STUPENDOUS FIGURES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 91, 8 July 1927, Page 22 (Supplement)

STUPENDOUS FIGURES

RUBBER ORGANISATIONS AMERICAN ENTERPRISE The average New Zealand motorist who buys a set of tyres about every two or three years, has very little idea of the huge organisations that have been built up in the tyre business. The figures here quoted refer particularly to the Firestone Tyre Organisation at Akron, Ohio, but they can probably be nearly duplicated by other tyre companies. It requires about 26,000,000 rubber trees to produce the amount of rubber used by the Firestone Tyre factory.

This requires about 15 million acres of land to maintain the trees after they are brought into bearing and over 90,000 labourers are employed on these lands. The manufacture of Firestone tyres alone consumes annually more than 35,000,000 pounds of cotton, which means that 250,000 acres of land are

sown in cotton. About 65,000 people are supported on the cotton-growing for these tyres. The factories make over 50,000 motor rims per day. The Firestone factory is the largest factory engaged exclusively in tyre manufacture, and has a capacity for 45,000 tyres per day.

A L.OOD flf

.. weekly journal draw .mention (lie great trade being done in m 0 to. mascots —as much as £2O being paid f ot one of these supposed "luck-bringcr-" Commenting on the fact .n xper motorist remarked: "The best oascot of all for the motor driver is < ljtti e schedule of rules fixed, not on the bonnet of his car, but firmly in his own head.” That is the voice of common sense speaking, and, if listened to the number of accidents on the road would be considerably lessened. The coachwork of a car should be kept in order just as much as the machinery. Conversely, the machinery is quite as important as the coachwork. Some people spend too much money on polishing liquid and too little on oil. Don’t forget that a ear is a machine and needs a certain amount of attention and a considerable amount of lubrication. Spare parts cost more than