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Vol.2, No. 10 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, MAY 2, 1952 5 cents

GREATEST SHIFT OF HIGH CANAL PERSONNEL

SINCE 1907 IS SLATED IN NEXT FEW WEEKS

Both Top Officials

Leave Organization

During This Month

More personnel changes as

a result of retirements or changes of assignment will take

place in the immediate future

among top administrative offi- cers of the Panama Canal

Company and Canal Zone Government than in any similar

period since April 1907. Those

changes took place when several new members of the Isthmian Canal Commission took

office and Col. George W. Goethals was appointed to take

charge of the construction work.

Topmost in the long list of officials who

are to leave the organization shortly are Governor Newcomer and Lieutenant

Governor Herbert D. Vogel. This will be the first time since the permanent

Canal organization was formed that the two highest officials have left the organization at the same time. Three bureau directors are to retire or leave the service within the next few

weeks. These are: Maj. Gen. George

W. Rice, Health Director; William H.

Dunlop, Finance Director; and Capt.

Robert M. Peacher, Marine Director. Three other well known officials, Col. George E. Hesner, Superintendent of Corozal Hospital; Lt. Col. Marvin L. Jacobs, Military Assistant to the Governor; and Earl J. Williamson, Chief of the

Civil Intelligence Branch, all will leave

the service soon. Two New Executives

In addition to the appointments to

fill these vacancies, not all of which have

yet been announced, the CompanyGovernment will get two new officials soon. Lindsley H. Noble, now Comptroller of the Atomic Energy Commission,

has accepted the appointment to the new

job of Comptroller of the Panama Canal

Company, dependent upon release by

the AEC, and Dr. Walter G. Nelson,

Public Health Officer now on duty in

Paris, has been assigned Chief Quarantine

Officer replacing Dr. W. F. Ossenfort,

recently reassigned. Governor Newcomer's four-year term

of office expires May 19. (Seepage/,)

FREQUENT CONFERENCES have been the rule during the past few years for Governor Newcomer and Lieutenant Governor Vogel. The picture above, taken in the Governor's office, is a familiar pose as the Canal's top executives study problems of far-reaching consequences. No period in the Canal's

history since its opening in 1914 have been fraught with more vexing problems.

Panama Line Service With Two Ships

To Be Studied At May Board Meeting

Consideration will be given by the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal

Company to the removal of one of the Panama Line vessels from service as a means of reducing expenses. The next Board meeting probably will be held in Washington some time during May.

This question is expected to be one of the principal items of business on the agenda, although the Board will review

the capital expenditures program of the Company planned for the fiscal year

1954. The meeting this month will be the last to be attended by Governor Newcomer as President of the Company,

since the two offices are held concurrently.

One of the principal items of business accomplished at the Board meeting in April was the authorization for consoli- dating the purchasing and procurement

services of both the Washington and

New York Offices in New York. A

study of the personnel transfers to be made as a result of this consolidation is now in progress and it is not expected

that the consolidation of procurement

services will be completed for another

several weeks.

Operations Under Study

Operations of the Panama Line have

been under study now for several months.

The study was initiated by Governor Newcomer last August at which time the

principal considerations were the transfer

of the northern terminus to a more

southerly location than New York,

possible changes in the routing, and

sailing schedules of the three ships.

This matter was brought to the attention of the Board at the meeting in September but was deferred for further study. The Governor was requested then to obtain bids for (See page 15)

ARMED FORCES DAY—MAY 17 The Panama Canal organization

has been invited to present a display

at the Armed Forces Day show

May 17. Armed Forces Day is ex- pected to draw its usual large crowd

of visitors. The display at Albrook Air Force Base will be open from 1 to 6 o'clock

in the afternoon ; between 9 o'clock

in the morning and 12 noon there

will be an exhibit at Coco Solo.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2," 1952

Record Number Of Students Graduating

From Secondary Schools In Canal Zone

Caps and gowns stately symbols of scholarship—will be worn this year by more young Canal Zonians than ever before.Between May 3J when the first graduate steps up to receive his diploma, and

June 8 when the last recessional is played, 550 young men and women will have

donned robes and mortarboards to indi- cate to the world that they have passed

an important educational milestone. This year's commencement ceremonies

will mark more than one "first" or "biggest" in local graduations. Here are a few:The total number of graduates from the

four high schools and the two junior col- leges is larger than ever before, and 140

larger than last year; La Boca Occupational High School,

with 142 seniors, and Silver City Occupational High School, with 115, have more

graduates than ever before; and

The class of 1952 is the first to be grad- uated from the La Boca Junior College.

The 40 upper classmen of the La Boca

Junior College will receive their diplomas

at commencement exercises to be held at the La Boca theater the morning of May

31. Forty-eight students started with this

class; four have withdrawn and four have

still some courses to complete.

Commencement Schedule

A schedule of the commencement activities, with the schools listed alphabetically, showed that baccalaureate and graduation exercises will extend from May 25 through June 8. Balboa High School, which has a senior class of 172, will hold its baccalaureate June 1 at the Diablo Heights Theater. Commencement exercises will take place the evening of June 3 at the Balboa

theater. The Canal Zone Junior College has

24 students in its graduating class, the same number as in the first class of 1935. Both its baccalaureate and commence- ment ceremonies will be held at the Diablo Theater, baccalaureate onUune 1, and commencement on the morning of June 3. Cristobal High School will hold both

baccalaureate and graduation exercises for

its 57 seniors in the school auditorium. Baccalaureate will be at 5 o'clock in the afternoon of June 1, commencement at 8

o'clock the following evening.

La Boca Occupational High School

and La Boca Junior College will hold

joint baccalaureate exercises at 10 o'clock

in the morning of May 25 at the La Boca

Theater. The Junior College commencement will take place on May 31 and the High School commencement on June 1. Both will be held in the La Boca Theater. Silver City OccupationalHighSchool

will have baccalaureate services at the Camp Bierd Clubhouse on June 1 and

commencement at the same place on June 8. As has been tradition for many years, the graduates will wear caps and gowns

of gray rather than the black used for four-year colleges or the white used in some States high schools. Some of the graduates in the local rate

schools, if they have ever taken tailoring or home economics, may well be wearing

graduation garb of their own manufacture. For a number of years the Canal Zone

schools rented caps and gowns from States establishments which specialize in that

sort of thing. But the process was clumsy

because of the time and distance involved. Several years ago the white schools bought their own caps and gowns. The

small rental fee charged each student

takes care of the costs of cleaning, insur- ance on the garments stored between

commencements, and replacements, as necessary. When the first classes were to be grad- uated from the local rate high schools in 1949, the students themselves made their own caps and gowns from a fine grade of gray poplin. A few more are made each

year by tailoring and home economics

classes, as the number of graduates in- creases. Diplomas for all the schools are printed at the Printing Plant at Mount

Hope.

First Graduation In 1911 The number of this year's graduates,

550, is a vast difference from the two, both young women, who received the first Canal Zone high school diplomas. The

first two graduates, Blanche Marguerite

Stevens of Gorgona and Maria Elise Johnson of Gatun, had their commence- ment exercises at the Gatun Clubhouse

the night of June 30, 1911. The speaker was Maurice Thatcher. At that time there were 50 students in the high school. The main school was

then at Gatun but, (See page .?> O G

°

GIRLS TAKE HONORS at Cristobal High School in the traditional pattern for local graduating classes. The Cristobal honor graduates'who wilPreceive their'diplomas June]2"in the commencement

ceremony at the high school auditorium are, left to right: Ncel McGinn, Martha Graham, Nellie Holgerson, Elena Lee, Jacqueline Boyle, Yolanda Diez, and Francisco Wong.

BOYS OUTNUMBER C.mLS among the honor graduates in Balboa High School's Class of

1952, an unusual occurrence in Canal Zone schools. The honor students will appear at the June .'i commencement exercises with white, instead of gray, tassels on their mortarboards. They are, front row, left to right: Carmen Man, Joyce Chenalloy, Coila Goodin, Edith Beau- champ, Sally Ackerman, Virginia Selby, Joan Baron, Heliana Filos, and Minerva Angulo. Standing,

left to right: Michael McNevin, Ramon Paredes, Richard Abbott, Mark Schulz, Irwin Frank, Fred

Lee, Hector Miranda, David Mcllhenny, Jan Broderick, William Elton, and Ray Davidson. Two of this year's honor graduates are not in the group above. They are Lambert Baxter, who

finished school in February and who is working, and Leo Romero, who also finished in February and

is now a student at the University of Texas.
May 2,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Governor Newcomer

Appears At His Last

Employee Conference

In his last Governor-Employee confer- ence before his expected departure from

the Canal Zone, Governor F. K. Newcomer last month:

Attempted to dispel employee apprehension over coming administrative changes,

discussed civil defense at some length,

commented on the duties of a Comptroller

for the Panama Canal Company, and

touched briefly on a number of other subjects, including housing, the Goethals Memorial, school bus transportation, and some health problems.

The first question was introduced by

Rufus Lovelady, President of Lodge 14

of the AFGE, who asked the Governor if he could predict what the "future por- tends" and point out that employees have

a "growing sense of apprehension as to what is going to happen."

The Governor answered that while some recent developments had been

"completely unexpected as far as we here

are concerned," he was certain that there was no need for apprehension. He added

that while he has only a casual acquaint- ance with Brig. Gen. John S. Seybold,

nominated April 16 as the next Governor,

he is certain that the incoming Governor

"will have the interests of the Canal at

heart." Discussing persistent rumors of a mass

turnover of officials, Governor Newcomer

summarized these -the resignation of the Finance Director and the retirements of the Health and Marine directors—and

added that these "have nothing to do

with the situation or any reorganization."

Comptroller -Staff Position

The position of Comptroller which is being established, the Governor said, will create a staff position in which policies of auditing and accounting will be made,

while the position of Finance Director

will be that of an operating head. Among

the Comptroller's duties will be evaluation of the Company's physical assets and

formation of procedures by which the budget can be set up annually.

During a somewhat lengthy general dis- cussion on civil defense, the Governor

cautioned against undue alarm over a

situation which might possibly never oc- cur here—certainly not as the opening

blow of a war. He advocated training in first aid and

said that some planning for relief after a disaster of any sort would not be wasted

effort. The Governor said that he had

discussed the situation with the chief of the Caribbean Command, Major General McBride. In addition, Governor Newcomer said, about 100 Company-Government employees have had training in the Army's Disaster Control schools. The major effect on the housing pro- gram of the House cut in the next fiscvl year's budget, the Governor explained,

would be to prevent longer term contracts but sufficient funds remain to permit the completion of all housing which could

actually be built during the coming fiscal year. There is a possibility that Senate

action may restore some of this cut. The Governor also commented that a

recent Congressional criticism (See page is>

To The Employees . . .

When 1 arrived in the Canal Zone in May

1944 we were in the midst of a great war,

both in point of time and in point of geo- graphical location. No one who was here during those days

will ever forget the steady stream of battle- ships and carriers and cruisers, tankers and transports, and supply ships which

passed back and forth through the Canal. The work which the men

and women in the Canal Zone did in those busy

and important days has

been described, and rightly, as a major contribution toward the Allied victory.

After the end of the war

there was a let-down in

that rather indefinable thing called morale, which

might also be called esprit. That was true not only

here but in the United

States and in other parts

of the world At the same time it became necessary

to begin a long-delayed internal realignment

of functions of the Panama Canal. It so happened that the preliminary steps of this reorganization came as we were cutting our

force down from the war-end strength of about 31,000 toward our present force of some 18,000. A period of reduction of force is not easy, either for those required to do the cutting down or those who are losing their

jobs.In addition, the shipping slump which

followed the end of the war caused a drop

in our main business, that of putting the ships through the Canal from one ocean to another, and in the associated business

of repair and supply. Many of the men

working in what was then called the Mechanical Division were terminated and

the bulk of those who remained were trans- ferred to Cristobal. Coincidcntally we

faced steadily rising costs. A little less than two years ago the Congress passed the law ivhich created the Panama Canal Company

and the Canal Zone Government. The Congress

stipulated that the Company must be self-sup- porting. It also stipulated what share of the

'

l®®%. Company's expense cnnld

be borne by tolls. My associates and I have found that the majority of you have an understanding of the problems

with which we have had

to deal in these years of change. That the transition has been made as smoothly as it has is largely through your

efforts and attitude. This has been the most exacting and

the most interesting service of my career and it is with regret that I must leave it. I do so, however, with confidence that you

will give my successor your loyal and steady support. You have a remarkable tradition behind you and a future with great possibilities ahead of you. Mrs. Newcomer and I expect to depart on May 9. Our future plans arc uncertain. One thing which is certain is that many, many times in the years to come our thoughts

will turn to the Canal Zone and our associates and friends of the past eight years. 7-7C.

Governor

Record Number Of Students Graduating

From Secondary Schools In Canal Zone

(Continued from page -' ) to accommodate a small number of students on the Pacific

side, a branch high school for the fresh- man year only had been opened in Ancon

the previous year. The Gatun school, from which Miss

Stevens and Miss Johnson graduated in 1911, was not the first of the Canal Zone

high schools. During the school year

1908-09, a three-year high school had

been established at Culebra and a twoyear course at Cristobal. The total high

school enrollment that year was 25. In

April this year there were 1,541 students

in the four Canal Zone senior high schools. In 1910-11 there was the high school

at Gatun, with a full four-year course, and the one-year branch at Ancon, but

this picture changed two years later when

the main high school was moved to Ancon, with branch high schools operating at Empire and Gatun.

In February 1914 the branch high

school at Empire was consolidated with

Ancon, at Ancon, and the third-year stu- dents at Gatun and Cristobal were also transferred to the Ancon school. This Ancon building, according to A.

