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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



APPLETON: "ANCIENT AND HONORABLE." 



C ATTAIN Franxis Hawkes Appleton, veteran in military affairs 

 and in reclaiming, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, 

 Augnst, 4, 1853. He attended the public schools of that city, 

 finishing his education at Pen- 

 nington Academy, Pennington, 

 New Jersey, and after some years 

 in a wholesale grocery house, he 

 entered the employ of the Mur- 

 phy Varnish Co., Newark, New 

 Jersey, as bookkeeper. After 

 I wo years in this position he be- 

 came traveling salesman for the 

 ^ame concern, and during the 

 next seven years sold varnishes 

 in practically every state in the 

 Union. The succeeding six years 

 found him managing the Boston 

 branch of the Murphy company, 

 a branch which he established. 



In 1898, Mr. Appleton estab- 

 lished a rubber reclaiming fac- 

 tory at Franklin, Massachusetts, 

 and in 1902 he look in his son and namesake as partner, the 

 firm being F. H. Appleton & Son. This concern was afterwards 

 incorporated and has ever since been a prominent factor in the 

 reclaiming industry. 



In military and Masonic affairs, Mr. Appleton has been very 

 prominent. He is a veteran of the Seventh Regiment, New 

 York's crack militia regiment, and when he located in Boston 

 he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He was one 

 of a committee of three who went to England to present to King 

 George V. a certificate of honorary membership in this famous 

 Boston organization. Two years later he was chosen captain 

 at the "drum-head election" held on Boston Common, and in 

 July, at the head of 100 men, sailed on a peaceful invasion of 

 England to hobnob with the parent organization in London, 

 and to dine with the King and other dignitaries. 



Mr. Appleton was a charter member of the Rubber Reclaimers 

 Club, being temporary president during the formation of that 

 trade body, and for several years was treasurer. When the club 

 became the Reclaimers' Division of The Rubber Association of 

 America, he was elected chairman, a position he now holds. He 

 is also one of the original members of the New England Shoe 

 and Leather Club. 



Mr. Appleton is a 32nd-degree Mason, and is Chief Rabban 

 of Aleppo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic Shrine. 

 He is also a member of the Algonquin, Boston Athletic. City, 

 Commonwealth, Country, and Point Shirley clubs. 



PACIFIC COAST NOTES. 



TTHE one topic of conversation among the tire and rubber 

 * firms is the sudden reduction in tire prices, which came 

 like a bombshell on automobile row. The announcement of the 

 United States Rubber Co. of a IS per cent reduction was fol- 

 lowed immediately by that of other 'companies, and the buying 

 public immediately sat up and began to take notice. The report 

 to the effect that this reduction was likely to be followed by 

 another, put a stop to tire buying for the lime being, e.xcept in 

 emergency cases, and branch man.igers of the high-grade tire 

 companies professed to be at sea as to the present, although all 

 looked for a further reduction 



Meanwhile the companies selling "seconds" and the rebuilding 

 and retreading firms were panic-stricken, realizing there would 

 not be a great demand for their products when users could buy 

 "firsts" for a little more than "seconds" and rebuilts. It is ex- 



pected thai automobile owners will stock up for the summer and 

 fall, as this is the first reduction from the prevailing war prices. 

 There are more automobiles in this part of the state than in 

 all the rest of California and the owners will not be slow to 

 take advantage of the opportunity given them to make a legiti- 

 mate saving. 



One of the large rubber companies states that the reduction 

 is not likely to affect other lines of rubber goods, such as cloth- 

 ing and footwear, and that prices on these may go higher. 

 Automobile owners are asking whether price reduction will ex- 

 tend to other automobile products. 



R. H. Keaton, president of the Keaton Tire & Rubber Co., 

 Akron, Ohio, stopped over in Los Angeles for a few^ hours, on his 

 way East to attend the opening of a Keaton headquarters in 

 Chicago, Illinois. The Los .Angeles branch, now located at 437-39 

 West Pico street, will be enlarged. 



"Our rim business is growing so that we find it necessary to 

 establish a central handling and shipping point in the East," said 

 Mr. Keaton. "We have decided to open a Chicago branch that 

 will enable us to handle our steel shipments better, as well as 

 the 'East of the Rockies' demand for our tires. Our factory 

 output is the only thing that is keeping us back, as we are unable 

 at present to supply the demand." 



* * » 



E. R. Baker, sales manager. Western .Auto Supply Agency, 

 Los -Angeles, is handling a device manufactured in that city for 

 carrying a spare tire, which is particularly adapted to the Ford 

 car that comes from the factory with no such appliance. Many 

 Ford users carry their extra tires strapped on the running board 

 or hanging from the side, an expensive way to carry a spare 

 tire which may injure the carcass, to say nothing of the ques- 

 tion of appearance. 



The Oldfield Tire Co. has removed its Los .Angeles offices to 

 its tire warehouse at 228 Los Angeles street. The new offices 

 and warehouses are large enough to hold nine carloads, or over 

 $360,000 worth, of Oldfield tires and tubes. The Oldfield retail 

 store and vulcanizing shop on Hope street has been sold to 

 Hewitt & Kinslow, experienced liremen who will continue the 

 repairing and retreading business. 



l\Iax Shiffner of the Tire Coinpany of California, Los .Angeles, 

 reports the sale of twice as many tires for the month of April 

 as in any previous month in its history. 



F. C. Milhoff, general sales manager, Miller Rubber Co., 

 .Akron, Ohio, who recently spent a few days in Los .Angeles, 

 predicts an unprecedented sale of tires during the next few 

 months and declares that millions of dollars of back orders must 

 shortly be filled. * * * 



Thomas L. Rich, agent for Thermoid tires, spent several days 

 on an extended trip through the northern part of his district, 

 and reports a general feeling of optimism in the rubber trade. 



C. Fred Thompson has returned to Los .\ngeles from a trip 

 among Mason tire dealers throughout Southern California, and 

 reports an increased use of Masons through the desert and moun- 

 tain country of his district. 



The steady development of the cotton-growing industry in 

 .Arizona and ihe Imperial Valley has at last resulted in the an- 

 nouncement that a Boston textile firm will construct a cotton 

 mill in the Los .Angeles-Long Beach Harbor district with spindles 

 sufficient to employ 1.000 workers. It is said an option has been 

 acquired on 20 acres of land and that $3,000,000 will be invested 

 ill the project which includes the building of a colony of homes 

 for the accommodation of the workers. 



