534 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



July 1, 1915. 



pairs, and the value of the total annual product exceeded 



An American who visited that plant in 1S95 wrote a letter to 

 ["hi . ; ■ i; World which appeared iii the February 



number of that year in which he expressed his surprise and ad- 

 miration at the extent of this great plant. He wrote: "In their 

 plant they have two buildings 1,225 feet long and with right 

 ; with this another one 800 feet long. Each of these is 65 

 feel wide and four stories high. A very simple calculation shows 

 in tlic^e buildings alone a floor space of a little over 19 acres." 

 He then went on to describe various other buildings, such as 

 boiler houses, pumping stations and electric light plants, making 

 all toll ip of structures that covered a large area of ground 



and was most imposing in its size. He was further impressed 

 with the very low wages paid the operatives, on the one hand. 

 and on the Other the paternal care with which they were looked 

 after b) the management, nurseries being provided for the young 

 children of the women operatives, physicians being in constant 

 idance upon the employees, with adequate hospital facilities 

 for those who needed unusual care, and a "rest house" for con- 

 valescents. Furthermore, there were large caldrons of tea con- 

 stantly brewing, which was served without stint or limit to all 

 who wanted it. There was. moreover, a pension fund to care for 

 those temporarily incapacitated or who after long years of service 

 had been retired from active work. It might be said in passing, 

 however, that all tlii^ attention to the welfare of the employees 

 did not constitute a particularly heavy drain on the resources 

 of the company, because the yearly dividends at that time ran 

 quite uniformly from 50 to 70 per cenl 



This company acquired an international reputation many years 

 ago l>\ reason of the liberality with which it exhibited at various 

 world fairs. At the 

 World's Fair held in 

 Chicago in 1893 the 

 mi ist notable foreign ex- 

 hibit of india rubber was 

 that of the Russian- 

 American company. A 

 series of large show- 

 cases displayed a great 

 variety of rubber foot- 

 wear. Some specimens, 

 unknown in Amer- 

 ica, had fur lining, to 

 meet the colder condi- 

 tions prevailing in Rus- 

 sia. But in general style 

 and trimness the foot- 

 wear did not compare 

 favorably with that of 

 American manufacture. 

 This exhibit covered a 

 floor area of about 10,- 

 000 square feet and. in 

 addition to the footwear 

 already mentioned, in- 

 cluded rubber clothing, 

 belting and hose. 



It also had a dis] 

 at the Paris expo 

 in 1900 which attr 

 universal attention. The 



COIIlp: oc- 



cupiei re building, or rather, more properly, a pavilion 



pressly for this purpose. In addition to a fine 

 array of the c products there was a reproduction of a 



rubber gatherer's camp in the Amazonian forest, showing the 

 gath> ■'■ he latex from the wild trees. 



Faulk Atomizer for Hospital Use. 



It is not to be assumed, however, that the Russian-American 

 company was permitted to monopolize the field. Other com- 

 panies entered the domain of rubber manufacture, and conspicu- 

 ous among them the Prowodnik company, founded at Riga, in 

 1888. The full name of this company as rendered in English 

 is the Russian-French-India Rubber, Gutta Percha & Telegraph 

 Works, Prowodnik, Riga, and as rendered in French and German. 

 it is longer yet, but it is always referred to simply as the "Pro- 

 wodnik"— a name used on its trade mark, for which the English 

 synonym is "the leader." This company was chartered with a 

 capital of 700.000 rubles, and began active operations the year 

 after it was chartered. Its business was prosperous from the 

 beginning, and in twenty years its net profits had reached nearly 



2.000,000 rubles, or close to 

 $1,000,000 a year. Its prod- 

 ucts cover a wide range, in- 

 cluding soft rubber and hard 

 rubber goods and articles of 

 gutta percha, besides asbestos 

 and linoleum goods. In rub- 

 ber, its product ranges through 

 the whole field from tires. 

 clothing and footwear to pen- 

 cil erasers. 



Some conception of the 

 present size of the Prowodnik 

 company may be obtained 

 from its latest statistics. Its 

 paid up capital and reserve 

 amount to £4,230.000; its 

 annual business to £7.000.000; 

 its workmen and officials — 

 according to a late circular — 

 constitute an army of 18,000 

 people, and its factory is run 

 by engines aggregating 20,000 

 hi irse-power. 



The Prowodnik company, 

 like the Russian-American 

 company, has always been 

 keenly alive to the welfare of its employees, furnishing them 

 when sick with free medical attendance and free medicines, and 

 supplying them with hospital beds for the more severe cases. 

 Some years ago it built a number of comfortable houses near 

 the factory which are rented to the workmen at a moderate 

 rental. 



Like the Russian- American company, also, it has cut some- 

 thing of a figure at international expositions, its display at the 

 Paris exposition of 1900 being particularly notable. It showed 

 there not only the ordinary rubbers familiar to Americans, but 

 rubber footwear in blue, green, yellow and other colors. 



This company has established an international reputation for 

 its automobile tires. The English correspondent of this paper 

 included in his letter of December, 1913, the following para- 

 graph : "The Prowodnik motor tire, which is characterized by 

 its peculiar brownish color, appears to be very popular and to 

 be selling well against its rivals, despite the fact that the covers 

 cost about £1 more than thi 'se of well-known makes longer es- 

 tablished." And it is true of American cities as of English cities, 

 that one doe's not have to go far to discover cars equipped with 

 these Russian-made tires. The Russian Tyre Sales Co. was 

 incorporated under the laws of Xew York in July, 1912, for the 

 purpose of distributing these tires, with salesrooms in Xew 

 York City. This company was succeeded in January. 1914, by 

 the Columb Tyre Import Co., located in the auto, and tire section 

 on upper Broadway. 



In the summer of 1908, there was created quite a commotion 

 in the European rubber trade by the report that the Russian 



Russian Rubber Diving Suit. 



