[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 139 (Thursday, October 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2200-E2201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AMERICAN INGENUITY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 27, 2005

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise with my colleagues Representative Ben 
Cardin of the Third Congressional District of Maryland and 
Representative Steny Hoyer of the Fifth Congressional District of 
Maryland today to bring to our colleagues' attention an excellent 
article that appeared in the Inside Annapolis Magazine this month about 
a family business in Galesville, MD. The business, Smith Brothers, 
Inc., is an excellent example of American ingenuity and 
entrepreneurship. We are proud to know Kenneth Smith and his son Jeff 
Smith and would like to congratulate them on the recent acknowledgement 
of their value to the community. America needs more people like the 
Smiths, who have a can-do attitude and are willing to work hard to 
excel. We have attached a copy of the article, which explains some of 
the history of the company and family and how their attitude has helped 
them in business and life.

             Smith Brothers: Building on a Firm Foundation

                        (By Kathy Bergren Smith)

       When the makers of the upcoming romantic comedy starring 
     Matthew MacConaughney and Sarah Jessica Parker came to 
     Maryland scouting locations and resources, one of their first 
     stops was in the quiet village of Galesville; just south of 
     Annapolis. The film includes multiple scenes of frolicking 
     dolphins and the marine coordinators needed a way to 
     transport the radio-controlled ``stand-ins'' as well as 
     millions of dollars worth of camera and sound equipment 
     around the Bay. They found what they were looking for at 
     Smith Brothers, an eighty-seven-year-old family business that 
     provides tugboat and barge services for customers as diverse 
     as Paramount Pictures, the Lincoln Tunnel and the Calvert 
     Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The company's extensive fleet of 
     charter equipment is the largest between Baltimore and 
     Norfolk. Marine contractors rent Smith Brothers equipment to 
     build piers and bulkheads, dredge channels and shoot off 
     fireworks. The story of how Smith Brothers became the ``one 
     stop shop'' for tugs, barges, cranes, anchors and chains goes 
     back . . . way back . . . and is best told by the company's 
     president, Kenneth Smith, the last of the Smith Brothers.

[[Page E2201]]

