3j^ 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1917. 



and later in Germany he investigated gas and oxygen welding. 



Mr. Goodyear was an ardent lover of the sea and an ocean 

 voyage or one in a 30-foot yawl was equally fascinating to 

 him. He was also a splendid horseman. In 1903 he married 

 Katharine Goodyear who is also a grandchild of Charles Good- 

 year. She survives him, as do also a daughter and a son. 



In many respects, Mr. Goodyear inherited the character of 

 his grandfather; the same invincible determination, the same 

 spirit of buoyancy and optimism, aljove all the genius for in- 

 vestigation and invention which liave made tile name famous 

 for all time. 



PRESIDENT OF SEVERAL CORPORATIONS. 



Francis C. Van Dyk, for several years president of tlie Ster- 

 ling Tire Corporation, Rutherford, New Jersey, died at his 

 residence, at . Paterson. New Jersey, Monday, May 21. 



He was born in 

 San Juan, Porto 

 Kico, 80 years ago, 

 and was brought to 

 iliis country at an 

 early age. When 

 13 years old he en,- 

 tered the dry goods 

 store owned by his 

 uncle at New 

 Ijrnnswick. N e w 

 Jersey, nine years 

 later forming a 

 partnership w i t h 

 liis employer, and 

 establishing a dry 

 goods store in Pat- 

 erson. Five years 

 later, he acquired 

 the entire owner- 

 ship of the busi- 

 ness, which event- 

 ually developed into 

 one of the largest 

 and most popular 

 department stores in the State of New Jersey. 



Mr. Van Dyk was interested in a number of outside enter- 

 prises, and in 1894 retired from the dry goods business.. For 

 several years he had been interested in the Sterling Tire Cor- 

 poration, and for the last four years its president. He was also 

 president of James Simpson & Co., silk manufacturers ; president 

 of the Laurel Grove Cemetery Co., president of the Cedar Clifif 

 Land Co., the Broadway Land Co., and the Van Dyk Land Co. 

 For 45 years he was vice-president and director of the Second 

 National Bank of Paterson, and for 25 years was president of 

 tbe Board of Directors of the Paterson Orphan Asylum. 



He was active in religious and church work as in his business 

 affairs and was ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church, 

 member of the Board of Trustees, and at the time of his death, 

 elder of the Church of the Redeemer. 



Francis C. V.\n Dvk. 



TWO SCORE YEARS A FOOTWEAR DISTRIBUTER. 



Peter Gauthier, manager of the Ottawa branch of the Miner 

 Rubber Co., Granby, Canada, died at his home in Ottawa, April 

 19. For 40 years he was identified with the rubber footwear 

 trade in Canada, and for the last 16 years at Ottawa. He was 

 well known in the Ottawa Valley and Eastern Ontario, where 

 he had many friends in the retail footwear trade. 



ACTIVELY IDENTIFIED WITH RUBBER CEMENT MANUFACTURE. 



James A. Law, president of The Eureka Cement Co., Newark, 

 New^ Jersey, died April 28. at Maplewood, New Jersey, in his 

 sixty-tifth year, of a complication of diseases. 



Until the last few years he had been actively identified with the 

 manufacture of rubber cements for the shoe, hat and leather in- 

 dustries, having started the business nearly 30 years ago. 



He is survived by a widow and son. the latter being actively 

 identified with the present business and its branches. 



INTERESTING LETTERS FROM OUR READERS. 



A PHILIPPINE RUBBER PLANTING ADVISER. 



To THE Editor of The Indi.^ Rubiikr World: 

 r\E.-\R SIR — I am in a position to be of practical assistance 

 ^"^ to prospccfive rubber planters in the Philippines, as I have 

 had considerable plantation experience and am leaving for Min- 

 danao soon. An Englishman, I was born in Ceylon, where my 

 father and grandfather were planters, and my mother still has 

 valuable tea and Para estates. My father interplanted coffee with 

 tea and got returns from the tea in 18 months, and later my 

 brother interplanted the tea with Para rubber, Ixith products 

 growing well together. 



I began life as a planter, and have (jpened up three estates. 

 More recently as a traveling dentist riding through the planting 

 districts, I have established several large nurseries. I can select 

 land and plant it with rubber and other products, which will 

 give a quick return. As proof of my ability^ I enclose a testi- 

 monial from the late John Ferguson, C.M.G., a member of the 

 legislative council in Ceylon, editor and proprietor of the "Ob- 

 server," and owner of a tea estate. T. H. Stephens. 



Cosmopolitan Building, Manila, March 16, 1917. 



THE TALK IN SINGAPORE. 



To THE Editor of The Indi.\ Rubber World: 

 r^EAR SIR — There is much local discussion at Singapore and 

 ■'-^ in this section about American companies obtaining title to 

 land for rubber plantations. Planters here reason that in a 

 measure it will reduce the number of their customers when 

 some of their former customers are producing for themselves. 

 To further explain, it appears that the General Rubber Co. may 

 desire to own a plantation on the peninsula in addition to its 

 plantations in Sumatra, and it is blamed for the entire project, as 

 it is established here better than others. Three of the big Amer- 

 ican manufacturers, it is rumored, are looking for land to light 

 on, and one took an option on 20,000 acres, which has expired 

 without exercising it. All this gives foundation for much dis- 

 cussion on the subject of the "American invasion,'' re,garding 

 which not an .American has raised his voice nor written a line 

 for print so far. 



The actual average price the planters obtained for their 1916 

 rubber was three shillings per pound — a fraction more, perhaps, 

 but I placed it at 60 cents to be sure to be conservative. This 

 difference of some 12 cents per pound would make the aggregate 

 of millions yet higher which .Americans paid in 1916 to this 

 part of the world. 



And yet more, the most reliable information I have obtained 

 here on the total product of rubber, was a little over 164.000' 

 tons of plantation, which figure I think will be found later on 

 about correct, and this would still add to the total amount in 

 gold dollars paid by America. If the balance of the world 

 (South America, Africa, Central America and Mexico) pro- 

 duced 50,000 tons in 1916. we have a grand total of 214,000 tons 

 as the world's production for 1916. 



Great Britain has passed a law, and this dependency has 

 adopted it, taxing automobiles for every purpose and sold at 

 any price — whether a Ford or a Pierce-Arrow — the round sum 

 of 299 cents (Straits Settlements currency) each as a means of 

 revenue. 



The council of the government contemplates raising the tax 

 on exported rubber from here and it will be based upon pounds, 

 weight, quality having nothing to do with it. 



Singapore, April 10, 1917., L. E. J. 



