Gift ofthe Panama Canal^fetseum ?9 -/^A( f~j)

Vol. 7, No. 2 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, SEPTEMBER 7, 1956 5 cents

ALL MAJOR UNITS TO BE AFFECTED BY CHANGES

REQUIRED NEXT YEAR BY NEW TREATY PROVISIONS

At Vacation's End

SUMMER VACATION is almost over and Canal Zone families are returning to the Isthmus in droves. The last few Panama Line ships have been filled to the gunwales with schcol children and their families and this week the "Teacher's Special" arrived from New York. Here is a typical Zone family on the

pier in Cristobal during customs inspection. They evidently did some shopping in Haiti. Uniform Force Reduction Rules

Adopted By Canal Organization

Retention registers are being prepared

by the Personnel Bureau for each occupational group of employees, or those in jobs which are considered interchangeable, throughout the Canal organization

as a result of the adoption of uniform

force reduction regulations for all employees.

Heretofore, non-citizen employees have

been accorded "bumping" and "retreat"

rights only within the bureau in which

they were employed. The new regulations eliminate any citizenship differences within job categories.

The only difference in the application

of force reduction procedures now for employees on United States pay scales and

those paid at locality rates is in the areas

of competition. For U. S.-rate employees,

the area of competition will be the entire Company-Government.

Two areas have been established for employees on locality wage scales at the urgent request of labor union representatives. One area will be the southern district up to and including Gamboa, and

the other will be the northern district, or Gamboa to Cristobal.

The establishment of the entire Canal Zone as a single area for this group was

considered by employee groups to be impractical because of the large number of employees who live outside the Canal Zone and might not be able to transfer

their residence from one side of the Isth- mus to the other. This also complies with

the Civil Service Commission rule that

the competitive area should be a commuting area. Another change under the uniform force reduction procedures affecting employees

in the locality group will be the counting

of all Federal Government service in computing length of service for reduction purposes. Until now these employees have

used only the total of their CompanyGovernment service. For many employees who will be af- fected by forthcoming force reductions, the terms "bumping" and "retreat rights"

will come into common usage. Neither is probably well understood by the majority

of employees.

Essentially "bumping" rights mean.- simply that an employee may displace another in the same occu- (See page IB)

A complete realignment of

Commissary and Service Center operations will be required

at the end of December when the 1955 Treaty commitments relating to purchase

privileges become effective. Under the Treaty, the commissarypurchase and free-entry privileges will be

limited to residents of the Canal Zone and United States citizen employees outside the Zone, this being one of the several provisions requested by the Republic of Panama.

This clause of the international agree- ment will have the most pronounced effect on the greatest number of individuals of any single provision of the new Treaty. Because of the major force reduction

which will be required in the Canal organization and the uniform force reduction

procedures adopted for employees in all categories, it is expected that every major

unit of the organization will be affected by the personnel changes required. A

more detailed explanation of the force- reduction policy and procedures is given

elsewhere in this issue of The Review.

Reduction One Of Largest

The force reduction required by the withdrawal of purchase privileges will be one of the largest, numerically, ever to be made in the permanent Canal organization. Large-scale reductions were made

at the close of the construction period and

again at the end of World War II. In both of the instances, however, the majority were contract workers brought to the Isthmus for designated periods.

The two Canal units to be most directly affected are the Commissary and Service Center Divisions, since their customers

include not only all Company-Government employees but several thousand employees of the Armed Forces and other U. S. Government agencies, and a lesser number of retired employees residing on

the Isthmus.

Studies on the adjustments which will be required in these two divisions as well

as others which will be (See page IS)

"REVIEW" SUBSCRIPTIONS OFFERED

FOR AWAY-AT-COLLEGE ZONIANS

• • • Special subscriptions to "The Panama

Canal Review" for students attending

college in the United States are again

available. The subscriptions cover the

issues from October through May. The

cost is 50 cents for the eight issues. This special rate applies to college students only. Cash, or money order, made

payable to the Treasurer, Panama Canal Company, should be sent to the Editor, The Panama Canai. Review

Balboa Heights, C. Z.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

BACK TO the I 'anal Zone where be had served for several years came Maj. ( len, ( 'harles G. Holle, former

Assistant. Engineer of Maintenance and later the

Canal's No. 2 man, now acting head of the Army

Engineers. General Holle was a member of the party which accompanied the Assistant Secretary of the Army here last month. One morning he toured the Administration Building greeting his old friends and

former colleagues. MAJOR ROBERT STOKES

NEW ROTC COMMANDANT

Members of the Junior ROTC organi- zation in Balboa and Cristobal High

schools have a new commandant this year. And this year, for the first time

since the departure of Maj. Wayne L. Bart in June 1952, ROTC activities will be under the direction of a Major.

The new officer is Maj. Robert N.

Stokes. He is a graduate of the Army

Infantry School and has done advanced

work there. He has also attended a number of other service schools, among them

the Food Service School and the Armed

Forces Information School. He is married

and the father of three children. Major Stokes was born in Cleveland,

Ohio. During World War II, he served

in the Italian campaign and more recently

fought in the Korean action. He is entitled to wear the Bronze Star with Oak

Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.

The arrival of the new commandant

brings the staff of the Canal Zone Junior

ROTC unit to nine. In the headquarters

are Major Stokes, whose title is Professor

of Military Science and Tactics, and his two assistants, Master Sergeant James

Kollars, who is the ROTC Sergeant

Major, and Sergeant First Class William

Stone, who is Supply Sergeant. At Balboa High School the ROTC unit

is headed by Capt. Christopher Wheeler,

as Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics. His assistants, who serve as

instructors, are Master Sergeant Jack Wallace and Master Sergeant James Powers. Sergeant Wallace arrived here last fall, and Sergeant Powers in March.

Head of the Cristobal High School unit, also with the title of Assistant Professor

of Military Science and Tactics, is Lt. Luke Callaway. His sergeant-instructors

are M. Sgt. Robert Gardiner and Sgt. Charles E. Finnegan.

Civil Defense Week

Observance Planned

For September 9-15

If Canal Zonians, young and old, are

not well-informed by the end of next week about Civil Defense local and national it will not be the fault of either the local or national organizations. Next week, from Sunday, September 9, through the following Saturday, will be

observed here and throughout the United

States as National Civil Defense Week.

Its purpose is to indoctrinate everyone

to the urgent need for developing a Civil Defense which would insure survival under the most devastating attack an enemy could launch. Zonians will see Civil Defense just

about everywhere they turn, will hear about it on their radios, and watch Civil Defense programs on their television sets. Commissary windows will advertise Civil Defense with displays of materials for Civil Defense rescue operations.

Canal Zone school children will bring

home comic books in which Mr. Civil Defense tells how his organization can

help a city or town in time of fire or flood or some other natural disaster. For older readers there will be bulletins by the thousand which will be distributed by a corps of volunteers in every town. Sample titles: Fire-fighting for Householders; Facts About Fallout; Emergency Sanitation at Home; Civil Defense Household

First Aid Kit; and Six Steps To Survival. Zonians will undoubtedly be doubly

Civil Defense conscious, since the observ- ance of Civil Defense Week comes right on the heels of the August 13 alert. That

exercise involved the explosion of a simulated nuclear weapon over Gatun Locks. According to a report from Philip L. Dade, Chief of the Civil Defense Unit, the public in general responded well to the sirens, acting quickly, calmly, and

quietly. Traffic control and observance was good. Few household employees

either took or sought shelter, Mr. Dade

TRY-OUT

PACIFIC-SIDERS may have seen Zone police offi- cer A. S. Zon en the Ancon beat attired in this snappy new blue uniform. It is one of two which

will be tried out in actual use before a final selection

is made. The cap and trousers are dark blue, the

shirt a light Blue. The shoulder patch is new, and

each star indicates five vears of service.

added, and these should be given further

instruction by their employers.

Members of the volunteer corps re- sponded splendidly to the alert, Mr. Dade

reported. When the siren sounded, 230 women volunteers checked in, ready for duty, even though August is a vacationmonth and many of the Civil Defense

volunteers are away from the Isthmus.

These volunteers monitored the exercises in their towns and sent in written

reports on public understanding of and

response to the signals.

The number of first-aid workers, however, was "disappointingly low, and indi- cates a need for a more intensive drive in

this most important phase of the volunteer service," he said. They've Given—Have You?

A PINT of blood from every man in this maintenance gang at Corozal Hospital has gone into the Canal Zone Blood Bank, and the group is justifiably proud of the 100 percent record. ]>ft to right, standing, they are F. Gutierrez T., Jesus M. Moreno P., Bartolomeo Aquillar, Phra A. Ashby, Arcelio Smith, Jose

Ines Aquino, Ernesto Pomare, and seated, Thomas Orozco, Jr.
September 7, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Conversion Of Madden Dam Hydro Station

Advertised In Power Conversion Project

NEW SCHOOL DOCTOR

Bids for the conversion of the Madden

Dam Hydroelectric Station—as part of the changeover to 60-cycle current

were advertised last week, while those for the construction of the new Summit substation will be advertised later this month

The contract for the work at the Madden Dam Station calls for the installation

of a new control board, general conversion

of the station, and the furnishing of new

transformers, together with other changes

required to facilitate the future installa- tion of remote-control operation.

It does not include the conversion of the generators themselves. The contract

for that work has already been let to the General Electric Company.

Meanwhile, other work in the power

conversion program is proceeding.

At Margarita, where the conversion of the first household equipment is under- way, a total of 77 apartments had been

converted to 60 cycles by the end of August.

This part of the program has been delayed due to non-delivery of the numerous parts necessary to convert the large

variety of makes and models of domestic

equipment.

Switchgear and transformers for the conversion of the Gatun Hydroelectric

Station have now arrived and are being

installed. They had been delayed by the

recent Westinghouse strike. According to the present schedule, the

first generator at the Gatun Hydroelectric Station will be in operation about the end of this month.

Midway across the Isthmus, Bildon

Inc., has started the installation of the new aluminum transmission line conductors on the power .line between Madden

Dam and Summit.

Conversion of the central area of the Canal Zone—Gamboa, Summit, and Par- aiso^will be started in two to three months. Some material for this part of the project is now arriving and being

stored. The contract for the central area conversion is held by L. R. Sommer.

