450 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 1, 1919. 



district west of Portland to the Coast. They liave made consid- 

 erable additions to their sales force. 

 * ♦ * 

 E. A. Warner, chief chemist of The Miller Rubber Co., Akron, 

 Ohio, stopped in Los Angeles on his way to the Federated Malay 

 States to get in closer touch with the rubber plantation owners. 



The first of the Mason solid tires to 

 reach California have arrived and have 

 created considerable interest in the 

 trade. Lee Clough, for 13 years con- 

 nected with the solid tire department of 

 the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., but 

 for the past year in charge of the lire 

 department of the Mason Tire & Rub- 

 ber Co., Akron, Ohio, has had charge of 

 tlieir manufacture. The C. Fred Thomp- 

 son Co. received the shipment. 



'The demand for retreaded tires in 

 the East is unlimited," says Ed Harris, 

 secretary of the Tire Construction Co., 

 Olive, at Pico street. "Since the Gov- 

 Lee E. Clough. ernment boosted this class of work it has 

 created a demand for products which up to eight months ago 

 were practically unknown there." 



H. G. ("Ajax") Smith, branch manager of the Ajax Rubber 

 Co., declares that the increase in business since the factory 

 opened its branch at 1237 South Olive street, has been steady 

 and reflects general conditions in Southern California. 



James & Thomas have taken over the agency and distribution 

 of the Braender tires and tubes for the whole of this territory. 



The Pacific Rubber Co. is Pacific Coast distributor of the 

 "Horseshoe" tires manufactured by the Racine Auto Tire Co., 

 Racine, Wisconsin. 



William Wrigley, Jr., of the Wm. Wrigley, Jr., Co., manufac- 

 turer of chewing gum, has purchased Catalina Island off the 

 coast of California, near Los Angeles, at a cost of more than 

 $3,000,000. He will build himself a home there and proposes to 

 make the island the most beautiful and most advertised spot in 

 the United States, intending it for a family pleasure resort rather 

 than a inillionaire colony. His plans include the maintenance of 

 the new St. Catherine Hotel, a bungalow colony, sports and fish- 

 ing facilities, etc. Catalina Island is reached by boat from San 

 Pedro, the harbor for Los Angeles, and has long been an ob- 

 jective point for California tourists. 



Tire manufaclurers have started in to capture the spring 

 trade of southern California with an energy and determination 

 that has never been known before in the history of the industry 

 in this part of the country. Every big firm in the east is cover- 

 ing the territory with the idea of being in on the ground 

 floor and capturing its share of the business which the end of 

 the war has greatly stimulated. The attraction of all-the-year- 

 round motoring has brought here many of the heads of big 

 eastern firms, and it is believed that not only southern Califor- 

 tiia, but the entire state is to see its greatest year in the history 

 of the automobile industry. Naturally, this creates a large 

 demand for tires and new agencies are daily being announced. 



The movement in the legislature for a $50,000,000 bond issue 

 to be devoted to the improvement of the highways has given 

 an impetus to every branch of the automobile trade. California 

 now possesses excellent highways and this new development 

 will open up thousands of acres in this state. 



George Bellis, of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., is introduc- 

 ing the single pneumatic cord truck tire and declares it has many 

 advantages over the old style tube pneumatic. The single pneu- 

 matics, he says, are made in the same manner as the cord tires 

 for passenger cars, except that there are more plies of cords, 

 the side walls are sturdier and the tread much thicker. Most of 

 the trucks of the Signal Corps operated during the war, he states, 

 were equipped with the single pneumatic. 



Henry E. Durr, president of the Victor Rubber Co., Springfield, 

 Ohio, is in Los .-\ngeles arranging plans for selling the Victor 

 products through the Bershon Tire Co. 



Sam S. Corl, factory representative of the Racine Rubber Co., 

 paid a brief visit to the California territory recently, including 

 a visit to San Diego, on which he was accompanied by F. H. 

 Osier of Los Angeles. 



* * * 



Fifty representatives of tire manufacturers and dealers of 

 Seattle recently held their first annual banquet at the Hotel 

 Washington Annex. Addresses were made by W. D. Albright, 

 The B. F. Goodrich Co. ; F. E. Winans, United States Rubber 

 Co.. and Daniel St. George, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 

 and G. G. Lemley, of Ballou & Wright, representing the Racine 

 Tire & Rubber Co. 



J. D. Hess, Jr.. district manager of the Firestone Tire & Rub- 

 ber Co., Akron, Ohio, was a recent visitor in Portland, Oregon, 

 studying trade conditions. He paid particular attention to the 

 "ship by truck" campaign now being launched by the Firestone 

 company. 



The Hippeli Tire Co. has located offices and salesroom in Sac- 

 rainento for the distribution of Brunswick tires. 



O. L. Weaver, secretary of the Star Rubber Co., .^kron, Ohio, 

 is making a business trip to the Pacific Coast. 



THE GATES CLUB STIMULATES TEAM WORK. 



To the Gates Club, Charles G. Gates attributes the successful 

 upbuilding of the Gates Rubber Co., Denver, Colorado, for 

 through it he has achieved coordinated cooperation among the 

 entire executive and operative forces of the company, and given 

 every employe an opportunity to win a voice in the firm's 

 affairs. 



The Gates Club is to the company what the Presidents' Cabi- 

 net is to the United States Government. It confers on all 

 questions of policy. No new business idea is adopted by the 

 Gates company until it has been thoroughly discussed at the 

 regular semi-monthly meetings of the club. At nearly every 

 session an address is made by a specialist in some line of inter- 

 est to the rubber manufacturing industry, the cost of these lec- 

 tures being borne by the company. 



Limited to a membership of seventy-five, the Gates Club is 

 a goal coveted by virtually every employe. It is a spur to ambi- 

 tion, "pep," ability, and ideas being the stepping stones to its 

 doorway. The waiting list of eligibles is already considerably 

 beyond the membership limit and growing daily. 



The educational features of the club have attracted wide at- 

 tention. This work is under direction of a committee which 

 issues to club members a weekly bulletin containing market re- 

 ports, rubber news and special articles. Employes are encour- 

 aged to take up business courses, and half of the cost of these 

 studies is paid by the company. More than fifty men are now 

 enrolled in different classes. When an executive position or a 

 place of remunerative attractions is to be filled, it is to the Gates 

 Club that the company turns for recommendations, as one of 

 the duties of the club is to train men for these vacancies. 



