El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-10-06


il comes out in rubber gloves, auto
mobiles tires, diving suits and in the
thousand other shapes in which II
is used by the consumer. The
esta blishments are enormous They
have hundreds OF acres Of floor space
and there are three each OF which
employs in the neighborhood or fiji
teen thousand men and women.
went through one Of the largest.
touching only the high spots The
time spent was several hours and my
trip was a Sabbath days journey. or
as far as from Bethlehem to Jerus-
slem.
In one room, covering an acre.
saw hundreds Of spindles moving
around like those of a great cotton
mill They were making insulated
wire for telephone and telegraphic
use and for various kinds OF cleo
trical machines In other places they
were making rubber gloves TO be used
by electricians while handling live
wires, and in others iusulatOrs for
wireless outfits, and rubber packing
for the periEcOpes of the submarines
The very tOrpedoes that are shot by
the submarines have rubber arrange
ments which control their depth in
the water and rubber is also used in
laying the submarine mines The
crews Of our submarines have rubber
boots, hats and oversutts. and they
have escape helmets which contain
a great deal Of rubber.
Make Rubber sheets for Red Cross
In one part OF the factory they
were making rubber sheets, which
viii be sent out as a part Of the Red
Cross supplies. and rubber operating
aprons to be used by the doctors The
government is now asking for some
thing like thirty thousand doctors
to 20 to France, and each OF these
must have an extensive rubber equip
81 l. 81
made of rubber. We have already six
base hospitals in France and these
have in the neiEhborhood Of ten thou
sand beds The patients in them
need hot-water bags and rubber Pill
lows and mattresses The nurses use
rubber gloves and the attendants have
rubber-tired wheelbarrows for carry
ing the patients. All Of these sup
plies viii be enormously increased
when our great army has gone TO the
field
In going through the factory de
scribed. I started at the basement.
where there were acres Of rooms filled
with rubber as IL comes from the
plantations. and 7 followed the rubber
hams and crepe rubber through their
many processes into goods OF one kind
or another. The first process is soft
eninE the rubber and crushing the
Jumps between great corrugated roll
ers Of steel. The softening Is done
in watts Of hot water Then comes the
crushing. which brings the rubber out
in great sheets II is next washed
by streams Of running water until all
the dirt and grit are removed and
then rolled out into thin, porous
sheets. It is moved back and forth be
tween the rollers, kneaded and
worked over and over and mixed
with a binding material. so that when
IL is finished il rs in rubber sheets
al. - q 81 a inch thick
il may be white. black or red. accord
ing to the coloring matter that IS
mixed with IL. The necessary sui
phur is then added for vulcanization
and IL is treated with other ingre-
dents. according TO the kind Of pro
duct desired.
Arizona Cotton Used In Tires
In the making OF tires. mixture OF
cloth or cord is used 10 build NJ the
fabric, each factory having Its own
methods of manipulation and con-
struction- The cotton employed must
be of the very best and Of the longest
staple. and thousands Of bales are con-
sumed in this way every year. We
import a great deal of Egyptian cot
ton for the purpose, and there rs one
company here which has its own plan
tation in Arizona and is raising cotton
there. The amount planted this year
was more than 10000 acres An
other company has a cotton mill OF Its
own. It wants to experiment and Will
Ike the cotton from its own fields
into its own mill and make its Own
tire fabric This new cotton mill
is in New England, not far from
Providence, r L It already employs
1900 hands
Makes Akron Prosperous. o.
The rubber industry has made
Akron one OF the booming towns Of
the United States. There is no special
reason for IL except the enterprise
push and brains Of the men at the
head Of the business. The city is
thousands OF miles from where the
rubber trees grow. 1t has no water
ways to connect IL with the ocean
and the raw material and the manu-
featured goods have to pay heavy
freights coming and going Neverthe-
less the output is something ike
S225. 0OO. 900 a year and $1,000 men and
women are Kept employed making
nothing but rubber. They get the
highest Of wages The poorest hands.
when they are undergoing their ap-
premiership, get thirty-tWo cents an
hour. and the factory payrolls now
amount to more than Sf0,OOo.OOO a
year. The capitalization Of the various
rubber companies is about $500, 100000
All this has made Akron grow faster
than the gourd that shaded the
prophet Jonah. Seven years ago IL had
less than 10000 pepole. Tt has now
about 10000 and there are not
enough homes to house all or the
workmen- The various rubber com
panies and real estate companies
are remedying this as fast as
possible. Each OF the large com
panies has some plans 10 better the
sanitary conditions and lives OF its
men. A great deal of Industrial SER
vice work is going on The men are
saving money and so percent OF them
now own their own homes. One COM
pany is building 1900 houses. Another
has a plan by which its employees have
become stockholders and share in the
profits Of the business. and nearly
every establishment does more or less
welfare work for its employees In
deed. I know OF no place where the
labor seems to be more contented,
and is more universally prosperous
Patriotism Is General.
7 find also a high degree Of patriot
war, both on the part Of the companies
and Of the men in their employ The
larger factories have subscribed eI-
teusively to the Liberty loan. a big
percentage Of the men buying the
bonds on the instalment plan. The
companies are working together and
assisting each other TO get out the
war orders.
Shortly after our declaration or war
one OF the largest Of the plants here
was asked to supply thousands Of a
certain article, the name OF which I
am not permitted 10 give, within
seven days. in order that they might
be given to Gen Pershing's army
when it started TO Europe. The
article had never been made IN this
country, but the factory took the
patterns and turned out the order
within six days, although It had to
shut down five OF its busiest depart
ments 10 do so. A few weeks later
The Eovernmenf sent out an order for