Dr. HOWARD C. PRITHAM, above, has been appointed as the Canal Zone Schools' new doctor. Formerly with the Atlantic Medical Clinics, he will maintain his headquarters on the Atlantic side but

will spend most of his time circulating among the 21 schools in the Canal Zone system. He was born in Maine and has been a Zonian since 1949. ZONIANS GOT TOGETHER IN AUGUST

Community meetings were the order of the day last month in the Canal Zone. Pictured here are two of the meetings,

the Paraiso town meeting on August 22, and the Congress of Civic Councils' wel- come for Governor W. E. Potter at the Rainbow City Gymnasium on August 26. Facing the camera in the large picture

are representatives of the Latin American

community civic councils, with Governor

Potter, Lt. Gov. H. W. Schull, Jr., and

W. G. Arey, Jr., Public Information Officer. This meeting was the first of the "town meetings" suggested by the Governor. Later in the month a second town

meeting, for the Civic Council repre- sentatives from the U. S.-rate towns, was

held at Margarita. Each of the meetings

drew an audience of about 150 Zonians. The two-column picture at the right

shows Governor Potter addressing an

audience which filled the Rainbow City

gymnasium during the program arranged

by the Congress of Civic Councils. At the two other August meetings,

Mayor Raymond Tucker of St. Louis

spoke to a small group on civic problems

and the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame, talked to an audi- ence of over 250 on educational problems.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

Commissary Violators

Face Stiff Punishment

AN OBLIGING CUSTOMER poses with Inspector Fred Middleton to show how he questions buyers in the Canal Zone commissaries to see whether they are entitled to make purchases in the Canal Zone stores.

The battered chiva had been making

the rounds of the Pacific side local-rate commissaries all morning—even as far out as Gamboa—to the great interest of a pair of the Canal Zone's contraband

control inspectors. At every stop, someone in the chiva would disembark, dis- appear into the commissary and reappear

carrying several bulky bags. Between

stops, activity inside the chiva indicated

to the watching inspectors that the packages were being consolidated. By the time the chiva neared Pedro

Miguel, on the return trip, the inspectors

thought they had seen enough to warrant

a closer inspection of the chiva and its contents and asked the police to stop it. When they brought it to a halt, its half- dozen male passengers scattered behind

a screen of tall grass beside the road. In the bottom of the chiva they had

left 800 pounds of potatoes in eight

great burlap sacks. The driver, or so he said, was completely surprised to

find the sacks were there, and had had

no idea that anything of the sort was

going on. The great potato haul, according to a

long-time contraband control inspector, was the biggest single item of foodstuffs seized in the many years during which

the Canal Zone had been assisting Pan- ama by preventing unauthorized purchasers from buying in Canal Zone commissaries and authorized buyers from il- legally supplying their friends and rela- tives in the Republic with commissary

merchandise.

Today the six men whose job is keeping an eye out for contrabanding from

the Canal Zone into Panama are classed

officially as Customs Inspectors and work

in the Customs Division of the Civil Af

fairs Bureau. But they are no less vigi- lant than they were when they were in a

separate unit—first in the Inspection Bureau of the Comptroller's Office, as the

independent Contraband Control Section

in the Civil Affairs Bureau, and later at- tached to the Office of the Executive

Secretary.

The contraband inspectors and their bosses hope that some day they will be

able to reduce even further or put a complete stop to the unauthorized buying in the Canal Zone and the smuggling of con- traband goods or gasoline across the in- visible line which divides the Canal Zone

from Panama.

Meantime the inspectors who, during

the past fiscal year, investigated a total

of 1,327 cases of commissary purchase

violation and commissary trespass, believe they are putting a considerable

crimp into contrabanding.

GASOLINE privilege cards are checked at the Bal- boa gasoline station by Inspector Joseph Corrigan.

It doesn't take too long for word to get around that Joe Doakes was fired for repeated violations of commissary regulations- and last year there were four such discharges in the Company-Government organization.

The figures on the administrative act- tions taken during the past fiscal year

against employee-violators are enough to open the eyes of any employee who thinks he might "just take a chance."

All Company-Government privileges were canceled for five employees; gasoline

and commissary privileges were canceled

for 13 others. Four employees were sus- pended without pay for between one and

10-day periods. Commissary privileges were withdrawn from 21 employees, and

suspended for between one and six months

for 32 others. Gasoline and commissary

privileges were suspended for between two and three months for another eight.

Written warnings were issued to 63

offenders. And non-employees, gambling on not meeting an inspector in the commissaries or service centers, should have a second thought. Last year 688 men

and women lost that gamble and were

arrested for trespassing. Their fines totaled a little over $7,000.

The contraband inspectors have a

rough, tough job. Their duties involve not only a day-by-day check in the retail commissaries but also a periodic survey

of purchases made at the Canal Zone

gasoline stations. Every one of them has been assaulted

at least once. Their clothes have been

torn by irate violators who resented being

questioned or by friends of the offender,

who were doing some second-hand re- senting. One inspector was even hit over

the head with a bag which contained two

cans of tomatoes. The present type of contraband control

in the Canal Zone was an aftermath of

the 1936 Treaty between the United

States and Panama. Before 1941 Panama

had maintained a corps of inspectors who

watched unauthorized persons leave the

commissaries, followed them into Panama

and there confiscated their purchases and saw to it that they were fined. These

inspectors received half of the fines as

their pay. One of the first steps toward improving contra band control was the appointment of a representative from Panama

and one from the Canal Zone to provide

a regular and continuing opportunity

to confer on the contraband question,

as contemplated under the 1936 Treaty.

The Executive Secretary has been the

Canal Zone representative since the

beginning of this cooperative effort. A specialized staff of contraband control inspectors was instituted by the Canal Zone administration in 1941. It started out with six men, later expanded

to ten, and is now back to six. The first head of the unit was Philip L. Dade, now

Chief of Civil Defense. The inspectors had not been long on

the job before they found that they were hampered by the lack of legal punishment

for those who tried to buy in the commissaries without authority. At the suggestion of Mr. Dade, the commissaries were

"posted," and unauthorized entry into them was considered a trespass. After a period of several months, during which the inspectors (See page is)
September 7, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Merrily They Roll Along, Roll Along.

And, Strangely Enough, They Really Do!

One day not long ago a wrecking truck

pulled up to the Balboa home of Mr. and

Mrs. Russell M. Jones. When it left, it was towing to its last resting place one

of the most ancient automobiles in the Canal Zone. The car was a 1926 Pierce-Arrow sedan

which Mr. Jones, a Lockmaster at Miraflores, had purchased in 1938 from James

Tennien who, in turn, had bought it in 1932 from a Vermont patriarch. The old car had provided satisfactory run-about- town service until fairly recently when

Mr. Jones could no longer find parts for it. The death sentence for the Pierce-Ar- row was passed several months ago when

thieves broke into the garage of the

Jones' home and stole both back wheels and tires, the old automobile's carburetor,

distributor, and other irreplaceable parts. As far as old-car fanciers in the Canal

Zone know, the 1926 Pierce-Arrow and

a 1926 Dodge Victory-6 owned by Darnley C. Hall were the oldest cars licensed

in the Canal Zone. The old Dodge is

still running but its owner for many

years a motorcycle messenger for the Maintenance Division, famous for his big hats is now retired and living in Panama City where the car is licensed. Despite the departure of these two

antiques from the Canal Zone, there are

still a number of automobiles licensed in the Zone which come close to the antique

category. Two of the most venerable automobiles are as different as day and

night, although both are of 1929 vintage.

One is a Rolls-Royce Phantom I, owned

by G. M. Sylvester of Balboa, and the other is a Model A Ford coupe, which is licensed to Mrs. Frank J. Aspesi, who

lives in Diablo Heights. Mr. Sylvester's love for Rolls-Royces

dates back to the days when, as a boy, he worked in a Boston garage which specialized in servicing the big British cars. He was permitted only to wash the mud

from their undersides; British and Scotch

machinists did the actual repair work.

In 1938, when the Sylvesters were on

vacation, Mrs. Sylvester spotted the

Rolls in a second-hand car shop in New

Rochelle. It had belonged to a wealthy

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD and still going George M. Sylvester's heart. It has just been put

strong, this Phantom I Rolls-Royce is the joy of back together after its regular five-year overhaul.

Easterner who had willed it to his chauffeur. The chauffeur, however, had turned

it in for a smaller automobile. The Rolls had been driven less than 40,000 miles but it had some mechanical defects, and

the Sylvesters paid less than $1,000 for it. Mr. Sylvester remembered some of the

tricks of the trained mechanics in that Boston garage and inside of two days

much to the chagrin of the used-car

dealer- had it running like the beautiful piece of machinery that it is. Mr. Sylvester, who is Senior Chief Engineer on the tug "Arraijan," takes the

Rolls completely to pieces every five years and overhauls it. This is overhaul

year and he has only recently had it back together again. Parts for the car come from California and must be

painstakingly fitted in by hand. Al- though he has had many offers for the

car, he refuses to part with it and says he expects that "long after I am gone

and buried, someone will be driving it around."

The Aspesis' car, which they bought in

THE HORN is strictly period but who ever heard of a radio antenna on a 1930 Model A? The shiny

roadster belongs to Harry Corn of Balboa Post Office who inherited it when his son went north to college.

1946 from a Mr. Fuller at the Panama

Air Depot, is less romantic than the Rolls-Royce, but is just as beloved by its owners who call it "Old Jet." And they

are constantly amazed at the other motorists who pull up beside them on the road

and call: "Want to sell it?" Although the mileage gauge no longer

works and they have no idea of the number of miles it has run or the mileage it gets to a gallon of gasoline, they know it

is not expensive to operate. Its 10-gallon tank needs filling only once every couple

of weeks. Mrs. Aspesi is delighted with the ease with which she can park it, but doesn't

like to drive Old Jet at night. The

straight up-and-down windshield, she

says, catches too much glare from on- coming headlights. Mr. Aspesi, a wireman at Miraflores Locks, does all of the old car's repair

work. Sometimes he has difficulty getting parts and has often thought that some of the other old Ford owners

should form an association. Together

they might buy a discarded Model A

or two and cannibalize them.

