Gift ofthe Panama Canal Museum tX-t^til-Co*)

THE

Vol. 4, No. 11 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, JUNE 4, 1954 5 cents

CONTRACTORS HILL JOB SCHEDULED TO START

NEXT MONTH; PROJECT LARGELY MACHINE WORK

ON CONTRACTORS HILL

CONSULTANTS AND Canal officials watch Thomas F. Thompson, geologist, center, during a visit

to the crack on Contractor's Hill. Left to right are : Lt. Gov. H. 0. Paxson, back to camera; Dr. C. W.

Livingston, mining engineer of Kdgemont, S. D.; E. C. Little, a civilian employee of the Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir, Va.; Francis B. Slichter, Chief of the Engineering Division of the Civil Works

Division, Corps of Engineers; Edward Burwell, Chief Geologist of the Corps of Engineers, and Richard

Stewart, a geologist who is on loan to the Engineering and Construction Bureau from the Meteorology

Branch. With his face hidden by Dr. Livingston is Lt. Ccl. Edward B. Jennings.

Conversion To 60-Cycle Current Moves

Soon Into Planning And Action Phase

Conversion of the Canal Zone power

system to 60-cycle current will move from

the planning into the planning-and-action

phase during the coming fiscal year. Although general use of 60-cycle elecical equipment in the Zone is still three or four years in the offing, some of the major steps in the conversion project will be taken during the coming 12 months.

These include the award of contracts for more than $2,000,000 worth of equipment;

expenditure of approximately $400,000 on

construction of a new substation at Mount Hope and replacement of certain

facilities at Gatun power station; and a Zone-wide survey of frequency-sensitive

equipment which must be converted or

replaced.

Although the main features of the proj- ect as well as the principal policies and

procedures have been tentatively deter- mined, much detailed engineering and

planning remains to be done. This will continue to a certain degree until the conversion has been completed.

Equipment Survey Started

The survey of all electrical appliances

and equipment for both domestic and in- dustrial use affected by the change is a major phase of the detailed engineering

planning required. This survey has al- ready been started on the Atlantic side and is more than half completed. Up to the present only industrial and commercial equipment has been surveyed and

listed. Of special interest to Canal Zone resi- dents will be the survey of domestic

equipment. It is presently (See page 15)

Comparatively Small

Number Of Workmen

Will Be Required

Actual work of blasting and

removing some 2,000,000 cubic

yards of rock from Contractors

Hill will be started next month,

under the plan of operation submitted by the Tecon Corporation, of Dallas, Tex.

The company, one of the large engineering and construction firms in the southwest United States, was awarded a negotiated contract for $3,391,000 late in May to do the work. Six other large

companies entered proposals for the job on a unit basis plus an added sum for the

mobilization of men, equipment, and

material. Because the work will be done on a

unit basis -so much for each cubic yard

of material removed—the final cost of the project is subject to revision as the work progresses. This will depend on the amount of material which must be re- moved for a stable slope of the Canal

embankment in that area. The bids were based on the blasting

and removal of 2,000,000 cubic yards of hard rock and 350,000 cubic yards of

soft rock of the Cucaracha formation. Project Is Machine Job

The project will be primarily a machine

operation and a comparatively small number of employees will be required because of the nature of the work and

the limited area of operation. A minimum

number will be brought from the U. S. Required chiefly for the project will be such highly skilled technical workers as

drill- rig operators, heavy equipment operators, and expert blasters. The number of employees required for the job and the amount and types of equipment to be used, are subject to changes as the work progresses, but the Tecon Corporation is not planning to bring an extensive amount of equipment.

The company plans to use 12 large trucks for hauling, each with a capacity

of 12 cubic yards and four 2\ cubic yard

shovels for moving the spoil material. Other equipment to be used includes drill

rigs, bulldozers, scrapers, and light trucks. The company plans to operate on two

10-hour shifts a day. This may later be changed to a three-shift basis. Contract One Of Largest

The contract for the work at Contractors Hill is the largest ever (.See page isi
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

Latin American Teachers

Training For Changeover

One hundred and thirty-four teachers who will make up the teaching staff of the Latin American schools of the Canal Zone

in the coming school year currently are busily engaged in preparations for the forthcoming transition to Spanish as the

basic language and to a curriculum accentuating an educational orientation to the Republic of Panama.

The teachers, many of them already

qualified for the change in the Latin

American schools, are working a six-hour

day, five days a week. The Summer

Institute program conducted by the Division of Schools opened May 3 and will continue until the end of July, 10 days

before the opening of schools on Augus 1 9. To assure maximum benefits from the

training, the teachers are divided into small groups of five or six. The groups

are led by teachers found by tests con- ducted before the close of the last school year to be well qualified.

