The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1914-03-06
REPUBLIC iron
and STEEL CO.
MAKEAREC0RD
Earnings for New Fiscal Year
Second Largest In History
of Corporation.
INTERESTS ON MESABA
RANGE EXTENSIVE
Chairman Topping Reviews
Business; Forecasts Future
In Letter to Stockholders.
From Tuesdays Daily.

In Letter to Stockholders.
From Tuesdays Daily.
The Republic Iron & Steel COM
pany, one of the largest Of the indie
pendent mining companies operating
on the Mesaba range and owning and
operating number of properties in
this district in its fourteenth annual
report for the fiscal year ending
Dec. 81, 1913, just issued indicates
net profits the. second largest in it's
history being exceeded only in the
"boom" period of 1907. This was not
withstanding the serious flood losses
suffered in the first quarter, and
shrinkage during the last quarter, in
cident to the adjusting of business to
new tariff conditions. The total was
$780, 300, after deduction from the
gross Of $1,645,573 for maintenance
and repairs, $5,025,282 for profit
sharing under the new system for
special compensation, and contingent
funds, and 1923 1892 for interest on
bonds, exhaustion of minerals, de-
probation, and possible shrinkage in
value or raw materials.
Chairman John A. Topping's re-
marks to stockholders follows, in part:
1.-THE satisfactory character of bust
ness indicated by the semi-annual re-
port for the period ending June 80,
1918, together with suggested pros
poets Of continued prosperity, were
not realized during the last half of the
fiscal year; on the contrary, shortly
after July, business recession was in
evidence, and during the latter part
of August, active liquidation both in
values and volume, was under way.
Emphasis to this situation was given
during October, values and tonnage
of new business rejecting renewed
feeling of business disturbance, and
lack of confidence, stimulated in part
by the discussion and passage of the
tariff act on Oct. 3, 1918. This situa-
tion was intensified by the discussion
and recommendation of other legisla-
ton, which, it was feared, would be
as radical in character as the tariff
bill. With foreign markets upset and
in the process Of liquidation, and our
markets disturbed by domestic mat
ters, earnings and volume Of business
for the last half of the year naturally
declined. Furthermore the unsatisfac-
tory condition of the foundry pig iron
market, referred to in the first half
of the present fiscal year, continued
throughout the year, the last half,
however, suffering further shrinkage
in value and volume"
improvements Made.
The various improvements and ex-
tensions referred to in the semi-annual
report of June 80, 1918, as in process
of construction, have all been COM
pleted and successfully operated, ex-
cept the by product coke works, which
plant, however, will be completed and
placed in operation on or about April
1, 1914. In general, it may be stated
that the program of increased capac-
ity and general reconstruction incident
to the change in the company's bust
ness from that of manufacturing prin-
cipally iron to that of the exclusive
manufacture of steel, as authorized in
1906, involved substantially the entire
replacement of the rolling mill equip
ment of the company, as we'll as an in
crease of $50 per cent in steel capac-
ity, also the general rehabilitation of
the blast furnace and the iron and
coal mining properties; therefore,
hereafter improvements will be con-
fined entirely to new capacity and
extension of facilities to manufacture
the more highly finished products and
to improvements suggesting eco
nomic refinement in production.
In view of the extraordinary char
acter of the requirements incident to
the reconstruction period referred t.,
the executive committee decided that
it would be proper to appropriate
from surplus $1,500,00O to apply on
account Of extraordinary depreciation
and extinguishment, in addition to
which there has been written out of
profits covering depreciation for the
year ending Dec. 81 1913, the sum of
$6OO,887.61.
In explanation Of the changes to
working capital, attention is directed
expenditures from this fund on &C
count; Of improvements during the
past year, to the aggregate amount Of
$1,844,222.65 and to an appropriation
Of $1,5OO,0OO from working capital,
for the retirement of like amount of
collateral notes, with a consequent re-
duction in the funded indebtedness of
the company of $1,500,000 and after
allowing for other minor changes
there remains as balance to net
working assets as of Dec. 81, 1918,
the sum of 11,155, 484.25.
The company's pig iron production