C. Medinger, one of its former pupils, was a wooden structure on old Reservoir

Hill.When the school year opened October

1, 1914, the main Canal Zone high school was moved to Balboa, to a wooden building at the foot of the Administration

Building steps not far from the site of the present Balboa elementary school. A

branch high school with two years of courses continued to operate in Cristobal. Meantime the number of graduates was

steadily increasing. There were two graduates in 1911; five in 1912; seven in 1913; nine in 1914; 11 in 1915; and 16 in 1916. Mrs. Francis Feeney of Diablo has a double distinction; she is the only member

of the class of 1913 still on the Isthmus

and she is the first local high school grad- uate to have a child who is also a Canal Zone high school graduate. Her son fin- ished his high school course here in 1933. She took the first part of her high school course at Gatun; most of the last year at Ancon. Commencement exercises that year were held at the Empire Clubhouse.

Five of those who received their Canal Zone diplomas in Panama are still here:

J. A. Fraser of Gamboa, Paul Warner of Balboa and L.B.Moore of Balboa Heights,

all members of the class of 1915, Mrs.

Gabrielle Butler Dawson of Diablo and

Mrs. Elizabeth Carrington of Panama, of the class of 1916. Some other students of the earlier days

of the Canal Zone schools who are still living here include Mrs. Dorothy Hamlin

of Balboa, Mrs. George Engelke of Cristobal, Mrs. Nelson Magner of Margarita,

Lyle Womack of Gamboa, Mrs. Dorothea

McNall of Diablo, George Winquist of Panama, and Mr. Medinger.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

Governor Officially Names Rainbow City

After Overwhelming Vote Of Residents

Greatest Shift Of Top Canal Personnel

Since 1907 Slated In Few Weeks

MRS. ALFRED WILLIAMS, who lives in one of the new houses in Silver City, receives her

ballot from Rudolph Ranger, ninth grader in the Silver City Junior High School and member of Troop

12 of the International Boy Scouts. The Scouts handled the distribution and collection of ballots by which the Atlantic side community voted for an official name for their town. Mrs. Williams' next-door neighbor, Percy Antonio Samuels, Jr., 5, looks on nit]i interest as the Scout explains the purpose of the voting.

The name of Silver City, including

('amp Coiner, will be changed to Rainbow

City.

By an overwhelming majority, resi- dents of the area chose the most colorful

of six names offered for voting and

Governor Newcomer has issued a circular

officially designating the area Rainbow

City. The change in names was made

effective May 1. The public poll on the selection of a name was the first ever held in the Canal Zone and met with great appeal to the

residents. As expressed in the official report of the Tally Committee to the Governor: "The voting fever was high

and the entire townsite on the evening

of the 17th had the pleasant air of a country election." The official count, as reported by

Judge E. I. P. Tatelman, Chairman of the Tally Committee, was: Rainbow City, 771; Silver City, 256; Granada, 74; Manzanillo, 72;' Folks City, 55; and

Mindi, 7. Sixteen ballots were incorrectly marked or otherwise made invalid. Election Very Popular

Few popular elections ever reach the proportions of returns as did the Silver City-Rainbow City-Camp Coiner voting.

Of the total of approximately 1,280

ballots distributed to those with quarters' assignments there, all but 30 were returned Nearly one-third of the ballots were marked and returned the same afternoon

they were distributed by the five Inter- national Boy Scout Troops.

The voting for the name of the Canal

Zone's largest civilian community was

sponsored by The Panama Canal

Review with the cooperation of the

International Boy Scouts. The votes were distributed April 17 and were

collected the following Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

The distribution and collection of ballots was handled under the direction

of William Jump, President of the Inter- nabional Boy Scout Council in the Canal

Zone, who also served as a member of the Tally Committee. The five scout

troops and Scoutmasters from Silver City

and Camp Coiner participating were: Troop 1, David Stanley; Troop 2, Charles Lucas; Troop 4, Daniel T. Foster; Troop

12, Romeo G. Miller, who also serves as

District Commissioner; and Troop 13, V. A. Laing.

Approximately 200 Boy Scout members

of these five troops helped in the distri- bution and collection. The Governor authorized the popular

vote on the name of the town after resi- dents nicknamed that part of Silver City

being built as "Rainbow City" because of the various colors of the houses. The

other four names shown on the ballots were selected for the following reasons: Mindi and Folks City, for the two small

rivers in that area; Manzanillo, for the

{Continued from page 1) Brig. Gen. John S. Seybold has been nominated by

President Truman as Governor and his appointment, as this edition of The

Canal Review went to press, was

awaiting confirmation by the Senate. Governor and Mrs. Newcomer plan to leave the Isthmus May 9 since he plans

to attend the next meeting of the Board

of Directors of the Panama Canal Company scheduled to be held this month in Washington.

Lieutenant Governor Vogel has been

assigned to duty as Division Engineer

of the Corps of Engineers' Southwest

Division with headquarters in Dallas, Tex. This division comprises Engineer

Districts in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,

and New Mexico. He and Mrs. Vogel

and their young son, Dickie, plan to sail on the Panama liner leaving May 23. The appointment to the office of Lieuten- ant Governor is made by the Governor

subject to approval by the Secretary

of the Army and no announcement has

been made as to Colonel Vogel's successor. Captain Peacher is to retire from the United States Navy at the end of June and has received orders to report for temporary duty in New York by June

23. He is to be succeeded as Marine

Director by Capt. Marvin J. West, now

Chief of the Navigation Division and

Port Captain, Balboa. Captain Horatio Lincoln, who is now on duty in San

Francisco as Operations Officer of the Military Sea Transport Service, has been

assigned to duty with the Canal as Port Captain in Balboa. General Rice To Retire

General Rice, who also is to retire from active service this year, plans to leave the Isthmus within about three months. He expects an assignment to duty in Washington until his retirement

at the end of October. No announce- ment has been made as to his successor. Mr. Dunlop plans to retire from Canal

service at the end of May. Since the Finance Director is a general officer of the Company his successor must be

elected by the Board of Directors. Colonel Hesner will retire from the Canal service early next month and his successor has not been appointed. Colonel Jacobs will complete a three- year assignment with the Canal in July.

He is to be succeeded by Lt. Col. W. W.

Smith, Jr. but the date of arrival of the new Military Assistant is not known.

He has been on the Staff and Faculty of the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Va. Mr. Williamson has submitted his resignation effective at the end of June. He plans to return to the United States

to accept a position with another Government agency. He is to be succeeded by Robert C. Walker, who has been employed in the Intelligence Office of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project

at Albuquerque, N. Mex. Mr. Walker is ex- pected to arrive next Monday on the

Cristobal to assume his new duties.

island on which Cristobal-Colon is built; and Granada, which was the former name

of Colombia.

Silver City, which was built during the

early 1920's, was never officially named,

while Camp Coiner was so named while occupied by the Army Engineers during

the past war.
May 2,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE

l WML UL !£CCIDENT PREVENTION

OFF THE JOB ACCIDENTS

Safety on the job has progressed far in the United States from that day when a man's life or limb was considered of less value than the "off horse" of a team. Here

<>n the Isthmus, it is even farther from that day when it was said, without reason, "a Chinaman was buried under every cross-tie (luring the building of the old Panama

Railroad." This progress has not come about easily, but is the result of much strife and education by the hard way for the working man,

with the final realization by industry and

business that accidents are expensive, actually increasing the costs of production. As competition became keener, it was a matter of good management to promote

safety in order to keep these costs to a minimum. Now industry and business are studying ways and mans to cut these losses

still further by reducing time lost from

the job, caused by their employees having

"off-the-job" accidents.

It can be easily seen now that anything

which keeps an employee away from his job

unexpectedly, is a loss of service and an

additional cost to the employer in one form

or another. This of course, includes sickness as well as accidents. Therefore, it is also becoming the practice of the progressive

companies to provide health education and

periodic inspections, with hospitalization

when needed, for the employee and his family.

It might be asked, "Why include an employee's family in any off-the-job accident and health preventative measures?" This is because it is being realized more and more

that accidents on the job can happen to a

valuable and usually careful employee, when

hi-, mind is concerned with his family and

HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

March

CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Community Services 2

I ndustrial 1 Civil Affairs Engineering and Construction q Health --- Marine

Railroad and Terminals „ Supply and Service q

Division Awards For NO DISABLING INJURIES

March

CLUBHOUSE DIVISION

ELECTRICAL DIVISION

DIVISION OF SANITATION

MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Clubhouses 2 Electrical 2 Grounds Maintenance 2 Motor Transportation. 2 Storehouses 2 Navigation 1 Sanitation 1 Commissary

Dredging _. Hospitalization and Clinics Locks

Maintenance

Railroad -. • Terminals .-

not on his work. Even if no accident occurs

to this worried employee but only a slow- down in his production, that is a dollars and

cents loss to the company.

Early in the construction of the Panama

Canal the original planners recognized the value of health for the employee and his family, if the digging of the Canal was to be

accomplished. That attitude has continued on down to this day and we as employees

enjoy probably better health than any community of similar size in the United States. Since the health problem has already been amply provided for here, then the next

largest factor which keeps an employee

from work can be classified under the title of "off-the-job" accidents. Under this title accidents occur under

three large subdivisions: Traffic, Home, and

Other, where "Other" covers all activities such as recreation, shopping, and self-em- ployment. An employee and his family are considered "on the job" if the wife is also working, and the children are in school. There, their activities are being supervised

and their safety is constantly being considered. The problem then is what can be done to prevent accidents during the times when the employee and his family are on

their own.

It is evident that he, or his family, is either going somewhere; enjoying some sort

of recreation; or just puttering around the home while dinner is being prepared. This

is the picture of what happens to them then, as presented by the National Safety Council. Considering accidents in all age groups,

traffic accidents now head the list as being

the biggest killer and crippler, with acci- dents in the home taking second place. Among children from 1 to 14 years, acci- dental death in the home leads the list with 40 percent, motor vehicles 34 percent, and

other accidents 26 percent. The next age

group, 14 to 19 years, is more on the move

experimenting with speed, thus motor vehicles become over four times more dangerous

for them than for the younger group. Also, because this group can now have the family car, they spend less time at home and more time in various violent recreations, so home accidents for this group drop to last place. "Safety education," says the Kansas State Board of Health, "has become by far our

greatest health need." The Board reaches

this conclusion in a study of the Kansas

Student Accident Report for the school year

1950-51. In that report, death rates among

school children in the 5 to 19 year age group

from all causes, are as follows; 4,s percent were caused from accidents, 29 percent were from various diseases, and 23 percent from

other causes.

If this statement can be made concerning

safety for our children, what is happening

to their elders, who should be setting them

a good example in safety.' Reports indicate that they are not setting such an example. Where children are given

the opportunity to learn safety in driving,

safety in play, and around the home, they

present a far different picture in accident

safety than shown above, and they are be- ginning to show up their elders. Automobiles are becoming more numerous every day. With less corresponding im- provement in highways and with the auto- mobile taking over first place as the chief cause of accidents a few safety reminders might be helpful. Just plain common ordinary courtesy or

respect for the rights of others, on the high- way, can do more to prevent traffic accidents than any other one thing we can do. We

have all been rudely treated, and many of us have in turn been rude to others in our "highway manners," particularly in passing,

meeting, and yielding the right-of-way.

Whenever we uncover the reason or cause

for the complete change in personality that seems to occur when a man (or woman) gets behind the steering wheel of an automobile,

maybe we can find a remedy for this needless, wanton, and criminal daily slaughter.

A gentleman will step aside, open a door,

or excuse himself before passing in front of a lady in his home. He will not push or be

rude to others at a party or in a public

building. But when this same "gentleman"

gets behind the wheel of his car, he seems to revert back to the "dark ages." He will crowd you from behind; pass in heavy traffic or on a curve; push you off the road; cut sharply in ahead of you; beat the traffic light; steal the right-of-way at an inter- section, fail to signal, stop suddenly; cuss you out and many times just plain scare the

living daylights out of you. Then what do

you do?—yes, we know—you cuss him back. (Note for the ladies—this group is not ex- clusively male).

MARCH 1952

Civil Affairs Bureau

Supply and Service Bureau

Health Bureau

Industrial Bureau

Marine Bureau

Panama Canal Co. C. Z. Gov't (This month)

Panama Canal Co.-C. Z.Gov't (Best Year)

Engineering and Construction Bureau

Panama Canal Co.-C. Z. Gov'l(1952 to Date)

Community Services Bureau

Railroad and Terminals Bureau

Number of Disabling Injuries 43

Disabling Injuries per 1,090,000 Man-Hours Worked

(Frequency Rate)

Man-Hours Worked ',034,347

LEGEND

3 Amount Better Than Panama Canal Company—Canal Zone Government Best Year

Amount Worse Than Panama Canal Company—Canal Zone Government Bert Year
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

Quarters For Biggest, Smallest Families

Planned In Current Building Program

gram, it is believed that adequate living space can be provided for those families who require large quarters.

And The Smallest Households

At the other end of the family scale are the bachelors who want either small apartments or single rooms. The overall program for U. S.-rate bachelor quarters is presently under

study. Some of the present bachelor apartment buildings in good condition

will be retained. The new bachelor apart- ments will be located in the Ancon-Balboa

area and in Margarita. In addition to these bachelor apartments, the program also includes the construction of a number of bachelor rooming

houses, with some already in existence and in good condition to be retained. Many of the existing bachelor quarters,

either apartments or rooms, are consid- ered to be inadequate and of substandard

design. These are in frame buildings of temporary construction. A majority of the new housing for bachelors, in the U. S.-rate communities, will be of the apartment type.

A preliminary sketch of a floor plan for one of these apartments accompanies this story. 17-Apartment Buildings

5 The bachelor apartment buildings, as

projected, would be three-story, on-the- ground apartment houses, with three main

entrances. Each building would have 17 apartments, six to a floor, with a laundry

occupying the space of one apartment on

the ground floor. A porch, of the open balcony type Tuning the full width of each (See page 8)

DETAIL PI AN

BACHELOR APARTMENTS for the Canal's single men and women employees will be built according to new floor plans. The sketch above gives an idea of the apartments which will be built 17 to an

apartment house, as part of the current quarters replacement program.