Only Spanish is spoken in the classes and several different methods of teaching

are being employed. Some of the methods

used in classroom work include the reading of daily Spanish newspapers and the

use of tape recording machines and

radios. Announced In March

The intensive teacher-training program

is only one of several phases of considerable importance required in the change

first publicly announced last March by

Governor Seybold in an address to the Panama Rotary Club. In addition to the change from a predominantly English to

a predominantly Spanish curriculum, the Governor also announced that the curri- culum in the United States schools will be changed to provide for a Spanish course

in every elementary grade. Presently the teaching of Spanish begins in the fourth grade of all schools. In his addrsss to the Rotarians, and

in subsequent public announcements concerning the change in the Latin American

schools of the Canal Zone, the Governor

has emphasized the importance of train- ing and orienting the children of the non- United States citizen group in the Canal Zone to the language, customs, and tradition of their native land. "We must orient this student to his future culturally and socially—and it must be realized that his future is conjoined with his citizenship," the Governor stated. "The product of our present

sehool system (Latin American schools)

is ill-fitted to find employment equal to

his norm of possible attainments, nor is he well fitted to become one in this social body. These persons are unaware of the pattern of political thought or general as- pirations and problems of the Republic

of Panama. They enter their adult cit- izenship with a severe handicap."

Coincide With Panama

The Spanish language will be adopted

for all classroom work through the first

six grades during the coming school year. In grades 7 through 12 there will be a

partial changeover next year with complete changeover as promptly as possible.

It is expected that the complete change

in all grades will be achieved within the next two years. Meanwhile, the curricu- lum of the Latin American schools will be

changed as rapidly as possible to coincide more nearly with that of the schools in the Republic of Panama. It is also planned

eventually to changethe school year to coincide with Panama schools. When these changes are fully implemented, it will be possible for a student

to transfer from the Canal Zone to the Panama schools or to continue higher ed- ucation in Panama after graduation from

the Zone schools without serious difficulty. To assure proper adjustment on the part of both teachers and students, S. E.

Esser, Superintendent of Schools, and his assistants have already mapped out a

detailed program of the changes required

and methods of procedure.

Plans Made Early

Even before the close of these schools

early in April, plans and action were initiated. Principal among these were to determine those teachers qualified to teach in Spanish; obtain Spanish language

textbooks; plan the Summer Institute

training program to adapt teachers to the change; conduct a survey to determine

generally the percentage of pupils ready

for Spanish classroom work; and work

out a revised curriculum in keeping with

modern scholastic standards. Orders have already been placed for nearly $20,000 worth of textbooks in Spanish and these are being bought to the extent available in Panama.

Both in planning the curriculum of the Latin American schools and selecting

textbooks, Canal Zone school officials have had the close cooperation of the Ministry of Education of the Panama

Government. The Ministry as well as various school officials of the Republic

have given excellent assistance in the

selection of textbooks and other problems, according to Mr. Esser. Liberal Arts Courses Some details involved in the change are

still being perfected. For the La Boca

Junior College plans are being completed

to offer courses in liberal arts and commerce. Until now the emphasis at the Junior College has been in teacher train- ing although liberal arts courses have been

offered. The college curriculums for the next school year will be in tune with the Spanish language school system and will be designed to meet the needs of those

qualified graduates of the vocational high

schools as well as to meet qualifications

for higher education in the Republic of Panama.

With the redesignation of the schools and adoption of Spanish (See page 13)

TAPE-RECORDING machines and Spanish lan- guage newspaper reading are two of the methods

being used in the Summer Institute to teach teachers

to use Spanish with facility. Each small group is

led by an instructor well versed in the language. Above, reading newspapers, left to right, are: Clarence Skeete, Miss Gloria Holness, Basilio Cragwi.11, the class instructor, Mrs. Carmen Butcher, and

Miss Daphne Watkis. Below, shown using a tape-recording machine, left to right, are: John Evans, Miss Mabel McFaquhar,

Mrs. Evalina Pringle, instructor, Miss Pearline Carter, Mrs. Sylvia Doig, Miss Ruby Thompson, and

Mrs. Verona Campbell.

All teachers in these two groups are assigned to Pacific side schools.
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Employees Offered

Various Buying Plans

For Savings Bonds

A concerted effort is now being made

throughout the Canal organization to stimulate the purchase of United States Savings Bonds by employees through the

payroll deduction plan.

The purchase of Savings Bonds by

Canal employees during the past few

years has sunk to an all-time low and

presently is far below the national aver- age of more than 50 percent participation

among Federal employees. This showing

is a striking contrast to the record made

by the organization during World War

II when the Canal-Railroad organization

headed the list of all U. S. Government

agencies for much of the war period.

The present campaign has been initi- ated under the leadership of Norman F. Johnson, Employee and Labor Relations

Officer, who was recently appointed Savings Bond Officer by Governor Seybold.

Both President Eisenhower and Governor Seybold have recently stressed the importance of broad participation in the Savings Bond program by Federal employees for their personal security and

support of the national interests. To assist in the present campaign, Mr.

