Milford chronicle., 1942-05-08
TIRES FOR EVERYBODY?
A Proposal To Give America with
In Three Years Enough Real And
Synthetic Rubber To Meet Every
Likely Need.
Courtesy of Motor Age for Automo-
tive Servicemen)
A Chiffon Publication
March 1912


Courtesy of Motor Age for Automo
tive Servicemen)
A Chiffon Publication
March 1912
America can make itself entirel,
independent Of Far Eastern sources
| of rubber within three years, anC
even before that time can produce
and acquire enough rubber to meet
; military demands and have some
left over for civilian use.
This is the reassuring view ex-
pressed by w. d. Mason, Director
of Public Relations, of the General
Tire and Rubber Co., in an address
before the annual convention of the
Motor and Equipment Wholesale
Association at Chicago, February
IS.
Basing his estimates on steps al
ready taken by the government to
stimulate the production of syn
thetic rubber and the possibilities
of increasing the production not
only of jungle-grown Brazilian rub
ber but of rubber-bearing guayule
on the arid lands of our own South
west, Mason sees upwards of $780,
900 tons of real and synthetic rub
ber available in America during
1945. Even by 1914, we should have
in the neighborhood of 100000 tons,
according to his figures, or almost
enough to supply our normal an
nual needs.
Mason did not attempt to show
that the synthetic product is as
good as real rubber under all cir
cumstances and pointed to the fail
ure of German synthetic tires in the
sub-zero temperatures of Russia.
He did insist, however, that rubber
produced from guayule is genuine
rubber in every sense of the word
and that it will make a tire 80 per
cent as good as tires made from the
best tree rubber. Millions of acres
in this country are suitable for
raising guayule.
Furthermore, a crop of guayule
rubber can be harvested every year,
Mason explained, at a cost of 10c
fb, compared with 221sc a ID, the
rubber before the war.
+ Up to now, various experts have
insisted that two and even four
years were needed for a guayule |
shrub to yield enough rubber to
make harvesting 1t an economical |
undertaking. The Intercontinental |
Rubber Company, which has con-
Quoted a guayule operation in the |
Salinas Valley of California for 80 |
years, uses the four-year-cycle |
plan. A planting plan advanced by
DR.. David H. Spence, of Stanford |
University, whom Mason character
lied as the foremost rubber chemist
in the country, contemplates yearly
harvest. Doctor Spence, who has
worked with guayule for 25 years,
reports that by actual experience he
has obtained one-half ton of rub
ber per acre from year-old plants.
The immediate future is not en-
tirely without hope of obtaining
rubber, according to Mason. In
cluding the present stockpile of
crude rubber, the current produc-
ton of synthetic rubber, guayule
rubber from Mexico and this coun-
try, and wild rubber from South
America, he estimates that we will
have a total of more than 100000
tons of new rubber available dur
ing the next two years. If reclaim
ed rubber is included, we should
have, he said, more than 100000
tons.
"Deducting the amount of rub
ber required for war production"
he continued, I'VE have more than
100000 tons for civilian use. In
view of past experience, this is not
a great deal. We normally use 600,-
900 tons year. But it is a great
deal more than we have been led
to expect would be available. 1t
will be ample for retreading truck
and passenger-car tires. 1t will per-
nit manufacture of new truck tires !
for essential trucking purposes. 1t
will permit manufacture of other
necessary rubber products essen
tial to successful prosecution of the !
war. In short, it will give us some
thing to fall back upon for the civil
ian use or motor cars.
Such civilian use is an integral /.
part of our economy. To argue that
America doesn't need its automo-
biles is to display ignorance of our
mode of living. l don't mean pleas
ure use. 1 mean the ordinary use
in business for trucking and sell
ing and getting to and from work.
when our defense program was
started, the plants were purposely H
located away from transportation. II
The airplane factories out in San
Diego and Los Angeles, the powder
plants of the South, the engine and
tank factories, all were placed on
Ehe outskirts of large cities, or in
small towns, or far removed from
any place of habitation. !.
ut will do us little good to have :
fine machinery and plenty of ma I
terials to build tanks with which
TO Overwhelm the enemy if the men
who operate these machines and :
use that material are stalled 20
miles away because Of a fiat tire.
1T won't take much rubber to
keep those men working. William
O'Neil, president of our company,
Is authority for the statement that
America can keep all its cars roll
ing for three years by allocating
10000 tons Of rubber a year for
recapping purposes.
There are probably many who
have thought, That's fine. But by
the end of 1943 we will have used
up all our rubber. What happens
then? Where de wo go from here?
Just what are our prospectsT"
This question Mason answered by
citing figures on current expecta-
tions. Jumping production Of tree