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MARINE REVIEW WEEKLY. | AND MARINE RECORD. _ Estsusito,1978. Vol. XXVI P eee ae ee, # prt O., OCT. 16, £902. Subscription $3.00 year 1 Wa t ay i : : e Marine Review Pub. CO. : 2 ue Chicago 'afles, O73 Deurban St ey Bingtt Copy ae No. 46 [Entered at Cleveland Post Office as second-class matter.] REPORT OF UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION. Dividends for nine months on stocks of United States The report of the United States Steel Corporation shows Steel Corporation, viz: net earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $36,764,643, and for Preférred, 504 per cenit 0 5) gee 26,790,258 the first nine months. of the current calendar year of $101,142,158. Cottitnon, 9 per Cent 5.74238 cess 15,249,665 September earnings, which are given as $11,750,000, are estima- Dividends on outstanding stocks of subsidiary ted. Earnings for the month of July were $12,041,914 and for COMIPANICS Oy Le see ee 148 August $12,972,729. Had it not been for inadequate transporta- ont : : tion facilities, which prevented the corporation from making Undivided profits for the nine months applicable to prompt shipments, the earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 increase "depreciation and reserve fund" accounts, last would probably have exceeded those of the preceding quarter. for new construction or surplus ......+..--+++- $34,647,982 The inactivity of the mills of the American Tin Plate Co., due largely to the refusal of the workers to accept a reduction in wages in order to enable the company to bid for a portion of the re-export business, also cut down the income of the Steel Corpor- ation. 'Taking into consideration these unfavorable factors the report can be considered a highly favorable one. For example the earnings of the quarter just closed exceed those of the cor- responding quarter of last year by $8,100,800. Then again the earnings of the combination for the first nine months of the cur- rent calendar year are within $10,000,000 of the earnings reported at the close of the first twelve months of the corporation's opera- tions. Judging from the earnings reported during the past six months the earnings for the second fiscal year, which ends March 31, 1903, will exceed President Schwab's estimate of $140,- 000,000. Officials of the corporation declare that the improved showing in earnings has been due to the benefits derived through the carrying out of its policy of concentration, adoption of new methods of manufacture and reduction in operating expenses more so than increased production. The following table shows the earnings by quarters since the corporation began operations: Piret oe ee $ 26,363,840 BECONU) 150i et ee 28,663,843 DU eee i a, ee ee 20,759,913 Pourth .,. 3 ane a ee 26,715,457 PUMth. . ips osu dt ale ae ee 37,662,058 Sixth (September estimated) ...... 36,764,643 [LOtahas wok is, wees ee ae $185,920,754 The undivided profits for the nine months, applicable to in- crease "depreciation and reserve fund" accounts, for new con- struction or surplus, amount to $34,647,982. This compares with undivided profits of something like $24,000,000 reported in the _ first twelve months of the company's operations. Consequently the undivided profits at the present time must be in the neighbor- hood of $58,500,000, a sum sufficient te pay dividends on the common stock at the rate of 4 per cent. a year for nearly three years, The statement of the corporation and its subsidiary com- panies for the nine months ended Sept. 30 last follows: NET EARNINGS. 1902. Uanuary io es a iis sinl BORO LUIO February. i .saaice ode e tes see ee Lis. Ove nee Marth. ios i Gites ee Ss Side. Wa Ls Ee See ATU eas Pa ee ee 12,320,766 MAY. crac iacis Oia bee es ee ee ee Fite. osha i ceis ki Aas Shee eee 5 Sg dni heap Oe Jily cece secs ass Sea reine ae ee eae Abus oge sgh s. ball enc ke See oe "sus 121072;729 September (estimated) = .is0lv.0. 6. boys rece ae. I1,750,000 _ Total net earnings after deducting, each month, the expenditures for ordinary repairs, renewals and maintenance of plants, also interest on bonds and fixed charges of the subsidiary companies ....... $101,142,158 Deduct amounts set aside for the following purposes Viz: Sinking funds on bonds of subsidiary companies. 467,540 Depreciation and reserve funds...:..........1.-. 10,306,565 Balance of profits for nine months applicable for United States Steel Corporation securities....... $90,368,053 Deduct : Interest on United States Steel Corporation bonds for nine months! 