Johnson has arranged for the appointment of an employee in each of the major units of the Company-Government

to serve as chairman. These in turn will select committee members for each of the operating units of their bureaus. Bureau Chairmen

The Bureau Chairmen are: Miss Kathleen McGuigan, Office of the Comptroller; Otto Helmerichs, Personnel Bureau; H. S. Makibben, Administrative Branch and

the Governor's Staff; Douglas Johnston,

Community Services Bureau; M. R. Hart,

Supply Bureau; N. E. Demers, Transportation and Terminals Bureau; Mrs. Teresa G. Wright, Engineering and Construction Bureau; Charles T. Jacksan,

Marine Bureau; G. C. Lockridge, Civil

Affairs Bureau; and R. L. Thompson,

Health Bureau.

It is planned to canvass employees in- dividually throughout the organization.

The various bureau chairmen have been

requested to select sufficient committee

members to do this important and essential job.

The present campaign follows closely on the recsnt liberalization of payroll de- duction which permits a variety of plans

for the purchase of Savings Bonds by de- ductions in smaller amounts and over

longer periods.

Deduction Choices

To suit the individual needs of employees, four additional choices in amounts

to be deducted each bi-weekly pay period

are now available. These are five bi- weekly deductions of $7.50 for a $59

bond, five bi-weekly deductions of $15

for a $100 bond, three bi-weekly deductions of $25 for a $100 bond, and five bi-weekly deductions of $30 for a $200

bond. Continuing in effect are the choices of deducting the full purchase price of one

To The Employees . . .

Fifty years of work in the Canal Zone

has been devoted to one guiding purpose—

the construction of an interoceanic ivater- way and its efficient operation for world commerce. Within this half century of the Canal's

history many splendid records of achieve- ment have been written. It can be said

without thought of successful contradiction

that year in and year out the Canal organization has successfully performed its principal mission. Back of this accomplishment, however, is the story of the great majority of employees

doing just a little more than is actually

required on their jobs. It is that little something extra which you have put into your daily tasks that has spelled the differ- ence between a good record and an out- standing record of achievement. In a message to employees through this medium soon after my arrival, I stressed

the need for a unity of purpose, among all employees in doing their jobs. Now, two

years later, I am just as fully impressed

by this need. I believe that this unity of purpose may

be aided in no small degree by a more diversified and direct expression of opinions

by employees in all categories. For this purpose, I have in mind that The Pan- ama Canal Review can be better used as a medium for the interchange of ideas be- tween the Canal administration and the employees as well as among the employee

groups. I want to hear the opinions and suggestions on important questions by employees

as a group. That is the purpose of the scheduled meetings with your representatives. These include labor groups on matters concerning wages, hours, working conditions, or other conditions of employment;

and your civic councils for consideration of community problems. Two-way give-andtake communication is needed to increase understanding and goodwill. Because of the success which has attended

these conferences, I perceive that a broader medium for the exchange of ideas for indi- vidual employees is desirable. The Pan- ama Canal Review, which is published

primarily for your information and enjoy- ment, is admirably fitted for this purpose and you are cordially invited to so use it. Because of the limited opportunities I have to talk with many of you personally, I want to use this means to talk with you

directly. Letters containing suggestions or

inquiries may be addressed to me or to the Editor of The Panama Canal Review.

These will receive careful attention and

reply. Those letters containing suggestions or asking questions of interest to any considerable number of employees will be published together with replies. The names of authors of letters which are published will not be used if the writer specifically requests omission of his signature in The Review.

While within its means The Review

has been an outstanding, success as an employee publication, it should be -used more

freely as a two-way means of communication. The invitation to write letters to the publication expressing your frank opinion

or asking questions about any problem

has been extended before. It is being renewed now in all sincerity. I believe you will find it helpful. I am equally sure

that it will prove helpful to me.

C.Z. Library To Open Branch

At Margarita Service Center

A deposit library will be opened by the Canal Zone Library on the second floor of the Margarita Service Center about

August 1. The definite date for the opening will be announced later. The Margarita branch will be staffed and supplied from the Cristobal branch

library.

Present plans are to have the library open on Monday, Wednesday, and Fri- day of each week, from 2 p. m. to 6 p. m.

These dates and hours will also be verified later.

or more bonds of any established denomination each pay period or once a month

on the second pay period. Also continued

are the choices of five bi-weekly deductions of $3.75 for a $25 bond, three bi- weekly deductions of $6.25 for a $25

bond, and three bi-weekly deductions of $12.50 for a $50 bond. Another advantage is that an average

dating procedure will now be applied to

all bonds of $50 or more whose purchase

is spread over five bi-weekly periods.

Thus instead of the bond being dated

after the full purchase price has been

accumulated, it will be dated from the middle deduction.

OFF TO EUROPE

MITZI SIEGEL, Canal Zone Girl Scout, leaves July 1 for New York enroute to Switzerland where

she will attend The Chalet, International Juliet Low

Camp in Adelboden. She will represent not only

the Canal Zone but all other areas—New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands

which compose Girl Scout Region 2, and will be the

first Canal Zone girl to attend The Chalet. She will fly to New York and sail July 9 for Europe

on the S. S. United Stales with others headed for The Chalet. Before returning to the United States

to enter college at Grove City, Pa., she will visit London and Paris. She plans to return to the Canal Zone during Christmas vacation to tell local Girl Scouts of her summer experiences. The niece of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Steiner of Balboa.

she graduated this week from Balboa High School.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

TEACHERS WORK ON SCHOOL

SELF-EVALUATION PROGRAM

THIS GROUP of Balboa High School teachers is typical of those which have spent many extra hours

during the past school year on the evaluation pro- gram. Seated clockwise around the table are: Mrs. Mary B. Eugene, Miss Alice E. Candee, Harold J.