He should have no difficulty forming a Model A club. John Terry, of the Personnel Bureau, drives a 1930 coupe which

he has had for several years. The mileage

indicator shows 88,000 miles, but Mr.

Terry is sure that it is on the third "goaround" and that the old car has run at

least 288,000 miles. Richard Abell, of Los Rios, is another

1930 Model A owner. He bought his coupe from its original owner, John W.

Manush, four years ago and uses it to go back and forth to work. He has modernized the car somewhat and it now sports

sealed-beam headlights.

Harry Corn, of the Balboa Post Office,

fell heir to his bright and shining 1930 Model A when his son, Donald, decided

that Utah was no place for an open car. Donald bought the Ford four years ago when he was a Junior at Balboa High

School and spent the next two years fix- ing it up. When he left for college, the

car was to follow him, (See page 12)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND

. i-ML

GUIDANCE PREVENTION

TOX-Hlogical

In this question of "accident prevention," often there are so many rules and

regulations printed that the average work- man and foreman in the field has a tend- ency to ignore all of them. A workman

in Maplewood, N. J., thought the safety

people were going too far by putting out

safety rules on a lot of familiar chemicals

and gases, some of which had been in HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

JULY

MARINE BUREAU

HEALTH BUREAU

CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Civil Affairs-. 6 Health 6 Supply and Employee Service 2 Engineering and Construction 1 Marine 1 Transportation and Terminals 1

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES

JULY

COMMISSARY DIVISION

NAVIGATION DIVISION

LOCKS DIVISION

HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

SERVICE CENTER DIVISION

DREDGING DIVISION

INDUSTRIAL DIVISION

ELECTRICAL DIVISION

RAILROAD DIVISION

STOREHOUSES DIVISION

POLICE DIVISION

FIRE DIVISION

AIDS TO NAVIGATION

SANITATION DIVISION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Aids to Navigation 7 Sanitation 7 Service Center 7 Storehouses 7 Commissary 6 Hospitals and Clinics 6 Industrial 6 Motor Transportation 6 Railroad 6 Dredging 5

Electrical 5 Maintenance 4 Navigation 3 Housing and Grounds (4 raos.l 3 Fire 1 Locks 1 Police 1 Terminals „ 1

common use for years. So he was very much concerned that nothing had been

written about the most dangerous gas known to science and suggested the fol- lowing article for our safety:

"OXYGEN:

This gas is very toxic and forms ex- tremely explosive mixtures with many

other gases and chemicals. It is fatal in atmospheric concentration as small as 0.0001 parts per million. Human beings

exposed to such tiny amounts of this gas

die within a few minutes. The symptoms

resemble those of cyanide poisoning (faint- ing, blue face, etc.). In higher atmospheric concentrations (about 20 percent) the toxic effect is delayed and it takes about 2.5 billion inhalations, or 70 years, before death takes place. In this higher

concentration it apparently contributes to a crippling disease called senility, of which

very little is known, except that it is al- ways fatal. Its main disadvantage is that

in concentrations of 160,000 to 200,000

parts per million it is habit-forming and

with the first good whiff, a human being,

and most animals, become rabid addicts permanently and will fight to the last breath if deprived of it. "Pure oxygen taken in small amounts

helps to delay the fatal effect of senility

and produces a feeling of well-being similar to alcohol in the healthy human.

Some humans (yogis) practice a form of self-intoxication by controlled breathing

and it is claimed they can do all sorts of inhuman feats while under its spell. "Oxygen is an extreme fire hazard. In the pure state it will ignite and bum furi- ously with many forms of greases and hot

metals. All the fires reported in the United States for a period of the last 50

years were found to be due to the pres- ence of this gas in the atmosphere sur- rounding the building in question.

"Oxygen is especially dangerous be- cause it is odorless, colorless, and tasteless, so that its presence cannot readily be detected until it is too late."

HANDLING MATERIALS

Handling materials can rarely be avoided on any construction job. And

unsafe handling causes plenty of injuries. So a little know-how is a mighty good

thing. For a starter, here are seven safe-handling tips which will prevent a lot of painful accident trouble:

Pile materials so they can't topple

over. Don't dislodge materials when you're

taking supplies from piles, trucks, or

freight cars. When you open a nail-keg, remove the

nails which are used to hold the cover. Never throw materials from heights unless the area is roped off or a watchman

posted.

Remove protruding nails promptly.

When forms are wrecked, keep the lumber in piles until it can be cleaned and

processed for re-use. Lift with your legs instead of your

back. Avoid strain. Get help if you need it.

WORTH REMEMBERING

YOU can always remember that in safety you protect: Not a camera

hit a human eye Not a pump

but a human heart Not a compressor

but a human lung

Not oil and greasebut human blood Not tires

but human fed

Not a chainfallbut a human back Not a sling

but human hands

You protect the most important machine

on your jobthe human body.

JULY 1956

BUREAU

Civil Affairs

Engineering and Construction

Health

Marine

Supply and Employee Service

Transportation and Terminals

Canal Zone Gov't Panama Canal Co.

(Employee-hours worked 2,260,772) LEGEND

| Frequency Rate this month

I 1 Accumulative Fiequency Rale this Calendar Year

I j 1953-1954-1955 Calendar Year Average

FREQUENCY RATE Disabling injuries per 1,000,000 employeehours worked.

Wum ber of I Fre^uenctJ Injuries I Rate
September 7, 1 956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

l^My.L, jB_ijat^l

Official Panama Canal Company Publication

Published Monthly At

BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

W. E. Potter, Governor-President H. W. Schull, Jr. Lieutenant Governor William G. Arey: Jr. Public Information Officer

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Assistant Editor

SUBSCRIPTION—$1.00 a year SINGLE COPIES—S cents each On sale at all Panama Canal Service Centers, Commissaries, and Hotels for 10 days

after publication date. SINGLE COPIES BY MAIL—10 cents each BACK COPIES—10 cents each On sale, when available, from the Vault

Clerk, Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

Postal money orders should be made payable to the Treasurer, Panama Canal Company, and mailed to Editor, The Panama

Canal Review, Balboa Heights, C. Z.

SPECIAL NOTICE

The sale of individual copies of The Panama Canal Review for issues prior to August 1955, Vol. 6, No. 1, will be discontinued effec- tive October 1, 1956.

NEWCOMER-SCIENTIST

DR. CARL B. KOFORD, above, is an important newcomer to the Canal Zone. He is resident naturalist of the Smithsonian Institution's Canal Zone Biological Area, more familiarly known as Barro Colo- rado Island. He arrived recently to succeed Dr. James Zetek, who is now Honorary Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Koford came to the Canal Zone from the University of California's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. He is no

stranger to the Canal Zone as he visited Barro Colo- rado several years ago when he was en route to Peru and Chile to gather material on animals and rodents

of the high Andes. Dr. and Mrs. Koford and their four children are living on Jadwin Avenue in Gamboa.

COMPANY officers always have plenty to discuss whenever they get together. George H. Roderick, Chairman of the Board of the Panama Canal Company, and Gov. W. E. Potter, the Company's Presiident, met here last month.

August was VIP month around the Canal

Zone, for a fact. Oldtimers could not re- member any month recently when they had

seen so many distinguished visitors from

so many parts of the world. For instance: From the United States came the Chair- man of the Panama Canal Company's Board

of Directors, Assistant Secretary of the Army, George H. Roderick; Maj. Gen.

Charles Holle, acting Chief of Engineers;

Maj. Gen. Silas B. Hays, Army SurgeonGeneral; Under Secretary of State Henry

F. Holland; three Senators: W. Kerr Scott

of North Carolina, Robert Humphrey of Kentucky, and William C. Laird of West

Virginia; two Congressmen, Rep. John J. Rhodes of Arizona and J. Arthur Younger

of California; and J. Don Kerlin, Clerk for the Senate Committee on Post Office and

Civil Service. Also from the United States to spend a tew days on the Isthmus came the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburg, C.S.C., President

of the University of Notre Dame. From all over the Western Hemisphere

including a number of cities in the United

States, came delegates to the Municipal

Congress which was held in Panama. Many

of the delegates spent most of one Sunday

making a partial transit of the Canal, tour- ing the Locks, and inspecting Miraflores

Filtration Plant. The long-distance record for Canal Zone

visitors in August was held by several members of the Japanese Diet, who are on a tour of Latin America. They spent part of one morning at Miraflores Locks.

Division of Schools. They are now offices for supervisory teachers. Another change of office for a Civil Affairs Bureau unit —while not in the Civil Affairs Building—is the transfer of the Chief of the

Cristobal Fire District, Capt. VV. H. Casswell, to Room 104 in the Cristobal Administration Building.

September and May may be the peak

moving-months in the Linked States but August turned up here this year as the month to transfer or rearrange a number of Company-Government offices. One of the major reshufflings was in the

Civil Affairs Building following the transfer

of the Postal Division's Financial Unit and stamp sales to the Balboa Post Office. The Chief of the Balboa Fire District. Capt. W. E. Jones, has moved into Rooms

102 and 103, which were formerly occupied

I iy the money-order section of the Postal

Division. Headquarters of the Postal Division have been transferred to the two rooms

adjacent to Captain Jones' new offices. These rooms, 104 and 105, had been occu- pied by the stamp sales unit of the Postal

Division. Two offices on the opposite side of the lobby which had been occupied by the

Postal Division have been transferred to the

One office move and one major rearrange- ment took place in August at the Administration Building at Balboa Heights. The

Machine Accounting Section of the Accounting Division moved downstairs one floor to the basement of the east wing. This move

involved the physical transfer of n employees and their machines. The space which they had occupied on

the first floor of the same wing was taken

over by the Plant Accounting Branch which

had been housed temporarily on a porch

since its move from Diablo Heights the

first of the fiscal year. The second move, which was really a re- arrangement of office space, occurred in the Administrative Branch on the second floor. Made necessary by the transfer of the Steamship Ticket Office to the Administration Building July i, it was accompanied by

a complete new look for the whole Branch. Mahogany railings divide the offices into sections and handsome mahogany plywood

and glass partitions provide privacy for a good part of its personnel.

The employees who deal directly with the

public are now handily near the front of the

big room. These are the personnel of the Transportation Section and the Steamship

Ticket Office, and the women who handle

vital statistics, authority cards, and Canal Zone entry permits.

