The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1917-10-12
NO AUTOMOBILE
TIRES In GERMANY
Interesting Account of Conditions by
One Who Knows.

w VHHelm 5. Even the crown fflncc
is denied this luxury. Along with
Won Hindenburg, Ludendroff, Won
Mackensen and the other diadems in
the German crown, the crown prince
bumps along to the front on tires
filled with rags, compressed cork and
paper. These observations form but
small part of the anthology of
facts gathered by Victor Van der
Linde, special technical representa-
tive of The B. F. Goodrich Rubber
Company of Akron, who just return
ed from Europe after long study of
/ tire conditions abroad. In some
countries tires can not be had at all,
except at fabulous price and only
, after a dozen or two high govern
ment officials have had one on the
witness stand for Weeks, literally
| speaking; gasoline is worth more
than champagne and is obtainable
only with government consent, and
nine-tenths of the automobiles are
not running
German scientists have tried to
improvise for the scarcity of rubber
by compounding what they call
synthetic rubber" said Mr.. Van der
Linde, 'but in this they have been
unsuccessful. There is not an ounce
of crude rubber in it at all and there
fore it is devoid of fiber Then again
it has. cost about fifteen times more
a pound than the vegetable.
''The situation of both Germany
and Austria, as concerns tires, is
truly deplorable. Countries bound
ing the Central empires, with the
exception of those that are at war
with them are in just as bad plight.
! Really the only car running with
inner tubes in Germany today is that
of the Kaiser's. Most castings are
stuffed with compressed champagne
corks, paper, rags and sausages
made of ground cork.
"Some have even been filled with
sand and dirt. This only refers to
those cars that have ragged castings
left. Most automobiles have ground
away their shoes and move about on
rims bound with rope. | was fortu-
nate to find taxicab in Berlin-a
taxicab is rare there now-and ex-
perienced the sensation of
riding in machine having nothing
but rope bound wheels. 1t was Just
like riding on a wagon. Everytime
the car struck a cavity in the road
you were iolted through
"There isn't bicycle tire left in
/ Germany outside of those on military
4 bicycles. Raids by the wholesale
were conducted on shops and resi-
dences and all bicycle tires seized
These have been reduced to permit
their remaking as automobile tires
In fact, everything in rubber has
been reclaimed for tire construction
and submarine battery cells
"The cargo of the Deutschland on
its last trip was almost exclusively
rubber, but so pressing was the de-
mand for the use of the rubber in
derigibles that none of it, with the
possible exception of enough for the
building of tires for the royal family,
was allowed to go into tires.
Germany had little crude rubber
in stock at the outbreak of the war
Since then she has been depending
on what she could smuggle through
the mails and what she could buy
from Sweden. Single sheets of rub
Der were sent in letters from the
/ United States until Great Britain
opened these and confscated the
contents. After this channel had
been closed she purchased large num-
bers Of automobiles in this country
and had them shipped to Sweden.
There she stripped the automobiles
of the tires and abandoned brand
new machines to the Swedes. But
now Great Britain permits no cars
shipped to Sweden with tire equip
ment."
4 Mr.. Van der Linde gave the pre-
vailing price of tires in the following
countries:
Germany-None to be had
4 Austria-None to be had.
/ Sweden $3.50 for a tire if you
have a permit from Royal Automo-
bile Club.
Norway-$460 with permit.
! Denmark $500 for a tire if you
can find one and give written assur-
ance to government that it will not
s go to Germany. Asen o1i7e
j Holland $3.50 for a tire with gov
prnmnnt guarantee