Zierten, Assistant Principal, Miss Hallie Beavers,

Lester D. Hummel, Miss Margaret V. Whitman,

Walter M. 0. Fisher, Miss Mary S. Brigham. Standing is Joseph M. Soha.

Unknowingly, perhaps, some graduate

of Balboa or Cristobal High School in the

class of 1960 will have reason to be grateful for many hours of work done this school year by the faculties of those

schools. The graduate will have cause for thanks

because of receiving admission to one of the major United States universities "without reservations." That will mean

the high schools are accredited by the Middle States Association, one of several

regional associations of colleges and

secondary schools. "Accreditation," in turn, means that both high schools meet high standards in the field of education. It means, also, that graduates of such schools for a 10- year period may be accepted for admission to most colleges without the requirement of entrance examinations or other

qualifying rules. Both high schools and the Canal Zone

Junior College are to be examined for accreditation next year by the Middle

States Association. Preparatory to the survey by the Middle States Association committee in the coming school year, both high schools and the Junior College underwent this year was a self-evaluation program. This

is being done by the faculties of the three

schools in addition to their normal

teaching duties. Survey Next Year The Middle States Association, which

has jurisdiction of schools outside the

continental United States, will send an

independent committee to the Canal Zone

next February to review the self-evalua- tion made by the school faculties and to make a critical first-hand survey of the

schools. If the schools meet the criteria established by the General Committee in Charge of Cooperative Study of Secondary Schools they will then be given

formal accreditation. This General Committee, formed in 1933, is divided into six regional associations of which the Middle States Association is one. The two Canal Zone high

schools have been fully accredited for the

past 25 years. This is the second time

that they have been visited by representatives of the Middle States Association. The schools were first visited by this Association in 1945 when two committees

were sent to the Zone to make the study.

They issued independent reports on the two high schools which have since been

used in guidance for changes and improve- ments in school facilities and curricula. The self-evaluation program done this year by the faculties of the high schools and Junior College is a detailed and

complicated task. For the job, individual committees were formed during the first part of this school year to study and

evaluate specific phases of school work. Faculty Committes

The committees were appointed from

the faculties by the two high school principals and the dean of the Junior College.

Each of the committees met frequently

after school throughout the school year to study and discuss their particular subjects. An individual teacher might be appointed to several different committees.

When the individual committees completed their work, their findings on a particular subject or phase of school work

were presented to the full school faculty

for evaluation. The reports were consolidated after approval by the full faculty committees

and forwarded at the end of the school year to the Middle States Association. They will then be used for study by

the committee appointed by the Association to make the first-hand evaluation next February. The visiting committee

will be assisted in work by a local committee appointed prior to its arrival here. The Canal Zone schools were furnished with copies of the 300-page Evaluative

Criteria prepared by the General Committee for guidance and instruction in making secondary school evaluations. This covers the entire scope of education

in secondary schools. Some of the broad subjects covered in evaluating schools for accreditation are: School plant and equipment; qualification

and training of faculty members; school

administration; program of studies; pupil

activity program; library services; and

guidance services. These are, in turn, subdivided into many different categories. For example,

the program of study classification is divided into five main subjects and one

of these which covers classroom studies

is divided into 16 parts. The Evaluative Criteria book prescribes the bases for evaluation of each of the

subjects, some of which are based on a possible 90 different evaluations. There

are from 35 to 40 evaluations listed for such subjects as mathematics, music,

English, foreign languages, and other

individual classroom subjects.

Reproduction Plant Moved

From Diablo Heights Office

Establishment of a duplicating unit in the basement of the Administration

Building at Balboa Heights and the re- moval of the printing equipment from

Diablo Heights Reproduction Plant to the Mount Hope Printing Plant will soon

be effected by the Supply Bureau. Work

on the premises to be occupied is now

underway.

The move, which will involve the util- ization of most of the space in the north wing of the basement of the Administration Building, will be completed by the end of the fiscal year. Equipment to be moved from Diablo

Heights to Balboa Heights will include the photostat equipment and the direct

offset duplicating equipment. Print- making equipment now operated by the Engineering Division will be included in the new unit. A number of smaller repro- duction machines such as the mimeograph

and ditto machines, now located in other

units, also will be moved to the basement

wing as part of the consolidation move. Two U. S.-rate employees and one

local-rate employee of the Reproduction

Plant will be transferred to the Atlantic

side and two employees in the units con- cerned will be released. The Reproduction Plant was first or- ganized as a unit of the Special Engineering Division about 13 years ago and since that time it has been located in the lower

floor of the Special Engineering Building

at Diablo Heights. Since 1949 it has been

a unit of the Panama Canal Printing Plant. o *** 3

NEWCOMERS ALL. these three knew other new- comers and helped to organize the Atlantic siders' Newcomers Club. Left to right, Mrs. Galeon Jarvis, Mrs. Duke Wilson, and Mrs. John L. Sugar. Mrs.

