Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-19

TT has become ,axiomatio that the steel
and iron business In its various
Il branches affords the most reliable ba-
rometer Of the general business condition
Of the country. In view of this fact the
following editorial from the current issue
OF Golfers Weekly contains matter OF
much encouragement to the business
community. There certainly cannot be
much the matter with a country whose
steel and iron trade in it's various rami-
flcations shows the condition of pros
perity indicated by these figures:
"The quarterly report of the United
States Steel corporation is always mat
ter of interest as a barometer of national
prosperity, but the one issued on october
81 was looked for with particular anX-
iety on account of the critical state of
general business. This single corporation
produces more steel than any nation In
the world outside of the United States,
and it's policy of publicity throws
searchlight upon the entire trade.
"Steel, as Mr.. Carnegie has lately re-
peated, is either prince of pauper and
there have been grave apprehensions of
late that we might be approaching the
pauper satge. The new report does not
Justify those fears 1t is true that there
has been a considerable shrinkage in new
business, but still the impetus of the past
two prosperous years has not been lost,
and it is by no means certain that 1t
will be. The earnings for the quarter
were $43, ,2S5, the greatest in the his
tory of the corporation with the single
exception of the quarter Immediately pre-
ceding. The surplus, after deductlng in
terest and dividends, amounted to M9911,-
I'll. of which $15,OOO,OOO were appropriated
for improvements, leaving nearly 5000, 900
to be added to the balance on hand. The
company had $4,000, 900 in cash in bank
Since its organization it has provided
from earnings a reserve of nearly $780,
100000 for the eXtinguishment of capital
and added from the same source over
$266, 100000 to its assets.
"The thing of particular interest to the
public as affecting the general business OF
the country is the extent of the shrink
age in orders. In the three months from
June 80 to September 80 the untitled or
ders on hand were diminished from $685.
SIS to 6,425,00S tons and this amount has
since been further decreased by 100000 tons
that is to say, for four months the cor
poration's output has been exceeding its
new orders at the rate of about 100000
tons month. But there are still enough
old orders on hand to keep it's mills run
ming at their full capacity for six months
to come. even If not another commission
should be received. While the untitled
orders at the end of September were less
by 100000 tons than on the same date
last year, they were greater than in any
previous year New orders have been
coming in during October at the rate of
about 1900 tons per day, which repre-
sents nearly half the capacity of the cor
poration. The decline has been due large
ly to the deadlock with the railroads over
the question of rails. The stream of Or
ders from this source is merely damned
up. and the longer its flow is checked the
greater must be its volume when the
obstruction is broken. Chairman Gary
thinks that the outlook is bright. We
know that the high prices received for
their crops are making the farmers pros
porous; the paralysis in the copper trade
seems to have ended, and if the steel
business, the greatest of all the coun-
trys manufacturing Industries, can -four
ish, there would seem to be few corners
left in which very hard times could lurk.
Another view of the steel situation is
furnished by a canvass of sixteen Of the
principal manufacturing companies, con-
Quoted by the Boston News bureau with
view to measuring the decline in the
number of men employed. 1t appears that
in the nine months from January l to
October l 21500 men out of 445,530 were
laid off, a decrease OF per cent. Four