THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



447 



the materials for which cost $31,479,517, and the 10,334 employes 

 were paid $7,970,746. 



The sums of these figures give an indication of the extent 

 of the rubber manufacturing industry in the Bay State. Fifty 

 establishments, with an aggregate capital of $56,773,448, manu- 

 factured goods to the value of $99,376,326. They employed 

 22,609 persons, to whom they paid $16,875,310, and consumed 

 material, including rubber, costing $49,142,630. 



A remarkable increase in the number of persons employed in 

 the rubber boot and shoe business is noted. In 1913 there were 

 4,832 male employees and 3,125 female. In 1917 the figures were 

 7,155 and 5,120, an increase of 48.1 per cent of male and 63.8 

 per cent of female workers. An even greater gain is noted in 

 other ^ranches of the rubber industry, for in 1913 there were 

 4,598--ViaIes and 805 females, and the 1917 returns show 7,980 

 males and 1,397 females, a total increase of 73.6 per cent. 



In the factory of The Fisk Rubber Co. of New York, Chico- 

 pee Falls, Mass., an ingenious arrangement of mirrors is used 

 to prevent collisions at angles and crossings of runways and 

 passages. There are several "blind corners" where electric and 

 hand trucks are used, and at each of these a mirror is so ar- 

 ranged that a person approaching the corner can see, reflected 

 in the glass, the other passageway. Collisions are thus pre- 

 vented. Under the mirror, and on each side, so that one of the 

 two is visible the whole length of the passage, is painted the 



Br.iND Corner Miii. . 



danger emblem, adopted about two years ago by the National 

 Safety Council as a universal danger sign. . 



M. M. Converse, who returned last month from a trip to 

 Europe, is far from enthusiastic in advising others to spend 

 vacations on the other side of the Atlantic. Mr. Converse did 

 not go across to investigate foreign markets. On the contrary, 

 he sought a complete respite from business. Most of his time 

 over there, however, was spent in collecting autographs of 

 officials on his passport in order to enter and leave the various 

 cities he visited. His visit was unfortunately shortened because 

 of the time necessary to fulfil the requirements imposed on all 

 civilian travelers. Mr. Converse comes back satisfied that the 

 United States is good enough for him, and he is not planning 

 any more European trips in the near future. 



Many members of the rubber footwear trade may remember 

 the late John C. Balderston, of Balderston & Daggett, of this 

 city, the selling agents of the National India Rubber Co., and 

 were also acquainted with his son, Frank Balderston, who for 

 many years had charge of the sales of tennis shoes for the 



United States Rubber Co. Some of these may have met Frank's 

 brother, Henry Ware Balderston, generally called "Harry" by 

 his friends, and these will perhaps hear for the first time, from 

 this paragraph, of his sudden death from angina pectoris, at 

 his home in Jamaica Plain, Mass., on April 13, 1919. 



As a boy he worked in his father's store, but later entered the 

 cotton goods business, and for the last ten years he was sales 

 agent for Nrw England for the Araoskeag Manufacturing Co., 

 Manchester. New Hampshire. He was 54 years of age. His 

 widow and on« daughter survive him. 



Boston's gain is Akron's loss by the transfer of C. B. Lin- 

 derman from the head office of the Firestone Tire & Rubber 

 Co. to take charge of the Boston branch of that concern. Mr. 

 Linderman has been engaged in advertising and sales depart- 

 ment work for several years, and he is being cordially welcomed 

 by the tire fraternity of this city. 



More than lOO members of the sales and executive departments 

 of the Boston branch of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 

 Akron, Ohio, attended a dinner at Hotel Lenox on the evening 

 of April 11, as the close of a two-day conference of New Eng- 

 land salesmen. Addresses were made by C. B. Lindeman, man- 

 ager of the Boston branch, and J. E. Mayo, New England dis- 

 trict manager. Motion Pictures taken in the Akron factory 

 were shown, and music for dancing was furnished. 



James H. Learned, of the Revere Rubber Co., Boston, whose 

 portrait was shown in the April number of The India Rubber 

 World, sailed from New York on the Aquitania for Europe April 

 5. Mr. Learned includes a large part of Europe in his "ter- 

 ritory," having "covered" many of the leading cities previous 

 to the great war. 



Many employes of the Hood Rubber Co., Watertown, Massa- 

 chusetts, who have been discharged from various branches of 

 service, are resuming their former positions. Thus far 26 such 

 men have returned to the tire department and 5 to the calender 

 room. 



The Hood Rubber Co., Watertown, Massachusetts, is building 

 a one-story extension of its warehouse, to cost about $15,000. 



The Hood Girls War Relief Club, an organization of woman 

 workers at the Hood Rubber Co., Watertown, Mass., gave a 

 very successful minstrel show at Symphony Hall, Boston, April 

 22, 1919, in which over ISO participated. This club has raised 

 thousands of dollars for war relief work, the proceeds of its 

 annual minstrel show being one of the chief sources of its 

 revenue. 



The Walker Webbing Co. mill in Brockton was originally one 

 story high, measuring 56 by 200 feet. Last year an additional 

 story was built over one-half this area, and now the company 

 is completing two stories by building over the remaining portion. 

 The work will cost about $6,000, and is expected to be finished 

 sometime this month. 



As a result of the recent Americanization drive conducted by 

 the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., Maiden, Massachusetts, 22 em- 

 ployes took out citizenship papers. 



Among the concerns which are welcoming back to their pre- 

 vious positions, or others equally good, the returned soldiers who 

 were formerly in their eniplov. are the Tver Rubber Co., .\ndover, 

 Massachusetts, which has taken back 20 men, and the Carlisle 

 Cord Tire Co., of the satne place, which has taken back 8 men. 



J. S. McClurg has become associated with the Carlisle Cord 

 Tire Co., Inc., Andover, Massachusetts, as consulting engineer. 



