June 1. 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



511 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 

 By Our Regular I dent. 



HI SINESS in the rubber industry is unevenlj divided. In 

 *-* spite of the fact that this is a pretty good ycai For automo- 

 biling, taking the number of machines in actual use, there arc 

 tire people who complain of slow business, whil< others report 

 running well up to capacity. No doubt the numbei oi manu- 

 facturers now making tires must result in the splitting up of the 

 business, but it is a very n itii abl< feature thai thosi doing ex- 

 tensive advertising report better business than some oi th< lesser 

 known producers. 



rhe makers of first class clothing reporl that the mam 

 turers of cheap lines cut into their business on the lower 

 priced goods, but that in the liner lines business is good. Up 

 to ni iv\ tin i cpected difficult) oi ecurin Fori ign ti ill 

 not materialized to any great extent, while som< American 

 cloths are being made which full) equal the imported article. 

 In mechanicals at least one leading factory has a sufficient de 

 mand to run night shifts to get out its orders. Drug sundrii 

 are in nominal, seasonable demand. Boot and shoe orders are 



ning hi steadil) and factories running well up to normal oul 

 either on orders or in anticipation of later business. Tennis 

 shoes are having an extraordinary call, and the manufacturers 

 are vying with each other to bring out mure stylish lines. 



Crude rubber dealers and brokers report a very slowl) yel 

 noticeably increasing demand. Consumers have been, and still 

 are. buying in smaller quantities than in previous years, but, as 

 was said before, business is improving somewhat in this par- 

 ticular. Reclaimers are not specially happy just now. Scrap 

 r is high and reclaimed rubber selling at much lowei 



prices than formerly. ["here are no foreign galoshes coming 

 here. Russia and German) are holding all for domestic re- 

 claiming. This makes scrap shoes high, while old tires, which 

 yield much greater proportion of reclaimed gum, and usually 



are higher than shoes, are now quoted at much lower prices. 



practically without exci us members of the party 



manifested unusual interest and • great surprise at the 



which the plant oi tins company h 

 It is reported that the Boston Woven Hos< & Rubber Co. 

 handled the largest bus.ness in its history during the last three 

 ml that all the departments except those where women 

 running night shifts b 

 of their orders. Ibis i s mos ss, though the 



the war have been noted by orders being from 



■ in South Vmerica and Africa which would have gone to 

 land under pacific circumstam 



* * * 



I lo \pslc\ Rubber I o., of Hudson, Massachusetts, in cele- 

 brating the thirtieth anniversarj of its foundation, has issued a 

 handsonu catalog of the clothing and footwa.o which it manu- 

 factures. The picture of its first factory, started in 1885 — a two- 

 story, rented building is strongly a ntra ted with the great in- 

 dustrial plan! oi today, with its big brick building tnple- 

 iin ni "i machinery, propelled bj electric power brought from 

 tin i onnecticut river, many miles away; it> rows of houses for 

 the work people, spi appurte- 

 nances of a great manufacturing plant. Hon. L. 1). \pslcy may 

 well he proud of the industry he 1 ed and the success it 

 has achieved. A short "Foreword," written by Mr. \psley, 

 that "Neither in sharp business contest for supremacy in 

 the rubber business, nor in | r war timi they 

 failed to meet their paper at maturitj The) have never passed 

 a dividend, laying regularly 7 ■ ock, and 

 ii i .in 1 tu 40 pi i i in! on i ommon stock. 



"Its thirtieth anniversary finds thi in the most pros- 



perous condition in it- history, having done in the first quarter 

 of this year the largest business il nig 20 per 



cent, more than during the first 3 months of last year, while 

 the first month of the second quarter of this year shows an in- 

 creasi oi 30 per ceni ovei last year." 



The Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Co. was the host, and 90 

 members of the Boston chamber of commerce were the guests 

 at an interesting function which took place Thursday, Ma 

 There was recently inaugurated by the chamber a series of 

 "Industrial Excursions." visits to manufacturing plants in the 

 vicinity of Boston, and this was the ninth of the series. 



The members were conducted in special cars to the factor 

 at Cambridge, where they were welcomed by Vice-President 

 George E. Hall and Treasurer Henry B. Sprague. Mr. 1 1 ill 

 made a brief address and then the party was split up into 

 eleven groups, each of which, in charge of a guidi ducted 



through the various departments oi the plant. 



The trip began at the basement, where the visitors wan shown 

 the bins of crude rubber, then conducted through the null-room, 

 where the processes oi washing, mixing and calendering were 

 explained; thence through various other departments, where the 

 \ isitors saw the many processes for manufacturing tubing, jar 

 rings, heels and soles, belting, bos,-, etc Special admiration 

 was shown regarding the exhibit of hose weaving machines, and 

 the manufacture of hose of all sizes from half-inch garden hose 

 to great suction and fire hose; while the production of belting 

 ailed for similar expression: of interest. 



From the rubber departments to the brass foundry and finish- 

 ing shop the groups were Conducted, and here they were shown 

 the manufacture of nozzles, couplings, sprinklers and similar 

 articles. 



As souvenirs of the occasion, rich visitor received a package 

 if fruit-jar rings, a box of tire tape and a book of preserving 

 recipes. One of the officials of the chamber of commerce char- 

 acterized the excursion as one of the most instructive and in- 

 teresting of the trips the chamber has taken this season, and 



Cosullo C. G and his wife tified the First 



Baptisl Church in Maiden that the) will furnish for the rebuilt 

 church a line organ with all the latest attachments. The church, 

 winch was .,,.-,, largel) the beneficiar) of Deacon E. S. Converse, 

 of the Boston Rubber Shoe Co. during his life, was destroyed 

 b) ire earl) in tie- spring, and this action of his <laughter and 

 nephew is particularly graceful and gem 

 * * * 



William Noll, advertising director of the Foster Ru 

 which makes thi "Catspaw" rubber heel, is in San Francisco, tak- 

 ing chargi chibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposi- 

 Mr. Noll mil lets in exhibition get by without spring- 

 mething new either in th ir or an exhibit. 

 He always manages to attend tin annual convention of the 

 National Shoe binders' \ — ciation, which tins year will be held 

 in June, at San Francisco. The Foster rubber heel is 

 always well advertised at these conventions either by a souvenir 

 presented to each member present, or a special entertainment 

 which forms a nature . f the- program. 



Another rubber heel man from this city who has always taken 

 a prominent part in thesi I rank W. Whit 



head of the house which manufactures the Velvet rubber heal 

 Mr. Whitcher is also r to the pleasure of the vis- 



itors, though perhaps in a i\. He- is the most 



active exponent of the movement to limit selling prices of 

 cialties, believing that trade is ruined by cut price competition. 

 Mr. Whitcher is the originator of tin me for "more 



business men in Congress." He will undoubtedly be heard from 

 at the Calif' irni 



