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340 with interest and rental charges such as would have to be made in an independent commercial venture. Early in 1924 a new and independ- ent company was formed called the Boston Tidewater Terminal Inc. Har- vey C. Miller was responsible for the formation of this company. Mr. Miller is a man who specializes in the business of white elephants. Early in his career he started taking over business failures and practically every- thing he has touched has been trans- formed into a success. At present he is president of eight or ten pros- perous companies all of which he has rescued from oblivion. Among these are the Southern Steamship Co., the Merchants Warehouse Co., Philadel- phia, the Keystone Warehouse Co. at Buffalo, and the Atlantic Tidewater Terminals, New York. Captain J. M. Hoffman headed the shipping board in- terests at Boston and was, therefore, well aware that the army supply base dock as it was being run was a white elephant. It was natural that these men should get together. The new company was entirely divorced from the shipping board except for a lease agreement. placed in charge, H. F. Donnelly was made superintendent, and a_ little later L. J. Coughlin was appointed traffic manager. Amazing Transformation: Takes Place The history of the brief life of this company has been phenomenal. A great dock with its many ramifica- tions has been lifted out of a state of semi-coma and much red ink and transformed into an intensely active and successful commercial property. Comparative figures while startling do not begin to tell the story. The operating expense during the first year under the new company’s con- trol was $75,000 less than during the last year under the control of the shipping board. When asked how this saving had been effected, Cap- tain Hoffman said, “Chiefly by giving every man on the dock a profitable job and seeing that he did it.” When the Boston Tidewater Terminal took over the dock, Captain Hoffman in one day cut the office payroll from $11,000 a year to $8000, the guard payroll from $11,000 to $3000 and the labor payroll from $53,000 to $15,000 or $20,000. Later this labor payroll was further reduced. Before following Captain Hoffman through his successful struggle to change losses to profits some idea of the physical property which he took over should be stated. The pier it- self built in 1918 at a cost of $24,- 000,000 extends 4500 feet out from Captain Hoffman was MARINE REVIEW shore and is 300 feet wide at the outer end. On this pier are built three modern concrete buildings, two 3-story and the third 2-story, provid- ing over half a million square feet of storage space in addition to 340,- 000 square feet of lower deck space for placing transient freight. Each warehouse is served with railroad sidings and roadways on both sides. All told the pier has seven miles of railroad track. Fully Equipped For Cargo Handling The unloading and loading equip- ment includes four 2%-ton electric traveling cranes such as shown in Fig. 2 eighteen 1%-ton_ electric winches, five 1-ton electric portable elevators, a 1-ton portable electric crane, five electric tractors, and 100 trailers. In addition to this the stor- age buildings are equipped with twenty-one 6-ton elevators which make it possible to transfer freight from the dock to storage directly over- head from almost any point on the pier. A power snow plow and a tractor sweeper are included in the long list of equipment. The total length of berth space exceeds a mile and it is thus possible for eight or nine good sized ocean vessels to berth at one time. Fig 1 shows the pier with five vessels unloading along one side. More than 40 vessels were berthed during June with a _ total of 50,000 tons of freight handled. The visitor to the pier today finds it a veritable hive of activity. An average of about 200 truck loads and 50 loaded freight cars leave the dock each day. Checking clerks, guards, time keepers and laborers are en- countered everywhere in the midst of the activity, yet no one is idle. Every man seems to be having a job and to be interested in doing it. Captain Hoffman is frequently asked how the surprising operating economies have been affected. He usually laughs and replies that it is a simple straight story of the use of common sense. Sources Of Revenue Analyzed As soon as the operation of the pier was taken over each phase of activity was studied by itself. The five principal divisions based on pos- sible revenue were listed as _ fol- lows: Wharfage, handling material, storage, railroad contract work, and clerking for steamships. Under each heading the question of income or revenue was first considered, the im- portant question being how could the eross revenue be increased. Captain Hoffman tells the story of an ac- quaintance in the warehouse business whose records showed that he was September, 1925 losing a small amount on each ton handled, and who, therefore, felt much elated when the tonnage pass- ing through his hands dropped to a low point. The Boston Tidewater Terminal determined that there should be a small profit on each ton handled and that being assured of this, every effort should be directed toward in- creasing the tonnage. Perhaps it should be pointed out here that the enterprise, although a private com- mercial one, differs slightly from most commercial dock enterprises. In tak- ing over such a large extensive prop- erty at a relatively low rental, the Terminal company officials agreed to keep the interests of the port of Boston always well to the fore in their minds, and to eliminate as far as possible strictly competitive fea- tures which would tend to interfere with the going business of other warehouse and pier interests. Curi- ously enough it developed that most avenues of extension which would help the port of Boston would also increase the profits of the Terminal company. A few examples will illus- trate this. Previous to the formation of the Boston Tidewater Terminal almost no wood pulp was arriving at Boston. The pier facilities were seen at once to be admirably suited to the handling and storing of wood pulp and a vig- orous campaign was started to de- velop traffic in this commodity. The result has been most favorable and, of course, has been of direct advan- tage to the port. Similarly cement, lumber, nitrates, and recently some pig iron have been added to the com- modities regularly received and stored. Accurate Records Established The terminal company early de- termined that a reputation for serv- ice was a fine capital for any com- pany to have, and with this in mind a system of records and instructions was carefully worked out to avoid delays, loose ends, errors, and other undesirable elements which are only too ready to appear in the extensive handling of miscellaneous freight. Service is an easy thing to promise but a difficult thing to continuously deliver. On a large dock it means first of all accuracy in reading and carrying out directions. Service also depends to a large extent on the method of keeping track of material, and when thousands of individual packages are handled daily great care is required in divising a scheme of records which will be simple and at the same time comprehensive. The terminal company established an audi- tor as a sort of clearing house or a