When General Charles de Gaulle,, whose

Free French Forces had much to do with

the liberation of France during World War

II, arrived here August 18 on his way to

Tahiti, he found a welcoming letter from

Gov. William E. Potter awaiting him. The Governor assured the General that he had a host of admirers on the Isthmus "who hold in high regard the record of your

valiant stand at a crucial period in world

history." General de Gaulle was a passenger aboard

the French Line's SS Caledonia. He was

accompanied by his wife and a party of

three. They did not go ashore during their

brief visit and made the Canal transit aboard the Caledonia.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

"What A Change!" Said The President,

And 32 Years Does Make A Difference

U?^^rremSSS^^&^ ~

ESSS '. -

GATUN OF 1924 bears only a general resemblance to the Gatun of today. The railroad station, which has not been moved, is a good orientation mark. In

the left foreground is the commissary and at the lower right the public docks. The clubhouse is one of the larger buildings in the center of the photograph.

Old Canal Zone towns have been razed and new ones have appeared since 1924.

Hilltops have been levelled off and car- riage-wide streets rebuilt into broad,

smooth roads. Most of the termite-eaten,

dreary, gray quarters dating back to construction days have given way to pastelcolored, ranch-type concrete homes or trim frame houses in attractive surroundings. Gardens bloom where, years ago, no one tried to grow as much as a hibiscus. No wonder then that President Eisen- hower exclaimed "What a change!" when

he drove through the Canal Zone with Gov. W. E. Potter this summer. Even through the downpour which fell during most of that drive, the President could see not only the changes in the Canal Zone from his last visit here in 1946 but also the terrific difference between

the Canal Zone of today and the Canal Zone of 1922-24 when he and Mrs. Eisen- hower were stationed at Camp Gaillard. Camp Gaillard in those days was a good-sized Army Post on the west side

of the Canal. Camp Gaillard had

formerly been Culebra, headquarters

town in construction days. Today it is just a grass-grown memory.

And just what changes would strike the

President of the United States or anyone

else who might be comparing the Canal Zone of today with the Canal Zone of 32

years ago?

In the first place, of course, there would

be the physical difference—the new towns,

the empty places where towns once stood,

and the changes in the terrain itself. When Major and Mrs. Eisenhower were

living at Camp Gaillard there was no Rainbow City, no New Cristobal. Margarita was a hog farm operated by the Supply Department. A ferry crossed Limon Bay several times a day between

Cristobal and Fort Sherman, which was

abustle with land-crabs, military personnel and their families, and a one-car train scurried back and forth between Fort Randolph and Cristobal almost hourly. Folks River and Silver City were the main Atlantic side local-rate towns. One

of the landmarks of this two-in-one settle- ment was a 140-room behemoth known

as "Noah's Ark."

Gatun was a hodge-podge collection

of frame quarters and the Canal Administration was talking about abandoning it. Its two-story frame commissary stood beside the railroad track and

its big old clubhouse in the center of

town. Gatun youngsters swam in a

curve of the lake, between the public

docks and the lock wing-wall. Between Gatun and Gamboa there was

nothing but the long stretch of Gatun

Lake, where thousands of dying trees stretched their orchid-laden branches to the sky, and the little settlements at

Frijoles and Monte Lirio. At Darien were

the towers of the Navy's radio station,

which would be dwarfed by their modern

counterparts at Summit.

The train rattled across the same steel

trestle of Gamboa that it uses today but

Gamboa was only a few houses, the penitentiary, and a hydrographic station. The Paraiso of those days was a far cry from the Paraiso of today. In the early

1920's it was headquarters for the Dredging Division. There the two great cranes, Ajax and Hercules, towered at their moorings beside other cranes and barges

and dredges. The town itself was several groups of frame quarters, housing local- rate workers and their families. Between Paraiso and Pedro Miguel was

a landing for the ferry which plied back

and forth across the Canal. It was the only means of crossing the waterway ex- cept for the automobile crossing at the Locks which was generally limited to

official vehicles, and, on special occasions, a few private Ford cars. In those days

it was not particularly important to be

able to cross the Canal, as the highway

which today links Panama City with

David, was not much more than a narrow

winding path. Fort Clayton of the 1920's was a small

collection of buildings, little resembling

the attractive sprawling Post it is today.

There was no Miraflores Bridge, no Cocoli,

and Corozal was a cluster of Army quarters, many of them dating back to the

clays of the French Canal Company.

Some of the enlisted personnel were

still living in boxcars converted to dwellings just as the civilians who built the Canal had done 20 years before. There was no Diablo Heights and AlTIIIS IS Gamboa, on June 10, 1924. The bridge is the only familiar thing. Town and highway are

missing.
September 7, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

brook Field was a swampy fill where

planes from France Field made occasional

trial landings. The road from Corozal to Ancon ran north of the present airbase,

where Diablo Terrace stands today.

The Balboa Terminal area looked al- most the same then as it now does, except

that the shops were abuzz with activity,

and the ships of the Navy's Special Service Squadron lay at anchor in the basin. The railroad station, the Balboa Elementary School, the service center and the Administration Building could be recog- nized by a visitor returning after a 32- year absence. Balboa Flats, in the 1920's was row

after row of look-alike, gray, frame four- family buildings. The commissary was

the same concrete building it is today,

but there were no annexes and no parking

lots of the size they now are. The Balboa

movie theater was a wooden, shed-like structure adjacent to the clubhouse. Balboa Heights, except for Ridge

Road which was lined with low frame

cottages shadowed by massive trees, was a collection of second-hand, twostory official quarters. The big frame

buildings had all been moved, wall- section by wall-section, from their original locations in Culebra and Empire.

Of them all, the only one still standing

is the Governor's House. Ancon Boulevard, nearest the Administration Building, ran between two rows

of frame cottages and big, two-family

houses. San Juan Place, where a good

many of the quarters were occupied by

Navy families, still bore the marks of the days when its buildings had been part of the Ancon (now Gorgas) Hospital ward

for mental patients. The lower end of Ancon Boulevard was not much more

than an alley, between solid rows of four- family houses. They were set so close to the street that a passerby could tell what

their occupants were having for dinner. The Ancon Clubhouse was a two-story

building where the concrete bachelor quarters now stand this building was burned

in 1923 and the present Payroll Building was a restaurant where white-coated

waiters served dinner on Sunday night to the music of a string orchestra. The Tivoli has changed little in these 32 years except for its landscaping and its status, but the Ancon Post Office of the 1920's was a two-story frame building.

There were no 12-family quarters on

Frangipani Street, but also there was no

such street -just a police station and a

flower garden in that section. There was

no Civil Affairs Building and no Motor

Transportation Division Garage or Maintenance Division Field Office on Gaillard Highway; there was no highway, either. And what other differences did the President see in the Canal Zone? More

people, for one thing. In June 1924 three months before the Eisenhowers

left Camp Gaillard the Canal Zone's

civilian population was 27,143. In the

last official census, taken in November

1954, this figure was 38,953. There are over twice as many children

in the Canal Zone schools today as there were then. In 1924, 4,005 children were

attending the Zone schools; today's figure

is around 11,000. In June 1924, Balboa

and Cristobal High Schools - the only sec- ondary schools here in those days-- graduated 46 students, one less than the number of honor graduates from these two

CAMP GAILLARD, where Major and Mrs. Eisenhower were stationed, was formerly the construction- day town of Culebra. This phctograph, taken in 1924, shows the Army Post on the high west bank of the Canal not far from the Cut.

schools this year and about one-tenth of the total who received their diplomas in 1956 from the present four high schools and the Junior College.

There are a good many more automobiles around these days, too, than there were in 1924, but then there are a good

many more miles of roads and highways

than there were 32 years ago. In fiscal year 1924, there were 2,852 automobiles

licensed in Panama and the Canal Zone;

today, 13,779 automobiles are licensed in the Canal Zone alone. President Eisenhower undoubtedly noticed handsomer post office buildings this summer than he remembered from the

early 1920's. Of course, when he and

Mrs. Eisenhower lived at Camp Gaillard

all their letters traveled from the Isthmus

by ship mail. Today, between 75 and 80

percent of the Canal Zone's first class mail is handled by air.

If he had time to visit the Canal commissaries he would have seen a number

of differences between today's stores and

the ones in which he and Mrs. Eisenhower

shopped when they lived here. Two major changes which undoubtedly would

have struck him would be self-service practically everywhere and the cash regis- ters which actually ring up cash purchases instead of those made with commissary coupon books.

When the Eisenhowers lived at Camp

Gaillard, a trip to Ancon or Balboa or Panama City was a much more complicated affair than it is now. In the first place, they had to get from the Army

Post to a point opposite Pedro Miguel

by automobile. Then they had to put

their Buick on an Army ferry to reach

the east side of the Canal.

Once at Pedro Miguel they had two

choices. They could drive into town or they could take a motor car which was known to large and small as the "Toonerville Trolley." For many years its con- ductor was fat, jolly Tom Shirley.

If their ultimate destination was Pan- ama City, where Mrs. Eisenhower might

buy jade or crystal at Chung King's or some other Panama City emporium of those days, they might choose to make

the Balboa-Panama City lap by streetcar. During the 1920's, "trams" ran every few minutes down Balboa Road

and into the heart of the Panamanian

capital city. During the 1920's, there was much of interest to see here, just as there is today.

In January 1924, over 60 ships of the

Pacific Fleet, including five battleships,

made the north to south transit of the Canal in three days- -about half the time

which had been planned. In July of that same year, two British (See page w)

WHEN the Eisenhowers drove to town, they crossed the Canal on this ferry just north of Pedro Miguel

Locks.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

Zone Nurses Tell How To Fortify

Your Children For An Operation

A DINING TABLE served as conference headquarters and desk for the Zone's author-nurse team while they were working on their book. Left to right are Evelyn Koperski, Adelia De Vore, and Henri Skeie.

If one of its authors had continued the

short-story course she started, a book

which is slated for publication this month

might never have been written. The book, Dede Has Her Tonsils Out,

is the joint effort of three Canal Zone

registered nurses, Mrs. Christian S. Skeie, Mrs. J. B. DeVore, and Mrs. Richard

Koperski, who are authors under their

first names: Henri, Adelia, and Evelyn.