US.Wt BACH. PMS.

AttA Of UUIT 275 »' TOTAL UUIT ABEA 3.620 *' scbvics tee* a.eo/ »'

TOTtl HI DO APBA IZ.220

*'

NEW COMPTROLLER

BACHELOR ROOMS, which are also to be provided in the long range housing program, will have

space for transients, temporary employees or those who do not care for an entire single apartment. This

architect's drawing gives an idea cf the outside appearance of one of the rooming houses.

Provisions are being made in the cur- rent housing program for the largest and

smallest of Canal Zone households.

Since the average local family consists

of 3.1 members in the U. S. rate towns,

and 3.8 members in the local rate communities (people who keep statistics of this sort take fractional people as a matter of course), the majority of the new houses

are planned for families of average size. But households with a greater number

of children have not been forgotten in the long range planning and neither have the

bachelors—men or women— who want

small apartments or individual rooms. For Big Families

To accommodate the larger than aver- age families, 10 percent of U. S.-rate quarters will have four bedrooms per unit, and

15 percent of the housing to be built in local-rate communities will be of the four- bedroom type.

Housing for large families in the Canal Zone is not a new problem. Even before the present housing program was started

several projects were considered to pro- vide such facilities.

Several years ago a 12-family building

in Diablo Heights was converted to a three-family house by combining four apartments into each of the three new

units. A large living room was created on the

first floor by removing partitions, and the two ground floor kitchens in each new

unit were combined into one. On the second floor, kitchen equipment was re- moved. Partition walls were soundproofed

The experiment was not considered a

success and has not been repeated. The

center apartment, made from the former

four central apartments, was less desirable than those on the two ends. The building was of the temporary construction type

and expensive to maintain.

More recently, plans were studied for converting some of the type 215 (one bed- room, four-family) houses in Cocoli. A

duplex house with three bedrooms in each

unit was to have been made from a former

four-apartment house. This plan was

abandoned as uneconomical.

Now, however, with the number of four bedroom quarters in the new housing proLIXDSLEY H. NOBLE, above, has been

appointed to the recently-created position of Comptroller of the Panama Canal Company. His accept- ance of the position is dependent upon release by

the Atomic Energy Commission of which he is now

Comptroller. Mr. and Mrs. Noble visited the Isth- mus for a few days last month, and he is expected to return early this month. Mr. Noble, a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., has served

as Comptroller of the AEC for the past five years. Prior to this employment, he had served about three years as Director of the Services, Accounting and

Audits Division of the Office of Price Administration. He is a graduate of the Walton School of Commerce,

of Chicago, in accounting, law, and economics. Mr.

Noble is a member of several national accounting

associations.
May 2, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

J5.J>M-1

Official Panama Canal Company Publication

Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

F. K. Newcomer, Governor-President

H. D. Vogel, Lieutenant Governor

E. C. Lombard, Executive Secretary

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Oleva Hastings

Editorial Assistants LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters containing inquiries, suggestions,

criticisms, or opinions of a general nature

will be welcomed. Those of sufficient interest

will be published but signatures will not be

used unless desired.

To Subscribers

Please notify us promptly of any

change in your mailing o ddress.

Post offices everywhere have prepared postal card forms for notices

of changes of address.

COMMUNITY CHEST MEETING

IS SCHEDULED FOR TONIGHT

A meeting of the general membership

of the Canal Zone Community Chest is scheduled for 7 o'clock this evening

at the Balboa YMCA-USO.

Membership in the Chest is acquired

by anyone who has contributed to the campaign for funds, by volunteer workers, and by representatives of participating agencies. At the meeting tonight, a board of 12

directors will be elected. Together with

six members appointed by the General Committee of Civic Councils and three by the armed forces headquarters, they

will administer the affairs of the Chest. This directorate was one of the provisions in a reorganization of Chest administration which was approved recently by

the five Canal Zone Civic Councils. Since 1948 the Councils have managed

the Community Chest under an executive committee arrangement.

Officers of the organization will be a chairman, two vice chairmen, a secretary

and a treasurer.

OF CURRENT INTEREST

SUBSCRIPTIONS—$1.00 a year SINGLE COPIES—5 cents each On sale at all Panama Canal Clubhouses,

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 the Editor, The

Panama Canal Review, Balboa Heights,

C. Z. THE ARCH of a lock control house frames the Voice of America's floating radio transmitter ship as

the vessel makes its way down the Canal to Balboa. The ship, an unusual feature of which was its radio

aerial supported by a baby blimp, remained in local waters for several weeks.

Camp Bierd has been a ghost settlement

since the end of February when the last of

its residents moved to new houses in Silver City. In the near future, this housing area

will disappear completely. Its 44 remaining

buildings have been sold and will be de- molished. Camp Bierd has housed local rate Canal and Railroad employees since 1907, when

barracks were built there on the site of an

old magazine which was used to store brick.

Its name, which probably "just grew,"

also probably came from W. G. Bierd, general manager for the Panama Railroad in Colon at the time the original barracks were

built for laborers. Many of the buildings

later were converted to family quarters.

Young Joe which was tied up at Balboa about two weeks for minor repairs. The total crew of 22 included scientists from Belgium, Germany, and France. From

the Canal Zone the Young Joe was to go

to the Perlas Islands for fishing, then back

to Panama before returning to Europe.

A new two-cent postal card was

placed on sale in Canal Zone postoffices

May 1. The cards are regular United

States two-cent postal cards over- printed "Canal Zone."

Two more large lots of scrap salvaged

by the Canal organization were sold in

April. Three successful bidders bought

one lot of 2,998j net tons of ferrous scrap at a total purchase price of $81,-

143.39. A lot of 430,742 pounds of nonferrous scrap was sold to six other purchasers for $96,004.97. The scrap will be delivered in the United States for allocation by the National Production

Authority.

Four United States Representatives vis- ited on the Isthmus during April. They

were Representatives J. J. Murphy, Democrat of New York, a member of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee;

Chester B. McMullen, Democrat of Florida; Winston L. Prouty, Republican of Vermont

;

and Brent Spence, Democrat of Kentucky.

A boom tourist season on the Isthmus was

reflected in monthly reports on sightseeing

trips through Gaillard Cut for local travel agencies on Dredging Division equipment. There were 1,888 tourists on the trips in February and 1,549 in March, the first and

second highest numbers recorded in Dredging Division reports. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the total was

within 460 of the figures for the previous

heaviest tourist year, in 1949.

State Headquarters for Selective Service in the Canal Zone has announced

that nine young men will be inducted

into the Army from this area in May.

These inductions will bring to 33 the number inducted since Selective Service machinery was set up in the Canal

Zone. There were nine inductees in the

first group in January, nine in March,

and six in April.

The former King Leopold III of Belgium

and his wife, the Princess de Rethy, transited the Canal on April 8 on the yacht

A new Chief Quarantine Officer is scheduled to arrive for duty in the Health Bureau July 1. He is Dr. Walter

G. Nelson, who is now Medical Director

for the United States Public Health

Service at the American Embassy in

Paris.

On July 2, 1904, the first vessel was

entered and cleared by the Customs authorities of the Canal Zone.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Goes To A Police Pistol Shoot

The Canal Zone police have one big day

each year. The two Police Balls which arc annual affairs are night-time events, of course. But the big daytime affair is the annual

pistol shoot which is held near the end of the dry season, the location alternating

between Balboa and Cristobal. This year the Cristobal police played

host (and impolitely won the first three

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SI (ME WATCHED, like Maj. Pastor Ramcs, chief of the Colon police, center, and Lt. Col. K. K.

Kolster, Atlantic Sector Provost Marchal, right, who sat with Police District Commander, John M.

Fahnestock in the beautiful bohio, Rancho Ramcs.

SOME WON", like Policeman Floyd A. Robinson who is being congratulated here by Jack Ward,

president of the Cristobal Gun Club. Mr. Ward presented the winner with the .38 S&W revolver. Maj.

George Herman, at the microphone, and Capt. Rodger W. Griffith, on Mr. Ward's right, watch the

presentation.

BUT EVERYBODY ATE—like the people here who are going down the "chow line" to sample

(and then come back for more) barbecued baby beef which had been cooked all night in an open pit, baked beans, scalloped potatoes, cole slaw, and individual loaves of French bread.

prizes) at Police Park near Brazos Brook.

A police photographer got a temporary

press card as a for-the-day representative

of The Panama Canal Review, and took

the pictures which illustrate this story. Although this year's scores were well below those of last year, and it may well be many years before anyone can equal Peter Probaek's perfect score of 200 made

last year, the shooting was still good

enough to give any potential law-breakers

reason to stop and think before they

tangle with the police pistol experts. Seventy police officers qualified by

making scores of 150 or better in the pre- liminary firing. Forty-seven of the 70

participated in the shoot. Tying for first prize were Floyd A. Robinson, of the Cristobal Station, and

Cristobal License Examiner Paul S. Stewart, Their score was 183. Mr. Robinson,

however, was awarded first prize because

his score on the bobbing target was higher

than that of his opponent. Such settle- ment of tie scores is provided for in the

rules for the shoot. Close behind them was Grady B. Hardison, a winner of two previous shoots. He turned in a final score of 181. He is stationed at Margarita.

The range board for the shoot was made

up of Lt. Eugene Shipley, Sgt. Jack F. Morris, and Policeman Henry DeRaps.

As at all police pistol shoots, the women

folks and small fry turned out by the

dozens. The women sat and talked and

kept an eye on the youngsters while their men were on the firing range or talking

shop. After it was all over, everyone ate, well and at length, of some very fine food which had been prepared by the best cooks on the police force. Hubert W.

Jarman, a former policeman now with the

Industrial Bureau, lent his talent to supervise the beef barbecue. Rivalry between the two police districts

is as high when it comes to turning out a

tasty meal as it is on the firing range.

It's pretty much of a toss-up which of the contests the guests enjoy more.

Bachelor, Large Family Quarters

{Continued from page 6) living room, would project from the front of each unit. The bachelor rooms in the U. S.-rate towns are planned for transient use (when

an employee is transferred for a very short

period from one side of the Isthmus to another, for instance) and for employment

surges, such as at lock overhaul periods,

when a large number of employees are added to the force for temporary work.

Local Rate Bachelors

Bachelor rooms will also be provided

in the local rate towns. The bachelor room buildings for local- rate employees would be three-story, masonry, on-the-ground structures with 1

1

rooms to each floor. Each room would

have a lavatory and cooking facilities. Toilets and showers would be centrally located and serve an entire floor.
May 2,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Employees Are Reminded

To Designate Beneficiary

A reminder that designation of beneficiaries by Company-Government employees may save their survivors both

time and money was made recently by

James Marshall, Chief of the Postal,

Customs and Immigration Division. He

is in charge of probate of estates of employees who die intestate. An Executive Order provides that upon

the death of an employee compensation

for all of his accumulated and current

leave shall be paid in a lump sum, upon

the establishment of a valid claim, as provided by law. According to an amendment to the Canal Zone Code, approved August 10, 1949, this payment shall be made first to the beneficiary, or beneficiaries, if any, lawfully designated by the employee

under the retirement act applicable to

his service (Civil Service Retirement

Act), or to the estate if the employee

has not designated a beneficiary.

Forms on which beneficiaries may be

designated are available at the Retire- ment Desk, Personnel Bureau. Desig- nations made prior to September 1, 1950, are no longer in effect. Payment to the beneficiary is immediate, Mr. Marshall said. Payment to the survivor, through the estate, is necessarily delayed because of the time

needed fcr probate. In addition, the

Public Administrator who handles such

estates is required to charge a fee for

his work. Ten Years Ago

In April

Third Locks and the work on them were

still important 10 years ago. On April 22 word came from Washington that the Pan

Construction and Materials Corporation

had submitted a low bid of $81 ,849,376 for the new locks to be built at Miraflores and

Pedro Miguel.

Ten days earlier, Samuel Rosoff, head

of the Rosoff Panama Construction Company Inc., said that approximately $7,-

000,000 worth of equipment and a force

of about 3,000 men would be assembled

at Gatun to build the Atlantic side Third

Locks. The Rosoff Company held a $45,-

705,000 contract for the Gatun Locks

construction.

On April 16, it was announced officially that 1 1 newfire stations and SO trailer pump

houses were to be added to existing facilities. Eighty Atlantic side women completed a

canteen course and training in mass feeding

in case of disaster.

Enemy aliens, 519 of them, who had

been interned at the camp in the Balboa

quarantine area, reached the United

States. They were Japanese and Ger- mans, a few Italians and central Europeans, with the Japanese in the majority.

Of the whole group, 105 were children. The aliens had been taken from Balboa

to Cristobal, with the windows on the Canal side of their railroad cars carefully covered with blinds.

A lot of meats are prepackaged now that weren't prepackaged before. Meats Get The pliofilm packages of New trimmed pork, beef, lamb,

Treatment poultry, and veal that you buy

at self-service meat cases at

large stores and regular meat counters of smaller commissaries now come off assembly lines. The prepackaging is possible because of new machinery—saws, cutters, slicers, grinders, conveyor belts and automatic sealing devices—at the Cold Storage Plant of the Commissary Division at Mount Hope.

