwegian Auto- 

 mobile Club, who sent a delegate to London recently and ob- 

 tained permission to import 9,000 automobile tires per annum 

 into Norway. 



The United Rubber & Air Ring Co.. of Copenhagen, Den- 

 mark, recently acquired the rubber plantations of the Copen- 

 hagen East Asiatic Rubber Plantation Co., which are located 

 near Utarah, in Johore, Malaya. These plantations produce 

 sufficient quantities of crude rubber to supply all the demands 

 of the United Rubber company's plant. 



From Kjoge, Denmark, a correspondent writes that they are 

 manufacturers of reclaimed rubber, but an embargo has been 

 placed on the exportation of their products, except to neutral 

 countries, nor can they purchase sufficient rubber waste to carry 

 on their business, owing to the exportation of this material being 

 prohibited by the warring nations ; so they are making tires. 



