New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-02-07
BRIEF NOTES OF FINANCE

Paragraphs of Current Interest
for the Investor.
Notwithstanding cheap money and
,.,o,ounced necessity, fresh issues OF cap
,,ai In January were less than half the
,,rorut brought out I'm January, 1912. This
- the total was 1859 $1,000. as com
I'D with S367 800 aco last year. Railroad
;ssues showed "a greater decline than in
dustrials and public utilities.
State Bad Manager.
Government ownership of railroads. #
.., evuerieucc of the state of Texas bc
,',luabie. is not q success. Some years
,go Texas. which is always in the line of
..-oo~assiou. built railroad between Pal
s,ir. and Rusk and another short line
h. south Texas. The short line has just
boon sold TO private parties at consd-
,,all. loss TO the state. and the other
limo Ike the white mans burden"
hao.s heavily around the official neck,
..o5 Governor COlquitt in a message to
.bs legislature recommends that this
,,,5 also bc sold. The Governor refers
,o the road as a Jonah. During the
last Two years its operation has resulted
IN "a loss Of over $4,000. and as a business
,,-opcsitou certainly is not profitable.
Southern Tobacco Crop.
The situation in Kentucky IS shown by
the report of the Union National Bank,
which makes the following statement;
The year 1913 fell heir to a rich legacy.
for much Of the agricultural wealth OF
1912 is still in first hands and In process OF
,parketins. This is true particularly in
Kentucky. the dry fall preventing any
rfee movement OF tobacco. January
weather has been al that could he de
sired for this crop. and hish prices have
heeu realized. although tobacco is weigh
ING out light. due TO exceeding dryness
during the curing season.
Iron and Steel Trade.
4 slight change has taken place indicat-
iuc that politics is having some effect on
iron and steel production. The iron
AGE" this week has the following
Gagged by pig iron output. iron ana
STEEL production. while at a new high
rate. shows that increases are now MADE
With more difficulty. In January the pro-
duction Of coke and anthracite pig iron
was e.795.3S1 gross tons. or 90.l12 tons a
dav. only 400 tons a day more than IN
December. when the total was 2.IS2,t33
tons. The respective increases Of Deeem-
her November and october were approx
mately . 600. 1000 and 1900 tons day.
ION February !. with POS furnaces in
blast. the active capacity was 9l.G2S tons
q day. against 9072l tons a day for 293
furnaces on January !. Though the net
gain is five furnaces. those blown in in
January were of smaller average capacity
than those blown out. indicating that fur
naces with higher than average costs have
al last been attracted into operation
sometimes a sign Of eliminating market.
Foundry consumers of pig iron are still
holding off. Sellers argue that concessions
would be no stimulus. but the suggestion
indicates a condition that did not exist
six weeks ago. As a matter of fact. COM
petition. particularly in Southern iron and
in districts where Northern and southern
Chic furnaces meet. still brings prices be-
low what have been considered the mar
ket In the Chicago district. however,
where sales were made in January at %
a. 80 cents below the 81 80 basis for
Northern No. iron, that price is now
more generally asked.
"The feeling Of many pig iron buyers is
that. with the supply of iron increasing
and weakness showing here and there
they may safely wait for more light on
political uncertainties.
The Iron Trade Review in its weekly
summary is more optimistic:
Another remarkable chapter ia the
story Of record breaking production Of pig
iron was added by January, when fur
uaces making coke and anthracite pig
iron produced 2.79O,0S0 tons. The record
for monthly total made in December 1873
was broken in October Of last year again
in December and once more in January
when the output exceeded that of Deem
Der by 12.7SS tons. The merchant fur
races made a gain of 24.143 tons. while
steel works furnaces sustained loss OF
1O.O6s This loss was due 70 furnaces be-
Ing compelled TO 90 out of blast for re-
pairs and not in any case 10 the desire oil
owners TO cut down production. In fact
steel works operations continue at a rec
ord pace. The Illinois Steel Company In
January produced the heaviest tonnage OF
open hearth ingots i'm its history. and the
steel ingot production of the Pennsyl-
vania steel Company. leading indepen-
dent company also was the highest on
record last month While very apparently
there has been a slower movement in new
buying this decline. il is indicated. is less
than generally believed. The new book
ings Of the Steel Corporation in January
We're not greatly below its shipments and
the untitled loss for that month will be
less than 10000 tons"