Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-08-25

was an encouraging sign. That was an
IS 000,0 900 enterprise. The foundations
now were being put in and the work
would proceed rapidly. The house
would be designed to accommodate LOO
guests with provision made for charging
the structure That work would go on
steadily. until completion.
THE TIRE MAN TALKS
IN OPTIMISTIC VEIN.
THE DUNLOP TIRE MAN: His COM
pany has a plant out on the Niagara
River front with twenty nine acres Of
floor space laid out on a different plan
from any other in the country. Nearly
all of 1t is first floor space. The situa-
tion is ideal. There is plenty of cold
water near by. Cold water is a necessity.
In the process of tire making the chief
power is hydro electric. 1t was the
original purpose to build a large cotton
mill for manufacturing fabric for tires
This was changed and a hosiery mill of
10000 spindle capacity was bought in
Utica with the intention of transforming
it from hosiery to tire fabric. A portion
of the Dunlop fabric will be made there
but temporarily it is making yarns and
now it is working night and day. It's
statesmen report a better business feeling
ION the road"
The Dunlop people are delighted with
Buffalo; they think it has only started to
grow. 1t has an immense diversity Of
industries 1t didn't feel the slump I'M
til long after the other sections had been
affected. Housing is good and cheap.
The labor market is satisfactory
There had been labor trouble for a time
in connection with building the Niagara
plant. BrickIayers wanted a limit of 800
bricks a day per man. A good foreman
got it up to ], 100. Before the war it was
1000.
The Dunlop people expect to be in Pro-
duction by January. They will start
within the next six weeks, but the start,
of course, will be from zero. They are
testing now in a limited way.
The whole tire business has been
through a most unusual season. Vulca.
ntzing shops around the country have
been extraordinarily busy. Tire dealers
have been very heavily stocked before the
slump. They expected the heavy demand
to continue. The wave of economy forced
hundreds Of them TO dispose Of their
stocks as best they could for their mar
ket dropped to stagnatiOn. Then the
cord tire became popular The winter
was so mild the automobile was used
more than usual The summer has been
fairly warm and that put the. old tires
out Of business All this means automo-
bilists have been using their cars fully
and freely, but 1t doesn't mean the dealer
is carrying big stocks. Some are work
ing on the hand -to-mouth basis. Some
times they are caught without tires and
when they get an order have to rush to.
the branch office of a tire company to
obtain them.
ON FIRMER AND
BETTER BASIS.
The automobile is on a frmer and bet
ter basis. So is the tire business. The
automobilist has been, taught to know
the good tire and its virtue. He has more
knowledge of how to use or, rather, not
misuse tires. He brags now about how
many miles he gets out of his tires as he
formerly did of how many miles he got
out Of a gallon OF gas. American roads
are getting to be so good there is no
necessity for the terrifeally high powered
car.
BY January the Dunlop plant proba-
bly, will he employing 1000 or $500 men.
How many more It Will have later de-
ponds on developments. Some Akron
plants make from 1900 to $4,000 tires
day when in fun production. There
has been a great improvement in labor.
1t used TO be figured one man to one
tire. Now it is one man to one and one
half and in some instances, one man to
two tires. That means from 30 to 100
per cent increased efficiency in labor.
Buffalo is in fairly good shape so far
as employment is concerned. Its total
unemployed at any time has not been
above 10000. Now it is 25,O0O. 1t bulks
big in iron and steel. in slaughtering
and meat packing, in foundry and ma
chine shop products. In automobile bodies
and parts and in -four and grist mills.
If has the cheapest power in the State
by reason of the Harvesting of Niagara
Falls.
It Is ripe for business II revival Of
business is near-Copyrjght 1921, by
Public Ledger Company.