They had finished the first draft of the book, which describes a little girl's preparations for a tonsillectomy, when Mrs.

Skeie began a course in short>story writing. After her first lesson she summoned

an emergency meeting of her co-authors. The book was no good, she said. It would have to be revised completely.

So the three authors went to work all over again and redid Dede. Twice more, each time after another short-story lesson, the same thing happened. Finally Mrs. DeVore and Mrs. Koperski rebelled. Enough was enough, they said. The

story course would have to stop. It did. The book was finished, was accepted by

the Pageant Press in New York, and will be on sale this month.

The blurb on Dede's brightly-colored

jacket explains the book and its purpose about as well as it can be said: "Medical authorities and child specialists agree that children should be thor- oughly prepared for an operation. Being

'abandoned' in a strange hospital with no

idea of what faces him can be a terrifying

and harmful experience for a youngster

that may permanently damage his confidence in his parents."

The book begins with a description of Dede's bad winter of colds and sore

throats, continues through visits by and

to her doctor, describes routine laboratory

and hospital procedures, tells how Dede

and her parents play two simple little games which prepare her for what will happen to her in the hospital, and ends

with a tonsil-less Dede leaving the hospital with nothing but a slightly sore throat to show that she had an operation.

It is a short book, less than 3,000

words, written in a style which could be

read by any second-grader or which a younger child could understand if it is read to him. It is illustrated with black- and-white drawings.

Her co-authors credit Mrs. Skeie with

having conceived the idea of the book. She invented the games which Dede

plays—"this is how you are wrapped up

in the operating room so your hands and

feet don't get in anyone's way, this is the

little strainer with which you take the ether to put you to sleep"- before her own two children had their tonsils out. The results amazed both doctors and

nurses who cared for the children. She herself was so convinced of the need of pre-operative emotional preparation for children that she talked the idea

of a book on this subject over with her

friends. They agreed that she "had something" and went to work on Dede.

Dede, however, was not their first idea

for a book. Sometime ago they decided

that there was urgent need for a nurses' handbook, pocket-size, which would be

sort of a refresher course for registered nurses. It would be aimed especially at those women who had gone back to work

to help relieve the shortage of nurses. Three Authors Are Mothers

A book of this sort, written by and for nurses, they felt, would be a great help

to women working in civil defense pro- grams. Their idea was received enthusiastically by local and national civil defense officials but before they had a chance to follow through on the handbook, Dede had been conceived and they were devoting their off-duty hours to it. Beside being experienced mothers

they have five children among them, all minus tonsils- the three authors are professionally well-prepared for the job they

have done. Mrs. Skeie and Mrs. DeVore

trained at what is now called the District General Hospital in Washington. Mrs. Koperski is a graduate of the Atlantic City Hospital School of Nursing.

All have had considerable experience

in nursing children, professionally as well as personally. Mrs. DeVore is not nurs- ing right now, but Mrs. Skeie is on the Gorgas Hospital staff and Mrs. Koperski

is employed at the Coco Solo Hospital.

"What A Change!" Said The President

(Continued from page 9) battleships, the HMS Hood and the HMS Renown went

through the Canal and tied up at Pedro

Miguel to receive visitors. The Hood,

which grossed over 44,000 tons, paid

$22,400 in tolls—still a Canal record for any ship.

On September 7, 1923, two F5L sea- planes from Coco Solo returned to their Canal Zone base after a history-making,

2,000-mile round trip to La Guiara, Venezuela. The planes, blazing the way for the air mail service to come four years

later, took 37 flying hours to make the round trip. From their quarters at Camp Gaillard the Eisenhowers could walk to the

edge of the hill overlooking the Cut to watch the transiting ships. In those

days, an average of 14 ships made the ocean-to-ocean passage each day. Today the figure is over 24 a day.

Some of the transiting ships of the

1920's were Army transports—the Somme

and the St. Mihiel, for instance—carrying

servicemen and their families from the

east to west coasts or on to their station

in the Philippines. During the dry season

the Panama Canal steamer Gold Star plodded back and forth through the Cut

carrying tourists from the big cruise ships

like the Megantic, much as the ferryboat

Presidente Porras does today for tourists from the Caronia or the Nieuw Amsterdam.

When the Eisenhowers tired of the

social activities at Camp Gaillard, they

could find entertainment in the Canal Zone or in Panama City. Weekly dances

at the Union Club or the Century Club

(then in the present American Club building) attracted young couples from all over

the Pacific side. Strongheart, the canine

movie star, was in his heydey and his

films, like "Brawn of the North," were shown at the Cecilia Theater in Panama

City. Or, if the Eisenhowers preferred,

they might see Madge Bellamy in "Lorna Doone" at the Pedro Miguel movie hall. The Isthmus then was about as sports- conscious as it is today. Major Eisen- hower's 42d Infantry had a crack swimming team which won several events in the 1923 July 4th celebration at Cristobal, the same day another serviceman

from Camp Gaillard set a record for the marathon from Fort Davis to Cristobal. The Canal Zone's Red White and Blue

Troupe was busy developing Olympic

material, like Adelaide Lambert, who

won the Woman's National Swimming

Championship in 1923, and Josephine

McKim, who went on to the Olympics

in 1928. There were a few Canal Zone golf courses— at Gatun and Mirafiores—and

the thatched-roofed clubhouse of the Panama Golf Club drew the same kind

of enthusiastic golfers as jam today's more modern rambling building.

No, there was plenty to see and plenty

to do in the Canal Zone when the Eisen- howers lived at Camp Gaillard. It would

not be in the activity that they would see the most change. It would be in the

physical aspect of things.

And one of the most striking changes

of all they could see if they walked to the

hillside beside the Canal not far from

their old Camp Gaillard quarters. In the 1920's, when they stood there,

they looked upon the two great hills on either side of Gaillard Cut. Today,

Gold Hill still rears almost sheer from

the waters of the Canal but Contractor's Hill has given way to the hand of man. It is no longer almost a perpendicular mass of rock. It has been re- duced to a flight of giant stairsteps.
September 7, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11

73 New Fire-Fighters

Begin Second Phase

Of Training Period

Seventy-three new fire-fighters have

completed the basic course and are

well into the second phase of their train- ing period in preparation for the transfer to the Canal Zone Government on October 1 of all structural fire fighting activities in the Zone. The basic six-weeks course was completed August 17 by the first group which

included all of the Atlantic-side trainees and about one-half of the Pacific siders. The second group, made up entirely of

Pacific siders, finished their basic course August 31. Some of the basic elements of fire-fight- ing they were taught are shown in the photographs on this page. In the top

picture, Fireman James L. Philips, one

of the instructors at Balboa Station, demonstrates a method of tying a hose-line onto a ladder. In the center photograph, Sgt. Edward

E. Albin, of the Balboa Station, explains

to the trainees the use of a "deluge

nozzle," while Capt. Albert J. Mathon,

Instructor Supervisor, looks on. In the bottom picture, a group of trainees learn how to use a charged hose-line from a lad- der. Their instructor is Sgt. J. F. Dolan. By this week, both groups are well into the second period of their training. Each

trainee will have a minimum of 40 hours

as driver and operator of fire apparatus

and fire pumps. Then, as soon as each is assigned to the station where he will be on

duty, he will have another 40 hours to

familiarize himself with his fire district. He will learn the location of streets and

buildings, fire alarm boxes and hydrants,

and the hazardous areas. During the re- mainder of this period, each trainee will be given additional drilling and station work. The training will be continued after the

fire stations are consolidated on October

1, with a minimum of two hours training a day at each station. This training may

be instruction or drilling or both. While the trainees were completing

their basic and in-training periods, details were completed for coverage by each sta- tion after the consolidation. Communities to be covered by each station are: Balboa: Balboa, Ancon, Diablo, La

Boca, Quarry Heights, Fort Amador, and

the 15th Naval District. PAD: Curundu and Albrook Air Force

Base. Corozal: Corozal, Los Rios, Fort Clayton, and a part of Albrook Air Force Base. Pedro Miguel: Pedro Miguel, Paraiso, the Locks, and outlying AA positions.

Madden Wye: Madden Wye and Summit Radio Station. Gamboa: Gamboa and the Army Ammunition Depot.

Rodman: Rodman, Farfan, Lacona, Naval Ammunition Depot.

Cocoli: Cocoli and Rousseau. Kobbe: Fort Kobbe and Howard Field. Margarita: Margarita and Fort Gulick. Gatun: Gatun and Fort Davis. Fort Sherman: Fort Sherman. Coco Solo: Coco Solo and Fort Randolph.

Coco Solito: Coco Solito and France Air Force Base. Cristobal: Cristobal, New Cristobal, Mt.

Hope, Rainbow City, and Camp Bierd.
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

MRS. DELLA HANCOCK

She handles communications

Mrs. Delia Hancock Is Sender

And Receiver Of All Messages

Whenever an official radio message or cablegram leaves the Administration

Building at Balboa Heights, the skilled

ringers of Delia Hardwick Hancock are on the sending end. And whenever an

official message is received it is her job

to see that it reaches the Company or Government unit concerned as speedily

as possible. In one month she sends or

receives an average of 450 such messages. Because she is the only individual in the organization empowered to send or

receive official communications of this

sort, she qualifies as one of the Panama

Canal's "Singletons." Under the organization title of Communications Clerk, she

is in charge of the Radiogram Communications Desk in the Administrative Branch.

Since her job is unique, she is the first to know officially when a Panama Line

ship is changing course to avoid a hurri- cane, when the New York docks are about

to be beset by a longshoremen's strike, when some development has occurred in Washington affecting the Panama Canal,

or when a shipment of some much-needed

material has left its United States port. Her desk is an important part of the

Canal Zone's civil defense planning.

Last month she received the information (and relayed it to the Main Control

Center) on the mythical damage inflicted by an imaginary nuclear missile

at Gatun and transmitted the messages

as to what remedial steps were being

taken. Mrs. Hancock has been a Canal employee since 1940 and has been in her

present job since January 1953. She is on call 24 hours a day, although she is not routed out during the night to handle

routine messages. She is, however, always

notified when a priority communication must be sent or is being received. All ship-to-shore messages require immediate

action on her part. The physical part of her job is something like that of a monotype operator

in a printing plant. She first "types" an

outgoing message- which she may have

received in. writing or over the telephone

on the keyboard of a machine which looks much like an ordinary teletype. The

words she sends, however, do not appear

as words on the teletype paper but as perforations on a heavy tape. (She has one of these tapes in her hands

in the accompanying photograph, and

several more hang from a hook in the background.)