Prepackaging means this to customers:

1) well-trimmed retail cuts, with no

trim or waste, that need less preparation

for cooking;

2) cuts that are pretty much the same

in quality and appearance yesterday, to- day, and tomorrow and from one package

to the next;

3) savings in shopping minutes for cus- tomers who can now pick their meat right out of a case already cut, trimmed,

weighed, priced, and wrapped; and

4) meats that are handled under the most sanitary conditions. Prepackaged meats (except for sausage

products such as dried beef, etc.) are frozen from the time they leave the cold storage plant locker rooms until you buy them in the stores. Pliofilm has a lot of "give." It was

chosen for the wrappings because it can be pushed a long way before it breaks or tears. These meats are now prepackaged:

Pork—Pork chops, including loin, rib, and end cut; spare ribs; bulk pork in one- pound rolls: smoked ham butts and slices; liver; ham hocks; skinless link sausages, smoked and unsmoked; ham minutesteaks; pastrami; ham loaf; and pigs' feet and knuckles. Beef—Tenderloins; sliced dried beef; hamburger steaks; beef minute steaks;

liver; and cooked tongue. Veal—Cutlets and chops, including loin rib and shoulder; liver; tongue; and heart. Lamb—Leg; rib; chops, loin and shoulder.Poultry—Chicken breasts; legs and

thighs; wings; hearts; and chicken loaf.

Now you can try your can openers on: lima beans and ham; papaya from Costa

Rica; baked apples; and minestrone like good Italians would like. They're in some

canned goods sections now or are expected

soon.

Mother's Day givers, grandmamas and

glamour girls should know: For Mother's The first 60-gauge hose to Day, Miss and be sold in the commissaries Mrs. will be in the stores soon. They are 15 denier nylons

and that's sheer—in summer shades. They

have more threads that are twisted finer than the 51-gauge hose in the stores before. That means they'd don't snag as easily, have more stretch and give, wear better, and look smoother. Other new wrinkles in hose are nylons

that are pleated—when you buy them from

the store. When you put them on, the

pleats go away and the hose hug tight for a fit that is made to flatter. Lace and ruffles and net and nylon will make mothers want more Mother's Days.

New slips and nightgowns in the stores have them mixed and matched in the kind

of combinations you give as gifts and want

for yourself.

Spring graduates and young party girls will want to see new teenage formals in the

stores. There are ballerina and long dresses. Some are fluffy and some are slightly sophisticated.

There's now an All-Purpose Broth that comes in a package ready to brew into soup, stew, gravy, seasoning, or stock.

Myro range and porcelain cleaner is in the stores now because customers who used

it elsewhere told Housewares Section people

it's a whee of a cleaner, especially for electric ranges.

The clothes the little men at your house wear all year round in the trop- Meant for ics come from the spring and

Little Men summer lines of U. S. manufacturers. That means there are more in the stores now than at any other time of vear.

Car care will be easier with a new No- Hose Carwash on sale in the New Care commissaries. When you put it for Cars in a pail of water, the water

turns to foam. You douse the foam on your chariot and forget the chore of a chamois.

Venetian blinds that have lived too long

for their fixtures can be given

New Bloom a new bloom of youth with

for Blinds laddertape, cords, tilters, hold- down brackets, pulley shafts, bead chains, cord locks, and head-rail instal- lation brackets in commissary housewares

sections.

Curbs, pedestrian crosswalks, trees, poles, and similar objects near Canal Zone streets were getting a coat of black arid white painted stripes.

MANY MEATS now come off this cold assembly line in the Cold Storage Plant of the Commissary

I* Division at Mount Hope. In this picture, pork chops, newly chopped and trimmed, go down the con- ^ veyor belt to be wrapped for delivery to retail stores.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

The Panama Canal Honor Roll

NEXT MONDAY marks the 48th anniversary of the beginning of the Canal construction work by the United States when the French Canal Company's rights and properties were transferred at a simple ceremony at its liters building in Panama City. Of the tens cf thousands of men

and women who came to (he Isthmus from their homes in the United States

to help on this great project only 53 remain in active service. This honor roll of the Canal enterprise has been cut in half within the

past two years. \\ hen the roll of those veterans still in service was published

in the first issue of The Panama Canal Review in May 1950, the list contained 106 names. Of the 53 still in service, the pictures of the nine who have unbroken

service are published in this issue. The complete list of veterans shown below

gives the dates they first began work on the Canal project. Names of employees with unbroken service are indicated by capital letters and those marked

(*) are holders of the famous Roosevelt Medal indicating two cr more years

of continuous construction service.

1IAKRY A. COMLEY

CHOUGH N. ENGELKE

JAMES G. MAGULRE ,/-

190(» "Vincent < '. Raymond—December 16

1907

"Florence E. Williams—March I

1908 *Esbon S. MacSparran—June 22 "Charles P. Morgan—October 2n

1909

*J. Wendell Greene— May 5 Andrien Marie Bouche—Julv 2 "John E. Ridge—October 20

1910 *George H. Cassell—Januarj 29 "Raymond B. Ward—June 13 "Raymond A. Koperski —June 27 "William R. Howe—July 1

1911 "ERNEST C. COTTON—February 20 Lea K. Dugan—June 6 Herbert T. Souder—July 15 "Charles Lester—August 18 "GEORGE N. ENGELKE—September 5 "Bernard W. Mclntyre—September 28

Melville L. Booz—October 2 "Gregor Gramlich—October 14 "Berney J. Robinson—October 30

1912 Samuel J. Deavours—March 1 Gustaf R. Hoi melin—March 13 "Gilbert B. Owen—March 22 Josephine R. Dennis—April 6 Harland V. Howard—April 22 "Robert W. Hutchings—April 26 "Fred Frank—June 1 George F. Miller—June 28 Alba D. Hutchings—August 19 Thomas J. Breheney—November 1 George C. Orr—December 5 ARTHUR MORGAN—December 16

1913 Otto A. Sundquist—January 15 Bernard J. McDaid—February 19 Leonidas H. Morales H.—March 1 ADAM S. MILLER—April 14 David W. Ellis—June 11 Arthur 1. Farrell—June 28 Edward P. Walsh—July 1 Otto C. Frick—July 2 Robert I. Barnes—Julv 3 EMMETT ZEMER—July 10 HARRY A. COMLEY—July 14 Harold P. Bevington—August 16 Eric E. Forsman—November 4 WALTER W. WHITE—November 18 Bert G. Tydeman—November 22 Mai LeRoy Dodson—December 10 William V. Brugge—December 17

1914 JAMES G. MAGUIRE—January 20 LEON F. HALLETT—February 14 Clarendon Sealy—March 6 Samuel L. Souder—March 24

LEON F. HALLETT

ADAM S. MILLER

ARTHUR MORGAN

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WALTER W. WHITE EMMETT ZEMER
May 2,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11 Governor Newcomer's Four- Year Term

Notable For Far-Reaching Changes

The tenth Governor of the Canal Zone

will end his four-year tour of duty on May 19. The past four years have un- doubtedly been marked with more far- reaching changes than the term of any

of his predecessors in office. Barely a month after Governor Francis Kosier Newcomer took the oath of office on May 20, 1948, the United States Congress approved an act to incorporate

the Panama Railroad Company under the Government Corporation Control Act. This was the beginning of various

legislative and administrative actions which were climaxed last July 1 when the Panama Railroad Company and The

Panama Canal operations were consoli- dated into a Government-owned corporation—The Panama Canal Company—

and the governmental functions of The

Panama Canal became the Canal Zone Government.

This consolidation and incorporation,

however, was preceded by an extensive

internal rearrangement of various of the Canal activities, grouping like operations together under newly created Bureaus which replaced the Departments

of earlier days.

This incorporation was in accordance

with a bill which became law September

26, 1950, with the effective date of the change last July 1. The law created the Panama Canal Company "for the purpose of maintaining and operating the Panama Canal and of conducting busi- ness operations incident to such maintenance and operation and incident to the civil government of the Canal Zone." Company Must Sustain Itselfi This law required that the Company

be self-sustaining and that it must pay

the net cost of the Canal Zone Government, under which were placed civil governmental functions, including sani- tation and public health. The process of converting the compli- cated financial structure from a system

of government accounting to a system

of corporate accounting is still in progress. This involves setting up books such as a private corporation keeps of its profits

and losses rather than the usual govern- mental system of simply accounting for appropriated funds. Aside from its technical aspects, the formation of the Panama Canal Company has brought other changes. The

13-man Board of Directors, all appointees

of the Stockholder (the Secretary of the Army), is playing a much greater part

than ever before in the affairs of the Panama Canal. General Newcomer as Governor has been President of the Company and his

official title is President-Governor. Chair- man of the Board is the Assistant Secre- tary of the Army, Karl R. Bendetsen. Former" Governors have made only

a few official trips to the United States during their terms of office. Most of these were to appear before Appropriation Committees or to attend Bureau

of the Budget hearings. During the past four years, Governor Newcomer

has made 19 round-trips to Washington

or New York, not only to attend Budget

and Congressional hearings but also to be present at the frequent meetings of

the Board of Directors. Only one Board

meeting has been held in the Canal Zone. Quarters Program Started

Aside from the reorganization and

incorporation, the single most important

project during Governor Newcomer's

term has been the inauguration and

development of a long-awaited and muchneeded housing replacement program. When the program is finally completed

in fiscal year 1956, close to $80,000,000

will have been spent to replace obsolete and sub-standard quarters. Also of major importance was the

return by the President of civilian control of the Canal ZoDe. Other changes, of less importance but

of interest, which have been made during

the Governor's administration follow, more or less chronologically

:

A biweekly pay plan for U. S.-rate employees was instituted; salaries were

paid by check and pay-roll procedure is now being mechanized.

A five-day work week was adopted,

by administration action. Pay rates for local-rate employees

were revised and two blanket increases given workers on local-rate rolls. Liberalized leave regulations for local-rate employees were approved.

The administration officially discarded

use of the terms "Gold" and '"Silver." Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps

were established at Balboa and Cristobal High Schools. The Schools Division opened a Junior

College at La Boca; it will graduate its

first class this month.

The Governor requested and received authority to establish draft boards in the Canal Zone. Cash replaced the long-used coupon

books in all U. S.-rate commissaries. Congress passed legislation, sponsored

and supported by the Canal administration, to merge the Canal Zone Retirement Act with the Civil Service Retirement

Act. A bill to provide for a much improved retirement plan for local-rate employees was drafted but has not yet

been cleared for introduction into Congress.

Tax Extended/To Zone

Income tax was extended to the Canal

Zone, for U. S.-citizen employees. The

administration successfully assisted in obtaining repeal of the tax measure's

retroactive feature. The Army transferred to the Canal two large tracts of land, 300 acres, near Corozal for the local-rate town of Car- denas and 100 acres from the post of Corozal for U. S.-rate housing.

The Third Locks town of Cocoli was

transferred to the Navy.

A small-scale study of Civilian Defense

requirements was started but was abandoned last August when Congress cut off funds for its operation. *

And while all this was going on shipping was increasing steadily to such an

extent that in March of this year a new

all-time record high of 613 ocean-going

commercial vessels of over 300 tons was

reached. There were personnel changes of importance, too. Only we 20)

ONE OF THE BEST pictures ever taken of tbe Governor and Mrs. Newcomer is that, above, which was made September 29, 1949. The day marked the Governor's retirement from active duty with the Army after more than 40 years of military service. The Governor left immediately after the military

retirement ceremony, at the Balbca Heights railroad station, on one cf the many business trips he has

had to make to Washington during his term of office.
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

Work In Corozal Area Will Be Rushed; ComP

|eti

M

on D

J«

eTM f ii ora r «i i m i On New Balboa Quarters

About z5U family Apartments Planned

No material delay is expected in the Panama Canal Company's overall housing program as a result of the abandonment of the Summit townsite project

and the development of the Corozal area. The Canal Zone Order revising the Curundu Military Reservation and transferrin!,' the land to the Canal Zone Government has been signed by the

Secretary of the Army. Approximately

100 acres have been transferred. Plans for the new townsite develop- ment are being completed in the Engineering Division and actual work on the

relocation of underground facilities and

other municipal work required has been

started by the Maintenance Division

forces. The latter work will be rushed

to take advantage of favorable weather

before heavy rains begin.

It is planned to have the area ready

for the construction of houses by the next dry season. The area to be transferred will provide

space for about 250 U. S.-rate apartments

plus a location for an elementary school. No other community facilities, such as a clubhouse or post office, are planned for the area since it is located near similar

facilities in Diablo Heights and Balboa. The exact number or type of apart- ments to be built there will not be deter- mined until after a complete town layout

has been prepared. Of course, not all of the 100-odd acres will be readily usable. The extent of grading required has not been determined, although it is known

that it will be considerably less than

planned at Summit.

The work at the proposed Summit

townsite is to be abandoned after completion by the Maintenance Division of that portion of the main storm sewer on which work was already underway. This

work was well advanced when the question of obtaining land nearer the Pacific terminal was reopened early last month.

Sales Store To Be Island The area transferred begins at Diablo

Crossing and includes the section known

as Diablo Terrace as far as the Albrook

Air Force Base boundary. The houses

at Diablo Terrace are to be demolished.

The area extends from the Albrook

boundary to the old barracks road one

block south of the main entrance to Corozal. The extreme northern boundary is the back entrance road to the post on which Corozal Theater is located and

generally follows the ridgeline back to the Albrook boundary. Several buildings in the area are not included. These

include the Army sales store and warehouse, the Army power plant, Corozal

Theater, Finance Office, and Chapel.

The frame houses of Diablo Terrace

are to be demolished and the Panama

Canal Company will construct 26 sets of family quarters of a size comparable

to those being transferred at sites to be determined by Army authorities. The

old houses will be kept in use until the new quarters are built. The area for the new townsite development is a part of the Corozal Army Reservation and is a part of the site of one

of the earliest Canal Zone settlements. In his Guidebook of Panama and the Canal Zone, published in 1912, John 0.

