

THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1915. 



SHIPPING CARS EQUIPPED WITH TIRES DIRECT 

 TO NEUTRAL COUNTRIES. 



IT will be recalled that the August number of ibis publication 

 contained an editorial calling attention to the fact that while 

 American rubber manufacturers bad very carefully lived up to 

 thtir agreement not to ship rubber goods to neutral countries 

 except via London, some of their customers, notably 

 manufacturers of motor ears, bad not been so careful, as there 

 had been repeated shipments of car- fully equipped with tires 

 neutral countries 

 The Rubber Control Committee of the Rubber Club has sent 

 out a letter, under date of August 4. covering this very matter, 

 letter states : 



"The' British government lias officially called the attention of 

 the Ri mtrol < ommittee to the frequent violation of the 



ision of the bonds and guarantees respecting the shipment 

 of manufactured rubber goods to neutral European countries. 

 lb. American manufacturers gave their bonds and guar- 

 antee-, to the British government last winter in consideration 

 of which they have since been securing their supplies of crude 

 rubber, a number of consignments of rubber goods have been 

 to neutral European countries without evident 

 regard to the clause in the bonds and guarantees providing 

 that they 'will not sell any manufactured or partly manufac- 

 rubber goods to any person in the United States with- 

 out satisfying themselves that there is no intention on his 

 part to e\|n,rt or re-sell the same for exportation to any 

 tries in Europe other than Great Britain. France, Russia 

 or Italy, otherwise than by shipping to the United Kingdom 

 re-shipping from there under license to be obtained for 

 export therefrom.' " 



The committee then goes on to say : 



"The experience of -ix months has shown that while rubber 

 manufacturers themselves have zealously adhered to the terms 

 of their bonds and guarantees, some automobile and motorcycle 

 manufacturers either do not sufficiently understand the import- 

 of the situation or have not given the information -thor- 

 oughly to all members of their organizations. As a consequence 

 m nl ever} vessel clearing for Scandinavian, Dutch and Medi- 

 terranean ports has carried automobiles and motorcycles equipped 

 with tire-." 



The British Foreign Office is considerably concerned over these 

 violations of the guarantees and the committee is anxious that 

 every rubber manufacturer should make every effort to see that 

 of hi- product when sold to an American customer shall 

 find its way to a purchaser in a neutral country except by way 

 of London, and it makes the following request: 



I: seems desirable at the present time to assure the British 

 Consul General at New York that American rubber manufac- 

 turer- have taken adequate mean- to -ee that the provision- of 

 the Ltuarantees and bonds in respect to shipments to neutral 

 European countries are being carried out. We, therefore, invite 

 every rubber manufacturer signatory to a bond or guarantee 

 to le with The Rubber Club of America. Inc. .i -tatement of 

 what they are doing to satisfy themselves that there is no 

 intention on the part of their customers to violate the provi- 

 e quoted. The Rubber Control Committee, which 

 ha- been i charge of the relations of the American rub- 



with the British government since February 1. 

 1915. regard.- this a- a matter of the utmost importance, and 

 r an early reply." 



TO FACILITATE RE-SHIPMENT? FROM LONDON. 



The Rubber Club of America, Inc.. has sent a circular letter 

 to all rubier manufacturers in this country stating that it has 



delays in the export of rubber 



good- Inn shipoed by way of the United 



Kingdom, in rdance with the provisions of the guarantee 



given - American manufi The 



dition and asks every manu- 



ch i cp« rii ' i laved 



ebruary. It is 



all this evidenc< thei and then 



make a collective protest to the British War Trade Department, 

 with the hope that such delays may be avoided in the future or at 

 least reduced to a minimum. 



THE RUBBER CLUB YEARBOOK. 



The Rubber Club Yearbook, covering its sixteenth year, has 

 just been sent out by the secretary. It is not quite as large a 

 book as the one issued a year ago. as it does not include pro- 

 ceedings of the annual meeting and the reports of the various 

 officers, as was the case in the 1914 book. The present volume 

 is 4 x 9 inches, a convenient size for the desk pigeonhole, and 

 consists of 44 pages with cover. It contains the new charter 

 taken out in the state of Connecticut last March and the revised 

 constitution and by-laws adopted last April. In addition it gives 

 not only a list of the Club's present membership and all its 

 present officers, but lists of all those who have held any office 

 in the past. One noticeable change in the constitution is the 

 elimination of the active member — all members now are either 

 Firm, Associate or Honorary. Another feature which is new 

 to this book is the listing of the officers and members of the 

 Mechanical Rubber Goods Manufacturers' Division and of the 

 Rubber Sundries Manufacturers' Division. 



The membership of the Club at the time of issuing this latest 

 report was as follows: Honorary 1 (Sir Henry A. Blake, of 

 England), Firm members 177, Associate members 228, making 

 a total membership of 406, as against 338 a year ago. The firm 

 membership had had an increase of 109 names during the year. 



AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. HELPS THE RUBBER CLUB. 



Attention was called in the August number of this publication 

 to the fact that, while American rubber manufacturers had 

 lived up very scrupulously to the guarantee they gave the British 

 government not to ship rubber manufactured goods to neutral 

 European countries except by way of English ports, some of their 

 American customers who used rubber manufactured goods in an 

 accessory way had not been so careful. The Control Committee 

 of the Rubber Club had received several complaints from the 

 British consular office in Xew York that automobiles fully 

 equipped with rubber tires were being shipped to Mediterranean 

 and Scandinavian ports. 



These complaints were ascertained to be well founded ; and 

 many of these direct shipments had been made through the 

 Vmerican Express Co. It was perfectly natural that the ex- 

 press company should forward these g Is, as it was in no 



way a party to the agreements made between the rubber manu- 

 facturers and the British government, and it was therefore 

 quite in the ordinary course of business that it should forward 

 automobiles, whether equipped with tires or not, to their desti- 

 nation, provided the steamship companies would accept the ship- 

 ment. 



But when the officers of the Rubber Club brought the matter 

 to the attention of the officers of the express company, explaining 

 the guarantees made by the rubber manufacturers and show- 

 ing how embarrassing, not to say disastrous, it would be to 

 the rubber trade of the United States if the British govern- 

 ment were to re-establish its embargo on crude rubber, the 

 officers of the company, after due consideration, conceded that 

 this was a matter of vital importance to the American rubber 

 trade and voluntarily agreed, by refusing any further ship- 

 ments of this nature, to assist the Rubber Club in preventing 

 any future violations of the agreement made with Great Britain. 



This co-operation of the American Express Co. in this matter 

 will be of very material assistance, for if manufacturers of au- 

 tomobiles, or other articles in which rubber plays an essential 

 part, have a temporary lapse of memory in regard to the guar- 

 antees, the refusal of the express company to forward their 

 shipments will act as a very effective reminder. 