Wilson is the group's president. {Story on page. 16)
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Surgical Trays Come Ready-Packed

From Hospital9

s Sterile Supply Unit

The other day a young Pacific sider climbed a mango tree. Mango trees and

boys being what they are, he toppled out and cut his forehead. A little later, he was at a doctor's

office in the Medical Out-Patient Clinic at Gorgas Hospital for repairs. The doctor decided that a couple of stitches would have to be taken to close the gash

in the youngster's head, and asked his nurse to get what was necessary to do

the job. Until a few weeks ago the nurse would

have assembled the instruments and

gauze and bandages the doctor needed,

from the clinic's cabinets and sterilizers. That was before the days of the hospital's new Central Sterile Supply Unit. Instead

she sent a messenger to the new unit with a note requesting a minor suture set. Ready Packed

A few minutes later the doctor had in

his hands an oblong package, wrapped in two thicknesses of cloth and tied with

string. A typed list showed him what the package contained: sutures, instruments,

gauze, a hypodermic needle, etc. Everything in the package was sterile and ready

for use; a date on the list showed him

when it had been prepared.

When the boy's head had been fixed up, the doctor bundled the instruments and

other equipment back into the tray and

returned it and its contents to the headquarters of the Central Sterile Supply

Unit on the second floor of the Gorgas

Hospital Administration Building.

There the instruments were washed,

dried, sterilized, the gauze replaced, the

tray repacked and the whole thing resterilized, ready for use again when an- other little boy cut his head or some other minor repair job had to be done.

Supplies Clinics, Wards

Central Sterile Supply, established in February and now operating at almost

full strength, supplies not only the Medical Out-Patient Clinics but all of the

hospital's other clinics and wards. It also

sterilizes supplies for Corozal Hospital

and for the out-lying clinics at Gamboa

and Pedro Miguel. Its establishment is the fulfillment of a long-felt need. ' When plans for the Sterile Supply Unit

ASSISTANTS at Gorgas Hospital's new Central Sterile Supply Unit wrap packages of gauze and

sharpen hypodermic needles while their supervisor, Mrs. Ethel Hearn, works at a table in the background. Left to right are: Ernest A. Welch, Rosa de Reyes, Rosan Trowers, and Doris M. Tubar. Their

service with the hospital totals 58 years.

*£** | g

NEEDLES for hypodermic syringes are sharpened by Rosan Trowers" before they are packed into a

surgical tray.

were first considered, a central location had to be selected. The space on the

east end of the hospital's Administration

Building, on the second floor where the Medical Clinic had formerly been located, was practically what the doctors ordered.

Partitions were removed and steam lines and heavy duty electric cables were in- stalled. Stainless steel equipment, such

as sinks, instrument cabinets, storage

shelves, dressing carriages and sterilizers which had been in use in dispersed units, was centralized at the hospital.

The only new equipment necessary was

a needle-cleaning outfit and a Rube Goldberg sort of a machine which washes,

dries, and powders rubber gloves in a matter of minutes. The same job, done

by hand, takes hours.

Staff Of Four

Ethel Krziza Hearn, whose nursing ex- perience includes 14 years in operating room technique and sterilizing methods,

is in charge of the Central Sterile Supply

Unit. She has four local-rate assistants. As the service expands, a clerk and a messenger will be needed to speed up delivery

and return of the prepared trays and to keep daily inventory records of material and equipment.

The flow of work in the unit is arranged

for maximum efficiency and there is as

little waste of physical labor as long planning could contrive. For instance, follow the minor suture

tray when it was returned from the OutPatient Clinic after the youngster's cut forehead had been attended to. Mrs. Hearn received the tray from the

clinic messenger. She checked its contents to be sure that everything which

it had contained, except the bandages, of course, had been returned. The instruments were taken apart and

washed, in soap and hot water, in the two

stainless steel sinks which stand at the

right side of the room. Trays Prepared

The tray itself was washed and dried and a fresh layer of gauze laid in its bot- tom as a pad for the instruments. The

cleaned instruments were laid out on the gauze in the order in which they would

be used. In the meantime, at tables in the center of the room, her assistants were fold- ing pieces of gauze and wrapping them

in heavy brown paper. The gauze pads come in two sizes, 4 by 8 inches and 2 by

2 inches. The heavy paper, about the weight one uses to wrap packages for mailing, makes an inexpensive, neat, and

efficient wrapper for the surgical gauze, Mrs. Hearn says. The packets are sealed with a special tape which resists heat and

which can do double duty as a label. To the tray, after the instruments had

been laid in order, Mrs. Hearn added as many packages of gauze as it requires.