Collins says that the village of Corozal was mentioned before the founding of the new (and present) city of Panama. The name means a field or plantation of corozo palms -those palm trees bearing oily nuts. The village was almost certainly a stop on an old trail between Panama City and

the Interior. In French days, an old road more direct than the route of the present

Corozal-Panama road linked Corozal with

that section of Panama near the present

Tivoli crossing. Corozal appears on a Panama Railroad

map dated 1S57 but does not appear on

one issued four years earlier. Although the name is shown on the 1857 railroad map, Corozal apparently was not a scheduled railroad stop for some

years. A timetable reproduced [See page 16 1

Construction of the 15 U. S.-rate family units on Pyle Street and Morgan

Avenue in Balboa by the Maintenance

Division is now well advanced and the

first of the new houses is to be completed

about the second week in June. The

others are scheduled for completion by

the middle of August.

The houses there are of the composite

type similar to those in San Juan Place

in Ancon. There are 11 buildings in all, of which four are duplexes.

Residents of Ridge Road in Balboa

Heights who recently received notice to vacate their quarters for demolition will be assigned the new houses in Balboa on

a seniority basis along with residents of the old houses on Empire Street which

also are to be torn down this year. The

Ridge Road residents have been requested

to move by August 15, and those on Empire Street by October 31. OUR OUT-OF-DOORS

Two more trees of the Canal Zone, the Malay Apple and the Cuipe, are among

those which even the most non-botanically inclined can learn to identify.

The Malay Apple, Eugenia malaccensis,

is an Asiatic species planted occasionally

in this region. A row of the trees grow

along Amador Road.

The tree itself is one of the most attractive on the Canal Zone. It is not tall and

has a dense, rounded crown. The large leaves are oblong-elliptic and shiny.

A distinguishing feature is its bright

crimson-purple flowers which are distinc- tively beautiful. They are borne in clusters along the branches and are most con- spicuous when seen from a distance. As the petals fall they form a colored carpet on the ground beneath the trees. The pear-shaped fruit is suffused with

red and its flavor is excellent. In Panama

it is called "marafion de curacao," a not

inappropriate name, since the fruit strongly suggests, in shape and color, the

cashew or "maraiion."

The technical name of the Cuipo, one

of the most remarkable trees of this region,

is Cavanilhsia piatanifolia.

An exceptionally fine specimen grows

at the end of the Red Tank causeway and

many more dot the hillsides of Panama

and the Canal Zone. They are particularly conspicuous at

this season because of their red flowers. Cuipo trees are stately, 60 to 100 feet

tall. They have small crowns and thick,

smooth, pale trunks, usually swollen at the base. The wood is white or yellowish, coarse,

soft, and extremely light. A cubic foot of cuipo wood weighs only 6.25 pounds,

while balsa, which is ordinarily considered one of the lightest of woods, weighs from

six to 22 pounds per cubic foot. Cuipo wood is sometimes used as a substitute for balsa and was the material for several light planes manufactured just before the end of World War II.

LITTLE GIRLS and Malay apples belong together, even if the little girls' mothers deplore the black stain 'which the juicy fruit is apt to leave on a pretty dress. When the trees are bearing, Janice

Scott, 8, of Amador Road, takes to a stepladder to gather a feast. Young Janice is a third generation

Zonian.
May 2, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

Watch Repairing Engrossing Hobby,

Health Bureau's Bill Brown Reports

William Brown, whose job is Assistant

to the Health Director, is never at a

loss when anyone asks him the time of day. Usually he is wearing a wrist watch; more often than not he is carrying a spare

in his watch pocket, and quite frequently he can check the hour by a tiny wrist watch produced from his shirt pocket.

Seldom are these the same watches two

days in succession. Not that Bill Brown is such a man of property. The watches which he produces

belong to friends for whom he is doing a watch repair job. The clocks on which he

also works have, of course, to stay at home; he couldn't very well carry them

around but he thinks watches should be worn or carried for a few days, for checking.^

When Bill Brown is having budget

trouble and what administrative assist- ant these days doesn't—he can forget it completely in his watch repair hobby.

His center of operations is in a corner

of his bedroom on the second floor of a

big duplex overlooking Albrook Field. In

this corner is a dentist's cabinet with its many shallow drawers, just right for fine small tools. On top of the cabinet stands

a battered piggy bank.

Since watch repairing is a hobby, Bill Brown makes no charge for his work.

But, if friends insist, he will accept a dollar for a job. The dollars go into the piggy bank and when enough have been

piled up, Bill Brown buys another micrometer, or some main springs, or a device to set watch crystals. He got interested in repairing watches

by necessity. His bride, Ruth, gave him

a wrist watch as a gift not long after they were married. It was a fine watch in every respect but one—it wouldn't run. The Browns made the rounds of watch

repairmen but no one could fix it. Finally

Bill took the watch to pieces, found a thread on the hair-spring, removed it and

from then on the watch kept fine time. Ants Don't Help

Since then he has found some strange

things wrong with non-operating clocks and watches. A perturbed owner brought

him a fine mantlepiece chime clock which

wouldn't chime. No wonder, Bill Brown

found; it had an ants' nest inside. Some watches have been overcome by

humidity and are rusted; others just need

cleaning and not too seldom Bill Brown

finds that all a watch or clock needs is a good winding.

In a year, he figures, he works on at

least 100 watches or clocks. Sometimes,

when people leave or move, they give him

an accumulation of old watches or jewelry

from which he can cannibalize parts. He has repaired a number of old wall pendulum clocks which have been sur- veyed and sold for junk. Usually these can be put into usable condition, although

it often takes longer to get the face off than itdoesto repair the clock. (Although

Bill Brown has often worked on these sur- veyed clocks, he has never bought one

for himself.

)

Because he has a fine collection of precision instruments, as well as a lot of patience, Bill Brown is called on sometimes to go a little out of his hobby field. He has cemented loose cameos and intaglios into pieces of jewelry on more than

WILLIAM BROWN"

one occasion. But his most frequent re- quests other than the watch repair line concern diamonds.

Settings for diamonds have a way of getting bent, and girls with engagement

rings understandablv don't want to go around shedding diamonds. So they

bring their rings to Bill Brown and ask him to tighten the metal which holds the

jewels in place. Bill does, the girls are happy and sometimes a dollar goes into the piggy bank.

Forty Years Ago

In April

With a few months over two years still to go before the Canal was to be opened,

Canal planners were looking ahead. In

April, 40 years ago, a committee was

appointed to recommend sites for the per- manent administrative headquarters and

offices of the Canal and a permanent set- tlement for Canal employees nearby. The

Canal Record reported that the site of the

office headquarters would be "on Sosa

Hill or some other place nearby."

Zonians were having almost as hot a time

as they had Ifi years later. The warmest

weather of record on the Canal Zone since

the American forces arrived occurred during

April. At Ancon, on April 7, the thermometer registered 97 degrees, and 10 days later

the temperature at Culehra went to 96 degrees. Previous hiyhs were 96.2 degrees at Ancon on March 7, and 94 degrees at Culehra on April 15, 1909.

The survey of the approaches to the

Pacific entrance of the Canal, by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, was complete.

The survey steamer Patterson, which ar- rived from Alaska January 15, finished

its work about the middle of the month.

The wire drag party wound up its six months of work the end of April. The

results of the survey were the basis for the charts published later.

Canal Zonians of those days played as

well as worked, although some of their recre- ation was quaint by present day standards. In April, 1,0 years ago, the Hill Magical

Troupe, who specialized in "necromancy

and hypnotism," was playing at Zone club- houses. Moving picture shows were becoming increasingly popular. At Gorgona, one

night, 21f5 people attended the movies and

there was even a special show at one o'clock in the morning after the night force stopped

work. Coffee and sandwiches were served

after this "owl" show. Another popular performer of Ifi years ago ivas Captain Jack Crawford, described

as a "poet scout." He was reciting original

verse and humorous anecdotes around the clubhouse circuit.

The University Club of the Isthmus of Panama, 75 percent of whose members

were employees of the Isthmian Canal

Commission and the Panama Railroad, gave a housewarming at its new clubhouse

near the Panama City sea wall. The

housewarming was a reception, with

dancing.

One of the big steamshovels, which did

such yeoman work in excavating the Pan- ama Canal, was damaged beyond repair late in April by an unusual fire. The shovel, a

70-tonner numbered 107, was working on

excavation of the channel through what is now MirafloresLake. It rested on a "crib" which was made up of five layers of railroad

ties.Fire broke out at night in the depths of

the crib. Although the shovel was mostly

metal, the heat of the flames softened the six- inch solid steel axle connecting the hind

wheels of the truck under the rear end so

that it bent to an angle of about 90 degrees.

The heat was most intense at the rear end

where the cribbing was higher but the babbitt metal teas melted out of every journal box

on the shovel.

Even without this shovel, however, ex- cavation was moving faster and faster. On one day the 44 shovels working in the Pedro Miguel, Culebra, and Empire districts excavated 68,505 cubic yards of material, during a working day of eight hours. This was a new high record for daily excavation in the Cut.

Third Beaux Arts Ball

To Take Place May 10

Arrangements are practically completed

for the third Beaux Arts Ball to be given

May 10 by the Canal Zone Art League

at the Hotel Tivoli. Proceeds from the Ball will go to in- crease the art scholarship fund which the Art League has established and with

which the organization hopes to aid some

Canal Zone student in his chosen career. Chairman for the Ball Committee is Robert L. Dwelle. He is being assisted by the League's president, Bryan W.

Vaughn, and by Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Henry McKenzie, P. Rodriguez, and Melvin Menges.

Theme of this year's ball is "Dream

Boat." Prizes will be awarded for unusual costumes and painting contests and door

prizes will give the guests an opportunity

to win a work of art donated by artist members of the League.

Tickets, at $2 a person, may be obtained from F. R. Johnson, 2-3484; Beatrice S. Gardner, 2-1457; B. W. Vaughn,

273-3185 or H. T. McKenzie, 3-2401.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH'S CALENDAR

Employees who observed important anniversaries during the month of April are listed alphabetical!) below. The number of years

includes all Government service with the Canal or oilier agencies. Those with con- tinuous service are indicated with (*).

42 Years Esbon S. MacSparran, Superintendent! Terminals I )ivision. 35 Years FredJ.Bauman, Supervisor, Sheet metal

Shop, Maintenance Division. Dr. Jesse L.Bvrd, Medical Officer, Colon

Health Office. Walter C. Fedde, Chemist, Miraflores

Filtration Plant. 30 Years

Paul F. Karst, Postmaster, Curundu.

Rexford T. Ray, Guard, Atlantic Locks. 25 Years Joseph B. Baker, Foreman, Dredging

I >i\ ision. 20 Years Thomas J. Breheney, Foreman. Dredging I >i\ ision. Elvira J. Byrne, Nurse, Gorgas Hospital.

Alcide R. Hauser, Policeman, Cristobal. William R. Henter, Filtration Plant Operator, Maintenance Division. Anthony G. Lynn, Plant Supervisor,

Maintenance Division. Joseph F. Shea, Chauffeur, General Operator and Craneman, Maintenance Division. Roger C. Wright, Automobile Repair

Machinist, Motor Transportation Division.

15 Years 'Thomas V. Kelly, Locomotive Engineer,

Railroad I (ivision. 'Frank McGuinness, Train Dispatcher, Railroad Division. *Harvey D. Smith, Carpenter Foreman,

Maintenance Division. George O. Tarflinger, Refrigeration and

Air Conditioning Mechanic, Commissary

1 (ivision. *Winton A. Webb, Pharmacist, Gorgas

( hit -patient Sen ice. "William H. Will, Tilesetter, Mainte- nance I (ivision.

RETIREMENTS IN APRIL

Emplo) ees who retired at the end of April,

their birthplace, titles, length of service at retirement, and their future addresses are: Anthony Fernandez, Spain; Foreman.

Marine Bunkering Section; 30 years, 3 months, 1 day; address uncertain. Floyd W. Forrest, Virginia; Chief, Aids

lo Navigation Division; 24 years 8 months,

8 days; I Iudgins, Ya. Frank J. Gerchow, Louisiana; Lockmaster, Mirations Locks, 39 years,2 months

8 days; Monteoursville, Pa. John W. Manush, Alabama; Tunnel

Operator, Pedro Miguel Locks; 38 years, 9 months, 26 days; Portland, Me. John B. McDougall, Pennsylvania;

Clerk, Maintenance Division; 25 years, 11 months, 7 davs; Flushing, X. Y. Avory O.McGlade, Illinois; Planing Mill Hand, Industrial Bureau; 23 years, 1 month,

13 davs; Balboa. Dr. John D. Odom, Alabama; Quarantine Officer, Balboa; 34 years, 5 months, 22 days; Dothan, \1 i. Jerome F. Prager, Oregon; Superintendent. Storehouse Division; 37 years, 9 months, 24 days; Berkeley, Calif. William P. Quinn, North Carolina;

Assistant Chief, Aids to Navigation; 38

years, 2 months, 2') days; Salisbury, N. C, William F. Rabiteau, Michigan; Truck

I (river. Motor Transportation Division; 35

years, 11 months, 2 davs; Alpena, Midi. Marie C. Stapf, Pennsylvania; Governmental Accountant, Finance Bureau; 33

• us, 10 months, 20 davs; plans uncertain. Rudolph Swan, New York; Postmaster,

Corozal; 14 years, 4 months, 15 days; Fort Edward, N. Y. Henry D. Weaver, Pennsylvania; Admeasurer, Navigation Division; 36 years, 2 months, 16 days; Florida.

(Note. —Representatives of organizations

listed below, or of others to be included in this calendar, arc asked to notify the FMitor,

Panama Canal Review, by the 20th of each month ol any permanent changes in meeting places, dates, or times.) MAY

2nd —American Legion No. 6, Gamboa,

7:30 p. m. 3rd— Track Foremen No. 2741, Balboa B & B Shops.

