The age-herald., 1900-03-15
MAKES REMARKABLE SHOWING Affairs of the Cor cation in Ex-
 celIent lS don. IMPROVEMENTS THE PROPERTY Officers Hay yoperated and the Man. agement-S yBeen Harmonious and Results Very Gratifying Earn
 ings Greater Than Ever.

1He OlIcGIS dllu lOCdl StOGhhOldCAS OA tho Tennessee Coal, Iron and Ralroad compa- ny who attended the anhdalS meeting of the company at Tracy City, TeIta., on Tues day have returned home, greatly pleased at the outlook for the coming year.
 At Tuesdays meeting the following di- reetors were elected James T. Woodward. w. S Gurnee, Chord Meyer, A. B. Board man, N. Baxter, Jr., James Bowron, A. M. Shook, D. J. MeComb, Oliver Payne, Fred C. Benedict, James Henry Smith, William Barbour, B. F. Tracy, E. Chapman, B. Y. Frost Manning, WilHbee. Of these all are residents of New York except MT. Baxter, MT. Bowron and Colonel Shook Messrs. Frost. Manning and Willi- bee are new members of the board elected to take the places of John G. Moore de- ceased; c M. McGhee, resigned, and w. s. Gurnee, Jr., who is in Europe.
 The directors will hold a meeting In New York next Saturday for the purpose of or ganizing and electing officers the next year.
 President Baxter's annual report, which was read at the meeting, covered the work ings of the company since the last annual meeting and makes a fine showing. 1t is herewith printed in full:
 ITO the Stockholders of the Tennessee Coal Iron & Railroad oOmpany:
 "Gentlomen-A year ago l stated that the year 1898 mad been an eventful one in tCle history of the company; many mat ters of great importance having been car- ried to successful competitor, and the company having been placed in better con ditfon to meet the demand for increased output at lower costs; and that the year had also witnessed an upward movement in prices, winch bore evidence of being more permanent than any similar move ent since 1892. This statement may very well be repeated characterizing 1899, but re- quires stin greater emphasis. The year has witnessed awakening of industrial life and energy Throughout the United States, which had been more or less arrest ed by political pertunbataons and financial controversies for several preceding years. The result has been great scarcity of nearly every form of iron and steel in- volvinG the attainment of range of prices greater than the most experienced observers ever contemplated a year ago.
 "To large extent this company has been directly benefited by thds movement owing to the preparations made in 1898. re- ferred to in my report of that year. The outcome of these efforts is shown by the following comparative figures:
 1S9s-Tons 1S99-Tons Coal produced ...........3,6 ,5Si 4,15l, ,496
 
 Iron ore produced. .....,1, ,219,1s1 1,57s,4i2 Pig iron produced. 549 457 651, ,1i5 ''The accomplishment of this increase has involved a very large amount of labor on the part of the executive officers of the company, and the expenditure of con- siderable sums of money, as shown in the treasurer's report.
 Increased cal Produ ct on
 "To increase the provision of coal we ha a .d1rino oop a1 if, ing al Pratt mines, of slopes Nos. S. g. 10, and have completed at No. the installa- tion of an endless rope haulage system At Blocton we have commenced work on slope No :, and at Henry Ellen We have completed and put into operation a slope with output of 600 tons per day.
 For the increase of the supply of ore we have opened and equipped with the nec- essary drilling and hoisting machinery two new slopes at our red ere mine at Leogusta and one at Smythe. We have also installed washing machinery at the brown ore sur face for placer digging at Greedy, and two washers on recently acquired properties at Russellville.
 ''To increase the supply of coke we have undertaken the construction at No. 3, No. { and No. 5. Pratt slopes, of 400 bee hive coke ovens of which 10S at No. slope have been finished and put into operation.
 "For the increased production of pig iron we have thoroughly oyerhauled and practi- caly rebuilt OxmoOr No. and Alice No. furnaces, the latter of which is in opera tion, and the former is ready to go in We have also taken down the blast furnace at Cowan, Tennessee, removed the same, and erected 1t as No. stack at Ensley, the say ing to be effected on the freight on mater ials used and in the saving of adminis.ra- tive charges by consolidating this with an existing division being sufficient to amply justify this action. This furnace will be ready for work within another month
 "In the early part of the year my atten- ton was directed towards the possibility of acquiring the property of the Sheffield Coal Iron and Steel company, consisting of three large and modern blast furnaces fully equipped sixty acres of city land in the heart of the town of Sheffield. on the Ten nessee river, together with 301 coke ovens at Jasper. Ala, and H,0O0 acres of coal land situated midway between Sheffield and Birmingham. with two developed mines In operation at Gamble. with present daily output of 600 tons of steam coal. Owing to the position of the Sheffield furnaces on the Tennessee river, the competition with Birmingham had always been undesirable, because of the facilities possessed by the management of that property for delivering into the Central West, by water below the
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