;ei>tember 1, 1919.1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



683 



Peace Problems and Progress. 



RUBBER MEN JOIN FARM COOPERATION MOVEMENT. 



INLiL>TRiAL LEADERS o£ Ncvv England, including men prominent 

 in the rubber business, have recently organized the New Eng- 

 land Farm and Food Foundation for the purpose of forcing 

 down the cost of living by establishing closer cooperation be- 

 tween the farmer and the consumer. 



The waste of food products under present systems, congestion 

 of certain products in one market while other centers are suffer- 

 ing from a scarcity of the same article, and hoarding by profiteers 

 are the particular evils upon which the foundation will center 

 its efforts. 



Cooperative buying will be introduced, and tlie foundation will 

 assist such bodies as already exist along similar lines whicli in 

 the past have been handicapped by lack of finances. 



Farmers will be assisted in obtaining credit and other facilities ; 

 in organizing farmers' exchanges and other agencies, and in grad- 

 ing and standardizing the products of the farm. Young men will 

 also be helped in obtaining an agricultural education. 



The list of trustees of the foundation looks like a "Blue Book" 

 of Xew England business leaders and includes M. M. Converse, 

 president of the Converse Rubber Shoe Co., Maiden, Massachu- 

 setts ; Harry G. Fisk, treasurer of The Fisk Rubber Co., Chico- 

 pee Falls, Massachusetts ; and Frederick C. Hood, treasurer of 

 the Hood Rubber Co., Watertown, Mass. 



AMERICAN CREDIT FOR EUROPEAN REHABILITATION. 



In an article in the August issue of "Commerce Monthly," 

 James S. Alexander, president of the National Bank of Commerce 

 in New York, a director of the United States Rubber Co., and 

 a member of the recently organized committee of bankers formed 

 to work out ways and means to refinance Europe, clearly outlines 

 the part which America must pay in the rehabilitation overseas. 



Stated ii) broad terms, the situation is, that Europe must have 

 from the United States immense quantities of materials to re- 

 build and refit for a normally productive economic life. Europe's 

 international banking situation is such that she cannot pay as 

 she goes. Neither is her present productivity such as to 

 enable her to pay for what she buys with what she produces. As 

 a nation, therefore, we must both sell goods to Europe and supply 

 her with the credit to make these purchases. This should be done, 

 not with Government funds, but with private capital organized 

 and administered on a semi-public basis with the approval of the 

 United States Government so as to inspire the wirespread confi- 

 dence and participation of the investing public in the necessary 

 bonds or debentures, each of which should be secured by the pool 

 of everything collateral that Europe is able to offer. 



From the selfish point of view of ."American interest as well as 

 of that of humanity this is necessary in order to conserve our 

 markets, to conserve our surplus, and to avert possible industrial 

 depression. Moreover, the total market for the United States, in 

 respect to all nations and all comttiodities, should be allocated for 

 the common good, thus giving equal opportunity to strong and 

 financially weak European nations and to large and small .Ameri- 

 can firms during the reconstruction period. 



.\ pool of Europe's needs can be met by a pool of America's 

 resources through the agency of a great, centralized credit organ- 

 ization of banker's groups with adequate capital and the con- 

 fidence and support of .American business. 



SAVINGS STAMPS IN LARGE DENOMINATIONS. 



Tlirifty Americans can now buy their Savings Stamps in de- 

 nominations of $100 and $1,000. The new registered Treasury 

 Savings Certificates are exactly the same security, on exactly 

 the same basis with the same exemptions from taxation, and sold 

 on exactly the same terms as the War Savings Stamps which 



have become the popular investment of the small saver. Moreover, 

 War Savings Stamps are now convertible into Treasury Savings 

 Certificates. 



The price of the new certificates is relatively the same as that 

 of War Savings Stamps. The $100 certificate was sold for a $82.40 

 in January and the price increases 20 cents each month to Decem- 

 ber, 1919. The $1,000 certificate sold for $824 in January and the 

 price increases $20 each month until December. Treasury Cer- 

 tificates of this year's issue reach maturity January 1, 1924. Prior 

 to that date they can be redeemed on ten days' notice for the 

 cost plus 3 per cent interest. 



STEEL TIRES ON SURRENDERED GERMAN TRUCKS. 



For the benefit of the Goxernment and the United States motor 

 truck industry there is to be a research investigation of the 47 

 German trucks recently brought to the United States. • It will be 

 conducted under the joint auspices of the Society of Automotive 

 Engineers, the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, the 

 Motor and Accessory Manufacturers' Association and the Motor 

 Transport Corps of the .\rmy. These trucks were selected from 

 the 12S0 turned over by Germany to the United States under the 

 terms of the Armistice. They represent the best available sam- 

 ples of current German practice in truck construction and their 

 study seems likely to prove of value. That most of them are 

 fitted with steel tires again emphasizes the lack of rubber in 

 Germany. 



PROPOSED TARIFFS AFFECTING THE RUBBER TRADE. 

 Among the bills which have been introduced in Congress, and 

 which are now before the Ways and Means Committee for con- 

 sideration, are several tariff bills which are of interest to the 

 rubber industry. These include bills providing for a tariff of 

 15 cents per unit (^= 1 per cent) of sulphur in the short ton 

 (2,000 pounds) of pyrite and all crude iron sulphide minerals, 

 and on sulphur in whatever form not otherwise provided for, 

 the same tariff per unit of sulphur content ; on crude or manu- 

 factured barytes, $10 per ton ; barium sulphate, $15 per ton, and 

 on barium carbonate, bino.xide, chloride and other barium com- 

 pounds, $20 per ton. On magnesite commercial ore, crushed or 

 ground, yi-cent a pound; calcined, dead burned and grain, H- 

 cent a pound ; magnesite brick, %-cent per pound and 10 per cent 

 ad valorem; on zinc in blocks, bricks or zinc dust, 1^ cents per 

 pound; in sheets, 1?^ cents per pound; sheets coated with nickel 

 or other metal or solutions, IJ^ cents per pound, and worn-out 

 zinc for remanufacture, 1 cent per pound. Zinc oxide and white 

 pigment containing zinc, but no lead, if grained in oil, 1^ cents 

 per pound; zinc sulphide, \]4 cents per pound; zinc chloride and 

 sulphate, 1 cent per pound. 



Coal-tar products to be divided into three groups: Group 1, 

 free of duty ; Group 2, a tariff of 40 per cent and 6 cents a pound, 

 and Group 3, a duty of 45 per cent and 7 cents a pound. 



Among the tariff bills already passed by the House, and now 

 before the Senate, may be mentioned one placing a duty of 60 

 per cent ad valorem on glass and porcelain ware for laboratory 

 purposes. Another places 45 per cent duty on philosophical, 

 scientific, and laboratory instruments and appliances. 



THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ON FOOTWEAR PRICES. 

 -After a comprehensive and thorough investigation, the Fed- 

 eral Trade Commission has found that the high prices of shoes 

 cannot be justified by underlying economic conditions. Packers, 

 tanners, shoe manufacturers and retailers are all said to be 

 taking excessive profits, all of which impose an intolerable burden 

 upon the consumer. Few tanners, for example, who were con- 

 tent to earn 10 per cent on their invested capital in 1914 were 

 found to average less than 20 per cent since 1916 or 1917, 



