Deals

U. S. Steel. On the day on which its three month option would have expired United States Steel Corp. last week announced that it had purchased Columbia Steel Corp., Los Angeles, whose assets total $38,694,416. For this it paid approximately $46,630,000 in common stock.

Simmons Co. The Simmons Co. (beds) purchased (price unrevealed) the B. F. Huntley Furniture Co. (two factories in Winston-Salem, N. C., lumber factory and mill in South Carolina). Expressing confidence in U. S. prosperity President Zalmon Gilbert Simmons said: ". . . we believe that everybody will have to sleep just as much in 1930 as they did in 1929."

Grand-Silver. Southern and Midwest nickels, dimes, quarters often went to the F. & W. Grand 5-to-25 Cent Stores. Sometimes too they were spent at the Isaac Silver & Brothers Stores (5-to-$1.00). If any Southerner or Midwesterner were ever in doubt as to which of the chain stores he would rather patronize, that difficulty was removed last week when the two merged. Their combined gross business last year: $31,000,000; combined number of stores: 140. There are 554 Kresge stores, 1,802 Woolworth.

Bigelow-Sanford. Inventor of the power loom was Erastus B. Bigelow who became head of what is now the Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Co. (Massachusetts), oldest U. S. carpet makers. Last week the oldest carpet makers absorbed the oldest rug manufacturers, Stephen Sanford & Sons (New York) founded in 1838.

Fox Film. Under contract to First National pictures are Cinemactors Richard Barthelmess, Jack Buchanan, Cinemactresses Marilyn Miller, Colleen Moore. Irene Bordoni. Last week they heard that Warner Brothers, previously jointly controlling First National with the Fox Film Corp., had bought the Fox holding for $10,000,000. Reason given by Cineman Fox for the sale was that First National Pictures are silent, that Fox Film Corp. intends producing only sound pictures.