173 



"rubbers " and in this country generally as goloshes. This is a bunch 

 of the rubber industry of which we have little to remind us in England, 

 but in America, Russia, and Scandinavia, the wearing of rubber shoes 

 in winter is practically universal. An American friend recently ex- 

 pressed the matter to the writer as follows : — 



I reckon there are about four million inhabitants in New York, 

 and about five thousand of them don't wear rubber, because somebody 

 has told them that it is English and smart, so they prefer to go about 

 with wet feet. 



In the hotels and restaurants in Russia the cloak rooms are fur- 

 nished differently from those here, because in addition to a hook for 

 the coat and a peg for the hat there is always to be found on the floor 

 a little wooden box arrangement into which the Russian kicks off his 

 goloshes. 



A good deal has appeared lately about the so-called American 

 Rubber Trust, the full name of which is the United States Rubber 

 Company. It will be news to most people to know that the " rubber " 

 here does not stand for the commodity, but for the manufactured 

 article "rubber," otherwise "goloshes." The varieties mostly used 

 for this purpose are fine Para, Peruvian ball, and medium rubbers 

 from Portuguese West Africa and the Congo. 



OTHER MANUFACTURES. 



Another very impdirtant item of consumption for which nothing 

 but the very finest rubber can be used (that is, hard cure fine 

 Para) is the so-called indiarubber thread, used in the weaving of all 

 sorts of elastic fabrics. The German people as a whole still keep to 

 their elasticsided boots, and are therefore very large consumers of 

 this particular article. 



It is impossible in the scope of this article to deal with the hun- 

 dred and one other minor uses for rubber, but the main point upon 

 which they are nearly all alike is that they tend to the comfort of the 

 human race, and have become practically indispensable. This is 

 why, in spite of the enormous rise in the price of rubber, the con- 

 sumption shows no signs of decreasing, but rather increases steadily. 

 The extra cost of a motor tire manufactured from rubber costing lOs., 

 as against one manufactured from rubber costing only 5s., is not, as 

 one might think at first blush, lOO per cent., but only 30 per cent., 

 because the manufacturer's other expenses have not risen. The 

 ground cost of his factory, his labour, his power, and the cost of his 

 canvas and other articles have not risen. What is true of motor tires 

 can be said of nearly all other rubber article. People have to pay in 

 the end something from 5 per cent., to 35 per cent., extra for their 

 rubber goods, but rather than give up their motor cars, or get their 

 feet wet, or play golf with a solid ball, or, in the case of a large 

 portion of the population, go to bed in the winter without a hot- 

 water bottle, they pay the little extra amount that the retailer has to 

 demand, and consumption goes on just the same. 



The Times " Financial and Commercial Supplement, " March 

 II, 1910. 



