JSm 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, 1915. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 

 By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE new year has not yet rilled the anticipations of the 

 optimists in the trade. Manufacture has not advanced 

 any considerable extent and there are traces of disappoint- 

 ment in the reports which come from members of the trade. 

 However, there has been an improvement, of greater or less 

 extent, in nearly every branch of the business, and the pros- 

 pects are for continued advance. The call for mechanicals 

 is quiet: the tire manufacturers are doing a fair business: 

 druggists' soft goods are being called for moderately, and 

 there is some movement in clothing. The weather should 

 help this branch, for rain and snow have been plentiful. In 

 boots and shoes the weather has brought a demand, which 

 had been to some extent provided for. The factories making 

 tennis shoes are busy and adding to their production as fast 



as help can be secured. 



* * * 



The tennis shoe question is an interesting one at present. 

 Leather shoes are high, and likely to further advance in price. 

 Shoe dealers in many sections, and especially in the South, 

 anticipate a big call for tennis shoes to take the place of 

 leather shoes, which are or will be too high for certain classes 



of trade. 



* * * 



The substitution of rubber for leather in soles grows in 

 importance each month. Sole leather is going abroad for 

 manufacture into shoes for the soldiers, and foreign buyers 

 are willing to pay such prices that American shoe manu- 

 facturers find quotations so high that they are turning their 

 attention to substitutes, and most of these subsitutes are of 

 rubber, either alone or mixed with fibre, etc. It's a poor 

 month when a new soling of rubber is not exploited in the 

 shoe trade. 



One great objection to the use of these soles has been 

 the necessity of stitching with holes rather widely apart, and 

 the use of heavy, coarse thread, so that the rubber will not 

 tear between the holes made by the needle. Such stitching 

 and thread are appropriate only in outing and sporting shoes, 

 and similar lines, and is neither desirable nor practicable for 

 women's fine shoes with high arch insteps and narrow edges. 

 How to overcome this heavy appearance and to give the 

 touch of fine shoemaking without weakening the shoe by 

 cutting the sole at the stitching is a problem which has oc- 

 cupied the minds of several inventors. A Lynn shoe manu- 

 facturer, Karl A. Stritter, of Strout & Stritter, claims that 

 his invention will accomplish this. He has applied for a 

 patent, the details of which are not yet fully available, but 

 which are, in effect, a leather welt or reinforcement cemented 

 on, and extending around the edge of the rubber sole in such 

 way that the stitching goes through both rubber and leather, 

 the latter holding the stitches and preventing the splitting 

 of the rubber sole between the needle holes. This gives 

 such protection to the rubber sole that it may be given any- 

 desired "edge." and makes it practicable to withstand the 

 strain subjected by high-heeled shoes. If this is really ef- 

 fected, there is almost a certainty of a large increase in the 

 use of rubber soles on women's shoes, for many women 

 would wear these more stylish shapes who will not wear the 

 present low-heel, heavy-edged, rubber-soled shoes. Samples 

 which have been shown in Boston the past month are fully 

 as stylish, slender and shapely as those made with leather 



soles. 



* * * 



Frank W. Whitcher, of the F. W. Whitcher Co., manu- 

 facturers of the Velvet Rubber Heel and other specialties in 

 rubber, is an ardent champion of fixed prices on advertised 

 articles, and has addressed several conventions and associa- 



tions on this important subject. He claims that manufac- 

 turers should be allowed to control the prices at which their 

 articles are sold, either by dealers or wholesalers. Until the deci- 

 sion in the Sanatogen case some months ago, manufacturers were 

 so controlling the selling price, but this decision renders such 

 control illegal. There are many hundreds of articles manu- 

 factured of rubber which are widely advertised, and on which 

 a standard price has been tixed. But if these articles are 

 sold at cut prices, the manufacturers must either reduce the 

 cost of making or quit advertising, either horn of the dilemma 

 being suicidal. Surely this is a subject worthy of careful 

 consideration, and should be agitated to influence legislation 

 in favor of fixed prices, as a protection to manufacturer, whole- 

 saler and retailer. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN CHICAGO. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 'T'llE first weeks of the year in the rubber trade here have met 

 ■*• with the entire satisfaction of the members. Owing to the 

 fact that the month has contained a great deal of bad weather, 

 the rubber clothing houses have been doing a rush business. 

 When the storms arrived the dealers in raincoats and rubber 

 shoes soon ran out of stock and were obliged to replenish from 

 local distributors. These houses were well prepared for the 

 rush, and goods were sent out in expeditious fashion. 



Rubber belting houses have not been so busy, of course, as 

 the main rush for them is over until spring. However, there 

 has been a good average demand. Most of these firms carry 

 tires, packing and other mechanical goods, so that when one 

 line is out of season another can take its place. The demand 

 for tire inners has been good, say the mechanical rubber goods 

 men. They also declare that they are receiving orders in fair 

 volume for packing from coal and copper mines in the west 



and northwest. 



* * * 



The tire men made great preparations for the annual automo- 

 bile show, held in the Coliseum and the First Regiment Armory, 

 January 23-30. Some of the firms, of course, have large displays. 

 These are located on the balcony, along with the other supply 

 exhibits. Large crowds are attending the show this year, as the 

 event has been given more than the usual amount of publicity 



in the newspapers. 



* * * 



R. H. Abernathy, of the Brazil Rubber Manufacturing Co.. 18 

 South Dearborn street, expresses himself as well pleased with 

 the trend of business for the past month and looks for a good 

 spring season. 



* * * 



Rubber manufacturers of this city are much interested in the 

 fight which is being made by Chicago manufacturers to secure 

 lower freight rates on carload shipments to the Pacific Coast. 



Last week Thomas C. Moore, representing the Merchants' 

 Transportation Bureau, appeared before the Western Classifica- 

 tion Committee, which met here, and told the members and a 

 number of railroad officials present exactly what the manufac- 

 turers of the city, including the rubber men, wanted in the way 

 of reduced rates. 



"Under present conditions," said Mr. Moore, "the manufac- 

 turer of a product in Xew York, Boston, Philadelphia, or any 

 of the other cities on the Atlantic seaboard can actually ship 

 goods by water via the Panama Canal cheaper than the manu- 

 facturers of this city can send them to the Pacific Coast by rail. 

 What is more to the point, the steamship companies can make 

 the trip in only a few days' more time. Chicago manufacturers 

 belie-e that this competition is not fair, and they want a sub- 

 stantial reduction on carload rates to the coast." 



The committee refused to touch the matter, however, until 

 they had received some idea of the stand of the Interstate Com- 



