The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-31
FIRST NATIONALS
MONTHLY REVIEW
Favorable Crop Reporfag
From All Sections
-
COAL SATISFACTORY
Dullness in Pig Iron Sill Prevails.
Opening of Wire Mill Important Z
Event-Little Change
in Money
COAL SATISFACTORY

The First National banles fnennfaf
and commercial review under date OF
May 81. 1918. follows: i
while 1t Is too early TO make pre-3
dictions to the outcome of the grow-i
ing crops. 1t is gratifying to note tbs
favorable character of reports received
from all sections. Winter wheat wilG
soon be harvested and while some OF
the estimates made a month ago seenf
too large. 1T is reasonable to expecef
a record yield.
Spring wheat appears to have al
good start and in the south crop conf
ditions generally are entirely satisfac.
tory In this state there is a small
Increase in acreage. both in cotton and
corn, and good stands of cotton are
reported since the showers which fell
| about the middle of the month. The
| boil weevil will probably infest about
one-third of the area of the state this
| season and viii. of course do some
damage, and we may also expect a lot
of pessimstic talk about the crop later
| on, as always occurs even in years
| when bumper yields are made. but the
outlook at the present time is favor
able, particularly for cotton, as is evi-
denced by the decline I'm the mark ct
during the past two weeks.
Coal and Iron
| THE coal trade is satisfactory for
this season of the year, but dullness
In pig iron still prevails. IT is ad-
mitted that prices are now below st2
Tor No. foundry. basis Birmingham.
and it is believed that recent sales
| nave been made at S11.50. In some
quarters Improvement Is looked for in
the course of the next so days. but 1t
remains to be seen whether or not it
| is a case of the wish being father to
| the thought.
| steel mills over the country still
continue active but IL is reported that
premiums for quick delivery have dig-
appeared and that the mills are run
hihg on accumulated orders Some au-
| thorlties estimate that the present pro-
| duction of the steel mills throughout
| the United States exceeds incoming orders
| by about $4,000 tons per day. but the
| orders on hand appear to be sufsiciene
to insure a steady operation pending
new specifications.
| The Wire Mill
| A very important event of the month
from a local standpoint and one whicn
| mas aroused national attention, has
been the resumption of work on the
l%'itN''Sah otSel ana wire COmDanX'2
wire and rod mill near Birmingham It
is said that this mill when completed
VIII use about 10000 tons of steel bill
lets per month and ii will prove to
| be a valuable consumer for the Tep-
nessee company's steel mill at Ensley.
which heretofore has been dependant
chiefly upon its own rail mill for an
outlet. There has been good deal
| OF newspaper discussion as to the sig
ri1cance of the completion of the wire,
mill al this time and 1T has been cited
as strong point In favor of the pend-
| ing tariff bill, which puts most of the
products of this mill on the free list
our Nwn opinion Is that the tariff aties-
ton has had absolutely nothing to do
with the completion of the wire mill
and that the Steel corporation Off
oials merely deemed 1t good business
Judgmen to finish an idle property
nearly completed in which several mil
lion dollars had already been invested
There has been notable change in
public sentiment as to the outcome of
The government suit for the dissolu-
ton of the Steel corporation since
| President Farrell and Chairman Gary
nave given their testimony Their evi-
dence has led many who have hitherto
had doubts as to the result to predict
| that the ultima te decision of the courts
viii be in favor of the corporation.
| The Monetary Situation
| There has been little change in this
/ monetary situation during the mast