April 1. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



403 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN RHODE ISLAND. 

 />'y ( Hir Regular I dent. 



"THERE has bi revival ■ i trade among the ru 



1 facl iries throughout the State, which are now surpassing 

 all records made in previous years. All arc running to capacity, 

 with some contemplating an overtime schedule. In the case of 



mobile goods, especially, tires, the demand is heavy, d 

 the fact that man} oi tl anufacturers of trucks and pleasure 



lines have put off until now the placing of ■ 

 equipment 



* * * 



rhi Revere Rubber Co. has started on an overtime schedule, 

 its plant in Providence at prcs. m Umg operated three nighl 

 a week with a possibility of soon making two complete shifts 



eep pace with the orders. This increase is said I 

 entirely on domestic orders, little, if any. of the product being 

 i i European shipment. 



* * * 



I he Washburn Wire Co., of Phillipsdale, according to its 

 annual statement recently issued, earned dividends of 7 per cent, 

 or. preferred and 7 per cent, on the common stock for the year 

 1914, the profits being $269,255.31, or $6,755.31 mote than re- 

 quired to pay full dividends on both classes of stock. The sur- 

 plus now stands at $1,270,724.03, against $1,263,968.72 a year ago. 

 Profits, however, were $372,907.28 one year ago, after deducting 

 a depreciation of $106,815.76 on machinery and buildings. The 

 proportion of liquid assets to total assets continues to he very 

 satisfactory, and the tloating debt was much reduced during the 

 year 1914. The dividend rate on the common stock was not 

 raised from 5 to 7 per cent, until the April quarter of 1914. 



The boom reported a month ago at the National India Rubber 

 Co., Bristol, continues, and if anything is more decided than at 

 that time. The lawn tennis shoe and insulated wire departments 

 at present have a payroll of 2.300 employes, and this number is 

 being daily increased, as fast as competent help can be secured. 

 Hi congestion in the residence districts has been so great that 

 a plan is being developed for erecting quite a number of new- 

 houses as tenements for the operatives. The big D'Wolf Inn. 

 which has been used for several summers as a hotel, has been 

 leased by the National company and fitted up . arding 



place for the additional women employes, of whom some 200 

 are thus accommodated. 



The National company is having new buildings erected to 

 connect its storehouses on Wilson's lane, thus adding materially 

 ti the size of the factorj A new office has been construct 

 connection with the shipping end of the wire-insulating depart- 

 ment, and additional trackage has been added for the handling 

 of the increasing freight. 



Fire escapes have been placed on the company's three-story 

 building at Wood street and Wilson's lane, formerly used as a 

 storehouse, but now transformed into a shoe-making depart- 

 ment and new stitching room. 



William W. Franklin, son of Superintendent James W. Frank- 

 lin, of the National company, and an assistant to his father at the 

 works, died during the past month. 



William Moffett. who had been employed at the National 

 company for about 40 years, died suddenly on March 5 from 

 grippe and Bright's disease. He was 65 years of age and at 

 the time of his death held a responsible position in the tennis 

 shoe department. 



* * * 



i Ion, 1 Samuel P. Colt, president of the United States Rub- 

 ber Co., has at his home in Bristol a high-power Mercedes tour- 

 ing automobile of some historic interest, having been returned 

 to him by the French government. It arrived at Bristol on 



March 8. and i tion, alth d been used in 



ar zone i nch foi some tinn I i il< m< 1 Colt had 



car with him last summer in Inn the war broke 



out. At that time the French government was requisitioning all 

 mobiles for military service use and Colonel Colt gave his 

 m nt. nevi i expectin tin. 



* * * 



I'll March 22 Edward P. Metcalf, former president of the 

 defunct Atlantic National Bank of this city, through whose 

 failure the Walpole lire & Rubbei G of Walpole, Massa- 

 chusetts, and the Consumers' Rub ' Bristol became 



i.illy embai was sentenced I i ■ Brown in the 



Federal District Court, to servi 5 years in the Rhode Island 

 Mate Prison at Cranston, on ten counts contained in threi 

 nuts, to run concurrently, on charges of misappl 



of that hank. Much interest has been manifested at 

 tockholders of the Walpole and Consumers' companies in 



the affairs of the defunct bank. 



Earlier in the month the Walpi li Rubber Co., which 



has been in receivers' bands for more than a year, was sold at 

 public auction to a committee representing the creditors, for 

 $780,000. The Atlantic National Hank held a large amount of 

 the Walpole stock when it went into the hands of a receiver, 

 and it was on petitii n of the bank that the Walpole company was 

 finally forced into a receivership. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN TRENTON. 



By Our Regular < 



HTMIF supply houses are much concerned over their inability 

 * to get antimony compounds — which are used largely by 

 tlie tire makers — and substitutes are being employed wher- 

 ever possible. The European war situation has resulted in 

 the cutting off of all importations of this important article 

 and there is said to be none of it procurable in Trenton. 

 Trenton importing firm is said to have sent a special mes- 

 senger to London in an effort to obtain a supply. Just what 

 success he had could not be learned. 



Another result of the war felt by rubber mills here is the 

 great falling off in orders for rubber carriage cloths, which 

 in former years have found a big sale in the South. The 

 inability of the cotton growers to realize on their crop- i- 

 said to be the direct cause of this condition. 

 * * * 



The tire people are finding that there is an ever increas 

 tendency to abuse the "guaranteed mileage" feature of their 

 goods and some steps will doubtless be taken in the 

 future to correct existing evils. The Consolidated Rubber 

 Co. has taken the first step in this direction by planning a 

 publicity campaign exploiting a "non-guaranteed" tire. \ 

 number of jobbers who have been approached have given 

 their approval to the scheme. The Consolidated people ex- 

 plain that the absence of a guarantee wi them to 

 market their tires at a lower rate and that everybody along 

 the line from the maker to tin- user will ultimately bei 

 The non-guaranteed tires will, with ordinarj tare, averaj 



high a mileage as the guaranteed - Is, it is claimed, and 



there will be an incentive for the uset I abusing them 



unnecessarily. Many of the claims on the mal laran- 



teed tires have been manifestly unjust, I have been 



taken care of rather than raise an issue which might reflect 

 in any way upon the makers 



The scourge of the guaranteed tire maker is the legion of 

 speeders who. relying upon the modern mechanism of their 

 cars for quick control, speed up to within a short distance 

 of the stopping point and then set powerful brakes to grind 

 the very life out of the rubber. The improper adjustmei 



