September 1, 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



681 



those years Wailly had been literally transformed. Light and 

 airy houses had been built, providing homes for the specialists 

 and workmen, and close by, at Mitry, in the smiling valley of 

 Carreux, Mr. Wolber had installed his private residence, sur- 

 rounded by a beautiful park. 



Very soon it was evident that Wailly was too small for the 

 development of the Wolber factories, and in 1913 Mr. Wolber, 

 foreseeing new manufactures, erected a factory of the most 

 modern construction at Soissons. This was opened three months 

 before the declaration of war. 



At that time 900,000 tires and 900,000 inner tubes were being 

 produced, and the new equipment made possible an annual pro- 

 duction of up to 1,500,000 pneumatic tires and tubes. The war 

 put a complete stop to the production of this important plant 

 which the battle was destined to destroy. 



It is a sad experience for one who wishes to ascertain the dev- 

 astation wrought, as the correspondent of The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World has done ! 



A cruel journey along the Chemin des Dames, tragic and 

 glorious, where they silently salute the heroic dead whose graves 

 cover the Plateau de Craonne; a painful trip under the May 

 sun; Soissons martyred, the city dead. What can we say about 

 Wailly? The Wolber factories were its pride! Where are they? 



I-'ngine-room at Wailly. 



Destroyed from top to bottom, the fire, the sliells, have twisted, 

 smashed down, demolished everything. 



At this distressing sight, this inextricable confusion, one for- 

 gets the material value of things and feels hatred boil within 

 when thinking of this which was the center of work, this first- 

 class factory with a big future and great promise, stopped when in 

 full swing. 



What remains of it all? Nothing, or nearly nothing. 



Iron braces twisted and threatening! One can scarcely dis- 

 tinguish the long truss of the spreading room, nor the one for the 

 construction of tire carcasses, nor that for inner tubes; their 

 roofs blown ofT, riddled with shell holes, overthrown by bombs. 

 All this is beyond words. 



Let us leave Wailly in ruins, or rather that wliich once was 

 Wailly, and go back to Soissons. 



The Wolber factory has been cruelly damaged, but having been 

 built after the American fashion of steel and reinforced con- 

 crete, it was better able to resist and still preserves the form of 

 a building. The main structure has been hastily repaired and 

 shelters at the present time an automobile park in the rear. The 

 restoration of the building under the energetic supervision of 

 Mr. Wolber, who wishes to work even in the midst of the ruins, 

 is actually almost completed. The chimneys are torn down, the 

 water system has disappeared, the buildings without roof or win- 

 dows are riddled with bullets or shell splinters — these are only 



injuries to material things, doubtless less painful than those done 

 to human beings, but they will take as long to heal. 



Returning by the broken road, looking at these distressing 

 sights for a long time, we ask ourselves these questions : 



T Mitry. 



"Wliat will the man do who has experienced such a disaster; 

 who has seen go to pieces a business which it has taken him 30 

 years to build up ? 



"At the age of SO is he going to leave things in the state of 

 awaiting imminent but slow reparation? Hasn't this pioneer's 

 energy become dull as the result of these undeserved misfor- 



Then we do not know Wolber! Crushed, but courageous, he 

 has already set to work, aided by his son and son-in-law, by 

 those among his associates who escaped the terrible war. While 

 the war was going on, he erected a new factory at Lavallois, 

 where he manufactured balloon fabrics, and there he has just 

 started the manufacture of tires. 



The plans for the reconstruction of Wailly and Soissons are 

 imishcd and the works of restoration are beginning. New equip- 

 ment, an improvement on the old, has been ordered and, as soon 

 as received, will be installed and set going. New methods, such 

 as the use of accelerators which the war has made known, will be 

 employed. 



ROOM AT Soissons. 



Wolber, always anxious to progress, does not want his re- 

 generated factories to lack any improvement, and that is why he 

 is sending his son, only just demobilized, to make a tour of in- 

 vestigation in the United States, where the rubber industry has 



rcai-bed its perfcclion. 



