July 1, 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



581 



Notices were posted on May 24 in the Woonsocket Rubber 

 Co.'s plant, the Alice rubber mill at Woonsocket, and the 

 Millville rubber boot mill at Millville, employing 2,500 hands ; 

 and in the National India Rubber Co.'s plant at Bristol, employ- 

 ing more than 4,500 operatives, announcing that, effective June 2, 

 these footwear mills would adopt a 48-hour weekly schedule 

 instead of the 54-hour schedule, and that rates of pay would 

 be so readjusted that the help would earn as much wages in the 

 48 hours as they had been making in the 54. 



The American Wringer Co., Woonsocket, employing more 

 than 700 hands, went on a 48-hour a week schedule on June 2, 

 instead of the 49^ hours that it has been operating on for 

 several months, and wages were readjusted so that the pay of 

 the operatives is not diminished. W. Maxwell Reed, plant man- 

 ager, has arranged the new schedule into five working days, so 

 as to close the factory on Saturdays and thus allow the oper- 

 atives a whole holiday. With the resumption on June 2, after 

 the Memorial Day shut-down, the plan also started running 

 nights as well as days to take care of increasing orders. 



A new time schedule has also become operative at the rubber 

 cloth factory of the O'Bannon Corporation at West Harrington, 

 whereby the mill starts at 7 o'clock in the morning instead of a 

 quarter of an hour earlier, the lapse being made up at the end 

 of the work day. A night, as well as a day shift is being 

 operated, double shifts of men are engaged, and the plant is 

 being operated almost continuously. 



The factory of tlie National India Rubber Co. in Bristol, which 

 was closed for a period of two weeks the latter part of May, 

 resumed operations on June 2. Douglas Morey, who resigned 

 recently as manager of the planning and industrial relations 

 departments at the National Co., has gone to New Haven, as 

 New England manager of the National Thrift Bond Corporation. 

 Lawrence S. Edwards is head of the planning department, and 

 Andrew W. Anthony has taken over the industrial relations 

 department. James P. Murphy, former superintendent at the 

 Narragansett Rubber Co.'s mill at Bristol, has accepted a posi- 

 tion with the National Co. 



Fire, which threatened the entire shoe division of the National 

 company's plant, broke out on the afternoon of June 19 in the 

 training department of the shoe room, located on the third floor 

 of building No. 3. The sprinkler system flooded the room when 

 the fire started, and the water penetrated through the floor into 

 the stitching room on the second floor, and also into the paper- 

 box-making department on the first floor and the wooden-box 

 factory in the basement. The damage in the stitching and box 

 departments was entirely by water, the stock and machinery 

 being soaked. The shoe division was closed about a week, 

 affecting about 3,000 hands. 



A new pump house in addition to the present plant is being 

 erected on the south side of the old pumping station of the 

 National company, at the foot of Church street, to enlarge the 

 salt-water pumping plant. This will greatly facilitate the pump- 

 ing of salt water from Bristol harbor for cooling purposes. 



The management of the National India Rubber Co., at Bristol, 

 has formulated plans for an active campaign of Americanization 

 among its operatives in connection with the general policy of 

 the concern for the general welfare, education and uplift of 

 employes. At the last meeting of the Bristol public school board 

 a proposal was received from the company that a teacher from 

 the school department be assigned to the company's works to 

 conduct a school for five hours a day, five days a week, for SO 

 weeks in a year, for the purpose of teaching general education 

 with special attention to Americanization. The proposition has 

 been taken under consideration by the school committee. 

 * * * 



Work has been commenced by the Woonsocket Rubber Co. 



on a two-story brick building at the Alice Mill plant for the 

 offices of the industrial relation department, which includes the 

 employment and planning departments. The building measures 

 62 by 21 feet, with a one-story ell that is to be 21 by 10 feet. 

 The second story is to be an assembly hall, where the over- 

 seers, forewomen and the various committees of the employes 

 of the concern will meet for business purposes, and also where 

 dances and other social gatherings will be held. 



Twelve salesmen of the United States Rubber Co. arrived 

 at the Alice Mill plant, a subsidiary of the corporation, about 

 the middle of the month to enroll in the Woonsocket division 

 of the training school, which is being established in the principal 

 factories of the corporation throughout the country. After 

 remaining a week, these left and on June 28 another class arrived, 

 the attendance for the second week being about 60. The sales- 

 men were instructed in the construction of all the varieties of 

 the newer types of rubber shoes, and also given an opportunity 

 to become acquainted with every part of the shoe. The starting 

 of the school is to prepare the salesmen for the coming winter 

 campaign. 



The first class was entertained at luncheon in the factory 

 restaurant one noon as guests of Henry C. Wagner, factory 

 manager, and Herman Fahrenholz, superintendent, and at the 

 close of the week's session a dinner was given the departing 

 salesmen. The members of the party included F. H. Bucking- 

 ham and T. H. Furlong, Buffalo, New York; Champ Beaumont 

 and R. B. Carney, Baltimore, Maryland ; H. D. Brow and C. O. 

 Braden, Omaha, Nebraska ; J. L. Kenham and W. A. Quinn, 

 Boston. Massachusetts ; C. J. Milikan and A. Baumgarten, New 

 York City, and B. L. Andrews and M. Melman, Chicago, Illinois. 



Colonel Samuel Pomeroy Colt, chairman of the executive 

 committee, and former president of the United States Rubber 

 Co., started on June 1 for Camp Colt, located at the foot of 

 Mt. Katahdin, Maine, with a party of guests, whom he will 

 entertain at his camp for three weeks, enjoying outdoor life, 

 fishing, hunting, etc. The members of the party included Mr. 

 and Mrs. Edwin A. Barrows, Colonel and Mrs. Harold J. Gross 

 of Providence; Mr. and Mrs. Andrew W. Anthony; Roswell 

 C. Colt of Bristol; Mrs. Florence Miller Beresford, Mrs. 

 Imogene Waldron : Mrs. John W. Bicknell of New York ; 

 Countess Eleanor Moroni of New York ; Charles B. Seger of 

 New York, president of the United States Rubber Co.; Walter 

 S. Ballou of Providence; Dr. I. Hart Noyes of Providence, and 

 George E. Leighton of Bristol. 



The Narragansett Cotton Mills, Inc., 614 Jackson Building, 

 Providence, with mills at Apponaug, Rhode Island, will start 

 the manufacture of tire fabric as soon as the installation of 

 machinery is completed. 



According to the last report of tlie Rhode Island factory in- 

 spector, dated January, 1919, there are fifteen rubber firms in 

 the state employing 8,630 persons as follows : 4,878 men, 3,276 

 women, 184 boys under 16 and 292 girls under 16. The sani- 

 tary condition of five of these places of business was reported 

 as good, of two very good, and of eight excellent. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN NEW JERSEY. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



AN INVOLUNTARY PETITION in bankruptcy has been filed in 

 the United States District Court at Trenton against the 

 India Tire & Rubber Co., of New Brunswick, New Jersey, by 

 August C. Streitwolf, of that place, on behalf of three creditors 

 of the concern. Mr. Streitwolf acted for the Rolfe Building 

 Materials Co., the New Brunswick Iron Works, and Anthony 

 Roth, Jr., all of New Brunswick. 



