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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I May 1, 19lo. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



()ur Regular Correspondent, 



TRADE lays in many lines of rubber manufacture. The tire 

 men are not working up to capacity, some reported as 

 running nearer SO than 70 per cent. This is in part explained 



e large and increasing number of concerns which have 

 gone into this business. Mechanicals are being bought only for 

 immediate needs, and these needs are nut large. Drug sundries 

 are going well. Clothing nun are unusually busy, though the 

 trade in low-priced lines is considerably cut up. The footwear 

 manufacturers have good ordei s on hand, much larger than a 

 year ago at this time, due to two causes — lighter stocks carried 

 over than last year, and the inducement of an extra 5 per cent, 

 discount for early orders. The rubber shoe factories in this 

 section are making tennis or other cloth upper specialties in 

 footwear, while those making other lines in addition, such as 

 drug sundries, hose, etc., are more than seasonably busy. 



demand for crude rubber is but moderate, but stocks 

 are small, and some difficulty is experienced in securing ship- 

 ments of stock already bought or ordered on the other side. 



mi, is who formerly carried a six months' stock continu- 

 ously, are now buying only in small lots, and few manufacturers 

 are believed to carry more than one-third their former normal 



supply. 



* * * 



Benjamin F. Elson. for many years connected with the Bos- 

 ton Belting Co., is still incapacitated for business from the 

 of the paralytic shock he experienced last August. His 

 many friends in the trade will regret to learn that he is not yet 

 able to walk far without assistance. Mr. Elson entered the 

 employ of the Boston Belting Co. soon after leaving school. 

 severing his connection with the company to enter business on 

 his own account, but later returning and advancing to the posi- 

 tion of assistant manager. He is at his home in Brookline. 



* * * 



Most people in the United States have heard that Brookline, a 

 suburh of Boston, is the richest town in the country. The 

 wealthy Brooklinite hates to be disturbed in the early hours of 

 the morning. The worst sleep-disturbers have been the milkmen, 

 whose clattering wheels and rattling bottles prevented the som- 

 w lent citizen from enjoying his early morning repose. Thanks 

 to rubber, however, today it is different. The agent for the 

 of milk in that town, going outside the narrow func- 

 tions of inspecting the lacteal fluid, has inspected the entire out- 

 fits of the milkmen, and through his influence the wagons are 

 now equipped with rubber-tired wheels, and the wire bottle 

 carriers have been provided with rubber tube buffers. 



* * * 



C J. Bailey, whose many novelties in rubber have long been 

 well known in the trade, and whose rubber heels have made him 

 famous, is now making rubber soles on the Bailey principle 

 that has for so long made the "Wont-Slip" heels so popular, 

 namely, the group of rubber studs which give resiliency and 

 prevent slipping. The soles are made of leather fiber and 

 rubber, and in the tread is an oval space containing five rows of 

 ruliher studs and a concentric flat ring. Mr. Bailey makes 

 claims of superiority in the matter of non-slipping, while these 

 soles and heels will not mutilate the grass on tennis courts or 

 golf links ; nor will they scratch yacht decks. 



In Mr. Bailey's office hang two pictures which are of more 

 than ordinary interest, when their story is known. One of these 

 shows a very crude and rather dilapidated log cabin, the other 

 a modern suburban residence up to date in every detail. The 

 first is the birthplace of Mr. Bailey, and his residence until he 

 reached the age of 21. It was built by his father, a pioneer in 

 a middle western State. The other picture is that of Mr. 

 Bailey's residence in Newton, one of Boston's best suburbs, and 



these two pictures tell in a graphic way the story of a successful 

 life. 



* * * 



M. Norton & Co., dealers in rubber scrap, met with a serious 

 loss on April 27. when their big rubber storehouse in Medford 

 was entirely destroyed, together with a large amount of stock. 

 The structure was a two-story building about 100 x 50 feet, and 

 surrounded on three sides by a high board fence. Marsh grass 

 in the vicinity caught fire, burned through the fence and attacked 

 the storehouse, which was almost instantly ablaze. It was a 

 spectacular tire, dense smoke spreading so far that thousands in 

 surrounding towns were attracted. It was with great diffi- 

 culty that the metal and machine shop was saved. The loss 

 was well above $50,000 on building and contents. 



* * * 



Last month Colonel Frank L. Locke was re-elected president 

 of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union at the sixty-fourth 

 annual meeting of the board of directors. Mr. Locke was 

 formerly well known in the rubber trade, having been for 12 

 years with the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., resigning the position 

 of superintendent of the factories in June, 1907, to take up this 

 institutional work as president of the Union. During the 8 

 years he has had charge of the workings of this splendid insti- 

 tution, its scope has been broadened, until today it is living 

 up to its slogan, "Headquarters of Opportunity." The Union 

 is not a charity. Its object is to help young men to help them- 

 selves by helping each other. It is a place where young men 

 may meet, compare experiences, secure counsel, form classes to 

 broaden their knowledge and enlarge their efficiency. It is a 

 place where the young men can learn the duties and responsi- 

 bilities as well as the privileges of citizenship. There is an em- 

 ployment bureau, while its social service is most comprehensive, 

 including many outside beneficences. All this means an im- 

 mense amount of work and requires a peculiar fitness which 

 Colonel Locke possesses in a marked measure. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN RHODE ISLAND. 

 By i hir Regular Correspondent. 



THERE has been a decided and general improvement in the 

 volume of business of the concerns identified with the rub- 

 ber industry in this state since the first of the year, which has been 

 especially noticeable during the past month or six weeks; and 

 more large orders are reported to have been received during the 

 last week. While not authoritatively acknowdedged. it is generally 

 believed that this state is furnishing a considerable amount of 

 goods that are being used by the Allies in Europe, including 

 surgical appliances, rubber boots and solid tires for the war 

 trucks. All of these goods are in great demand and the several 

 Rhode Island factories are working overtime, as a rule. There 

 is reported to be a shortage of competent rubber workers, which 

 i- beginning to be seriously felt in the different plants. One large 

 plant, it is stated, would immediately go on a double shift if the 

 proper grade of workers could be secured in necessary numbers. 

 * * * 



The factory of the Consumers' Rubber Co.. on Wood -treet, 

 Bristol, formerly known as the Byfield Rubber Co., and which 

 has been under the management of Terence McCarthy for several 

 years, is enjoying a period of prosperity, with a large force 

 of employes, a full-time schedule and large orders on hand. 

 The concern is to be known hereafter as the Xarragansett 

 Rubber Co.. Mr. McCarthy having succeeded in securing the 

 plant from the receiver of the Consumers' Rubber Co. Papers 

 relative to the change of name and control were filed with the 

 city clerk at Bristol about the middle of the past month. 



A charter for the Narragansett Rubber Co. has been secured 

 from the Secretary of State of Rhode Island, and all the formal- 

 ities connected with the change have been completed. Mr. Mc- 



