August 1, 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



609 



Reg. United States Pat. Off. Reg. United Kingdom. 



Published on the 1st of each month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 25 West 45th Street, New York. 



Telephone — Bryant 2576. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD, NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, F.R.G.S., Editor 



Vol. 60. AUGUST 1, 1919. 



No. 5. 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 

 THE RISE OF RUBBER AND FABRIC SHOES. 



RUBBER, THE GREAT SUPPL.\NTER, IS making as remark- 

 able headway in the footwear field as it has made 

 ill many other hnes of manufactured goods. Time was, 

 for example, when all fire hose and all belting was of 

 leather. Now all fire hose is of rubber and fabric, like- 

 wise most belting. Rubber is constantly entering new 

 fields — often with difficulty, fighting its way into favor 

 and eventually, through superiority, economy or both, 

 supplanting or partially supplanting its rivals. 



As most innovations gain momentum slowly, so it was 

 at first in introducing rubber and fabric shoes for gen- 

 eral summer wear. The merits of the early so-called 

 "tennis" shoes for athletic sports and outing purposes 

 were quickly recognized and a large annual output re- 

 sulted. These shoes were efficient and economical, but 

 not attractive to the eye. Then came the perfection of 

 leather-topped fiber soles and heels, whereupon rubber 

 men began to foresee the unlimited possibilities which 

 this development opened up. High and low shoes of 

 many styles for men, women and children were quickly 

 brought out with duck uppers of several colors, and by 

 the application of welt construction, Louis heels, and or- 



namental bows and buckles, a new type of pumps. Ox- 

 fords and Bals was produced that combined style, com- 

 fort and serviceability with moderate cost. Heavy water- 

 proof work shoes for both indoor and outdoor wear were 

 also placed on the market at $2.50 to $3.50 per pair. 



Only the sales problem of bringing about the general 

 adoption of the new footwear appeared to remain. The 

 shoes would have sold on their fine appearance alone but 

 for the skepticism and conservatism of human nature. 

 Advertising did much, however, and the trade was grow- 

 ing satisfactorily at the outbreak of the war. Then came 

 the leather shortage and increasing wages, and prices 

 began to soar until at present high-grade leather shoes 

 for both men and women that formerly sold at $5 to $10 

 per pair are now bringing nearly three times those fig- 

 ures. 



Persons obliged to combat the rising cost of living 

 turned to the new footwear and found it as durable as it 

 was attractive and learned through experience that the 

 claims of greater summer comfort were not overstated. 

 To-day the rubber and fabric shoe is the most popular 

 hot-weather footwear in the world. Millions of persons 

 are wearing it and the demand is constantly greater than 

 the supply, despite ever-increasing manufacturing facili- 

 ties. This, however, is but a beginning. All-weather 

 footwear made by great rubber factories is already pop- 

 ular. The problem has become one not of sales but of 

 production. The new footwear may never completely 

 supplant leather shoes, yet this development of the rub- 

 ber industr}- promises to become second only in magni- 

 tude to that of the rubber tire. 



WORLD STANDARDIZATION OF WEIGHTS AND 

 MEASURES. 



ONE OF THE MOST PECULIAR ANOMALIES in histOry is 

 the fact that the weights and measures of Great 

 Britain and of the United States are German, whereas 

 those of Germany are British. The British pounds, both 

 sterling and avoirdupois, originated with the old German 

 Osterling Hanseatic League, which controlled the trade 

 of England for hundreds of years until ousted by Queen 

 Elizabeth. The Germans forced these old standards on 

 the British, who in turn imposed them on the American 

 colonies. But the remarkable fact is that, despite their 

 absurd complications, they continue in use among the 

 English-speaking peoples, although as long ago as 1871 

 Germany adopted the simpler decimal system of weights 

 and measures invented by that great Briton, James Watt, 

 in 1783. 



Just as all the world has adopted the alphabet of letters 

 for written expression, each people in its own language, 

 and the Arabic numerals for mathematical computation, 

 so there is need of a universal scheme of weights and 

 measures such as the metric system aflfords. To-day 

 America and Britannia are the only civilized nations that 

 have not adopted this system and thereby find themselves 

 in the strange position of lagging behind the march of 



