dredging operations have been conducted at a loss because we have been unable to keep these dredges profitably employed on domestic work enough of the time to earn a profit. Our dredges are particularly well suited to large projects involving the hydraulic dredging of difficult material. In smaller contracts or those involving easy digging, our dredges may be either unsuited or have no competitive advantage over older dredges that may be fully depreciated and in competitive hands. This year we have concluded agreements with private interests in Japan. Under the first agreement we have made available to the Japanese our plans for the Dredge ALAMEDA and we have agreed to provide technical help to them in construction and operation of a new dredge of this type. Under another agreement we have leased the Dredge ALAMEDA for five years for use in dredging activities in Japanese waters. These arrangements make good sense for all concerned. Land reclamation and harbor development are of vital importance to Japan and its industrial growth, and dredges of the ALAMEDA type are the proper tool for the job. From Utah's standpoint, we put the ALAMEDA to profitable use for a five-year period, and this materially lowers the amount of work we must find for our remaining equipment to put our dredging operations in the black. Additions to Land Portfolio We have also made a significant addition to our land portfolio this year by purchasing 200 acres in El Segundo, California, which will be developed as an industrial park. The inquires we have received from potential buyers of the land give us considerable confidence that we have acquired an attractive parcel of land which should prove a source of profits in future years. * * * As substantial owners of the business, our Board of Directors pursues its task with that un- 14 usual diligence found only in men motivated by having their own money at stake. Their delibera-tions are concentrated on the company's problem areas and properly so. Nor are they hesitant in pointing out mistakes. This is a sound and proper discipline for management, and we accept it as such. Being personally burdened with a certain economic dependency on the company stemming from one wife, 2 dogs, and 3 children, I am compelled in Board meetings to discuss what the Board chooses to discuss. However, here tonight in such pleasant company and in the absence of an honorarium, I feel free to talk on subjects of my own choosing. In doing so, I do not dismiss our problems lightly, for certainly our company is not without its problems. We never have been, and I suspect that we never will be. This year we have been performing construction work at a higher rate than we have been able to acquire new work, and our construction backlog is off some 15% from a year ago. We have some land projects which have not moved as quickly as we had hoped, and we have our uranium operations which will continue to fare well until 1966, but whose future after that time is uncertain. Nor do I wish to gloss over lightly any errors that we have made. We have made mistakes in the past, and these we do not intend to repeat. However, the ingenuity of our group is such that I am reasonably certain they may well in the future think up new mistakes which hopefully will be buried almost unseen in accomplishments of much greater and more lasting magnitude. But tonight I have chosen to put before you some of the positive steps that we are taking to perpetuate our growth pattern. The recognition and solution of problems is one important essential in the art of management. Certainly of equal or greater importance is the recognition of profit opportunities and taking the timely and 15