This tray and others are made up according to specifications prepared by the doctors and nurses of Gorgas Hospital. Pressure Cooker

With the addition of the surgical gauze, the tray was almost ready for the sterilizer. Mrs. Hearn made a last check against her list. The tray was then

wrapped in two thicknesses of cloth, tied with heavy twine and placed in the "autoclave," an oversized pressure cooker which looks something (&e page it)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE IN^CCIDENT PREVENTION

\ f Mf —•£ "HOW TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT"

Anybod) can have an accident. Ii takes no skill, no talent, no imagination. Suppose

i tayed in bed for the rest of your life. are you would have ,\<t aci i lent

3, , oi later. However, the world is lull

of impatienl people who prefer to go out looking foi ways to get into an accident. One would think a normal-minded person should not like to have an accident, but

reading an article by a staff member

of the National Safety Council—and our

accident reports substantiate his findings

it appear- thai the normal attitude of all people is a desire to be hurt, or to hurt others. Let us look at some outstanding examples

from our ow n accident files:

a. lake the cases of two stevedores. One re-entered the dark hold of a ship

to pick up a rope left there. He found

the rope and the open hatch through

which he fell to the third deck below. He suffered only a fractured right arm,

shoulder, and pelvis. Somewhat luckin was the other stevedore who, a few week later, went into a dark hold and

stumbled over some cargo which kept

him from falling down the open hatch.

b. A group of workers dug into a hank of dirt until it caved in on them. Only one man received a compound

fracture of the leg. A few weeks later the same men were found to be digging

into the same bank in the same way.

c. An employee took off his goggles

to wipe his eyes; just then a gust of wind blew some dust into his eyes. He

lost four days from work. Another employee took off his metal hat to wipe

his brow just as a bolt was dropped

from above. He received a bad cut and a lump on his head.

d. An operator of a fork-lift truck had the habit of letting his foot dangle

over the rear bumper. In backing up, he bumped into another truck and

HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

APRIL

SUPPLY BUREAU

COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Community Services 2

Civil Affairs 1 Health 1 Supply 1 Engineering and Construction

Marine

Transportation and Terminals

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES

APRIL

ELECTRICAL DIVISION

SERVICE CENTER DIVISION

SANITATION DIVISION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Aids to Navigation 3 Sani tation 3 Service Center 3

Electrical 2 Motor Transportation 2 Grounds Maintenance 1 Hospitalization and Clinics 1 Railroad 1 Storehouses 1 Commissary

Dredging

Industrial Locks

Maintenance

Navigation

Terminals

crushed his ankle between the two

bumpers.

e. A helper stepped oa a nail in a board from a crate he was unpacking.

On returning to work a few days later he was given "light duty" removing the

crate lumber. As he started to work he

dislodged a heavy piece of lumber

which fell on his injured foot, resulting

in more time off from work.

f. Playing with gasoline is a very

favorite way of having an accident. Four men were cleaning the motor and

clutch of a launch with gasoline. When

one of them turned on the launch radio, a spark ignited the fumes. The result- ing explosion burned all four. Next, as a grass cutter threw some gasoline on

a smoldering rubbish pile to make it burn faster, he spilled some on his pants

which caught lire also and severely burned his ieg.

g. A janitor was sent to remove a -mashed calabash from the steps in front of the Administration Building to prevent an accident. As he stooped to pick it up he slipped and fell, thereby

becoming the accident statistic himself. h. An employee on a lock wall was

loosening a bolt near a live electric

rail. The wrench slipped, hit the rail, and the flash caused the employee to jump backward into the lock chamber.

Result —he suffered electric shock,

burns, contusions of the throat and

ankle, and came very near drowning.

i. A teacher, to emphasize a point

in his lecture, struck the blackboard so hard he fractured his fingers. These are only a few outstanding ex- amples among those whose injuries caused them to be off from work. Among those

injured only slightly, the list i- even more

impressive, with greater talent shown.

Since accidents come so naturally to so many talented amateurs, it seems superfluous to draw up rules for the promotion

of more accidents but for those not so

talented or ambitious, a few rules which

management could use would help to in- crease the records:

1. When you hire- a new man never

explain safe procedures to him. Just

say "There it is, good luck."

2. Never let your men wear safety

equipment or use the safety devices provided on the machines.

3. Make sure all safety rule books and pamphlets are kept under lock so they won't be stolen.

4. Make sure all executives and visi- tors do not obey the safety rules. Let them wander around the job without wearing the proper safety equipment

and smoke in dangerous areas.

5. Don't keep any records of your

accidents. If some outfits like the Safety or Claims Branch insists on re- ports, just put down any old thing for the cause of the accident, such as, "the

pipe bounced on the employee's leg." Never commit yourself on what could be done to prevent a similar accident

in the future. In fact, just say, "the employee was careless," or better yet

just put in the word "nothing."

6. Put the safety program under the

direction of an overburdened office clerk, a superannuated janitor, or some

inexperienced employee.

7. Instruct your safety personnel, thus selected, not to bother you with

reports. Tell them that safety is a

noble idea but it should not be taken

seriously nor allowed to interfere with

the work.

