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MARINE AND MARINE RECORD. WEEKLY. | REVIEW [ESTABLISHED, 1878. Published every Thursday at Vol. XXVI 39-41 Wade Bldg by the arine Review Pub. Co. CLEVELAND, O., DEC. 18, 1902. Eastern Office, 1023 Maritime Bldg., New York City Chicago Office, 373 Dearborn St. Subscription $3.co year. Foreign $4.50 year. "Single Copy Io cents, No. 25 [Entered at Cleveland Post Office as second-class matter.] STEEL CORPORATION ABSORBS UNION STEEL. If it had been given out even a week ago, the announcement of the sale of all the properties of the Union Steel Co. to the United States Steel Corporation would have been a genuine surprise in iron and steel circles. Some rumors of the sale were in circulation, however, a few days before the positive announcement was made in Chicago on Tuesday, by Judge EI- bert H. Gary, chairman of the board of directors of the Steel Corporation. This purchase is a very important one. It is so important that if it had included the Jones & Laughlins properties it would have meant the removal of the only large concerns that have really been regarded thus far as competitors of the big steel combination. A combination between the Union Steel Co. and Jones & Laughlins was talked of a short time ago. Jones & Laughlins still retain the personal identity that is said to have been such a great factor in keeping them out of combinations. '1ne Union Steel Co. is in itself a merger of the Union Steel Co. of Donora, Pa., (near Pittsburg), and the Sharon Steel Co. of Sharon, Pa. Mr. Frick was very largely interested in the Union company. In a statement as to terms of the purchase, Judge Gary says: "These plants were started some time before the formation of the United States Steel Corporation and not in opposition to it. They include rod, wire, nai] and other works in operation as going properties. When fully completed they will have five modern blast furnaces and twenty-five open-hearth furnaces, with a capacity to manufacture. 7,500 kegs of nails daily. They will also have new and modern tube mills, bar mills, tin mills, sheet mills, plate mills, etc. They have about 5,000 acres of coking coal in the Connellsville region, besides terminal railroads in the coke region, 6,200 acres of fuel coal on the Monongahela river, limestone properties and valuable developed ore mines in the Mesabi and Marquette regions containing about 40,000,000 tons of ore, two lake steamers and steel railroad cars. "The Steel Corporation pays the exact cost of the manufac- turing plants, etc., to be determined by auditors appointed for the purpose. For the real estate, ore properties and the coal lands they will pay something more than the cost value but not to exceed the present market value. The stockholders of the Union and Sharon plants agree to furnish about $10,000,000 new cash to be expended in the completion of improvements and further development of the properties in such manner as the Steel Corporation may determine. The manner of paying for the property will be by a bond issue of $45,000,000 secured on the property, and principal and interest guaranteed by the Steel Corporation. For the actual monev put into the manufacturing property the stockholders will receive these bonds at par. For the value of real estate, ore and coal, they will receive bonds at par, and for the $10,co0,coo of new cash they will receive bonds at par. The remainder of the bonds will be kept in the treasury for use at some future time in such further developments of tne property as may be decided on by the Steel Corporation. ' "The sellers' profit in the transaction arises solely from their profit in operating their plans to date and in the increased value of their ore, coal and real estate, which were purchased some time ago. This is an advantageous purchase for the steel corporation, as these properties are located near their other plants and the general expense of managing the business with the addition of these two large and modern plants will not be in- creased and also for the reason that the Corporation is now short of pig iron and cpen-hearth capacitv. MR. CARNEGIE HOME AGAIN. Mr. Andrew Carnegie arrived home last week from his Scottish home. He looked thin and ill but declared that he had 'entirely recovered from his sickness and was rapidly re- cuperating. He was met on the Oceanic by half a score of re-! porters and photographers. He has outgrown his aversion to! the camera, for' he posed3for half a dozen of them very patient- _ly.. He expressed his opinion about affairs with his accustomed freedom. He thought the president's message very conserva- tive and highly endorsed Attorney General Knox's views on trusts. Great corporations are the instruments of modern com- 'mercial activity. He believed that there are existing laws which could be used to correct abuses by the trusts. He spoke in favor of creating the proposed new cabinet position--that of secretary of commerce. "Foreign commerce is a braggart" said