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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, 1917. 



selves every year. It is a natural consequence, there- 

 fore, that the former now have a tendency toward ex- 

 tinction. Thus to mitigate this as far as possible, the 

 Chamber committee recommends remedial legislation 

 to permit cooperative agreements, under federal super- 

 vision, in those industries which involve primary nat- 

 ural resources, on condition that the agreements in 

 fact tend to conserve the resources, to lessen acci- 

 dents, and to promote the common good. The plan 

 is to enlarge the powers of the Federal Trade Com- 

 mission beyond its present function of investigation 

 and authorize it to formulate constructive plans for 

 the promotion and safeguarding of public interest un- 

 der which an industry may operate alike to the bene- 

 fit of consumers, workmen, and producers. The com- 

 mittee realizes that these are primarily matters of 

 state law and has in mind only such legislation as 

 would bring natural resources under federal statutes 

 and define the conditions under which they may legally 

 become commercial commodities in interstate com- 

 merce. 



The quantities of products our natural resources are 

 called upon to furnish have greatly increased during 

 the years which have elapsed since our general legis- 

 lation dealing with interstate trade was enacted. The 

 production of coal from American mines has increased 

 almost fivefold, while the population has increased less 

 than 70 per cent. During the past quarter of a cen- 

 tury the yearly drain upon our sources of petroleum 

 has increased sixfold and more. The commercial utili- 

 zation of natural gas, which fell off in earlier years, 

 has since increased, reaching $101,000,000 last year, 

 when 628 billion cubic feet were used. 



In October the director of the Bureau of Mines said 

 that we have probably reached the climax of our pro- 

 duction of crude oil, adding that the Geological Survey 

 estimates that deposits of petroleum as yet unde- 

 veloped will scarcely furnish a supply for more than 

 30 years. If this estimate be correct, our supplies of 

 natural gas may not last so long. 



Something like 40 per cent of the coal in the seam 

 has been said by the director of the Bureau of Mines 

 to be lost as far as beneficial utilization is concerned. 

 Millions of barrels of oil have been wasted by being 

 allowed to flow into the streams, by being mixed with 

 water, or by evaporation. There has been no such 

 waste in any other sort of mining. By passing into 

 the air from uncontrolled gas wells, from oil wells, 

 from giant flambeaus, from leaking pipe lines, and 

 from many other methods of waste, natural gas is said 

 to be sacrificed at a rate of not less than one billion 

 cubic feet a day, and probably very much more. 



Can any sagacious manufacturer, whether of rubber 

 or other goods, contemplate these facts without re- 

 alizing the urgent necessity of intelligent cooperation 

 for the common good between the government and 

 producers of American raw materials? 



A MONUMENT TO THE INVENTOR OF THE 

 PNEUMATIC TIRE. 



'T'HE recent suggestion of F. C. MillhoflF that a monu- 

 ment be erected to the man who invented the pneu- 

 matic tire is one not to be lightly forgotten. Indeed, it 

 has much to commend it, for while perhaps less spectacu- 

 lar than wireless telegraphy, the aeroplane, the motion 

 picture and similar epoch-making inventions, the pneu- 

 matic tire certainly revolutionized transportation and 

 made the automobile possible. But Mr. Millhofif very 

 aptly says: 



The man who invented the first pneumatic tire would 

 certainly be entitled to consider himself one of the great- 

 est contributors to human progress, yet not one person 

 in a million even knows his name, and very few ever won- 

 dered who he was. If anybody ever badly needed a monu- 

 ment as a protection against oblivion, he is the man. 



When that happy time comes that the world finds itself 

 at peace, the motorists, tire and automobile manufacturers 

 of every civilized country might well join in raising a fund 

 for a suitable memorial to Robert William Thomson, the 

 first patentee of a pneumatic tire in England in 1845. The 

 United States, however, is the center of the tire and auto- 

 mobile industry, and if, meantime, Americans decide to 

 honor this worthy pioneer in a great industry, it is easy 

 to foresee that it will be nip and tuck between Akron and 

 Detroit as the site of the memorial. 



With the passing of Henry A. Gould the rubbek 

 trade loses a striking and interesting figure, a "gentlemait 

 of the old school." His gentle dignity and precise cour- 

 tesy were as much a part of his business as of his social 

 life. While he was an able business man, and a pioneer 

 in large undertakings, his leanings were toward the 

 scholarly arts and the betterment of mankind. To his 

 staff he was ever the respected teacher rather than the 

 "boss." A quaint, picturesque personality, we of the 

 trade shall not see his like again. 



Along with the prediction that fine leather 

 shoes will soon cost $30 per pair, comes the announcement 

 that "leatherless" shoes are to be worn throughout 

 the West next summer. Leatherless does not mean 

 rubberless, however. 



The Increasing Dependence of the United States 

 on the tropics for raw materials and foodstuflfs not 

 produced in this country is shown by the fact that more 

 than a billion dollars' worth of tropical products were 

 brought into this country during the fiscal year 1916, 

 The exact total, $1,060,850,416, represented an increase 

 of $253,208,231 over the year 1915. Imports of rubber, 

 etc., amounted to $304,000,000 during the fiscal year 

 1916, against $280,000,000 in 1915, and $109,000,000 in 

 1905, and were exceeded in value only by sugar, coffee 

 and fibers. 