8. Don't let any safety personnel in- veigle you into a lot of "preventative

maintenance," or the installing of safety

guards. These things cost money and

get into the way of workmen trying to cut off their fingers. 9. Make sure your workers know you do not want to be bothered making out minor accident reports and that you do

not have time to listen to their ideas.

10. Never put up any safety signs, never install any safety lanes; always

keep a messy cluttered job-site so you

will appear to be too busy for any

accident prevention promotion.

11. For the best result of all, go out and have an accident yourself. Make

it such a good one that in remembrance

the workers will always remember you

for your shining example.

APRIL 1954

Supply Bureau

Community Services Bureau

Health Bureau

Civil Affairs Bureau

C. Z. Govl.-Pan. Can. Co ( Last 3-Year Aver.)

Marine Bureau

Engineering and Construction Bureau

C. Z. Govl.-Pan. Can . Co. ( This Month)

Transportation and Terminals Bureau

Disabling Injuries per 1,000,000 Man Hours Worked

( Frequency Rate)

10 £0 so 40 5C

'

10 U_

- '

' H__

n

Si

[ ' '''

' '"*'* *» 13 __

is Hp

PM

L6 P—H_

mm______ ;

,

; w^n

10 20 30 40 50

Number of Disabling Injuries- .. . . .38 Man-Hours Worked- - .2,373,034 LEGEND

|

I Amount Better Than Canal Zone Government—Panama Canal Company Last 3-Year Average

I l Amount Worse Than Canal Zone Government—Panama Canal Company Last 3-Year Average

F>X:

:

: :':':j Accumulative Frequency Rate This Year
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

'' i "—I

Official Panama Canal Company Publication

Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

John S. Seybold, Governor-President H. 0. PAXSON, Lieutenant Governor William G. Arey, Jr. Public Information Officer

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Editorial Assistant

SUBSCRIPTION—$1.00 a year SINGLE COPIES—5 cents each

On sale at all Panama Canal Service Centers, Commissaries, and Hotels for 10 days

after publication date.

SINGLE COPI ES BY MAIL—10 cents each BACK COPIES—10 cents each On sale when available, from the Vault

Clerk, Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

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

Canal Review, Balboa Heights, C. Z.

Assistant To

Comptroller

E. A. SUNSTROM arrived early last month to assume his new post as Assistant to the Comptroller

of the Panama Canal Company. He succeeds Ira L. Wright who retired from the Canal service the end

of January. Formerly Comptroller of the Tennessee Valley

Authority, Mr. Sunstrom comes to the Canal organization from the Foreign Operations Administration

with which he served in Paris and The Hague. He

had been Comptroller of the FOA for about a year

prior to his appointment to the Panama Canal Company.

OF CURRENT INTEREST

COL. CRAIG SMYSER, Director of the Engineering and Construction Bureau since July 1952,

left, was photographed recently on top of Contractors Hill with Edwin A. Abbott, a civilian engineer with the Corps of Engineers who was one of the consultant group here last month.

Colonel Smyser will leave within the next few weeks for his new assignment at the Armed Forces

Industrial College in Washington, D. C. He will be succeeded as E & C Director by Col. Hugh M.

Arnold who is attending the Army War College. A native of Georgia, Colonel Arnold is a graduate of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Engineer Reserve in 1930.

The administration has approved the pur- chase of safety shoes through payroll deduction. The payments may be made in one

or two installments. This applies only to those shoes having a metal toe built into the shoe for the protection of the feet. These shoes are now on sale in all the main commissary stores where shoes are

usually sold. Styles in safety shoes vary from an ordinary work shoe to a dress sport

oxford, with the price range accordingly.

However, now being offered, in a special

sale, is a good low-priced work shoe which

meets the requirements of a good safety shoe for the local-rate employees.

High School took place the following after- noon. June 1 was Commencement Day for the Canal Zone Junior College, from which 33 were graduated, and for Balboa and Cristo- bal High Schools. Sixty-two students were graduated from Cristobal High School, ex- actly the same number as last year, and 151 received their diplomas from Balboa High

School, a drop of 31 from the previous year.

Awards were to be made today to the second group of employees in the Commissaiy

Division who, as the result of the recently in- augurated incentive award system, have been

judged to have given service over and above

the requirements of their jobs. The program was started during April on

a trial basis in five of the retail stores as part

of the overall Commissaiy training program now being carried on by the Division. The

first awards were made early in May to 41 employees.

The awards are being given to selling and

non-selling personnel and are in two classes: monetaiy awards for those giving exemplary and superior service, and recognition awards

for meritorious service.

Diplomas or certificates of promotion

in thf case of Junior High School Students were given this week to 573 graduates of the Canal Zone schools. Although the total number was slightly lower than that of last year when 581 were

graduated, the number completing Balboa

Junior High School—238—was the highest on record. And with 279 seventh graders

entering the eighth grade in the fall, the BJHS total next year will be even higher.

