vp 
(d) Hard- 
rubber 
goods. 
¢) Drug- 
gists’ 
rubber 
roods. 
f) Proofed 
2oods. 
Price 
trend of 
rubber 
manu- 
Factures. 
foreign 
rade. 
Absorption of crude rubber in hard-rubber goods in 1927 showed 
a decline of 72 per cent. from the amount in 1925, and the value 
of the products declined from £2,620,000 in 1925 to £1,660,000 in 
1927. In all these classes of rubber manufactures, reclaimed 
rubber was used particularly to replace crude rubber during 1926 
and 1927. 
The output of druggists’ sundries was greater in 1927 than in 
1926. Absorption of crude rubber increased from 2,329 tons to 
4,224 tons, and the value increased from £2,660,000 in 1926 to 
£2,900,000 in 1927. 
The absorption of crude rubber for proofed goods increased 61 
per cent. in 1927 over 1926, and the value of the products increased 
21 per cent. } 
93. The general trend of wholesale tyre prices in the United 
States, which was downward from 1920 to 1924, turned sharply 
opward in 1925, during which year there were five general 
increases. In 1926 prices were reduced in February, July and 
November until the average wholesale price for four common sizes 
was lower than before the price increases of 1925. Tyre prices 
were further reduced by 5 per cent. on 1st November, 1927, bring- 
ing them to the lowest level in the history of the industry. The 
relatively low price of crude rubber was an important factor in 
keeping prices down from 1922 to 1924, but manufacturing and 
other economies were instituted during this period which enabled 
manufacturers to keep tyre prices stable for a considerable time, 
in spite of rising costs of crude rubber. The increases in prices 
of tyres in 1925 and the decreases in 1926 were largely a result of 
changes in the price of crude rubber, while the reduction in 1927 
was caused primarily by intense competition. 
94. Prices of rubber manufactures other than tyres also moved 
apward during 1925 ; fine rubber goods, such as druggists’ sundries, 
toy balloons and gum-rubber specialities, reacted most rapidly to 
the advance in price of crude rubber. During 1926 and 1927 the 
prices of these products followed the decline in the price of crude 
rubber. Prices of mechanical rubber manufactures and rubber 
‘footwear were not so erratic as those for fine rubber goods, but 
lecreased to generally lower levels at the end of 1927 than at 
the beginning. 
95. The total value of exports of rubber manufactures from the 
United States increased almost steadily from about £1,000,000 in 
1901 to about £3,000,000 in 1915. A much more rapid develop- 
ment occurred in the following years and the total value of exports 
mcreased from £7,220,000 in 1916 to £17,550,000 in 1920. The 
war, which brought foreign orders to the United States, was also 
responsbile for very high prices of finished goods, and the quantities 
exported did not increase at the same rate as the inflated values.