When she has cut the tape, she feeds the perforated strip into a special attach- ment at the side of the machine just as a monotype operator feeds his perfor- ated tape into a casting machine. Mrs.

Hancock's machine, however, has a dual

function.

It sends the outgoing radio to the Army Communications Center at Quarry

Heights, which is the relay station for all government radio and cable messages from government agencies in the Canal

Zone, and it also prints the message onto

the roll of paper in the teletype machine.

Mrs. Hancock has no way of knowing

whether or not she has made any errors

in the transmission until she sees the tele- typed copy. As she puts it, she has been

"cutting blind." She works closely with the Signal Corp

experts whose cooperation and advice, she says, are invaluable. Once each

month they monitor her work. She must

abide by strict rules as to spacing, punctuation, and other technical matters, and

any mistakes she may have made in these, as well as in the actual transmission, are charted and reported in a bulletin which circulates in all Army communication stations. She has established a fine record for accuracy in the three and a half years she has been on the Communications

Desk. Her work has won commendations from former Lt. Gov. Harry O. Paxson and from Lt. Col. David Parker,

former Military Assistant to the Governor. Mrs. Hancock, however, is a modest

soul and says that the fine cooperation

from the Army Communications Center and from everyone else with whom she works assists her in doing "as well as I have

done and has made my work enjoyable."

While her radioteletype sends messages

to any country where there is a U. S. Army Communications Center, she uses commercial cable or radio to other countries. She codes or condenses them to cut down wordage.

Incoming messages appear on the tele- type, seemingly as if by magic. Sometimes

when she reports for work in the morning

she will find half a dozen of them which

have been received during the night. It

is up to her to see that these messages

reach the person concerned. She distrib- utes them herself or by messenger in the

Small Safety Deposit Boxes

Available At Balboa Heights

A limited number of small safety deposit boxes are now available for rent in the Treasurer's Vault in the basement of the Balboa Heights Administration Building. The boxes rent for $1.50 per year. Employees of the Company-Government and of other agencies and organi- zations composed principally of Govern- ment employees and members of their families are eligible to rent these boxes. The vault is open from 11 a. m. to noon

on all working days. Special arrangement

whereby box-holders may have access to

their boxes at other times may be made

by telephoning 2-2532 or 2-2525. Further information on the rental of the

safety deposit boxes may be obtained at these same numbers.

Administration Building and telephones

them to offices elsewhere in the Canal Zone. Mrs. Hancock, who was born in Idaho, came to the Isthmus while she was still in her early teens. She attended Balboa

High School when its classes met in the present elementary school building in Balboa. She did not begin her Canal

career until 1940 when she went to work

in the Ancon Commissary.

In July 1941, she transferred to the Comptroller's Office and moved to the Administrative Branch in 1950 when

some of the operations of the Finance

Department's mail and files branch were

shifted to that office. During the war years she was a pillar of strength in War Bond Drives and carnivals. Now her hobbies are her three grandchildren and gardening around her Diablo Heights quarters. The grandchil- dren are just fine but the gardening, she

says, hardly lives up to her expectations.

Merrily They Roll Along, Roll Along.

And, Strangely Enough, They Really Do!

(Continued from page 5) provided he did

good work in school. He did, but one Utah winter convinced him that there was something to be said for cars with

windows and heaters. Another of the 1930 Fords belongs to Gardner Harris of Diablo Heights. He

has converted it to what is formally called a "carryall." Friends say it is exactly that! There are still some 1931 Fords running

around on both sides of the Isthmus. One of them belongs to Gustaf A. Peterson, a powerhouse operator dispatcher at the Gatun Hydroelectric station. He

bought it in 1934 when its original owner,

a Gatun woman, turned it in on a newer

car. Everyone admires the old coupe, he

says, and he had many offers to sell itall of which he has turned down.

Another 1931 Model A is owned by

Lt. Starford Churchill of the Cristobal

Fire Station. This car started out as a cabriolet but has been converted to what Lieutenant Churchill calls a boxtype body. He keeps a couple of spare engines handy and when one needs an

overhaul he pulls it out and substitutes

a spare. Another Atlantic side fireman,

Richard Condon, owns two 1931 Model

A's. One of them, a "runabout," is on

the Isthmus. The other, which he

drove from Panama to Alaska several years ago, is garaged in Syracuse, N. Y., waiting for the next time its owner de- cided to go touring. That Model A has

a box-type body, screened for sleeping.

Some of the other 1931 Ford owners are Joel L. Cook of Margarita, Sgt. B. W.

Treadwell of the Cristobal Police Station,

and Beverly Chan Williams, Reference

Librarian at the Canal Zone Library,

whose only complaint about her "two- door" is that it "takes both hands and

both feet to start it." Less ancient than these, but still longlived as automobiles go, are a 1932 Chevrolet coupe, owned by Hollis Griffon of Brazos Brook, a 1932 Ford touring car belonging to Glynn Terrell of Gatun, and

a 1933 Plymouth-de-luxe coupe, known

as "Black Betsy," which belongs to George Pervin of the Canal Zone License

Section. Mr. Pervin brought Betsy here from California in 1933 and she has been

running faithfully ever since. "When she turned 21," he says, "I was

afraid she'd leave me, but she didn't. She's a real fine old girl and, unusual for a woman, she never complains."
September 7, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

All Major Units To Be Affected By Changes

Required Next Year By New Treaty

(Continue! from page 1) directly affected have been in progress for many weeks,

and plans for the general realignment are now well defined. Divisions Affected According to an announcement by Wil- son H.. Crook, Supply and Employee

Service Director, four commissary retail stores, the Industrial Laboratory of the Commissary Division, and three Service Center Units will be closed December 31. Continuing efforts will be made through

out the Canal organization to provide

positions for those whose present jobs

will be abolished by transfers to other work, although it is recognized that the employment opportunities are limited. A force reduction of the proportion anti- cipated will affect to a much lesser degree

all major units and require additional re- ductions. These secondary results, however, may not be actuated in many cases

for several months.

Slated For Closing

The four commissary stores to be closed at the end of this year are Tivoli, Camp

Bierd, Chagres, and Ancon. The Pacific and Camp Bierd Service Centers, and

Chagres Luncheonette, are to be closed

at the same time. Two other commissaries and two more

service centers are slated to be closed at a later date. The commissary and service center at La Boca will be closed when the remaining family residents there are re- located. The Cristobal Commissary is to be closed after a new retail store is built

in Margarita. This is now scheduled in the fiscal year 1958. The Cristobal Service Center will be closed at about that same time. The drastic effect the Treaty commitment will have on commissary and service center operations has been under in- tensive study for several months.

Aside from the employees who will be

directly affected, either by loss of their jobs or loss of purchase privileges, the change will affect the entire operation of the Commissary and Service Center Divisions. This is particularly true of the Commissary Division which is presently

geared to a dollar volume of business of approximately $25,000,000 a year, of which about $12,000,000 represents business, which after January 1, will go to Panamanian merchants. The substantial reduction will therefore affect such essential operations of this division as purchasing or processing, transportation, and

warehousing. In addition to the stores and

service centers to be closed, the volume

of business done in other retail or service units of the two divisions will be substantially decreased. Reduction Of Overhead

Canal officials are giving special attention to means of reducing overhead ex- penses commensurate with the loss in sales volume. Although the change is still four months away, Mr. Crook and his

staff are exploring several different ave- nues to effect savings in operations and

overhead expenses. A problem of much concern to the Supply and Employee Service Bureau

officials is that of maintaining adequate

inventories for the remainder of this year. This problem is of significant conse- quence, especially since the Christmas

trade brings the highest volume of cusYoungsters Are Developing Skill

In New Junior Bowling League

HERE are the Balboa Junior Bowling League members practicing at the Balboa Bowling Alleys. Bowlers, left to right: John Chase, Jim Watson, Danny Eggleston, Bcbby Best, and Andy Frangioni; spectators: Danny DesLondes, Warren "Babe" Marquard, George "Skeeter" Camby, Robert Best, Billy Black, Billy Hatchett, and Coach Woodcock.

Strike! And ten more pins hit the floor of the Balboa Bowling Alley.

The alleys have become a pin-boy's

nightmare these Sunday afternoons as the 24 members of the newly-organized Bal- boa Junior Bowling League brush up on

their game. Under the leadership of veteran bowler

Kenneth Woodcock, the members of the four-team league are learning not only

the hows and why of bowling, but also the standards of courtesy and conduct

which are expected of bowlers. The tearrs appropriately, are the Splits, Sockers,

Alley Cats, and Strikers. The Junior League was formed by Mr. Woodcock on June 1 and is a member

of the American Junior Bowling Congress—which is to bowling what Little League is to baseball. The teams are

led by the league's officers: President,

Bill Black; Vice President, Ronald

Mead; and Secretary, Wayne Brown.

Under Mr. Woodcock's watchful eye, the team members have all improved

their game. Some of the players had

never bowled before, yet everyone is showing steady progress and, in the words of their coach, the league promises

to graduate about ten "very, very, good

players." Jim Watson, for example, is

tomers and sales of the year, and this occurs only a few days before the volume

business will be almost cut in half. This

situation obviates the possibility of a tapering off of purchases and inventories

in many lines, since it is planned to offer the normal supply of "Christmas trade"

items. According to the Supply and Employee

Service Director, it is planned to maintain inventories in all lines adequate to meet normal demands for the remainder

of the year. Purchasing for the Christmas

trade will be made at the same general

level of last year. Procurement in other

lines will be gradually diminished in ad- vance, commensurate with past sales fig- ures, for individual items to bring the stock balances at the end of the year to the volume level expected under the new

conditions.

high average bowler with a score usually

of about 157. Aside from expert coaching, members

also have received reduced rates for bowling and opportunities to win high-game

awards. They also can enter into competition with junior bowling teams from

Margarita, Curundu, and Fort Clayton. At the end of the season, trophies

donated by local companies will be given

to the first and second place teams, and

individual trophies will be awarded for the bowlers with the best single, series, and average scores. This month, when the group reor- ganizes into a new league, high school students between the ages of 13 and 18

will again be eligible to join. While

they are expecting to expand with an

additional coach—Robert Balcer—and

20 new players, the league is prepared

to accept as many as 60 bowlers—or

potential bowlers.