4th -VFW No. 3857, Veterans' Club, Cristobal, 9 a. m. 5th—Postal Employees No. 23160, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m. VFW No. 727, Fort Clayton, 7:30 p. m. VFW No. 3822. Curundu Road, 7:30 p.m. Pedro Miguel Civic Council, Union

Church, 7 p. m. Cristobal-Margarita Civic Council,

Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. American Legion No. 3, Gatun, 7:30

p. m. 6th—Machinists No. 811, Balboa Lodge

Hall, 7:30 p. m. Teachers No. 228, Cristobal High School, 3:30 p. m. Gamboa Civic Council, Community

Center, 7:30 p. m. Gatun Civic Council, Gatun Clubhouse,

7:30 p. in. 7th—VFW No. 40, Wirz Memorial, 7:30

p. m. 9th Blacksmiths, No. 400, with Boiler- makers 463 and 471, Margarita K. of C. Hall, 7:30 p. m. 11th —Pipefitters, Margarita Clubhouse,

9:30 p. m. Sheetmetal Workers, No. 157, Balboa

Clubhouse, 0:30 a. ill. Plumbers, No. 606, Margarita K. of C.

Hall, 9:30 a. m. 12th—Machinists, No. 699, Margarita K.

of C. Hall, 7:30 p. m. American Legion, No. 1, Balboa, 7:30

p. in. 13th—Electrical Workers, No. 397, Wirz

Memorial, Balboa, 7:30 p. m. VFW, No. 100, Old Boy Scout Building,

May Sailings

From Cristobal

Panama... __May 2

Cristobal.. ..May 9 Ancon May 16 Panama .May 23

Cristobal.. .May 30 From New York

Ancon . „_May 7 Panama . . May 14 Cristobal.. ..May 21 Ancon May 28

Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. American Legion, No. 7, Fort Clayton,

7:30 p. m. American Legion Auxiliary, No. 1, Bal- boa, 7:30 p. m. 14th—Carpenters, No. 913, Balboa Lodge

Hall, 7:30 p. in. Pacific Civic Council, Board Room, Administration Building, 7:30 p. m. American Legion, No. 2, Cristobal, 7:30

p. m. 18th—CLU-MTC—Margarita Clubhouse,

8:30 a. in. 19th Truckdrivers, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m.

Electrical Workers, No. 677, Gatun Masonic Temple, 7:30 p. m. 20th—Machinists, No. 811, Balboa Lodge

Hall, 7:30 p. m. Operating Engineers, No. 595, Margarita K. of C. Hall, 7 p. m. 21st—AFGE, No. 14, Balboa Clubhouse,

7:30 p. m. Teachers, No. 227, Balboa High School,

7 p. m. American Legion Auxiliary, No. 3, Gatun, 7:30 p. in. 22nd—American Legion Auxiliary, No.

6, Gamboa, 7:30 p. m. 26th—Machinists, No. 699, Margarita K.

of C. Hall, 7:30 p. m. VFW Auxiliary, Post 3822 Post Home,

7:30 p. m. 27th- Operating Engineers, No. 595, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7 p. in. VFW, No. 100, Old Boy Scout Building,

Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. American Legion, No. 7, Fort Clayton,

7:30 p. m. 28th—AFGE, No. 88, Margarita Clubhouse,

7:30 p. m. American Legion Auxiliary, No. 2, Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. 29th—Governor-Employee Conference,

Board Room, Administration Building,

2 p. m. JUNE

1st—VFW, No. 3857, Cristobal Veterans' Club, 9 a. m. 2nd—American Legion, No. 3, Gatun,

7:30 p. m.

Postal Employees, No. 23160, Margarita K. of C. Hall, 7:30 p. m. VFW, No. 727, Fort Clavton, 7:30 p. in. VFW, No. 3822, Curundu Road, 7:30 p.m. Pedro Miguel Civic Council, Union

Church, 7 p. m. Cristobal-Margarita Civic Council,

Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m.

3rd—Gamboa Civic Council, Community Center, 7:30 p. m. Gatun Civic Council, Gatun Clubhouse

7:30 p. in. Machinists, No. 811, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m. Teachers, No. 228, Cristobal High School, 3:30 p. m. 4th VFW, 40, Wirz Memorial, 7:30 p. m. 5th Carpenters, No. 667, Margarita

Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m.

March 15 Through April 15

The following list contains the names of those 1. S.-rate employees who were transferred from one division to another (unless

I hi' change is administrative) or from one

type of "work to another. It does not contain

vvithin-grade promotions and regradings: CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Mrs. Melba L. Young, Clerk-stenographer, Wage and Classification Division, to Clerk-stenographer, Schools Division. Mrs. Edith M. Davis, Mrs. Sophia M.

Von Pohle, from Substitute Teacher to El- ementary School Teacher, Schools Division. Ralph E. Shuev, from Postmaster, Howard AFB, to Special Postal Clerk, Postal

Service. Mrs. Irene S. Walling, from Clerk-sten- ographer, Finance Bureau, to Clerk-stenographer, Police Division. Louis F. Dedeaux, from Commissary

Assistant, Commissary Division, to Postal

Clerk, Postal Service.

Sam A. Foreman, from Guard, Atlantic Locks, to Fireman, Fire Division. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

James J. McDade, from Construction

Supervisor, Maintenance Division, to Construction Inspector, Contract and Inspection 1 (ivision. George W. Wertz, from Wireman and

Wireman Leader to Foreman, Electrical Division. Mortimer J. Brennan, George W.

Cunningham, from Wireman to Wireman

and Leader, Electrical Division. Keith J. Lane, Julius J. Hentschel,

from Wireman to Distribution Foreman,

Electrical Division. Wilfred Morris, from Carpenter Fore- man, Maintenance Division, to General

Construction Inspector, Contract and In- spection Division. (See page /j)
May 2,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS

(Continued from page 14)

Francis E. Conover, from Commissary

Assistant to Supply Distribution Assistant, Contract and Inspection Division. Constant W. Chase, Jr., from Electrical Engineer to Chief, Construction and Maintenance Branch, Electrical Division. W. Houlton Esslinger, from Assistant Chief Hydrographer to Chief Hydrographer, Engineering Division. Alvaro Cabal, from Cartographic Survey

Aid, Surveys Branch, to Civil Engineering

Draftsman, Engineering Division. Zane Z. Zizz, from Powerhouse Operator

to Powerhouse Operator-Dispatcher, Electrical Division.HEALTH BUREAU

Marie V. Weber, from Nurse, Gorgas

Hospital, to Chief Nurse, Palo Seco. MARINE BUREAU

Victor L. Sanger, Victor C. Melant,

from Junior Foreman, Ferry Service, to

Drill Runner, Dredging Division. Arthur J. McLean, Arthur J. Logan,

Clive W. Lewis, from pilot-in-training to probationary pilot, Navigation Division. Leonard S. Hart, Julius F. Dietz, Andrew Stohrer, from probationary pilot to

pilot, Navigation Division. John P. Sterritt, from Stevedore Fore- man, Terminals Division, to Towboat Master, Navigation Division. Glenn R. McNall, from Guard, Pacific Locks, to Junior Foreman, Ferry Service. David W. Ellis, from Tractor-bulldozer Operator to General Operator, Dredging

Division. Claud M. Kreger, from Junior Foreman

to Drill Runner, Dredging Division. John H. Droste, from Guard, Atlantic Locks, toPumpOperator, Dredging Division. Slaughter S. Sharpensteen, Edward

O. Pike, from drill runner to blaster, Dredging Division. Charles S. Joyner, Charles J. Connor,

from Drill Barge Blaster to Drill Barge

Mate, Dredging Division. Edward H. Halsall, from Clerk, Housing

Division, to Chief, Locks Security Branch, Locks Division. Marion S. Herring, from Dipper Dredge

Engineer to Chief Towboat Engineer, Dredging Division. Roy J. Wiley, from YVireman, Electrical Division, to Lock Operator YVireman, Pacific Locks. William H. Walston, from Foreman to Mate, Pipeline Suction Dredge, Dredging

I livision. PERSONNEL BUREAU

Mrs. June B. Young, from Clerk-sten- ographer, Employment and Utilization, Division, to Secretary, Director's Office. Mrs. Lois B. Grant, from Clerk-typist, Personnel Records Division, to Clerk-typist,

Employment and Utilization Division. Mrs. Zelda B. Glassburn, from Clerktypist to Personnel Clerk, Employment and

Utilization Division. Billy Gene Mauly, from Recreation

Supervisor, Schools Division, to Personnel

Assistant, Personnel Bureau. RAILROAD AND TERMINALS BUREAU

Mrs. Robin L. Comer, from Accounting

Clerk to Transportation Rate Audit Clerk, Terminals Division. Hugh A. Turner, from Gauger, Store- house Division, to Cribtender and Gauger

Foreman, Terminals Division. SUPPLY AND SERVICE BUREAU

Francis J. Sweek, from YVireman, Electrical Division, to Plant Electrician, Commissary Division. Henry E. May, Jr., from Pump Operator

Dredging Division, to Gauger, Storehouses

Division. Cecil Kovel, from Meatcutter, Commissary Division, to General Storekeeper, Storehouses Division. Herbert A. Taake, from Lock Operator,

wireman, Pacific Locks, to Electrician, Commissary Division. Eulie M. Bennett, from Accounting

Clerk to Storekeeper, Motor Transportation

Division. Frank N. Light, from Truck Driver and

Craneman, Motor Transportation Division,

to Hoisting and Portable Engineman, Store- houses Division Harry J. Ailant, James M. Purdy,

from Heavy Truck Driver to Heavy Truck

Driver and Tire Rebuilder, Motor Transportation Division.

Canal Review 3rd Birthday

Observed With This Issue

The Panama Canal Review is blowing out a birthday candle.

It is now 14 issues and 2 years old and this is its birthday edition. With two years of publishing under its belt, The Review has these words for

its widening public about the other parts

of its public and a review of its own facts

of life. The Review was born May 5, 1950,

coming into an organization which was

then without journalistic chick or child. The Review's older sister, the old Canal Record, had dwindled away to shipping statistics, then died early in World War II, choked by the ban on

publication of such facts and figures.

When The Review arrived, after about

a year aborning, it was dedicated by

Governor Newcomer, in the first of his Review messages to employees, to "a

better understanding of our common

(Canal) problems."

And from that time on, The Review

has been telling its readers about people,

places, plans, and interests that touch the Canal and its employees.

Then in August, 1951, there was a

change, and The Review became a monthly instead of a quarterly publication

Now 760 Subscribers

When the stories and pictures started coming out by the month instead of by

quarters, the number of subscriptions was only about 100.

By April 1952, the number of subscribers had climbed to 760 people who

were scattered through 43 of the 48

States in the United States, Canada,

Costa Rica, Ecuador, Salvador, Jamaica,

Honduras, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, the Canal Zone, and Panama.

Retail sales at Commissaries, Clubhouses and Hotels average over 5,000

monthly.

The Review also goes to many libraries; colleges, industrial organizations; newspaper and magazine representatives;

government agencies in Washington and

elsewhere; Congressmen; shipping companies and their representatives on the Isthmus, in the United States and other

countries; the Suez Canal; shipping publications; port authorities; banking concerns; airlines; branches of the Armed

Services; and various embassies and

consulates. The Review's continuing invitation

to readers to write to the editor opinions

and suggestions has provided ideas which

later turned into stories and features in the publication.

Many other opinions and comments

come to the editor in letters which accom- pany requests for subscriptions. Most

subscription letters contain only favorable comment, coming, as they do from

people who express with their dollars

their general approval and desire for more of the same.

Operation With Two Panama Line

Ships To Be Considered By Board Retires Soon

(Continuzd fnm page 1) consulting services for a general study of the Panama

Line operations.

The bids were not accepted and at the Board's meeting here in January a committee composed of W. R. Pfizer, Vice-President of the Company, and

Daniel E. Taylor, Board member and

President of the West India Fruit and

Steamship Company, was appointed to make a study of the Line's operation.

Report Is Submitted

Their report was submitted at the

April meeting at which time the Board

voted to defer all action until data could be obtained on possible economies which

might be effected by the removal of one

ship from service as well as the possible

effect such action would have on the passenger and freight service for the Company. This study is now in progress and the report will be submitted to the Board for consideration at the coming

meeting.

The Panama Line, then named the Panama Railroad Steamship Line, used

only two ships for many years before the three new liners were built and put

in service during the late 1930's. During

that period, the two vessels, the SS

Ancon and SS Cristobal, maintained a ten-day round-trip service between Cris- tobal and New York with Port-au-Prince,

Haiti, as a port of call both on the north- bound and southbound sailings. The

WILLIAM H. DUNLOP, Director of Finance

plans to retire from the Canal service at the end

of this month after 26 years of service. A native of Beardstown, 111., Mr. Dimlop joined the Canal organization in January 1920 as an employee in the Engineering Division. He had served as Chief of the Management Division before his transfer to the Finance Bureau in June 1951 after the retirement of Arnold Bruckner

as Director of the Bureau. Mr. Dunlop served several months as Acting Director and was elected to the position by the Board of Directors at the January

meeting in the Canal Zone. The Finance Director

is a general officer of the Company and the by-laws

require his election by the Board of Directors.

Port-au-Prince calls were eliminated when the Panama Line's service was

renewed after the close of the war.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2,1952

Work In Corozal Area Will Be Rushed;

About 250 Family Apartments Planned Where Did He Get That Hat? Old-time

Canal Employee's Had 'Em Eor Years

ituedfom page 12) in Otis' History of the Panama Railroad, printed

in 1867, shows that the first stop made

by the two daily trains on the northbound

run from Panama to Aspinwall (now

Colon) was at Summit, 10

'

2 miles from

Panama City.