       ``Our family had been here in Galesville for several 
     generations when my older brothers began the business in 
     1918,'' says Smith. Indeed, an occupancy notice dated 1952 is 
     tacked to the bulletin board in the office on Tenthouse 
     Creek, notes that the premises has been legal since 1862. 
     Back then, the Smiths, like most of their neighbors in 
     southern Anne Arundel County, were oystermen. But they were 
     also entrepreneurs, operating a lime kiln which reduced the 
     oyster shells into fertilizer for other major industry of the 
     area, farming. In 1916, the eldest of the seven Smith 
     Brothers, J. Edward ``Eddy'' and Nelson began to freight 
     oysters by truck to Washington's dandies.
       ``Eddy and Nelson made a great team,'' recalls the much 
     younger Kenneth, who is now ninety. He and his older sister 
     Agnes, are the only siblings of the original nine that 
     remain. Agnes, a former post-mistress in Galesville, at 101 
     still serves as a social and historical center for the 
     community. Kenneth comes to work each day and remains active 
     in the business.
       ``After World War I, when Eddy came home, he and Nelson and 
     Captain Oscar Hartge began to build docks around the river, 
     that is how they got started,'' says Kenneth Smith. As the 
     city dwellers from Washington began to take drives in their 
     new automobiles, the face of bay country began to change. 
     Boarding houses and marinas were built to accommodate the new 
     tourist trade and summer homes with docks sprang up along the 
     West River. Pile driving overtook oystering as the Smiths' 
     primary occupation. Captain Oscar Hartge, a member of a 
     family whose name is synonymous with yachting on the Bay, 
     sold his portion of the business to his friends, the Smiths, 
     for $1 to take a position as captain aboard a private yacht. 
     Ultimately, six of the seven brothers and one close friend, 
     Robert Leatherbury, became Smith Brothers, Inc. The brothers 
     were very hard-working and quickly built a reputation as high 
     quality contractors. Throughout the 20's and 30's taking 
     meager salaries and putting every spare cent into the 
     business, the brothers grew the company. World War II took 
     Kenneth and many of the workers overseas, but when they 
     returned, the business began to thrive. Crews worked on 
     the land as well as the water, building bridges for the 
     Baltimore Beltway (695), the West Virginia Turnpike and up 
     and down the Eastern Shore.
       Many Annapolis waterfront landmarks were built on the firm 
     foundation of Smith Brothers. A railway at Trumpy's was 
     installed by Carroll Smith who forged a long-lasting 
     relationship with the fabled boat builder. On the city dock, 
     pilings under the Marriott were driven by Carroll's crew 
     alongside other larger contractors. Bulkheading was built 
     near what is now Fawcett's by the brothers. Kenneth remembers 
     the unusual payment scheme developed for that project.
       ``That land was owned by Bert Spriggs (a car dealer) and 
     when we finished up the bulkhead, one of my brothers said to 
     him, ``Say, how about instead of paying us with a check we 
     just pick out some new cars?'' and darned if he didn't go 
     along with that,'' says Kenneth chuckling at the thought. 
     ``Who would go along with that today?''
       Today, there is a quiet dignity- to Kenneth Smith as he 
     recalls the old times. He is a man who has spent well over 
     half a century both as a crack crane operator and a respected 
     businessman. Kenneth bought out his brothers one by one and 
     today he and his son, Jeff, have moved the company in a new 
     direction.
       ``Competition for the type of bridge building and pile 
     driving we always did got very stiff in the late 80's,'' says 
     Jeff Smith. He and his father made the tough decision to stop 
     bidding and let the crews go. ``We had no alternative at the 
     time,'' he says.
       There were also creative ways of dealing with overdue bills 
     that would not fly today . . . like the time that the owner 
     of a large vacation home in south county balked at paying for 
     a pier built by Nelson and his crew. Before taking the rig 
     back to Galesville, Nelson confronted the owner about 
     payment. When the owner refused to pay, Nelson gave the 
     signal to the crane operator to crank up the pile driver. He 
     then positioned the crane to begin tearing out the pier. 
     Kenneth cannot control his laughter as he recalls the man 
     ``running down the pier waving a check!''
       Instead of doing the contracting themselves, Kenneth and 
     Jeff began to rent equipment to other contractors. Their six-
     acre construction yard in Galesville has gradually become a 
     ``rent it'' center for those engaged in heavy construction. 
     Jeff and his father have built an inventory of barges and 
     tugboats and cranes, plus the intangible asset of Kenneth's 
     vast experience.
       The tug and barge fleet has grown in size and scope and the 
     Smith Brothers' red and white colors can be found from New 
     York to Florida. Around the Bay, the newest addition to the 
     fleet is the Megalodon, a 50' tugboat named for the 
     prehistoric shark that roamed the local waters. Megalodon was 
     the product of the latest Galesville collaboration between 
     the Smiths and Hartges. Capt. Oscar Hartge's grandson, 
     Preston, is the operations manager at Smith Brothers. When 
     the company decided it was time to build a new tug, Preston 
     took the project on with vigor.
       ``It has come full circle here, our families have both been 
     part of the maritime history of this county and Jeff and I 
     are both committed to continuing our legacy,'' says Hartge.
       Kenneth is moving into a supporting role at the yard, and 
     he too is pleased to see the company continuing to thrive.
       ``You know, very few family businesses survive, all too 
     often the hard work of one generation is squandered on young 
     people, but the Smith Brothers philosophy has always been to 
     work hard and not to ask anyone to do something you would not 
     be willing to yourself. I see that same quality today here at 
     the yard when Jeff and Preston are out there together 
     arguing, it reminds me of the old days when the brothers 
     would cuss and fuss and then go out and have dinner 
     together.''

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