704 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1917. 



War News of the Rubber Industry 



Till-: liKAri IX Ul'llUKU MILLS. 



PROB.^BLV lew industries have as large a percentage of 

 young men of conscription age as are to be found in rub- 

 ber mills. The prevalence of piece work is doubtless re- 

 sponsible for it. In Akron, "the rubber city," the majority of 

 employes in the leading factories are between the ages of 21 

 and 31. From 10,000 to 12,000 Goodrich men are subject to 

 call ; 7,000 to 8.000 Goodyear men are similarly affected, like- 

 wise 4.000 to 6,000 Firestone men. While tire concerns such as 

 these are particularly liard hit, they have taken a patriotic stand 

 in claiming exemption for only a relatively few men who are 

 extremely valuable to them, believing that in throwing their 

 strength behind the present draft fewer men will l>c needed 

 later. 



The War Department startled rubber men by estimating 

 Akron's population at 330,000, as against the 150,000 claimed by 

 local authorities. A first draft of 2,200 men, based on that 

 figure, will seriously hamper rubber mills, as even now it is 

 difficult to obtain sufficient help to operate at full capacity. 



At the outset it was believed that only a few hundred men in 

 each factory would be aflfected by the first call and that many 

 of them with wives and families would be exempted, but the 

 high percentage of exemption claims throughout the country 

 has resulted in a general relaxation of physical qualifications 

 and the refusal of many local boards to exempt men with wives 

 and children unless proof could be shown that they would 

 suffer or become pulilic charges. Rubber companies are. there- 

 fore, confronted with the immediate problem of tilling many 

 vacancies for the duration of the war. Girls and older men 

 must be depended upon in most instances, especially the former, 

 as a shortage of male labor exists in almost every industry. In 

 Canada, England, France, Italy and Russia young women have 

 bravely undertaken the work of men, and with the utmost suc- 

 .".ess. In rubber manufacture they are to be found in every de- 

 partment except the milling room, and time may get the stronger 

 women there too. 



Although American women are no less willing or courageous, 

 it is to be hoped that no dependents, perhaps physically unfit 

 to withstand its rigors, will be forced into this work while thou- 

 sands of unmarried alien men of military age and allied na- 

 tionality escape service under any flag. While doing their best 

 in men and industrial production for Uncle Sam. j\merican rub- 

 ber companies should stand firmly behind the principles of alien 

 conscription and soldiers' insurance, that as few as need be of 

 our wives, mothers and sisters be forced into factories, and 

 that those who must make this or other sacrifices be assured a 

 just reward should their loved ones be incapacitated or fail to 

 return. 



THE F.'WORAELE SHIPPING OUTLOOK. 



Importers of crude rubber and exporters of manufactured 

 rubber goods find the present shipping outlook very heart- 

 ening. Despite German submarine activities, statistics of the 

 Department of Commerce show that our imports for the month 

 of June broke all records by a large margin, and our exports 

 exceeded those of any month except last January, while our 

 total ocean-borne trade for the fiscal year ended June 30, was 

 carried to a high level never dreamed of before the war, an 

 increase of nearly SO per cent over 1915. 



During the past si.x months U-boats have sunk only a frac- 

 tion of the tonnage predicted by German experts, and the under- 

 sea fleet itself has suffered such losses that probably less than 

 200 su'omarines are now available for service. Arrivals and 

 sailings at British, French and Italian ports are on the increase 

 and neutral shipping is suffering less than formerly. On July 1 



the British merchant marine comprised 18,000,000 tons of sea- 

 worthy ships of all kinds, and according to carefully compiled 

 figures in the "London Times" Great Britain and the United 

 States will in 1917 turn out a new ship tonnage in excess of 

 that destroyed during the year, while in 1918 British and Ameri- 

 can shipyards will probably build no less than 8,000,000 tons of 

 standardized cargo vessels. 



Meanwhile, conditions will be improved by an arrangement 

 Hearing completion between Great Britain and the United States 

 for joint control of the world's shipping. The Shipping Board 

 IS about lo commandeer the entire .\merican seagoing tonnage, 

 not for government operation but for control of charters, direc- 

 tion of trade routes, priority of shipments and to lower freight 

 rates so as to insure fair, rather than extortionate profits harm- 

 ful to the allied cause. Our export embargo is bringing neutral 

 shipping under United States control, both Norway and Holland 

 having already offered to release virtually half their tonnage in 

 ret'.irn for food shipments, and the more recent embargo on iron 

 and steel required for ship construction will bring the growing 

 Japanese Pacific merchant fleet into Atlantic service. Appar- 

 ently the complacency of rubber companies regarding their in- 

 coming and outgoing shipments is justified, and the complete 

 elimination of the Goethals-Denman controversy lends a sense 

 of added security. 



THE AMERIC.W .AERIAL FLEET. 



.'\bsolufe air supremacy is primarily responsible for recent 

 allied gains on the western front. This supremacy must be main- 

 tained and increased despite Germany's feverishly hasty build- 

 ing program. That the United States will do its part and more 

 in air service was assured when, late in July, the $640,000,000 

 aviation bill became law, the largest single appropriation ever 

 passed by Congress for one project. 



Less than half this amount is to be expended in the purchase 

 of airplanes alone. Personnel, training equipment, overseas 

 maintenance, spare parts, flying stations, armament and scien- 

 tific apparatus, all are to be provided for and are equally as im- 

 portant as the manufacture of the machines. One hundred and 

 ten thousand officers and enlisted men — an army of the air 

 greater than our standing army of a few months ago — will be 

 needed. The whole project is one which appeals to the im- 

 agination of our people and to the genius of our American en- 

 gineers, who, with the cooperation of the Society of Automotive 

 Engineers, have worked out standardized types of fighting, re- 

 connaissance and bombing airplanes for quantity production 

 under the direction of Howard E. Coffin, chairman of the Air- 

 craft Production Board of the Council of National Defense. 

 More than 20.000 planes are to be built as a first increment and 

 more will follow as needed. 



rilK WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD AND PRIORITY. 



While the newly appointed War Industries Board represents 

 a notable step forward and will doubtless accomplish much 

 toward concerted action in production and distribution, it must 

 necessarily labor under great difficulties in having no direct 

 vested powers. Its functions, like those of the Council of Na- 

 tional Defense, are merely to investigate and recommend, yet 

 the executive and administrative departments of the government 

 are lending it hearty support. Such matters as a general basis 

 of prices on war materials for the government and the Allies, 

 and priorities on government and allied contracts are already 

 under consideration and a satisfactory conclusion may be an- 

 ticipated. 



It is expected that this board will eventually develop the need 

 of an organization with all the powers of the British Ministry 



