EARNINGS Each of you has received a copy of the company's Annual Report for 1968 and I do not propose to dwell at length on it here. Certainly 1968 was an eventful year in the history of the company. Let me invite your attention to the graphs presented on Page 27. At the top you will see that net income was $19. 9 million, up 21% over the prior year, 2 1/2 times the 1963 earnings and over 4 times the 1958 earnings. This is the sixth year of consecutive earnings increases and the fourth straight year in which earnings have achieved new records. DIVIDENDS In 1968 for the 18th consecutive year the dividends were increased, amounting to $1.45 a share, up 15 over the prior year and almost three times the level of ten years ago. GENERAL SALES BACKLOG Of particular significance are the two charts at the bottom of the page. The first chart shows our mineral sales backlog at the end of 1968 and here I invite your attention to the scale. You will note that our mineral sales backlog at yearend remained in excess of $1 billion and the bulk of it is represented by long-term contracts in which we have escalation protection against rising costs. This is true of the contracts on Blackwater coal, Navajo coal, Cedar City iron ore, and on a portion of the uranium contracts. PROJECTED GROSS REVENUES It is the undelivered minerals backlog that gives rise to the projected increase in gross revenues from our mining operations depicted in the next chart where the first 5 bars in the darker shade represent actual revenues and the last 5 bars _4_