September 1, 1915. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



i ,73 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



""PllE summer season, now closing, has been only moderately 

 A satisfactory to the rubber trade in Boston, In fact, some 



lines have been more than usually quiet. Take the garden hose 

 industry. Early orders in advance of the season were hardly 

 up to the average. There was a spiril ,,i conservatism, which 



proved wise on the part of customers in Xew England and the 

 Middle Atlantic States, for — because of tin verj genera] fre 

 qucncy and extent of the rain- tin- spring and summer — the 

 retail demand has been s. i small that few or no repeat orders 

 were received. The demand for fire hose has also languished, 

 towns and cities postponing purchases and where buying was 

 necessary cutting their usual orders in two. 



Belting is in better demand. Belting leather has jumped to 

 higher prices than ever before known, and this has given an 

 impetus to the demand for rubber belting. There has been a 

 fair business in tires and rubber clothing. It is an off week 

 when we do not hear of some concern entering the rubber 



sole and heel field. Druggists' sundries are in g I i all. Makers 



of fruit jar rings have had a busy season. Mechanicals arc- 

 most unsatisfactory. 



* * * 



The Avon Sole Co., of Avon and Brockton. Massachusetts, 

 has made a great success of its soles and heels, which it sells 

 tc shoe manufacturers for attaching to leather shoes. The com- 

 pany manufactures its goods of a compound of rubber with 

 ground-up leather fiber, making a sole which, it is claimed, i- 

 as waterproof as all-rubber soles, and more durable. also having 

 an anti-slip quality. This concern, which started onlj a year or 

 two ago, has found it necessary to double the size of its plant 

 at Avon. The enlarged plant will be 3(X) feet long and 5(1 fei I 

 wide, two stories high, and will have a daily capacity of 12.0tX) 

 pairs of soles. The factory will be completely rearranged and 

 brought up to the point of highest efficiency. There will be 

 separate rooms for mixing, calendering, molding, pressing, stor- 

 ing and shipping, and there will be a finely appointed laboratory 

 and the usual business offices. The factory will have a spui 

 track to the New York, Xew Haven & Hartford tracks. t<< Fa- 

 cilitate shipping. This enlargement will be a much needed im- 

 provement, for so heavy has become the demand that for the 

 past seven months the fac'.i ry las been run double time in order 

 to till its orders. 



* * * 



The lion I.. I'. Apsley, president of the Apslej Rubber Co., 

 has not been much addicted to vacations, but he has lately taken 

 one which was a vacation of the most beneficial kind. He 

 sought out a little village on the Maine coast, far from city 

 noises, electric lights, and even the sound of the motor horn, 

 and there devoted himself to fishing, rowing and sailing, lie is 

 new back in his office in Hudson, as enthusiastic and energetic 

 a- when he first began making rubber clothing, thirty years ago. 



* * * 



And that reminds your correspondent that M. T. Bailey, sec- 

 retary of tlie Apsley Rubber Co.. who has been one of Mr 

 \pslc\'s trusted lieutenants for many years, has been very seri- 

 ously III for several weeks. He was to spend his vacation on 

 an island four miles from the Maine coast. lie had hardly 

 arrived there when he was stricken with a heart trouble, which 

 was the in. ire serious because of the distance from medical help. 

 However, at present writing the anxiet) of bis friends and 

 family is greatly allayed, as he has materially improved within 

 the last few days. 



* # * 



Maine seems to have its full share of vacationists this year. 

 J. H. Stedman has just returned from his summer home in that 

 state. A. S. Foster, who has for vears boomed Goodvear <■ 



rubbers in Xew England, spei I weeks up in the Winne- 



bago region, fishing— and catching fish, too. Francis Appleton, 



Jr., is at present writing motoring in the Whiti Mountain re- 

 gion, and Manager Porter, ..f the United Slates Rubber < A. has 

 just returned from a motor trip in the same locality. M \ 

 Turner, o) the Vlonatiquol Rubber Co., is up at "Tim's Pond 

 tamp" in the Rangeleys, and Ernest Jacob) i- at Friendship, 



Maine. 



* * * 



Ernest Jacoby budded better than he knew when, back in 

 1909, he started the club which has sinc< been incorporated and 



in bis honor named ib, I,,.. Club of Boston I in- club is 

 b< st described a- "a club for men to help themselves bj I" 



Others." It- object is to bring hack to usefulness men who 

 through intemperance or drug habits, or who through misfor- 

 tune have become discouraged. How successful has been the 

 work of this institution may be realized when it is mentioned that 

 during the last full year 238 men have been helped by the club, 



most of whom at one time held g i positions but through 



alcohol or other causes had gradually lost everything worth 

 while in life. There is a club house on N'ewburj Street, Open at 

 all times, where weekly meetings are held, and during the sum- 

 mer months outings an 1. at the Riversidi Recrea- 

 tion (.rounds. Nearly a thousand men have been help, d and 

 enabled to get a fresh grip on life. Though started, with a mem- 

 bership of six. in Emmanuel Proti scopal Church, it is 

 undenominational. 



* * * 



Travelers along the line of the Xew York, New Haven & 

 Hartford Railroad, in passing through Canton, day or night, on 

 express or local, cannot fail to see the big electric sign which 

 ha- recently been placed on the main factor) building of the 

 Plymouth Rubber Co.. which reads, "The Home of the Slip- 

 knot Rubber Heel.'' The company is doing specially live ad- 

 vertising. 



* * * 



Charles A. Coc, of the United States Rubber Co., and ( I - 

 J. Pike are looking eagerly forward to the date, early next 

 month, when Mr. Kersej Coe (Charles Coe's son) and Mrs. 

 Kersej Coe (Chester Pike's daughter) will arrive from Japan. 



Il may be remembered that young Coe went to Japan a- an 

 agent of the Standard ( Hi Co Mi-- Pike, his fiance, made the 



long journey a year or two later, and the wedding was held in 

 tiie American consulate. This visit will be tin first vacation Mr. 

 Coe has had since his transfer to the Japanese station. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN RHODE ISLAND. 

 By Our Regular Correspondent. 



"TMIE rubber factories in this state are working well toward 

 *■ full capacity and there are indications that they have orders 

 enough on hand to keep them equally busy throughout the re- 

 mainder of the year, at least. Factories that were closed a 

 month ago for necessary overhauling ami repairs have resumed 

 either on full time or with night shifts. Some of the fa, i 

 are at present operating on a busier schedule than in -. 

 years, and there is nothing to indicate any cessation of activity. 

 * » * 



\ deed was filed for record on August 17 at thi offici ■ t the 

 Town Clerk of Bristol, by which Robert S. Emerson. Trust© in 

 Bankruptcj of the Consumers' Rubber Co. of that town, con- 

 veyed to the Xarragansett Rubber Co., of Rristol, all the land, 

 buildings, machinery and the entire equipment of the plant for- 

 merly owned bj the ( onsumers' Rubber Co. 



The Xarragansett Rubber Co was incorporated August 12, 

 1915, under a charter from the State of Rhode Island, the in- 

 corporators being Terrence McCarty, James P. Murphy and 

 Florence F. Sullivan, who also constitute the board of direct! 



