The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-11-30
HOW OLD RUBBERs ARE UTILIZED.
Cast-off Shoes are Now Diligently Sought
by the Peddlers.
for the negro

FROM Uno india RuDD6r World.
The business of gathering waste rubber
is chiefly confined, SO far, to cast.off foot
wear. The methods of reclaiming rubber
were first applied to scraps Of this class,
and the organized channels through
which $4,000 tons of scraps annually
trickle from the bands of country pod
dlers into large streams, until the rub
Der reclc ing factories receive it in car
load lots. have all been planned for the
collection of old shoes. The price of old
shoes at the point where they first be-
come understandable commodity it would
be hard to say In many rural districts
rubber shoes are collected in the spring
months, together with rags and other
waste, by peripatetic merchants whose
stock in trade, whsther in pack or a
little wagon consists of tinware and cheap
trinkcts, intended tor exchange at the
bag. No cash changes hands in thess
transactions. When the peddler returns
to his starting point he turns over his col
Lotions to the village merchant for more
tinware. with perhaps little cash, and
goes out over new route in quest of
rags The peddler may be in business on
his own account, or in the employment
of the village trader, but in either case
the latter has chance to make profit
on the collections of scrap, which are
shipped from time to time to city deal
er. The latter will offer his rubber stock.
whenever it reaches good proportions, to
rubber reclaiming mill. In shipments
from the West probably per cent of the
whole consist of rubber scrap, rs per cent
Of metal and the rest of paper stock and
rags. There is no one handling rubber
shoes alone, however. Whoever buys the
country merchants collections must take
the whole lot. But the rubber is the
most priced part, in proportion to it's ex-
tent, since the trade in rags for paper
stock has been greatly depressed in re-
cent years, while rubber scrap has gone
upward in price, with the increased mum
Der of rubber retaining factories and the
consequent competition in the business
1t may be noted that, when old shoes first
became merchantable article, the price
paid for them by manufacturers was one
cent per pound, while the quotations
have since averaged five cents per pound
| for months at a time.
| The trade in rubber scrap is now most
thoroughly organized in the West and
| Northwest In the southern states, where
| little snow falls the consumption of
rubber shoes is not sufficient to form a
basis for trade in old Shoes Even in
New York city the use of rubbers is not
large enough in proportion to the popu-
lation, to make the trade in scrap of I'M
portance. The rubber retaining works
| formerly received considerable shipments
| from Canada, but that was before the es-
tablishment of factories in the Dominion
| for WORKING up old shoes. OF the rubber
scrap imported the larger share comes
| from Russia. The imported scrap is not
so desirable, however. as what is gathered
at home. In spite of the good consump-
ton of rubber footwear in New England
there are no dealers in scrap there in a
position Of commanding importance.
This is due in part to the existence OF
nearby factories which buy directly from
the smaller dealers. In the West the
principal center of the trade is Chicago