Thus there were ten large companies taken in, merged to form the United States Steel Corporation. They had an aggregate capital of $867,550,394, as follows:
| COMPANY | COMMON STOCK | PREFERRED STOCK |
| American Bridge Co. | $30,527,800 | $30,527,800 |
| American Sheet Steel Co. | 24,500,000 | 24,500,000 |
| American Steel Hoop Co. | 19,000,000 | 14,000,000 |
| American Steel & Wire Co. | 50,000,000 | 40,000,000 |
| American Tin Plate Co. | 28,000,000 | 18,325,000 |
| Carnegie Steel Co. | 160,000,000 | [A]160,000,000 |
| Federal Steel Co. | 46,484,300 | 53,260,900 |
| Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines | 29,424,594 | . . . . . . |
| National Steel Co. | 32,000,000 | 27,000,000 |
| National Tube Co. | 40,000,000 | 40,000,000 |
| Total. | $459,936,694 | $407,613,700 |
[A] Bonds. All other figures in this column represent preferred stock.
The American Bridge Co., as its name implies, was a fabricator of bridge material and structural steel generally. It was not a steel company in the strict sense. It obtained a large proportion of its supplies of steel from the Carnegie company and fabricated this material. It had a capacity of approximately 600,000 tons yearly. The company was incorporated in May, 1900, as a consolidation of a number of smaller concerns and had a surplus of $4,030,331. Holders of its preferred stock received $110 in preferred stock of the new corporation for each $100 of their holdings, while the common stockholders received $105 in U. S. Steel common for each $100 of their holdings.
Four companies, as has been stated, formed the “Reid-Moore” group. The American Tin Plate Co. was chartered in December, 1898. Like all the concerns forming this group it was considerably over-capitalized. Nevertheless, its earnings in the first year of its existence were approximately $3,600,000 or 20 per cent. on its preferred capital, and in 1900 they exceeded $5,750,000, or about 32 per cent. on the preferred capital. At its formation it acquired thirty-nine different plants, embracing 279 mills, manufacturing tin and terne plates. Its preferred stockholders received $125 in U. S. Steel preferred stock for each $100 of their holdings and its common stockholders $120 in preferred and $125 in common stock of the new corporation for each $100 of their holdings.
The National Steel Co., another of the Reid-Moore concerns, was the maker of raw material for the other three members of the group. Its production was largely confined to semi-finished products and it had a capacity of about 1,700,000 tons of steel a year. It had some ore holdings in the Mesaba Range as well as a twenty-year contract for a one-sixth interest in the ore production of the Oliver Iron Mining Co. The company was chartered early in 1899 and in the first year of its existence earned approximately $8,750,000, or more than 32 per cent. on its preferred stock. Of this amount, however, $3,617,000 was written off for depreciation. At the time it was merged into the Steel Corporation it had surplus and undivided profits of $6,910,995. Holders of both its common and preferred stock for each $100 of their holdings got $125 in the corresponding stock of the new corporation.
The American Steel Hoop Co., third of the group, was formed a month or two later than the National Steel Co. It was a consolidation of nine concerns manufacturing chiefly bars, hoops, bands, cotton ties, and skelp, and had an annual capacity of about 700,000 tons. Its earnings were not as large as those of the others of the group, its first nine months’ operations yielding a return at the annual rate of slightly under 7 per cent. on the preferred capitalization. Its accumulated surplus on April 1, 1901, was $1,660,311. The two classes of its stock were exchanged at par for the same classes of U. S. Steel stock.
Last of the Reid-Moore companies to be organized was the American Sheet Steel Co., chartered in February, 1900. This company acquired 164 sheet mills, nineteen puddling furnaces, and a number of open-hearth furnaces and bar mills. It had a capacity of about half a million tons. Its earnings, from the time it began business to April 1, 1901, amounted to $1,676,480 and its surplus on the latter date was $705,757. Its stock was exchanged for Steel Corporation securities on the same basis as those of the Steel Hoop Company.
The National Tube Co., organized in June, 1899, was a merger of thirteen smaller concerns having an aggregate capacity of about 850,000 tons of steel-wrought tubing. Its principal plants were located in the Pittsburgh district. In the year 1900 the company reported net profits after depreciation of more than $14,600,000, or about 35 per cent. on its preferred capital stock. National Tube preferred stockholders exchanged their holdings at the rate of $100 for $125 of U. S. Steel preferred, while the junior stockholders received $8.80 in preferred and $125 in common stock of the corporation for each $100 they held.
The Federal Steel Co., second only in size and importance to the Carnegie Steel Co., was chartered late in 1898, as a merger of the Illinois Steel Co., Minnesota Iron Co., Minnesota Steamship Company, Mount Pleasant Coke Company, Lorain Steel Co., Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co., and the Johnson Co. of Pennsylvania. The steel companies it controlled brought to it some of the best-equipped steel mills, manufacturing various products, in the country, as well as a number of ore vessels and the principal ownership of the Duluth & Iron Range R. R. Its earnings in 1899 were approximately $9,100,000, or about 17 per cent. of its preferred stock, and in 1900, $11,722,000, or about 22 per cent. Federal Steel preferred stockholders received new preferred stock at the rate of $110 for each $100, and the common stock was exchanged at the rate of $100 of Federal common for $4.00 of preferred and $107.50 of the common stock of the U. S. Steel Corporation.