3 669g ees: oa eas 11,400,000 Sinking fund on United States Steel Corporation bonds for file WOMENS 2c. ooo cew i eos ce 2,280,000 Balance sco 6 ee ae ... $76,688,053 The regular dividends were declared, both on preferred and common stock. The preferred is payable Nov. 15 and the com- mon Dec. 30. ae REAR ADMIRAL BOWLES' ANNUAL REPORT. Along with all other work which has to do with iron the process of naval vessels under construction has not been satis- factoryy This is the opening statement in the annual re- port of Rear Admiral Bowles which has just been presented to the secretary of the navy. On the Pacific coast, in addition to the non-delivery of steel, there have been strikes to delay the work. The delay in San Francisco amounted to ten months' work. The delay in the deliveries of armor for the battleships Maine, Missouri and Ohio, and the monitors Arkansas, Florida and Nevada has retarded the completion of these vessels con- - currently with other causes. The inability of ship builders to obtain a sufficient force of skilled workers, also has been, in many cases, an important factor in the slow progress of the vessels. A table is submitted showing in concise form how the work on vessels under construction has fallen behind. For instance, the battleship Ohio ts shown to have been twenty- nine months behind her contract on the first of July. This is not an isolated case. 'Lhe battleship Missouri is over twenty months behind, the majority of the battleships and cruisers are over ten months behind, and some of the torpedo craft are more than forty months behind the date of completion stipula- ted in their contracts. However, Admiral Bowles says that the extensive delays on the torpedo boats are being terminated by the newly modi- fied conditions "for their delivery. The contractors' delay in beginning the construction of the vessels of the Virginia, Penn- sylvania and St. Louis class, the chief constructor points out, gave his bureau an opportunity to make a careful revision of the general plans of those war vessels, which, he says, will re- sult in a considerable improvement in their military value and in their habitability. The plans for the turrets of the Vir- ginia class were developed in more detail. An entire rear- rangement of the scheme for the stowage of ammunition was made, and particular attention was given to an efficient scheme for coaling. A table is given showing the ships added to the navy during the past year. 'They were the battleship Illi- nois. and the torpedo craft Decatur, Perry, Preble, Riddle, Thornton and Wilkes. Substantial and encouraging progress is reported in the standardization of ship fittings, a scheme to secure uniformity in the innumerable types of ships' parts which has long been fostered by the construction bureau. Private ship builders hav- ing contracts for naval vessels from time to time during the year submitted plans for "standard" fittings, and now forty- four types of ship fittings have been declared to be standard. The bureau also has prepared type plans for ventilation and drainage for the vessels of the Virginia, Pennsylvania, St. Louis and Denver classes, and for the single-turreted monitors. Admiral Bowles says there continues to be an urgent necessity for an increase in the number of officers of the con- struction corps. 'The principal navy yards, it. is stated, have an insufficient number of officers for the performance of regu- lar duties. This lack of officers is particularly hurtful just now in view of the construction of the big battleship Connecticut at the New York navy yard. Rear Admiral Bowles renews his recommendation for an increase cf his corps from forty to sixty members. ee : : ' The report says the advantages of special instruction in naval architecture and marine engineering in the United States became more evident last year. In contrast with the foreign technical schools to which students have been previously as- signed, and the limited opportunities for practical work and observation of actual construction which the position of the students as foreigners naturally subjected them to, the bureau of construction is now enabled, by co-operation with the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to regulate the technical education appropriately and to offer the students and their instructors constant opportunities for observation of the building and repair of all classes of vessels, both at private ship yards and at the navy yards of the government.