he. "The regula- tion and cultivation of home commerce is more important tc the nation. This country consumes 96 per cent. of its manu- factures. Home commerce is the most important because two persons are advantaged by every sale that is made." Altogether Mr. Carnegie was cheerful and optimistic. adverse industrial conditions: STEAMSHIP PARTS MUST PAY DUTY. _ Foreign steamship companies have no longer any right to bring into the United States, duty free, spare parts of machin- ery to be stored in this country to be used on board their vessels. The attorney general holds that if such spare parts are actu- ally landed they are subject to duty and that the only excep- tion to be made is in case such parts wre to pe brought over to meet an emergency that already exists. 'The Cunard Steamship Co. asked permission to land a steel shaft without payment of duty, to be kept on the company's docks at New York for use on the steamships Umbria or Etruria in case of emergency. 'The application stated that the vessels were single-screws for which extra shafts are kept on hand at the home port in case of emergency. Reference was made to the fact that the Umbria had been detained at New York until a shaft could be brought over from England. It was added that the shaft was not intended for sale of for consump- tion in the United States. The attorney-general in his report to the secretary of the treasury says that if the shaft is landed, whatever its intended use may be, duty must be paid. Some time ago when the North German Lloyd Steamship Co. brought over some machinery to replace a defective part it was merely transferred from one ship to the other. The Cunard Steamship Co. cited this as an analogous case but the attorney-general held that it was not analogous. The secretary of the treasury has accordingly denied the application of the Cunard Steamship Co STEEL 'CORPORATION AFFAIRS The eastern newspapers are now definitely speaking of a successor to Mr. Charles M. Schwab as president of the United States Steel Corporation. None of them have mentioned Mr. EK. J. Buffington, president of Illinois Steel Co., although the Review hears from a reliable source that he will probably be offered the place. 'lhey all mention Mr. James Gayley, who is first vice-president of the Corporation, and Mr. George W. -Per- kins, who is chairman of the finance committee. Mr. Gayley, as is well known is experienced in the iron business. Mr. Per- kins has no mechanical ability whatever. His specialty has always been finance, but it is reported that his executive quali- ties are of the first order and that he is a consummate master of men. Mr. Perkins was for a number of years connected with an insurance company in Cleveland, but for the past three or four years has been a partner in the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. The drop of ten points in the preferred stock and of thirteen points in the common stock of the Corporation is not credited to The corporation has more busi- ness on its books than at any time since it was organized, and its profits during 1903 will, it is estimated, be greater than those of 1902 through various economies which have been perfected. NILE DAM AT ASSOUAN FINISHED. The great Nile reservoir and dam at Assouan, upper Egypt, which the Review has previously described, were formally opened to service on Dec. 10, in the presence of the khedive. and several persons of the English nobility. The opening ceremony occurred when the khedive turned a key which put the electric machinery in motion, whereupon the sluice gates were opened and a large body of water rushed through them. 'The comple- tion of the Assouan dam marks one of the greatest achievements in engineering and reservoir construction in the world. It crosses the Nile 600 miles above Cairo, and is built of granite blocks. The structure serves as an irrigating dam, a bridge and, a water- way. It is 114 miles long, is pierced by 180 openings, 23 ft. high and 7 ft. wide, fitted with adjustable steel gates. The water can be dammed at a height of 347.6 ft. above the level of the Med-. iterranean. It is estimated that.the work will add 2,500 square miles of arable land to Egypt. The revenue from the tax and sale of lands, it is estimated, will reach $10,000,000.. No fewer than 16,000 laborers, 90 per cent. of them native Egyptians, have been engaged on the undertaking during the greater part of the time since the dam was started. Some idea of the work accom- plished will be had by the statement that great artificial lakes 100 miles long, have been formed and that the volume of water empounded would be sufficient tc provide the entire United King- dom with drinking water for a year. The Atlantic Transport Line's steamships Mesaba and Min- neapolis will replace the American liners St. Louis and New York while the latter are being overhauled, beginning Jan. 17. This will mark the first use of Southampton by the Atlantic Transport Line for disembarking passengers.