The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-20
TOPPING TALKS
 ON IRON OUTLOOK
THE COMPANIES HAVE TONNAGE
 BOOKED MUCH IN EXCESS OF LAST YEAR-UNDERLY CON- OPTIONS UNDENIABLY STRONG.

The Wall Street Journal of yesterdays date contains the followng
 John A. Topping, president of the Re public Iron and Steel company and chair man of the board of directors of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad com- pany, when asked by representative of The Wall Street Journal for his views on iron and steel and the general busi- ness situation, said that there had been a moderate falling off in the volume of now business taken as a whole, but that this shrinkage so far had not adversely affect ed the steel industry to any material ex- tent, and that In so far as specifications on contracts were concerned. there had not been any falling off in business with them On the other hand there had been an increase In general products orders August 1906, and their order books are still congested with business, aggregat- ing a total tonnage much in excess of last year. He says that relief from con- gestion would be helpful rather than de- trlmental and that consumption Is being continued on more satisfactory basis, dS tNlOtllCtu DS tHt lHSISttuL utI1dnu shipments. He believes the condition of the companies he represents is only a fair reflection of the condition of other iron and steel producers; that while there had been a halt in pig iron purchases, 1t need not cause alarm sellers were heavily sold, in fact over-sold, and that under these conditions, buyers were more anxious for delivery on old contracts than to take on new order obligations.
 engI arI, oIau fa.. August indicated a volume equal to their maximum production, and that July bus mess was in excess of the mills capacity.
 How long the prosperity we are now en- toying would be continued was, of course, he said, entirely problematlcal but he thought the general underlying conditions were undeniably strong; that the crop situation. taken as a whole. was satisfac- tory both as to yield and prices; that railroad equipment Is still well employed, and great difficulty was still experienced in securing sufficient cars to move their products. particularly in the southern section, and that reports of railroad earnings generally suggested an abund- ance of tonnage in all sections of the country.
 He said that, notwithstanding the evi- dence of prosperity, the public mind was undoubtedly disturbed, and confidence impaired. To what extent this will in- volve general trade, was difficult to say. as the west and south, undoubtedly feel less dependent on Wall street than hereto fore. He did not believe, however, that any great reconstruction work would take place without credits a liberal scale and without Wall streets help to finance, and that Wall street help could not be ex- pected until confidence was restored and the public mind treasured; that during the interim. therefore. some slowing down in business was inevitable and possi- bly, desirable.
 He stated he was satisfied that the in- dustrial interests generally were stronger both financially and phylcally, than ever before and that the iron buiness particu- larly. was never in better shape for what ever adjustment may be necessary. One of the gratifying conditions of the situa- tion he said, was that present values of iron and steel were not abnormal; that such advances as had occurred were of modest proportions, and that therefore, it was reasonable not to anticipate the usual hardships to the trade from depreciation that heretofore followed a falling off in tonnage
 He stated that notwithstanding the money situation in the east collections from the west and south were good, and that business with them was now practi- cally on a cash basis. On the whole. he was hopeful that sound public opinion would right present troubles in reasonable time and that average good crops prom ised much for .he futurA