An old French map, dated 1886, shows

"Canal buildings" and an old powderhouse at Corozal. Another map, dated

November 17, 1899, shows 24 houses and

a railroad station in the "Village of Corozal." Once Was Schuber Land

Much of the land in the Corozal area was once owned by Henry Schuber,

grandfather of Lewis B. Moore, Supply

and Service Director. He recalls hearing

his family say that the Schuber estate extended from about the present location

of the Panama stadium to the general

vicinity of the Cardenas River north of Corozal. Mr. Schuber, who built the Hotel Central in Panama City about

1880, had cattle and dairy farms on the

land. Some of the rest was devoted to agriculture alone. When this area became part of the Canal Zone, the Schuber estate was eventually purchased by a land commission,

although the final adjudication of the

family's claim was not made until 1913

or 1914. After the United States took over the French Canal Company in 1904, Corozal became a residence for many of the men

who worked at the Canal's headquarters

in Panama City. The first ICC "hotel,"

really a large bachelor quarters, was built at Corozal and the men working in Pan- ama City went back and forth to their jobs by train. As rapidly as quarters could be built—

oldtimers recall that some of them were

converted boxcars—bachelors and families were moved from Panama City to Corozal. On January 1, 1908, 13 married

quarters at Corozal were occupied; by

July 1 the number had increased to 29. Ninety-eight American men were in bachelor quarters and 470 laborers in the European and West Indian messes.

Ernest Alphonso Blades, who has been an Isthmian for almost 47 years, does not remember just when he got his first Army

campaign hat. The hat was a gift from his old boss,

J. H. K. Humphrey, former Assistant Chief Quartermaster who retired in June

1941, and it was a good many years before 1941 that the hat changed hands, or heads.

Ernest, as all the youngsters and most

of the oldsters of Pedro Miguel, Red

Tank and Paraiso know him, is wearing

his third Army Stetson now. It was a

gift of Fred DeV. Sill who wore the hat

himself during the 1920's when, as a re- serve officer, he was on active duty with

the Engineers here. Ernest's headgear is as much a part of him as his job of care-of-groundsman, in the three communities, a job he has held

in this same area since 1918. And very

An ICC garden of some two-and-a-half

acres supplied the hotel and the townspeople with fresh vegetables. Fifty street

lights were installed and Corozal had a

volunteer fire company.

First School In 1909

Late that year plans were made for the

first school, a two-room wooden building.

The following year the total population

had increased to 1,116—815 of these in the labor camps. A census taken in 1914 showed that the population of Corozal had more than

doubled in five years, and also disclosed the presence there of troops. In 1914

there were 120 soldiers at Corozal, 1,127

American employees or their families, 1,071 men living in labor camps, and 374

others in what was described as "rural

areas." Quarters for some of the families had been moved in from Culebra and

Gorgona. Between 1914 and 1920 when, by Executive Order, Corozal became part of a military reservation, detachments of Engineers, Signal Corps, Quartermaster

Corps, Field Artillery, and Cavalry were

stationed at Corozal at some time or another.

ERNEST A. BLADES

BACHELORS of the early construction days lived in this "hotel" at Corozal. The first of its kind

to be built in the Canal Zone, the hotel provided room and board for its guests at the rate of 90 cents a

day. This photograph, taken in 19011, is one of the oldest in the Canal files.

successfully too, his Pedro Miguel friends

say.Ernest was born in St. Phillips, Barbados, 70 years ago last November 18. He

worked on the island as a blacksmith's

helper. Along about 1905 business was

poor and work was scarce. A recruiting team from the Panama Canal organization visited Barbados and Ernest signed

up, with several hundred other men, to come to the Canal Zone. The voyage from Barbados, he recalls, was made in a big transport which carried between 500 and 600 other West Indians

who had been recruited for the Canal

work. The trip, because of stops at other

islands, took 10 days.

Worked On Hotel Tivoli

Ernest's first job, when he landed here

(in September 21, 1905, was on the foundations of the Hotel Tivoli. After that came work in the lumber yard and machine shop of the Building Division and

then a short stint as a blacksmith's helper

in the Central Division at Empire.

In 1909 he was transferred to the Quartermaster's Department and moved back

to Ancon. For four years he worked as a gardener around the big official quarters near what is now the Ancon Courthouse. Then he went to Corozal where he worked

again as a gardener, until Corozal became

a military post. In 1918 he was moved to Pedro Miguel where, along with Red Tank

and Paraiso, he has worked ever since. He enjoys some prowess as a snake

hunter, but he dismisses this lightly.

"Hundreds of snakes pass my path and

I kill them," is all he has to say, except

to add that he has never killed a bushmaster. Matter of fact, he cannot remember ever having seen one. Ernest lives with his wife in Paraiso. They have four sons and 23 grandchildren.

No great-grandchildren yet, though. Nor- man, one of the sons, works for the Maintenance Division, as does Amos. Leo is a policeman and Charles an attendant at the Pedro Miguel gasoline station. They

all live in Paraiso. At 70, most people are thinking of taking things a little easier, but not

Ernest. He isn't ready to stop working

just yet. He feels sure he has another

couple of years work in him, he says. And

few men 20 years younger look as well as he does, Army Stetson and all.
May 2,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 17

STATISTICS ON CANAL TRAFFIC

For the purpose of comparison between pre-war and post-war traffic through the Panama Canal, statistics for

the fiscal year 1938 are used in this section, as being more nearly normal for peace time than those for 1939.

PACIFIC STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY IS OLDEST HERE

Honors as the oldest steamship company

on the Isthmus of Panama go to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company.

The company received its Royal charter on February 17, 1840. only three years after the young Victoria became Queen of England, and the long era of British steamship

enterprise began.

Its first charter granted it the right to work concessions obtained from the various Republics of the west coast of South America, with Panama as its northern terminal

port. Together with the Royal Mail Steam

Packet Company, PSXC has been inti- mately connected with the narrow neck

of land which unites the Americas since the company's beginning as a steamship

enterprise.

Passengers were taken to the Chagres

River by steamers of the Royal Mail line, which was the Atlantic carrier. Then they continued up the Chagres by small boats and across the remainder of the Isthmus by

pack mule. The trans-Isthmian trip took

four days and nights and cost $18, without

taking into account meals and other inci- dental expenses—a far cry from the one and

one-half hour, $1.25 (by train) journey of today.

Panama soon developed into a highly im- portant section of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's sphere of operations.

The company purchased Morro Island, which is separated from Taboga Island at high water and is connected by a narrow

strip of land at low tide. Here PSNC established workshops, houses

drydocks, hospitals, and the famous "grid- iron" where ships were drydocked and re- paired. There are still remnants of the old

buildings, paddle steamers, and other machinery on the island. In 1866, in order to get a supply of fresh water for its vessels, PSNC purchased a

small area on Taboga Island. The company

was unique in being the only steamship concern to have possession of island territory with monarchial rights. Both PSNC and the Royal Mail Company subscribed capital to the Panama Rail- road Company in the mid 1850's. Traffic rapidly increased but the harmony between

railroad and shippers was not to last. Argument with Railroad

In 1869 the Pacific Steam Navigation

Company complained to the Railroad that the division of through rates was excessive on traffic to and from Europe over the

A. F. HOWARD, whose 29 years of service with

the Pacific Steam Navigation Company include 23

years on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, was inter- rupted by the camera in a business talk with Michael MacDonald, standing, head of the PSNC passenger department. Mr. Howard is manager for PSXt ' on

the Isthmus. Mr. MacDonald, a comparative newcomer to the Isthmus—he has been here for only a

couple of years—compiled the material for the ac- companying history of PSNC activities on the Isthmus.

railroad. The Railroad's Superintendent at Panama,

Colonel A. J. Center, went to Callao

to discuss the question with George Petrie, PSNC's west coast manager. They reached an agreement whereby the through rates were divided on a basis of one-third for the

Atlantic carrier, one-third for the Railroad,

and one-third for the Pacific carrier. Directors of the Railroad Company, however, rejected this agreement and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company removed its shops and dockyards from Morro Island to Callao and established a fast, direct line to Europe via the Straits of Magellan.

Although the new direct service inaugurated by PSNC did not diminish, but rather

increased, the coastal services on the west

coast of South America, it did affect the trans-Isthmian route and the demand for coastal traffic to and from Panama fell away

BEST KNOWN of any of the PSNC vessels which ply back and forth through the Canal is

the Reina del Pacifico. This 17,872-ton, four-screw motor vessel, 551 feet long, averages eight trips

a year through the Canal between England and the west coast of South America. She has accommodations for 780 passengers, and has been the repatriation craft fcr many West Indian oldtimers

of Canal construction days who are going back home to the Islands.

considerably as the direct service from Europe improved. Income from the railroad activities dropped appreciably. PSNC, however, with

inauguration of the new service increased

its business to such an extent that in 1874

H had become the largest -hipping company

in the world, with a total of 57 steamer-, aggregating 127,700 tons. This tonnage was

equal to that of the entire United States Navy at that time.

In 1877 PSNC expanded further, establishing the Orient Line from the United Kingdom to Australia. Half a century later the Panama Canal was opened to commerce and PSNC was among the first shipping companies to utilize the waterway.

Move to Cristobal

In 1913 the Company's local offices were

transferred from Panama City to Cristobal and later occupied the new Royal Mail Line

Building (now known as the Pacific Steam

Navigation Building) in the heart of Cris- tobal's "Steamship Row."

Between World Wars I and II, PSNC

became one of the Panama Canal's best cus- tomers. Many of those living here will recall the familiar buff funnels of the popular

"O" class mail steamers, like the Orduna and

the Orbila which transited the Canal every two weeks, and the small coastal vessels in the Central American and Caletero service which arrived in Cristobal with loads ol

coffee, cocoa, and cotton for trans-shipment

to Europe and the United States. The coastal service lasted from 1915 to 1945 when the coastal steamers, Acajutla

and Salvador, were sold. During their 30

year's of service the two vessels each transited the Canal about twice a month, un- doubtedly setting a record for those days

for transits by any single craft. In the meantime PSNC had entered the agency business and had become representatives for such lines as Cunard Steamship

Company, Holland-America Line, Port Line,

Furness-Withv Line, and many others. More than 75 percent of the cruise liners which visit the Canal Zone are handled by

PSNC. Among these are such famous trans- Atlantic liners as the Caronia, Mauretania,

Ryndam, Nieuw Amsterdam, and the new

Ocean Monarch. Losses in World War II With the outbreak of World War II, PSNC became joint agents for the Ministry

of War Transport and local agents for Timber Control. A few familiar PSNC hulls disappeared: the 15,000-ton Oropesa was tor- pedoed and sunk off northern Ireland, the cargo vessel La Paz was torpedoed off Florida, and the MV Lagana was also torpedoed but managed to limp from the Caribbean

into Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She was later repaired and returned to service. The company's largest liner, the Reina

del Pacifico, was stripped of all her luxurious

fittings. As a troop transport she saw service in many parts of the world. She was in Norway for evacuation of Allied troops; she took part in the North African landings.

The liners Orbila and Orduna also saw war

service but did not return to the Company's

fleet at the cessation of hostilities. They

continued.'as transports until recently when

they were sold for scrap. The coastal steamer Acajutla was taken over by the United States Navy early in 1941 and WcS

used to carry supplies and materials for the construction of airbases in the Pacific and

Central American countries and in the Caribbean. During World War II the staff of PSNC's

Cristobal office took part in many wartime

activities, raising funds for "Spitfires," and

collecting clothing for air raid victims in the United Kingdom.

More Ships Ordered

After the war the company began to rebuild. Its present fleet consists mostly ol post-war vessels. Among these are the fast cargo-passenger ships Kenuta, Flamenco,

and" Cuzco, which have inaugurated a fast,

direct service from Liverpool '-See page nj)
18 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2, 1952

II. S. Registry Ships

Hold Top Position

For Third Quarter

Vessels ol I nited States registry continued to have the largest number of transits

(luring the third quarter of the fiscal year. Figures on the three muni lis traffic have

1 1 1 - 1 been released. The three next places, in frequency ol transits, remained unchanged from the two

previous quarters: British, Norwegian and

Honduran registries, in that order. Although United States ships remained

In tirst place, in both transits and cargo

carried, both figures for I'. S.-flag ships were less in the third quarter than in the two previous quarters of < his fiscal year. During the three mouths of January,

February and March. 404 U. S. -registered

ships, carrying 3,144,490 tons of cargo,

t ransited I he Canal. During the second quarter there were

535 I, S.-registered vessels, with 3,400,570

ions ol cargo and in the first quarter 534 IS. ships with 3,699,405 tons of cargo.

British shipping, which carried 2,096,489

tons during the past quarter in 340 vessels, was up. In the second quarter there were

297 British vessels and in the first 286. Norwegian shipping, in third place

throughout this fiscal year, had 111 ships

in the third quarter, 210 in the second and

175 in the first. Honduran vessels numbered 107 in the third quarter, 115 in the second and 101 ill the first. The first Iranian ship this year carrying

9,220 tons of cargo, transited during the

past quarter. This was the sole Iranian

transit. Mexico was second lowest with two and Costa Rica. Germany, Peru, Switzerland and Venezuela were tied with

three apiece.

Councils To Report

Civil Defense Plans

The progress which has been made in

civil defense plans for the Canal Zone's

civilian communities will be reported

within the near future at a meeting of the General Committee of Civic Councils. Charles W. Hammond, General Committee President, said that the meeting

would be called before the middle of May.

The Civic Council became active in the civil defense picture following an

air raid alert the night of Sunday, March

30. At a meeting the following Friday

at Balboa Heights the Council leaders

iigreed to begin a survey of volunteer

strength in each community as well as to study other civil defense measures. Primary stress was to be laid on telling

civilian residents what to do and where

to take shelter in case of a raid alert, Mr. Hammond said. Arrangements have been made in Pedro Miguel for first-aid classes and a survey has been made of the town's four World War II air raid shelters. The

area around these shelters has been

cleared with cooperation of the police. First-aid classes are also to be held

in Gamboa and other towns are expected

to make similar arrangements. The

classes will include some instruction in

cal, chemical and atomic warfare,

as well as in routine first aid procedure.

After the meeting this month, Mr. Hammond said he will present to the administration at Balboa Heights a summary of the council activities. He

said that possibly a little later a Canal

Zone-wide simulated alert may be held

to test and coordinate the activities of the various communities.

