Nevin to the Coast

Because Jews in Russia 50 years ago stood little chance of getting ahead and were almost sure to be fair game for Cossacks at some time in their lives, Harris Nevin emigrated to the U. S. He dug ditches for the Pennsylvania R. R., drove mules in a coal mine, finally hit upon peddling. Peddling was so much better than coal mining that he soon opened a store. After a while he sold the store and went back to Russia for a year's visit.

Not taking to Russia any better than he had as a boy, he returned to sell Singer sewing machines in Pittsburgh. From that he went to life insurance and then to Manhattan real estate. In 1921 Harris Nevin built 500 houses in Jamaica, L. I.

The trolley line serving his development failed. To keep tenants in the 500 houses, his two sons had to drive second-hand buses between the development and the railroad station. Whatever his sons may have thought, bus operating was not so bad for Harris Nevin. He incorporated his two buses into a $250,000 company. In 1924 he started one of the first interstate bus lines in the East, between Manhattan and Philadelphia, with Wanamaker department stores as terminals. Since then he has bought up some 40 lines radiating throughout the East and South, has abandoned real estate for good. And last week Nevin Bus Line acquired Crandic Stages Inc. (subsidiary of Iowa Electric Light & Power Co.), operating 1,400 mi. of line between Chicago and Denver. This route will be pushed through to the coast. Though no figures were released, it was stated that the deal involved more than $1,000,000. Harris Nevin no longer had 500 houses last week but he did have 500 buses.

Chief pride of Nevin Bus Line is its freedom from railroad domination. Its handbills argue: "Guaranteed Lowest Prices--It is the independent bus company that through active competition maintains the low cost of transportation for the traveling public." Such railroads as Great Northern. Pennsylvania, Southern Pacific have substantial commitments in big Greyhound lines. And all the railroads would dearly love to see bus fares upped to a level more in line with their own fares.

Large, paunchy Harris Nevin is proud that his is still a family concern, shared only with his onetime bus-driving sons, Edward and William. Son Edward, an engineer, builds the family buses in Brooklyn. Son William gave up a private law practice to become general manager. Though refusing to divulge the size of his company, Harris Nevin says mysteriously: "It is in excess of many millions." None of the many millions has gone into fancy offices; located on Manhattan's West 33rd St., they are dingy, grimy, efficient. Even Harris Nevin's daughter is in buses as manager of the Chicago office. Before her marriage, she was a practicing dentist, was given the rank of lieutenant in the French dental service during the War.

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