84 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[NOVEMBER 1, 1914. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



/i'v t'nr Regular Correspondent. 

 VV/ 1 1 I I.K the various branches of the rubber manufacturing 

 ** business differ widely as regards activity, the whole 

 trade may be pronounced nearer normal than many other 

 lines of industry. Crude rubber is being bought, and de- 

 liveries on contract are going forward, though the total con- 

 sumption of crude gum is estimated at less than is usual at 

 this season. The past season has been an excellent one for 

 automobile tires, and while there is a curtailment of produc- 

 tion at this time, such is to be expected at the close of the 

 summer season. The unusually pleasant weather has ex- 

 tended pleasure riding much later than usual, with a corre- 

 sponding wear and tear on tires, which must result in a greater 

 demand, if not this fall certainly next spring, when general 

 re-equipment is due. 



The season in New England has made an extensive demand 

 for garden hose, which has in its turn resulted in advance 

 orders for spring deliveries far above the average. Belting 

 and mechanical goods are not in so great demand. The call 

 for druggists' soft goods is somewhat under the average. 

 The clothing men have felt the effects of a tardiness on the 

 part of the weather clerk to furnish the usual September and 

 October rains, but a demand is noted for rubberized cloth 

 for export, presumed to be for making up into ponchos and 

 for covers for use on the European battlefields. The same 

 is true of the rubber footwear business. The makers of this 

 line have been busy right along, and orders which should have 

 come in last spring and summer are now being received. 

 Some factories have been shipping unusual quantities of boots 

 abroad, which are rumored to be for the use of the British 

 army. One company is making arctics on a government con- 

 tract for the United States army. Several manufacturers of 

 rubber soles report steadily increasing business, showing that 

 rubber is in part relieving the leather scarcity in the shoe 

 business. 



I It was "some belt" which was recently shipped by the Boston 

 Belting Co. to the France Stone Co. This was a conveyor belt 



Conveyor Kelt Made by Boston Belting Co. and President 

 Thomas A, Forsyth. 



such as is used for carrying crushed stone, ore, coal, etc. The 

 belt was £93 feet tdng, all in one piece. It was 36 inches Avide, 



and was of 8-ply with extra thick rubber cover. Its size can be 

 appreciated by the picture here shown with President Thomas 

 A. Forsyth standing beside it. The belt weighed 12,000 pounds 

 and its value was more than $5,500. 



* * * 



Frederic C. Hood, general manager of the Hood Rubber Co., 

 is one of the many American tourists who were in Europe at the 

 time of the declaration of war. While he belittles his personal 

 experiences, which were not sensational, as were those of less 

 experienced travelers, still he tells an interesting story of his 

 hasty trip across the continent from Italy to Norway and across 

 the mine-infested North Sea to Scotland. 



With his wife and son, he was touring the Dolomites in a 

 motor car he hired in Munich when he first heard the rumors of 

 coming war. These did not prevent the party from going to 

 Venice, for three days' sightseeing. As they motored north 

 through Verona in Italy, and Botzen and Landeck in Austria 

 and thence to Munich, they saw a restlessness which foreboded 

 trouble. From Munich they proceeded by rail to Dresden, where 

 on July 31, things looked so serious that Mr. Hood decided to 

 get out of Germany as quickly as possible, so arranged to take 

 the five o'clock train to Berlin. Finding a train an hour earlier, 

 they took passage in that, and arrived at the German capital on 

 nearly schedule time, while the next train did not run for sev- 

 eral days. 



Berlin was in a fever of excitement. Every German knew 

 where he was to report and what he was to do. The streets of 

 Berlin were filled with soldiers, and with weeping women. Sav- 

 ings banks had hundreds of people in line withdrawing deposits. 

 Taxicabs were breaking the speed laws. There was a great un- 

 dercurrent of excitement, which the younger men showed by 

 singing and marching and cheering. Tourists were hastening 

 to get through Germany and Holland to England or America. 

 The trains were being reserved for the army. Mr. Hood de- 

 cided that a northward journey would be more practicable than 

 going west, thinking that the "longest way round was the short- 

 est way through." At the station the broad platforms were piled 

 high with baggage ; but a part payment in advance, and the rest 

 when the work was done, enabled him to get his own trunks 

 aboard the train, and the Hood family started for Copenhagen, 

 where they arrived only a few hours late. 



In Copenhagen the excitement was intense. Reports were 

 current that the North Sea had been mined, and that the German 

 fleet might soon bombard Copenhagen. Many steamship sailings 

 to England had been abandoned. At the American Consulate 

 hundreds of tourists were clamoring for assistance to get home 

 or to England. Many Americans were booking steerage pas- 

 sages on the Scandinavian Line, but Mr. Hood decided to go to 

 Christiana, Norway. Here he found the Norwegian army was 

 mobilizing and transportation still uncertain. 



When he tried to buy railroad tickets, he found he could get 

 no money changed, as all the ticket agencies were out of cash. 

 But a back door of a bank, the correspondent of the American 

 Express Co., whose travelers' checks he had, was finally found, 

 and plenty of money procured after a patient series of calls on 

 the paying tellers. Thursday morning early, they left Christiana 

 for Bergen over the beautiful Scenic Railway of Norway, and on 

 the train he had good luck. A new law was passed that "alien 

 enemies" could not land in England, and there were Germans on 

 the train who had engaged passage to England, and who could 

 not go to England, so Mr. Hood secured their reservation. A 

 sample of the many "extra" expenses may be cited here, as the 

 one-way fare on this boat was $55. while the regular round-trip 

 fare is $32. The boat usually sails from Bergen to Hull, Eng- 

 land, but on account of the mines the boat went to Leith. the 

 port of Edinburgh, Scotland. 



That trip was one of the worst experiences Mr. Hood ever 

 encountered. The sea was rough. There were enough vague 