Governor Newcomer Appears At His Last Employee Conference

Continued from page 3) of failure to increase rentals was directed at the mili- tary services. In answer to two questions from Walter

Wagner, CLU-MTC president, Governor

Newcomer said that, 1 ) the cost of work

already done at Summit was charged

against Government funds, as is all site preparation, and 2) that grading at the new Corozal housing site will be held to a minimum.

Attending the conference were: the

Governor, Lieutenant Governor Herbert D. Vogel, Edward A. Doolan, Personnel

Director, and Forrest G. Dunsmoor, Executive Assistant to the Governor, for the Administration.

Walter Wagner, E. W. Hatchett, J. J. Tobin, Carl J. Hoffmeyer, and Owen J. Corrigan, CLU-MTC; Pat Coakley, a visitor; Margaret Rennie, Russell Hileman,

M. J. Goodin, and Raymond Ralph, Civic

Councils; Daniel P. Kiley, Pacific Locks; H. J. Chase and Rufus Lovelady, AFGE;

Robert C. Daniel, Railway Conductors;

Andrew Lieberman, Marine Engineers;

James Ahearn, Plumbers; and William S. McKee, Machinists.

CANAL TRANSITS COMMERCIAL AND U. S. GOVERNMENT

Third Quarter—Fi seal Year

1052 1951 1938

Atlantic

to

Pacific

Pacific

to Atlantic Total Total Total

Commercial vessels: Ocean-going . 809 853 1,642 1,370 1,386

*Small 208 197 405 264 219

Total, commercial .- .-..- -- 1,017 1,030 2,047 1,634 1,605

'T. S. Government \essels: 126 96 111

*Small 71 11 112

1,214 1,167 2,381

* Vessels under 300 net tons or 500 displacement tons.

** Vessels on which tolls are credited. Prior to July 1, 1951, Government-operated

ships i ransited free. TRAFFIC MOVEMENT OVER MAIN TRADE ROUTES

The following table shows the number of transits of large, commercial vessels (300 net tons or over) segregated into eight main trade routes:

Third Quarter, Fiscal Year

1952 1951 1938

130 126 264

434 305 145

131 101 30

219 196 142

51 27 39

189 192 271

104 79 134

107 70 65

277 274 296

1,642 1,370 1,386

CARGO HANDLED OVER PIERS

(In short tons)

'Third Quarter

Fiscal Year 1952

Average

quarter, 1951

Average

quarter, 1938

Cristobal Balboa Total All piers All piers

67,437 38,322 105,759 96,005 87,968

Local cargo forwarded 16,513 23,035 39,548 25,810 9,388

Transfer cargo received 102,353 1,946 104,299 105,137 138,386

Total incoming cargo handled . 186,303 63,303 249,606 226,952 235,742

3,603 138 3.741 3,552 1,584

Transfer cargo forwarded.. . 05.933 2,027 97,960 102,562 136,127

Total cargo handled and

285,839 65,468 351,307 333,066 373,453
May 2,1952 THEfPANAMA CANAL REVIEW 19

HEADQUARTERS of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company are in this handsome three-story

building, with penthouse apartment, directly opposite the Cristobal postoffice. Although the building's original name, Royal Mail, still appears on the facade, it is officially known as the Pacific Steam

Navigation building.

Traffic And Tolls Reach All-time Peak

The increase in commercial shipping

through the Panama Canal, which began

last September, climaxed during the end of the last quarter with a new all- time record for the number of transits, cargo and Panama Canal net tonnage and

the amount of tolls collected. The new record was 613 commercial

vessels of over 300 tons, set in March.

Cargo tonnage totaled 3,114,989 tons, Panama Canal net tonnage was 2,872,628 tons and tolls collected were $2,512,008.70

for the month.

The previous high of 597 commercial

ships of more than 300 tons was set in January 1929. During that same month

the previous tolls record $2,501,949.64

was set. The past quarter began with a slight

drop in shipping from the end of the previous quarter. In December, 550

commercial vessels were put through the Canal. At the beginning of the quarter, January, this figure dropped to 522 and declined still farther to 507 in February.

Tolls were also lower in January and

February than they had been in December

But the figure of 613 set in March and

the record amount of tolls, pulled the

entire quarter up so that the average monthly was 547 and the average monthly

amount of tolls was over $2,234,000.

The number of commercial transits has been over 500 each month since last September but went over 600, for the

first time, in March.

Grand Totals Is 2,381 In addition to the 1,642 large commercial vessels which transited during the

quarter, there were 405 craft of less than

300 tons, and 334 U. S. Government

vessels, to make a grand total for the quarter of 2,381. There was a marked increase in the amount of oil carried through the Canal

by tankers in the Atlantic-Pacific trade, the figure this past quarter for this commodity being 838,471 tons as compared

to 501,657 tons for the third quarter of the past fiscal year. Coal and coke shipments from the Atlantic to Pacific Ports were up. This commodity took

the number two spot in the quarter just concluded with a total of 587,976 tons, as against 410,689 for the previous

quarter and 377,347 for the corresponding

quarter of the past fiscal year. Another increase, but this for trade in the opposite direction, was shown in banana shipments. These totaled 183,- 901 tons for the quarter just concluded,

as compared with 182,532 for the previous

quarter and 126,064 tons for the third quarter of fiscal year 1951. Newcomer's In Top Cargo

Three commodities moved into the 15 most frequently carried cargoes, for the

first time this fiscal year. One of these was soybeans and soybean products,

72,195 tons, although this figure was

well below that of the previous fiscal year when this commodity, with 120,564

tons for the corresponding quarter, was

eighth on the Atlantic-Pacific commodity

flow. Chemicals, unclassified, are in the top 15, with 49,960 tons carried during

the past quarter, as compared with 31,898

for the corresponding quarter in 1951. The other newcomer this year to the top

15 was manufactures of iron and steel, from Pacific to Atlantic. During the

three months of the third quarter ship- ments of this commodity totaled 91,682

tons, as against 78,652 tons for the third quarter of 1951. As it has been for some time, mostly

because of banana shipments, the largest

number of ships using the canal were on

the trade route between the east coast

of the United States and the west coast

of South America. This number, 434

for the past quarter, was up appreciably

from the two previous quarters this year. The next most frequently used trade

route was that between Europe and the U. S. Canadian west coast. Intercoastal

traffic, 130 ships for the quarter just

ended, remained close to the figure for the previous two quarters this year. This trade, however, is considerably lower than for 1938.

Pacific Steam Navigation is Oldest Here

{Continuedfrom page ij) to the Canal

Zone. They make the run in 12 days. These three ships have been so popular

that PSNC has placed orders for three more

vessels of the same type. The additional

three will soon be in service. The Reina del Pacifico, completely refit- ted, rejoined the service in 1949 and is now

a link between the United Kingdom, France,

Spain, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Havana,

Jamaica, the Canal Zone and ports on the South American west coast. The present local business activities of PSNC are handled by Arthur F. Howard,

who has been in the Canal Zone for over 23

years. He became manager January 1, 1951,

after the retirement of Alan N. Dodd.

He is assisted by a group of young English- men, all of whom have served with some

branch of the British military service, and

by a local staff of Panamanian and West In- dian employees. Some of these have been

with PSNC for over 40 vears. MONTHLY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC AND TOLLS

Vessels of 300 tons net or over By fiscal years

Month

Transits

roils (In thousands of dollars)

1952 1951 1938 1952 1951 1938

July 463 513 457 $1,981 $2,373 $2,030

490 453 505 2,103 2,093 2,195

516 446 444 2,189 1,982 1,936

October __ . _ . 544 480 461 2,230 2,iioS 1,981

502 446 435 2,053 1,844 1,893

December 550 452 439 2,34 7 1,886 1,845

522 452 444 2,121 1,854 1,838

February,- _ 507 444 436 2,082 1,853 1,787

March.. _:_ _ . ... .... 613 474 506 2,512 1,943 2,016

April 470 487 2,007 1,961 May . 485 465 2,020 1,887

478 445 1,982 1,801

Totals for first nine months

of fiscal vear 4,707 4,160 4,127 $19,618 $17,896 $17,521

Totals for fiscal year
20 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 2,1952 =

NEW SUPERINTENDENT

KDWARD R. JAPS became Superintendent of Storehouses April 27, succeeding J. F. Prager, who

retired during the month and is now en route to his new home in California. Mr. Japs has been with

the I'imama Canal organization since 1917 when De went to work as a foreman in the Building Division. He has been with the Division of Storehouses since

1925.

Governor Newcomer's Four-Year Term

Notable For Far-Reaching Changes

iCtmtinuedframpagell) a few ranking

officials occupy the same positions in 1952 as in 1948. Retirements and

reassignments were responsible for the change and the creation of new bureaus

brought new officials into office. Employee Relations Improved

To better employee relations, Governor

Newcomer began monthly "shirtsleeve conferences" which are just as informal

as their nickname—they are known,

officially, as Governor-Employee Conferences. At these meetings representatives of labor groups and Civic Councils

discuss matters of overall interest. The Governor has held frequent

round table discussions with labor groups,

in addition to the monthly meetings.

In May 1950 he conferred for several days with national and local leaders of the American Federation of Labor. Another step toward betterment of employee relations was the institution

of The Panama Canal Review. Its

first issue two years ago announced that

its primary objective was "giving all employees a better understanding of problems affecting any considerable number."

During his term of office, his associates

believe, Governor Newcomer has been

required to devote more time to official

visitors than any preceding chief executive. These visitors have included the

Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Army, a large number of Congressmen,

members of the Board of Directors,

representatives of the Bureau of the Budget, and a number of special consultants on various projects such as incorporation changes and the housing program.

Despite a busy official life, Governor

Newcomer has found time for a few

outside activities. He is a member of the Chapter of St. Luke's Cathedral. He is interested in watching baseball. And he is an ardent—if not very good

golfer. All in all, the four years between

May 20, 1948 and May 19, 1952, have

been, for the Canal Zone as well as for Governor and Mrs. Newcomer, busy,

important, significant, and interesting.

Principal commodities shipped through the Canal

(All figures in long tons)

Figures in parentheses in 1938 and 1949 columns indicate

relative positions in those years ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

Commoditv

Mineral oils Coal and coke -- Manufactures of iron and steel Phosphates

Paper and paper products

Machinery

Vutomobiles and accessories.. Cement

Tinplate

Soybeans and products

Sulphur

Raw Cotton Sugar

Chemicals, unclassified.

Ammonium compounds

All others

Total

Third Quarter, Fiscal Year

1952

838,471

587,976

448,629

201,966

116,138

86,562

85,664

79,497

73,452

72,195 70,642 62,507

58,836

49,960

39,412

925,564

3,797,471

1951

501,657 (1) 377,347 (3) 388,345 (2) 128,577 (4) 79,796 (5) 61,629 (11) 73,920 (10) 67,196 (15) 44,723 (13) 120,564 (8) 49,543 (9) 87,922 (6) 43,521 (7) 31,898 (16) 23,168 (14) 828,909

2,908,715

1938

Olz

00 = ISJ- 236,664 (2 27,867 (13 362,008 (1 67,518 (6; 90,274 (4) 40,735 (10) 76,102 (5) 26,719 (14) 56,451 (7) 493 (~)

44,830 (9) 56,323 (8) 32,587 (11) 25,179 (17) 10,409 (22) 895.495

2,049.654

PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC

Commodity

( (res, various Lumber

Wheat

Nitrate Canned food products.-. Bananas

Sugar —

Metals, various

Refrigerated food products (ex- cept fresh fruit) Mineral oils Iron and steel manufactures.

Wool

Coffee. -. Copra

Dried fruit All others

Total.

Third Quarter, Fiscal Year

1952

825,352

733,110

583,416

358,579

312,537

183,901 181,890

158,633

156,751 110,043

91,682

78.839

77,565

63,830

61,847

660,538

1951

4,573,793

970,117

870,197

407,556

391,256

308,294

126,064

240.622

140,269

(1)

(2)

(4)

(5) (6)

(9)

(7)

(8)

128.626 (10) 95,729 (3) 78,652 (14) 63.299 (13) 63.838 (12) 45,670 (11) 22,124 (19) 679.069

4,575,266

1938

542,936

632,901

267,904

530,861

220,124

20,076 (17) 299,404 (5)

1 (.5,473 (8)

(2) O)

(6)

(3)

(7)

106,820 (10) 498,282 (4) 2,263 (-)

37,915 (15) 53,179 (13) 51,926 (18) 62,570 (12) 726,406

4,313,123

Canal commercial traffic by nationality of vessels

Third Quarter—Fiscal Year

1952 1951 1938

Nationality Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

British - - - 340

15930

3

2,096,489

62,259

77,789

31,021 9,217

264

15

217

1

1,682,785

72,161 18,490

15,927 9,400

348

3

1,626,625

10,012

2 48 56 34

234,802

28,008

49

69 177,813

29,075

161,735

1 26

86

1910

4.021 40

329

107

182026

1 7 1 ,393 7,416 272,616

130,462 9,220

5,540

110,637 188,743

28

2 26

84

153,543

2,391 237,518

173,751

138,303

312,330

96,467

Honduran 3,839

Irish - - 20

17 126,475 133,030

1277

1

31,762

495,136

25

2 27

74,022

2.000 148,289

10

223

4 14053

26

2

38,780

Netherlands 112,587

1.250 578,622

344,051

6,975

37,501 8,860

77 179,917

Norwegian

Panamanian

Peruvian

Philippine

222

100

36

782,748

506,624

7,710

37,674

17444

3

2

848,325

56,087

4,008

2 4,375

640

3

47,086

168,851

11,612

32 145,537 28 187,191

United States 492

3

3,144,490

4,546 4984 3,373,214

3,615 413 2,195,344

2 7,300

Total 1,642 8,371,264

1 1,370 7,483,981 1,386 6,362,777