178 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1919. 



MORE ATHLETIC GOODS FOR MEN IN SERVICE. 



During the past year contracts for atliletic equipment amount- 

 ing to $795,000 have been awarded by the War Department Com- 

 mission on Training Camp Activities. The last contract, awarded 

 in November, called for the follow-ing items of interest to the 

 rubber trade : 5,400 medicine balls, 6,000 Rugby footballs, 12,000 

 soccer footballs, 3,000 Rugby bladders, 6,000 soccer bladders, 

 18,000 playground balls and 3,000 basket-balls. 



There is still about half a million dollars available for furtlier 

 expenditures and the Commission is inchned to enlarge the ship- 

 ments of their supplies rather than otherwise. It is realized that 

 the armistice increases the need for athletic supplies, as the let- 

 down will be severe unless particular effort is made to maintain 

 the morale of the men. 



JEANNETTE WAR SERVICE ACTIVITIES TO CONTINUE. 



Jeannette, Pennsylvania, does not intend to neglect the future 

 welfare of returning soldiers and their dependents now that the 

 war is over. The Jeannette War Service Union prides itself on 

 having, in a little city of only 12,000 inhabitants, over 4,200 

 monthly contributors and no delinquents. The president, Seneca 

 G. Lewis, general manager of the Pennsylvania Rubber Co.. 

 states that although the Union has a fund exceeding $15,000 in 

 the treasury, after meeting all possible contingencies in connec- 

 tion with war work, it is intended to continue indefinitely in order 

 to safeguard absolutely all returning men who may need assist- 

 ance. 



SERVICE NOTES AND PERSONALS. 



While the majority of the sons of the rubber men will 

 soon return home and resume their pre-war occupations, 

 others will continue to wear khaki. Of the last-named type 

 is Lieutenant-Colonel Fred Garcin, now stationed at San 

 Francisco, but likely at any moment 

 to be sent overseas, perhaps to 

 Siberia, or to any of the scores of 

 places in Central Europe where Uncle 

 Sam's Regulars are in more or less 

 temporary control. For Colonel 

 Garcin is of the Regular Army, having 

 chosen this profession some four 

 years before the war began. Further- 

 more, he joined the Artillery, which 

 branch of the service has shown such 

 notable advancement in the past four 

 years, and has. called for the severest 

 sort of scientific attainment. The fact 

 that Mr. Garcin was advanced from 

 the grade of second lieutenant to that of lieutenant-colonel 

 testifies to his ability as an officer. Incidentally, he is the 

 youngest officer of his rank in the service. It is interesting 

 to note that he is the only son of Edward H. Garcin, long 

 known as a prominent manufacturer of mechanical rubber 

 goods and asbestos and rubber specialties. 



Lieutenant-Colonel 

 F. R. Garcin. 



Looking Backward — and Forward. 



What Men Prominent in the Trade Say of the Year's Happenings 



FROM IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF THE WAR SERVICE 

 COMMITTEE. 



THE consensus of opinion appears to be that with the com- 

 plete withdrawal of government control and supervision the 

 rubber industry is about to enter a period of great expan- 

 sion and prosperity in which wartime conservation and standard- 

 ization will prove a beneficial influence; that the necessary 

 readjustments will be effected with comparative ease, and that 

 the inevitable cancellations of government contracts will work no 

 great hardships because of the volume of long-standing orders 

 for normal business in most Hnes of rubber goods. 

 boot and shoe division. 

 George H. Mayo, Chairman. 

 "The footwear division of the War Service Committee of the 

 Rubber Industry worked in the closest harmony throughout the 

 war, and one and all contributed patriotically to the service of 

 the Government. There seems to be much that could properly 

 be done under peace conditions for the welfare of the industry 

 and I am in hopes it will seem wise to the committee to con- 

 tinue some of the constructive work that has been undertaken 

 by them." 



CLOTHING DIVISION. 



N. Lincoln Greene, Chairman. 



"During the period of the war we have given to the Govern- 

 ment our capacity, and more, and with the abrupt cancellation 

 of government contracts, will naturally find it somewhat difficult 

 to readjust production to a normal basis, although we fully 

 expect to get from under such a condition at an early date. 



"In our opinion, the cessation of the war will not be the cause 

 of great reduction in prices, for such goods as we will market 

 for the coming season are based on what we would term the 

 peak of prices in labor, materials, and findings. 



"The experience and advantage that has been gained through 

 a classification of various types of business into committees 

 under the supervision of the War Industries Board will be of 

 great benefit in shaping policies for the future, having always 



in mind the thought of conservation ; it having been clearly 

 shown that many articles and many of the minor details that 

 have been treated as essential in the past might be easily dis- 

 pensed with. 



"It is our opinion that there will be some months of depres- 

 sion, to be followed by the largest and most active business 

 ever known to our industry." 



CRUDE RUBBER AND KINDRED PRODUCTS DIVISION. 



Charles T. Wilson, Chairman. 

 "The War Trade Board will continue to e.KCrcise their control 

 over crude rubber until actual peace is declared. Therefore, the 

 duties of the division in carrying out their instructions in respect 

 to their various regulations will be likely to go on until this 

 time." 



FOREIGN TRADE DIVISION, 



E. H. Huxley, Chairman. 



"With the close of the war we find ourselves free to develop 

 our export trade without the ball and chain of government con- 

 trol being dragged after us. This is a great relief, but we still 

 have serious problems to solve. 



"Shall we be able to hold the trade that has come to us with 

 so little foreign competition, and shall we be able to increase it? 

 We are now confronted with a period when competition will be 

 free and open to all, and when it will not be confined to our 

 fellow-American manufacturers, but to the tried and experienced 

 exporting manufacturers of Europe. With anything like equal 

 conditions we shall be successful competitors. To make the 

 conditions equal, however, we must have reasonably equal labor 

 conditions and rates of pay; reasonably equal facilities for ship- 

 ping and reasonably equal rates; and, also, access to and prices 

 for raw materials on a par with our foreign competitor. 

 Optimists believe that we shall have these equalities, and it is not 

 difficult to be an optimist. There is much to be accomplished to 

 bring about the result, but there appears to be no reason to doubt 

 that it will come. We cannot, of course, overlook that most 

 important feature, namely, manufacturing methods, but no one 



