Pipe

In the 1924 stockmarket, one of the leading sensations was provided by the astonishing rise in price of U. S. Cast Iron Pipe. At the time, talk of a corner by W. C. Durant abounded. Yet the annual 1924 report of the Company now shows that other than manipulative causes were responsible for the long advance of "Pipe Common." Net profit last year amounted to $6,587,188, compared with $4,062,699 in 1923, $1,583,058 in 1922 and only $629,429 in 1921. Net for 1924 amounted, after 7% preferred dividends, to $43.17 a share on the 120,000 shares of common stock against $21.92 in 1923. Last year, $5,060,920 was added to surplus, which on Dec. 31 amounted to $11,101,783, or $92.51 per common share.

The sudden prosperity of Cast Iron Pipe has resulted mainly from the De Lavand process of making pipe, which has resulted in such large economies as to enable the Company to undersell LT. S. competitors with ease. But the competition of France and other European countries has held prices down, and constitutes a future problem.