648 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1916. 



During the early months of the war considerahle quan- 

 tities of these materials were purchased hy (German 

 agents in America and elsewhere and consigned to sim- 

 ilar agents in the neutral countries of Europe, whence 

 they subsequently found their way into Germany. But 

 this subterfuge was not long permitted to continue after 

 these neutral countries had exceeded their normal yearh' 

 importation. The contraband list was extended to em- 

 brace all these commodities, and cargoes including them 

 were seized and in due course confiscated to Allied use 

 by prize court proceedings. Meanwhile a constantly in- 

 creasing shortage rendered the demand more urgent, and 

 finally German agents found it necessary to resort to 

 stratagem with all the ingenuity and resourcefulness 

 characteristic of their race. That they so rarely suc- 

 ceeded, however, indicates no lack of initiative on their 

 part; indeed, their adroitness was of an order to elicit 

 admiration, but the examining officers of the Britisli 

 navy quickly developed a correspondingly keener intui- 

 tion and an unyielding incredulity that brought many 

 strange things to light in their thorough search of all 

 vessels bound for European ports. 



Obviously rubber lends itself very readily to clever 

 faking and so has become the chief masquerader among 

 contraband goods. It has been found in the guise of 

 rusty iron hoops, toys, sponges and the inside filling of 

 various articles, from tinned meats to broom handles. 

 On one ship 4,000 packages, supposedly bread for British 

 prisoners in Germany, were found to contain a pound 

 of rubber each. Another vessel carried 17 tons of cofiee 

 beans in 250 sacks in which large quantities of crude 

 rubber were concealed. One item of a miscellaneous 

 cargo consigned to a neutral port consisted of nianv 

 sacks of onions of excellent appearance, but when the 

 examining officer selected one at random and dropped if 

 on the deck it bounded back into his hand. Only a few, 

 carefully spread over the top of each sack were genuine ; 

 the others had been made of rubber, and remarkably re- 

 alistic imitations they were, too. Far more itigenious. 

 though, were many cases labeled "pure honey." These 

 were filled with the familiar little square boxes of comb 

 with what appeared to be honey oozing out of it. An 

 inquisitive sailor tasted of it, made a grimace and threw 

 the box to the deck where it bounded about in the most 

 surprising manner. The combs had been fashioned out 

 of rubber and filled with some convenient smeary sub- 

 stance resembling honey yet not tasting like it. 



Bulkheads and decks of somewhat more than normal 

 thickness were several times found to contain contra- 



band. In two instances, at least, it was discovered 

 clamped to the bottom of a ship along her keel. Hollow 

 steel masts were a subtle feature of one tramp steamer 

 and her double bottoms were also stuffed with contra- 

 band, but these proved to be much less secure hiding 

 places than the hollow furniture and bunks like con- 

 jurer's trick boxes which were afterward detected on an 

 innocent looking trader. These are only a few of the 

 many artful ruses that failed ; of those that succeeded, 

 and there were some— perhaps many, there is no record. 



The a. L. A. (The Automobile Legal Association) 

 is a valuable organization ; is strong, alert, and uni- 

 formly sane, but is the following, which is an official 

 utterance, up to its usual standard? 



The automobile journals and magazines are beginning 

 as usual at this time of the year to carry a great deal of 

 advertising space relating to tire treads or other devices 

 intended to protect the tire, but we now feel that we can 

 safely say that they are not satisfactory, and that the al- 

 luring advertisements referred to should not be consid- 

 ered. 



Our experience is that rubber anti-skids prevent 

 slipping except in deep mud or sand. While a few 

 years ago they wore smooth after about 500 miles on 

 the road, today they last from three to six thousand 

 miles, when the tires become smooth. 



M.\KF.KS OF LEATHER FOOTWEAR COMPLAIN THAT DAMP 



weather, that for example which July and August of this 

 year afforded in great abundance, spoils their work, as the 

 rubber cement fails to stick. Their troubles are light, 

 however, when com])ared with those of rubber manu- 

 facturers. Their work is full of building up by cement- 

 ing, and prisoned dainpness not only prevents proper ad- 

 hesion, but results in blisters. The ideal making up room 

 of the future will undoubtedly be supplied with air always 

 of certain temperature and always free from moisture. 

 This indeed is already done in dipped goods plants. 



Twenty years ago the Rubber Chemist was a rara 

 avis. To-day he is an important, often the most import- 

 ant, member of the stafif of experts attached to every 

 successful rubber factory. In the last five years chemists 

 have jiractically revolutionized compounding and reclaim- 

 ing, and have but touched the edges of the great field of 

 accomplishment. That they should meet and exchange 

 views at the apjiroaching National Exposition of Chemical 

 Industries to be held in New York, the week of Septem- 

 ber 25, is eminently fitting, and a large attendance is as- 

 sured. 



The number of rubber workers in, new V(_'RK state 

 increased 23.75 per cent in four months of 1916. as 

 against a corresponding period in 1915. For the same 

 term the wage increase over that of 1915 was 36 per cent. 



