2- Looking ahead into 1966, we cannot; help but be optomistic about the prospects of our Company and the industries in which it operates. The general economic strength here and abroad is causing increased demand for the output of our mines. Despite the unusually high sales of iron ore domestically last year occasioned by the fear of a steel strike, we have been happily surprised at the rapid recovery of domestic iron ore shipments after the slow fourth quarter. The demand for our foreign iron ores appears stronger this year than last, and prices are firm. Copper, of course, is in extremely short supply and the price here and abroad is extremely strong. The only part of our operations which may show a profit decline from the preceding year is land development, where the demand for residential housing continues to show weakness. On the other hand, we are more optomistic about the prospects for construction, for we entered the year with the second biggest backlog in our history and find more new work is available than we have the managerial talent to undertake. This prospect is a happy change for the construction industry, which has failed to participate in the prosperity that has been enjoyed by others over the past 10 years. Despite a high volume of work available, the construction industry has engaged in a dog-eat-dog competition that saw profit margins drop from 3. 1% in the 1946-1950 period to 0. 4% in 1963, the latest year for which figures are available, and profit margins in 1964 and in 1965 were probably below that figure. The casualities have been high and the figures on failures, discouraging as they are, tell only part of the story. Of more significance is the fact that many companies, including several of the very large contractors, have either curtailed their construction business