Total earnings in 1909 were $131,491,413.94, and after all fixed charges had been met, dividends paid, and a special appropriation of $18,200,000 set aside for new construction, etc., a surplus of $15,321,918.04 was carried to profit and loss. The bonded debt of the Corporation in 1909 was increased by $12,718,639.43 to a total of $607,584,173.72, there having been issued by the subsidiary companies bonds to a total of $21,976,500, and bonds totalling $9,257,860.57 having been redeemed. The year’s operations resulted in a production of 13,355,189 tons of steel ingots and 9,859,660 tons of finished steel products. The total volume of business was reported at $646,382,251.29. On the steel plant and city of Gary $11,081,367.80 was spent, making the total expended on the project to December 31, 1909, $53,878,597.37. Gary was now a steel-producing centre. Early in the year steel rails were turned out there and shortly after the close of 1908 and later in 1909 several of the steel furnaces and other finishing mills had been placed in operation. About this time it was decided that two of the other constituent companies of the corporation, the Sheet Tin Plate and Bridge companies, should erect plants at Gary, which plants are now in operation and have been for some time. About the middle of 1910 the wave of improvement that had brought better business and profits to the steel companies began to slacken. The effect was not very immediate and the year, as a whole, was one of the best experienced by the Corporation prior to the war boom. Earnings reached a total of $141,054,754.51, but a fall in quarterly profits from $40,170,960.83 in the quarter ending June 30th, to $25,901,729.87 was sufficient to show the downward tendency in conditions affecting the trade. Gross business aggregated $703,961,424.41, and production reached its high-water mark, 14,179,369 tons of ingots and 10,733,995 tons of finished steel being turned out by the plants controlled by the Steel Corporation. Bonds to a total of $17,392,752.14 were redeemed and $6,945,237.50 issued making the outstanding bonded debt of the Corporation and its subsidiary companies on December 31, 1910, $597,136,659.08. Some $16,000,000 was expended in further work at Gary bringing the total outlay on the plant, city, and terminals there to $69,978,695.15, of which $60,203,189.22 was financed from the funds of the parent corporation and the balance by various subsidiary companies, including the Bridge and Wire companies, which began the construction of their new plants during the year.