2i 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[OdOBtR 1, 1914. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 

 < 'in- Regular ( 'on espondent. 

 ' I ' i 1 1 general rubber trade in Akron is about in the same 

 ■*■ condition a- it was before the European war. Factories 

 arc running about the same, several of them having under con- 

 tract or in their possession a crude rubber supply sufficient for 

 the remaining months of the year. The others feel confident of 

 being aide to secure all the crude rubber they need, so that the 



general tone oi business is good. Some of the factories at the 

 beginning •>! hostilities cut down their working forces, hut these 

 have been increased again practically to the previous number. 

 The mechanical rubber line is strong and active. The tire 

 business i-- slow, as is generally the condition this time of the 



year. 



* * * 



h< Firestom [ire & Rubber Co. is working on a new addi- 

 tion I'll, slowness in general business during the last year 

 and a half has affected very little, if any, the rapid construction 

 and enlargement of the Firestone plant. This is reflected in the 

 yearly report of the company, which was submitted at the annual 

 shareholders' meeting. September 2, at which the old board 

 of directors was re-elected, as follows: H. S. Firestone, R. J. 

 Firestone, Will Christy. Amos Miller (of Chicago), and Dr 

 Sisler. 



The sales for the fiscal year ending Julj 31 amounted to 

 almost twenty million dollars, on which the net profit was 

 $2,8S7,71>. The increase in output during the year was 78 per 

 cent over the previous year's production, which was by far the 

 largest of anj year in the company's history. 



On October 15 the Firestone company will hold its sales con- 

 vention, and the active sales force, which consists of hetween 

 250 and 300 men, will be in Akron for a week. These conven- 

 tions form a sales school of the highest type and have proved 

 very beneficial to the company. The work of this force in the 

 field has caused to be added since last October 95.000 square feet 

 of floor space to the Firestone plant. 



* * * 



The Republic Rubber Co.. of Youngstown, Ohio, under the 

 direction of Thomas L. Robinson, and sales manager John 



II. Kelly has just held its yearly sales meeting at Youngstown. 



* * * 



The Akron Rubber Mould & Machine Co. is placing on the 

 market an improved vulcanizer for auto, dealers wdio wish to 



do their own repairing. 



* * * 



The Adamson Machine Co. has commenced construction 

 of a $20,000 addition to its building. It is also installing new 

 machinery in the part of the factory completed about one year 



ago. 



* * * 



The Akron branch of The Birmingham Iron Foundry is manu- 

 facturing an automatic mixing apron, for which its inventor, 

 Mr. P. E. Welton, claims special merit. 



* * * 



Tin- Gordon Rubber Co. announces an increased business as 

 the onlj effect SO far experienced as a result of the war. 



* * * 



W W Wildman, general manager of the Portage Rubber Co., 

 says: "The European war has had no effect in the business of 

 the Portage Rubber Co. except in the way of increasing our 

 sales, as since the war has been declared our business has been 

 better than ever before, and we have been compelled to operate 

 our plant overtime. 



"We might add that our sales for the first nine mouths of our 

 twelve months previously, and at the present time we are fully 

 thirty days behind on orders. We are now adding to our power 

 plant by installing a battery of Stirling boilers. This, with addi- 



tional equipment that we are putting in, will enable us to largely 



increase our output." 



* * * 



I In Mohawk Rubber Co. is remodeling a building 61 x 100 

 feet, and building another 31 x 56 feet. 



* * * 



Charles E. Wood, crude rubber broker of New York, has 

 opened an office in Akron — at 308 Hamilton Building — of which 

 ( . E. Siegfried will have charge. 



President B. G. Work, of the 11. F. Goodrich Co.. and Mrs. 

 Work have returned to their home from Carlsbad after an ex- 

 citing trip through the European war /one. Their automobile 

 was seized by the German government and the French chauffeur 

 retained by the German troops. After suffering various other 

 inconveniences they arrived at Rotterdam, from which place they 

 sailed for .Yew York. 



* * * 



The magnificent home of Frank Seiberling is rapidly nearing 

 completion. The immense park, with its natural scenery, which 

 surrounds it. affords a setting which is rarely excelled by a 

 combination of the best of nature and of artistic skill. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 

 By Our Regular Correspondent. 



PI IF Boston rubber goods situation is peculiar, though prob- 

 *■ ably no more so than in any other section of the coun- 

 try. A canvass of the different branches of the trade gives one a 

 pretty fair idea of the state of affairs, but in some cases widely- 

 divergent ideas as to present conditions and future prospects. 

 I wish 1 could give you the details of these personal interviews 

 with the names of the persons questioned, but there seems to be 

 a most marked disinclination on the part of many to have their 

 views published with their names attached. They were not back- 

 ward, however, in expressing their opinions, provided their names 

 were not mentioned. 



For instance, an importing house told The India Rubber 

 World correspondent that while at first the securing of crude 

 rubber was a difficult matter, the situation is clearing; that con- 

 siderable rubber en route from the Far East was held up because 

 the ships containing it were flying flags of belligerent nations and 

 had therefore put into neutral ports to prevent capture. There 

 were many such ships in the harbors of the Mediterranean. The 

 carrying trade from South American ports is generally in British 

 or German owned ships and they had discontinued their sailings. 

 Then Brazil declared a long-continued holiday, the banks closed 

 and it was impossible to do business. Later, though rubber was 

 for sale, there was no possibility of exchange. "Ibis importer, 

 however, hunted up some one with claims against South Ameri- 

 can merchants, purchased the accounts for cash, and bought 

 rubber, tendering these accounts as payment, and secured some 

 hundred tons of crude rubber. 



Few consumers purchased crude rubber at the high quotations 

 noted a few weeks ago. Of course every manufacturer has a 

 larger or smaller supply on hand, and unless he was seized by the 

 contagion of alarm, he refrained from buying, running the risk 

 of higher prices later. It proved a good gamble. 



A manufacturer of mechanicals, when interviewed, said that 

 business is considerably behind that of a year ago, a fact accounted 

 for by the general tendency in all lines to economize, and to the 

 shutting down, or working on short time, of many manufac- 

 turing establishments. 



Regarding druggists' soft goods, a producer says that while 

 the demand may not be so general, there are some large con- 

 tracts being offered by the syndicates which run a larger or 

 smaller number of stores. These people are close buyers, but 