Commissary Violators Face Stiff Punishment

(Continued from page 4) warned hundreds

of men and women, the arrests began.

First offenders are usually fined $10 and

repeat violators are fined up to $25.

Posting the commissaries and provision

for the trespass punishment put teeth

into contraband control. Another step

which has been of considerable help in cutting down contraband is the limited

privilege-cards held by all local-rate employees and by married women who are United States citizens and whose hus- bands are working in Panama.

New cards are issued to the local-rate workers every month, and limit their

privileges to the amount of their salaries. And, of course, a major deterrent to contraband is administrative action,

such as discharge, suspension, or cancellation of commissary and gasoline

purchase privileges.

The contraband inspectors foresee that

the removal of commissary privileges

from several thousand non-resident alien employees at the end of December may

bring them additional work, and the-y are already making plans as to how they will handle it.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS ANNIVERSARIES

July 75 through August 15

Employees who were promoted or transferred between July 15 and August 15 are

listed below. Whhin-grade promotions are not listed.CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Clara O. Wattley, from Senior High

School Teacher to Junior High School

Teacher, Division of Schools. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Leo M. Favrot, from Systems Accountant, Accounting Policies and Procedures

Staff, lo Assistant to Chief, Budget and

Rates Division. Daniel C. Zitzmann, from Supervisory

Accounting Assistant, Coco Solo Hospital,

to Accounts, Methods, and Relief Assign- ment Staff. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

Jose G. Hughes, from Engineering Draft- man to Illustrator, Engineering Division. Donald R. Kimzey, from Clerk to Clerical Assistant, Power Conversion Project.

William L. Brooks, from Clerical Assist- ant to Administrative Assistant, Power

Conversion Project.

Meteorology and Hydrographlc Branch Harold J. Million, from Hydraulic Engineer to Supervising Hydraulic Engineer.

Elmer Kanz, from Hydraulic Engineer to Hydraulic Engineer (Hydrologic Investigations). Edward H. Neville, Jr., from Engineering Aid to Hydraulic Engineer. Charles S. Howe, from Supervisory Hydraulic Engineer to Construction and Maintenance Superintendent. OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

Mrs. Lois J. Deerwester, Clerk-Stenographer, from Personnel Programs Staff to Executive Planning Staff. HEALTH BUREAU

Mrs. Mae M. McCloskey, from Supervisory Storekeeper to Storekeeping Clerk, Gorgas Hospital. Mrs. Ida E. Morris, from Storekeeper to Storekeeping Clerk, Gorgas Hospital.

Helen C. Milloy, from Supervisory Property and Supply Cleik to Supervisory Property and Supply Officer. Dr. Eduardo de Alba, Jr., from Medical

Officer (Internal Medicine) to Medical Offi- cer (Cardiology). Mrs. Helen L. Newhard, Staff Nurse, from Gorgas Hospital to Coco Solo Hospital. Mrs. Maurine K. Jenks, from Clerk- Typist to Secretary (Typing), Gorgas Hospital. MARINE BUREAU

Samuel Rowley, from First Mate, Taboga. Aids to Navigation Section, to Towboat

Master, Navigation Division. Edward Folse, Towboat Master, from

Navigation Division to Ferry Service. Joseph M. Daly and Otis Ramey, from Admeasurer to Marine Inspection Assistant, Navigation Division. John P. Stephenson, Edgar H. Light, James B. Crane, and Wallace W. Priester,

Jr., fiom Quarantine Inspector to Marine

Inspection Assistant, Navigation Division. Francis Washabaugh, from Customs In- spector to Admeasurer, Navigation Division James C. Wood and Herbert A. Greene, from Customs Inspector to Marine Inspection Assistant, Navigation Division. Eugene I. Askew, from Quarantine In- spector to Admeasurer, Navigation Division. Thomas L. Gregg, from Distribution and

Willow Clerk, Postal Division, to Guard, Locks Security Branch. John G. Carlson, from Towboat Master, Ferry Service, to Pilot-in-Training, Navigation Division. George P. Allgaier, from Machine Shop

Head Foreman, Maintenance Division, to Machinist, Industrial Division. PERSONNEL BUREAU

Jo Ann A. Fischer, from Secretary (Sten- ography), to Clerk-Stenographer, Office of the Director. Mrs. Arilla H. Kourany, Clerk-Typist,

from Employment and Utilization Division

to Office of the Director. Daniel J. Paolucci, from Supervisory

Training Officer to Coordinator, Personnel Programs Staff. L. B. Burnham, from Training Officer to Supervisory Training Officer, Personnel Programs Staff. Lloyd D. Murphy, from Personnel Assist- ant to Training Officer, Personnel Programs

Staff. Mrs. Manuelita O'Sullivan, from Supervisory Personnel Clerk, Wage and Classifi- cation Division, to Clerk-Stenographer,

Employment and Utilization Division. Mrs. Betty O. Boyer, from Clerk-Stenographer, Employment and Utilization Division, to Supervisory Personnel Clerk, Wage

and Classification Division. SUPPLY AND EMPLOYEE SERVICE BUREAU

Mrs. Delia M. Howell, from Supervisory

Steward, Service Center Division, to Commissary Checker, Commissary Division.

RETIREMENTS

Retirement certificates were presented

the end of August to the following employees who are listed alphabetically, together with their birthplaces, titles, length of Canal

service, and future addresses: Herman Lynn, Mississippi; Policeman,

Police Division; 26 years, 5 months, 6 days;

Gulfport, Miss. Francis J. Moumblow, Massachusetts;

Control House Foreman, Gatun Locks; 26

years, 8 months, 17 days; Montclair, N. J.

FRANCIS J. MOUMBLOW

SEPTEMBER SAILINGS

From Cristobal A neon September 1 Panama September 8 Cristobal September 15 A neon September 22 Panama September 29 From New York

Cristobal September 6 A neon September 13 Panama September 20

Cristobal September 27 (Northbound and southbound, the ships are in Haiti on Monday).

It should never be hard for Christian Simonsen, General Maintenance Mechanic

in the Maintenance Division, to remember

his service date. It's the day after his birthday. This year, on August 8, he rounded out

35 years of government service, all but se\en

of them with the Canal organization. Born

in Atlanta, Ga., he came to the Isthmus

with the Air Force and was a staff sergeant

at France Field when he resigne 1 in 1927

to become a chauffeur in the old Fortifica- tions Division. He worked with that divi- sion for 10 years, then spent several months

in Los Angeles with a tuna fishing com- pany —which accounts for his enthusiasm

for deep-sea fishing. He was reemployed by

the Canal organization in 1938 and has been

with the Maintenance Division since Dec- ember 1938. He was once a crack shot with both pistol and rille. Mrs. Simonsen wears a unique

bracelet made from medals he has won in various shooting competitions. For the past few years he has not done much shooting

or fishing and now, according to his wife,

his main hobby is dancing, at which he is as skilled as he used to be on a firing range.

30 YEARS

Lt. Starford L. Churchill of the Cristobal

Fire District and Christian W. Wirtz, Supervisory Administrative Officer of the Commissary Division at Mount Hope, are both

long-time Canal employees, and long timers

in their respective units, too. Lieutenant Churchill, who w-as born in Charlestown, Mass., came to the Isthmus

in June 1926, to visit a cousin, J. F. Tufts

of Gatun Locks. Within a few weeks he was at work as a fireman and all of his Canal

service, which has been continuous, is with

the Fire Division. He was made a fire lieu- tenant earlier this year. Although he has been stationed briefly on

the Pacific side, most of his service has been on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus. He has been on duty there at Cristobal, Gatun, Chagres, and Margarita and is pres- ently on circulating duty in the Cristobal

Fire District. He is an old car fan and is the owner of a venerable 1931 Model A Ford. Mr. Wirtz is a native Zonian. His father came to the Canal Zone early in the construction period and was with the Fortifica- tions Division for many years. "Chris" Wirtz worked summers as a boy in the Commissary Division and the Cristobal Corral but all of his adult service has been with

the former Division with which he has worked since 1927. Like Lieutenant Churchill he is primarily an Atlantic sider, although he had short periods of duty on the Pacific side. Most

of these temporary assignments were during

the periods when the U. S. Fleet "visited the Isthmus" and extra commissary help was needed in Balboa. He started as a

clerk, was promoted to administrative assist- ant in 1940, and to the post of supervisory administrative assistant in 1952. Off duty he is an ardent sailor and is now- building a handsome yacht of his own.

Friends say he has been interested in boating since he got his first six-foot cayuco at the age of four. In 1951 he was a member

of the crew of Tucker McClure's yacht

Chiriqui in the California-Honolulu Race.

25 YEARS

Five states and two countries are repres- ented as the birthplaces of the seven Company Government employees who complete

a quarter of a century of government service

last month. In addition, the seven work for

six different divisions of the organization.

Those with unbroken Canal service are: Joshua A. Cunningham, a native of Sedalia, Mo., and a policeman on duty at Cristobal; Waldron E. Eldridge, who was born in New

York State, Head Nurse at Gorgas Hospital; Manuel Lichtenbaum, born in Odessa,

Russia, and brought to the United States

as a small boy, Supervisory Pharmacist at Gorgas Hospital; Charles E. Stepp, once of Freeport, Pa., a Construction Contract In- spector; and Frank E. Williams, who comes

from Medford, Oreg., and is a Procurement

Officer in the Commissary Division. The two other 25-year employees are: Thomas H. Collins, born in Custer, Okla.,
September 7, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Uniform Force Reduction Rules Adopted By Canal Organization

(Coiiimed fro-n page 1) pational group who

has less service, or lower tenure status. "Retreat" rights provide that an employee may go back to a position which

he has held or from which he had pre- viously been promoted. This may be done only if the retreating employee has

a higher retention status than the employee in the lower category. In establishing the retention registers, two main groups will be formed—those

in competitive service, i. e., those requiring Civil Service status, and those in the excepted service. Most positions in the Company-Government are in the excepted services. Those in the competitive service posi- tions will be placed in three tenure groups: Career employees, career conditional employees, and all others in competitive

positions. In the third category, employees in an indefinite status will be listed

first, and temporary employees next. For positions in excepted service, two

tenure groups will be established. These

will be permanent employees whose ap- pointments carry no restrictions or conditions as to tenure, and employees who

are serving probationary or trial periods.

