New-York tribune., 1910-01-26
EXTRA 3-4 DIVIDEND
ON STEEL COMMON.
Quarters Earnings $40, ,971, 800
Big Untitled Orders.


to the usual quarterly disbursement of per
| cent. was declared by the directors of the
United States Steel Corporation yesterday,
| making the total dividend payments on the
| stock for the year ended December 81, 1909.
per cent. The regular quarterly dividend OF
| 1s4 per cent the preferred stock was also
declared. The dividends on the common are
payable March 80 and the dividend on
the preferred on February 2S.
The 4 per cent a year rate for the common
stock was established by the directors on
October &c, 1909. when they declared a dis
bursement of l per cent for the September
quarter The dividends paid on the stock In
the preceding quarters of the year were
three-quartcrs of / per cent for the June
quarter and one-half of / per cent for the
March quarter This would have made the
total for the year ended December 81, 1909.
34 per cent had it not been for the addi-
tional three-ouarters of l per cent declared
yesterday
After the meeting of the directors yester
day the quarterly statement of earnings of
the United States Steel Corporation for the
three months ended on December 81, l9o9,
| was made public. 1t showed total earnings
| of s40.97l, ,309, after deducting all expenses
| incident to operation. including those for
ordinary repairs and maintenance of plants,
| employees bonus funds and interest on
| bonds and fixed charges of the subsidiary
| companies This total compared with $685.
246,907 in the preceding quarter and $26,225-
4s5 for the quarter ended December 81, 1908.
| 1t was somewhat below the preliminary
estimates of the earnings, the general opin-
ion having been that they would be in the
neighborhood of s42Ooo.o0o.
LARGE UNTITLED ORDERS.
The best feature of the statement was the
| amount of untitled orders on hand at the
! close of the year-5927. .0S1 tons. This was
| an increase of 1.130 1913 tons on hand at the
end of the preceding quarter, and compares
with 3,6o3.527 tons at the end of the Decem-
| ber quarter a year ago. 1t was also the
| largest untitled tonnage the books of the
| corporation since September so, 1907, when
| this item amounted to 6.42J00S tons.
The high record for untitled tonnage,
since the figures have been made public.
was made at the end of the December
quarter. 1906, when il amounted to S,4S9.-
us tons. A disappointing feature of yes
| terday's statement was the decrease by
| months in the earnings. those for the last
month of the quarter being the poorest.
| The figures were as follows: October,
s14,O4S. .2O5: November. s13, 3,711,765; Decem-
| ber s13,211,339.
The declaration of an extra dividend on
| Steel common was said 10 be in keeping
with promise made by J. Pierpont Nor
gan TO French investors last summer,
| when he made arrangements with a syndi-
| cate of French bankers to list the stock on
| the Paris Bourse, that per cent would be
| paid on the stock for the year. The sym
dicate took 600 shares of the stock,
| but owing to the opposition of French
steel makers and many difficulties of a
legal nature that stood in the way of the
| plan for listing the stock the negotiations
fell through.
The action of the directors in declaring
| an extra dividend to bring the total dis
| bursement for the year the common
| stock up to per cent had been generally
forecast in the Street, although in some
quarters it had been expected that the di
rectors, instead of an extra dividend. would
| declare IL per cent for the quarter. thus
| placing the stock on a 8 per cent annual
! basis.
QUARTERS SURPLUS s16,265,399.
The surplus for the quarter just ended
| after the payment Of all charges and the
regular dividends on the preferred and
| common stock is s16263399, as against
| s2.155113 for the preceding quarter and
| s5,142,451 for the corresponding quarter
of COS. Charges and appropriations ag-
gregating s6,570,S77 deducted from the
| total net earnings, $43S. .914 of the amount
| being for sinking funds on bonds of sub
sidiary companies and S6131.9 for de-
! probation and reserve funds leaving a
balance of net earnings amounting to S34,-
4oO,432. From this sum deductions are
made Of s5,SS0,324 for interest for the
| quarter on bonds of the corporation and
! s1,431.639 for sinking funds those
/ bonds. leaving a balance of s27.0S5,469,
from which is charged off s562,S74 for ad-
justments in sundry accounts. From the
sum remaining regular dividends for the
quarter of $6,304,919 on the preferred
stock and s5,0S3, 025 on the common stock
are deducted. leaving the surplus for the
quarter. already stated, at SIG 263.399.
The total net earnings of the United
| States Steel Corporation for the year 1909
| as shown by the four quarterly statements
| issued, the figures for the month of De-
cember last being partly approXimated,
| were S125, 49, S79. This compares with SOL
| S26,52O for 1908 and the high record earnings
| of sl6O,9S4.4U made in the year 1907
| Adding to the surplus for the December
quarter. the balance of surplus for the
| previous quarters of 1909, amounting to
| $l1076 03l, gives total surplus for the year
| of s27. .339, ,430. From this sum, according to
ine deductions are MADE or
s., ,S12, 49, for the extra dividend of three
| quarters of per cent on the common stock
| declared yesterday; 100000 on account of
expenditures made and 10 be made on au-
| thorized appropriations for additional prop
| erty, new plans, construction and discharge
| of capital obligations (makng a total of
! 5000, 900 for the entire year for these pur-
| poses), and s., 100000 for reserve fund to
| cover advanced mining royalties
This last item is included for the first
| time in the statements issued by the Steel
| Corporation and is supposed to be money
| needed 10 pay royalties on ore properties
| leased from the Great Northern ore lands
| 1t is only within the last few months that
| the corporation has begun taking any ore
| from these properties, although under it's
contract IT obliged to pay royalties
on about 2. 600 tons of ore in 1909.
The balance OF surplus for the year re-
manning after the deductions noted above
was $l5,327 16l.
Eighteen of the tWenty-four directors at
tended the meeting, among those present
being j. Pierpont Morgan, J. p. Morgan
jr., Henry c. Frck, William f. Corey, ex-
Judge Ebert II. Gary, George w. Perkins
George i. Baker, John d. Rockefeller. ir..
p A. Il. Widener, Henry Phipps and James
III. Reed. Two of the notable absentees
I sTra. IVK1c