All of these subgroups will be further divided into veteran and non-veteran

employees.

Separate retention registers will be es- tablished in the various occupational groups for full-time, part-time, and WAE

(When Actually Employed) employees.

These three groups will not be in compea tractor bulldozer operator for the Maintenance Division, and Daniel M. Eggleston,

who was born in Belleville, N. Y., but has

spent practically his entire life here, a General Engineer in the Engineering Division.

20 YEARS

Two of the seven employees who completed 20 years of government service in August, have continuous Canal service. They are: Eleanor D. Burnhim, SupervisoryLibrarian, Civil Affairs Bureau; and Walter

T. Schapow, Instrument Maker, Industrial Division. Also completing 20 years of government

service are Frank Borsellino, Guard, Locks

Division; Eulus C. Clemons, Electric Welder, Industrial Division; Paul Badonsky,

General Engineer. Locks Division; Winters

A. Hope, Supervisory General Engineer,

Surveys Branch; and Ruth E. Clement,

Accounting Clerk, Commissary Division.

15 YEARS

Over half of the 19 employees with IS years of government service have unbroken

Canal Service. They are: Mrs. Russell A. Edwards, Time, Leave, and Payroll Clerk, Payroll Division; Edward A. Doolan, Per- sonnel Director, Personnel Bureau; August

I. Bauman, Grounds Maintenance Supervisor, Southern District, Housing and

Grounds Division; Walter E. Robison, Air Brake Mechanic, Railroad Division; Mrs. W. K. Galloway, Plant Accounting Assist- ant. Office of the Comptroller; Billie B. Gray, Locomotive Crane Steam Engineer, Locks Division; Leslie W. Croft, Wireman

Foreman, Locks Division; Milton Davis,

Lead Foreman, Armature Shop, Electrical Division; Frank E. Day, Commissary Supervisor, Commissary Division; Walter M.

Hartman, Wireman Foreman, Locks Division; Anthony H. Hopiak, Boatbuilder, In- dustrial Division; and George R. Murray,

Chief Towboat Engineer, Navigation Division. Other 15-year employees are: Gilbert F. Chase, Relief Train Collector, Railroad

Division; William H. Basham, Jr., Distri- bution and Window Clerk, Postal Division; H. N. Johnson, Jr., Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic, Maintenance Division; Florence Demers, Cash Accounting

Clerk, Commissary Division; Joseph T. Cope, Wireman Foreman, Locks Division; John G. Boswell, Machinist Lock Operator, Locks Division; and Arthur L. Blystone,

Policeman, Police Division.

tition with each other in force reduction

actions, but a full-time employee may dis- place a part-time employee with equal or

less service and similarly a part-time employee may replace a WAE employee with

equal or less service when either would

otherwise lose his job. Because of the large number of force reductions to be made at the end of this year, discussed elsewhere in this issue of The Review, all employees who may be

affected have been cautioned to read the complete Executive Regulation No. 54, which has just been issued on the force reduction policy. Copies of the Executive Regulation have been issued to all units throughout the Canal organization

and to employee organizations. Additional copies may be obtained for official use through request to the Personnel Bureau. Any employee who desires to read and

study the new Executive Regulation on

force reduction policies and procedures

may secure a copy from his or her supervisor. In addition to the opportunity of ac- quainting themselves thoroughly with

force reduction and appeal procedures,

employees also will be permitted to in- spect all retention registers and records

that have a bearing on reduction-in-force

actions in their cases. In connection with the adoption of uniform force reduction regulations on Company-Government-wide basis, the

following formal announcement has been

issued which covers the utilization and

training policy of the Company-Government for employees affected by force re- ductions: UTILIZATION AND TRAINING POLICY FOR COMPANY-GOVERNMENT

EMPLOYEES AFFECTED BY REDUCTION IN FORCE

Although the Company-Government pol- icy is to make every effort to absorb and

minimize reductions in force through attri- tion whenever possible, circumstances arise over which the Canal administration has

little control and which may require that such reductions be made without the benefit of advance planning. Wherever such

reductions in force occur, displaced employCOMING STOREHOUSE AUCTION

Another of the Division of Storehouse's miscellaneous auctions—and this one does include kitchen sinks -is scheduled for Saturday, September 15. The auction

will be "held at Building 6 in the Industrial Division area in Balboa. The auctioneer will again be Richard Chesson,

who holds the unusual dual-rating of Policeman-Auctioneer.

As usual the auction will be open to government employees and to others who

qualify under the Treaty.

This time the goods to be sold to the

highest bidders is excess stock from the Storehouses and excess property from

other Company-Government units. Included on the list are typewriters,

several motor vehicles, life preservers, marine navigation lights, microscopes, a

double-mattress, truck tires, kegs of nails,

rolls of barbed wire, adding machines,

surveyors' transits, safety equipment

(such as goggles, shields, and headgear),

insulation material, hotelware (such as

platters, pitchers, etc.), and, of course, the kitchen sinks. There are bathroom

sinks, too, to make it even better.

ees will be placed in vacant positions in the organization for which they are qualified

to the extent that vacancies exist. In the cases of those employees reached by reductions in force and whose present

qualifications are such that they cannot

qualify immediately for vacant positions but for which they could be trained, it will be the policy of the Company-Government

to provide opportunities for employees to

transfer to such positions where, after a reasonable period of training and work ex- perience, they can be expected to satisfac

torily perform the work of the new position. In conducting the training for employees

so tiansferred, the Company-Government

will make available all training facilities at

its command. It is expected, of course, that the employee will also make every effort to prepare himself for the new position. Employees will be given a reasonable time to "break in" and to demonstrate that they are

qualified to perform their new duties. Employees in a training status in a new position as a result of such a transfer will be paid

the authorized rate of the new position even though they may not immediately perform

fully the work of the position.

Management Nominees

TWO CANDIDATES have been nominated by Gov. W. E. Potter from the Canal organization

for the management course offered under eight scholarships for Federal employees by the American Management Association. The two nominees above are Edward M. Browder, Jr., Assistant Director of the Engineering and Construction Bureau, at the left, and Walter A. Dryja, Assistant to the Marine

Director. Each Federal agency is permitted two nominations. The Canal selections were made from

eight who were recommended by their Bureau Directors.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW September 7, 1956

SHIPS m SHIPPING

IT'S NEVER too soon for young Zonians to begin learning about the Panama Canal. These Cub Scouts from Den 4 of Diablo Heights and Los Rios, were passengers aboard a Panama Canal launch recently for a trip through the Canal. From their faces, one would gather that they thought the trip a fine idea. The

picture was taken at Miraflores Locks.

Transits By Ocean-Going Vessels In Julv

1956 1955

Commercial 669 727 U. S. Government 16 27

Total- 685 754

Tolls *

Commercial $3,058,435 $3,254,102 U. S. Government. 67,765 114,626

route from Guaymas on the Mexican west

coast to Vera Cruz on the east. She was

carrying a full load of wheat.

7W__-_$3,126,200 $3,398,728

"Includes tolls on all vessels, ocean-going and small.

Scrap shipments to Japan from the United States and neighboring countries

are continuing in some bulk. In a two-day period last month, five vessels carrying scrap from the southern

part of the United States or from Cuba

transited the Canal enroute to Japan.

Two shipments were designated simply

as scrap, one as scrap and ore, one as scrap steel, and another as scrap iron.

New Retirement Bill

Provides Advantages

For Canal Employees

The retirement of seven CompanyGovernment employees who were due to leave the service in August and September because they had reached the age of

62, has been deferred until October 1 in order to give them the advantages of the new retirement bill. Only two employees retired last month

and in each case the retirement was vol- untary. One of the two, F. J. Moumblow,

has considerable Navy service in addition

to his more than 26 years with the Canal

organization; while Herman Lynn, a

police officer, is retiring under the special

police retirement. The figure of seven whose retirement

has been deferred is aside from a number

of locality-rate employees who are re- maining in the service past normal retire- ment age so that they may receive the

benefit of any retirement legislation which

may be enacted by Congress. In addition to those whose retirement

has been postponed until October 1, there

are a number of other employees who had

planned to retire before their 62d birth- days but who are withholding their re- quests for voluntary retirement until after the new bill's effective date. One retirement bill provision calls for an increase of one-half of one percent

in the amount deducted from each U. S.- rate employee's salary. The new 6.5 per- cent deductions will be taken from the paychecks which will be in the hands of the employees the week of October 29. A number of important changes are made in the new retirement bill. Among

these are the increased annuity, which in some cases will amount to a 25 percent

increase. Further and more detailed information on the new bill may be obtained from

Robert D. Kelly, Retirement Clerk in the Personnel Bureau. To the MS Portunus, which runs in the banana trade between Ecuador and the United States gulf coast, went honors this year as the ship which was the most fre- quent user of the Panama Canal. The Portunus, which is owned by F. Laeisz of Hamburg, operates under charter to the Inter- American Trust Company

and flies the German flag, made a total

of 54 transits in fiscal year 1956. The

figures include north and southbound

transits. This year's record holder grosses 3,057

tons, is 393 feet overall and is a sister- ship of another Canal customer, the MS

Pegasus. Her local agent is the Continental Shipping Corporation.

The next most-frequent visitor to the Canal was another banana carrier, the MS Vanda. This Honduran-registered

vessel made 43 transits during fiscal year

1956. She also runs between Ecuador

and the U. S. gulf coast.

Canal Zone Visitors

A straight line is not always the shortest distance between two points—in the shipping business, at least. Last month

a vessel of Mexican registry transited the Panama Canal enroute from one Mexican

port to another. The ship was the 3,989-ton Xalapa, enSHA. FELISA RINCOX DE GAUTIER, Mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico, right, and her companions

on a tour through Gaillard Cut, found the Panama Canal Information Booklet a handy guide to what

they were seeing. They were among a group of 400 who visited the Locks, made a partial transit of the Canal, and inspected the Miraflores filtration plant last month.