The Balboa Junior High School closing

il.i\ exercises were held at the Balboa I heater on May 27. Closing-day exercises for the 89 eighth graders at Cristobal Junior

The first of the new houses now under construction at Diablo Heights are expected to be completed about the middle of July. If possible the Housing Division will assign the quarters before completion.

In all, 33 two-family, two-story, masonry

houses, each apartment having three bed- rooms, are being built at Diablo Heights.

The first to be completed will be those in the immediate vicinity of Walker Avenue, near

the Commissaiy. All 01 the quartets aie to be finished by the middle of September.

Meanwhile, work is progressing on the q8

apartments being built in the Balboa Flats area. This contract is to be completed Jan- uary 3, 1955. Site preparation has been almost completed in the Ridge Road area where 17 "mother-in-law" houses are to be built, and

four houses on Quany Road are under construction.

A group of navigational aids which have

been under the United States Coast Guard,

although some of them were serviced by the Panama Canal Company, are being transferred tci the Company. They will be maintained by the Aids to Navigation Section, whose headquarters are being moved from Gatun to Gamboa after the beginning of the next fiscal year. They are the lights on Cristobal Mole,

Roncador, Quito Sueno, and Serrana Banks

in the Caribbean; and the Cape Mala light and radio beacon—approximately 95 milr> from Balboa—the Jicarita and Morro Puercos lights, in the Pacific,
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

If a section of Panama

YOUR

Railroad track TOWN

had not sunk six feet one morning in 1907

the Canal Zone town of La Boca 'The

Mouth" might not be where it is today.

The La Boca area might look like the environs of th p locks at Mirafiores instead of what it is— one of the

oldest local-rate towns. The canal plan had called for two sets

of Lot at Pedro Miguel and the

othei iosa Hill. Tl ,. were to have

been s iparated by a large terminal lake.

be known as Sosa Lake. Not all the

(

'

- ;d s t op m M John F. Stevens, among

them approved the idea but had begun

work on the dams for the lake. A 1 1 -it he s sction of track near La Boca

sank suddenly and a trestle toppled, Chief

Kngineer George W. Goethals appointed

a board to study lock sites. Eventually

the present locations were determined

and La Boca returned to its former status

of Pacific terminal for the Panama Rail- road and the only Pacific port between

Callao in Peru and Salina Cruz in Mexico where deep-draught vessels could unload at a wharf. It seems strange today

to read that the transfer provided not

only more stable foundations but also better protection from bombardment

from the sea! French Days

As far as its history goes, La Boca

went through three phases. At La Boca

the old trail from Panama City to the towns which are now considered to be in the "Interior" crossed the Rio Grande.

The French Canal Company, as the Americans did later, used the valley of the Rio Grande as the southern end of their canal line. In 1881 they began to build shops at La Boca where their dredges could be assembled. One historian reports that the French

Company loaned enough money to the Panama Railroad for construction of a deep-water harbor and a 960-foot steel

pier. This pier, which eliminated the old

lighter system, is still standing although

it has been much changed in appearance.

Just as the Americans did later, the French planned for a double lock near La Boca. When the French Company sold its interests to the United States in 1904 the

buildings and wharves in La Boca were

part of the properties transferred. No

LA BOCA, first Canal town seen from ships entering the Pacific end of the canal, is at almost the southernmost tip of the Canal Zone. A small bit of the ocean is visible in the upper right. The school

buildings, where over 1.000 pupils attended classes last year, are at the top of the photograph.

K. D. MELANSON

Commissary Manager

better description of this phase of La

Boca can be found than the following,

from the 1905 report of the Isthmian

Canal Commission:

American Days

"The town is divided into two parts

by the railroad tracks and yards. On

one side all of the buildings are owned

by the United States and on the other

nearly all of the buildings were erected by private parties on land leased from the

old French Company. All of the build- ings in this town owned by the United

States are being overhauled and repaired; several of the more dilapidated were de- stroyed and in their places have been

erected two large and commodious barracks, one for the unmarried and one for the married employees working at this point.

"Repairs on the old ones have reached such a point that it is proper to say that

this portion of the town has been rebuilt and instead of being a dangerous plaguespot, the town has now become a model

camp with houses in good repair, freshly

painted, supplied with electric lights, a water system and good drainage. A good

road of Telford pavement constructed by

the Commission connects La Boca with

the outskirts of Panama."

This was written after two cases of bubonic plague had broken out at La

Boca. The resultant quarantine disrup- ted the transportation system and called

for stringent measures by sanitary authorities. At this time La Boca was primarily a settlement for American employees. Its commissary, opened in September 1907, supplied Ancon and Balboa by wagon

each morning; current from its electric

light plant was furnished to Ancon and

Balboa and, later, to Corozal. There was an elementary school, lo- cated about where the present Service, Center stands. In September 1908, however, The Canal Record reported:

"Owing to the small number of children attending school at La Boca last year, that school has been abolished and the

children at La Boca will be transported

to and from the school at Ancon in a wagonette."

This phase of La Boca history ended

in April 1909, when, by executive order, the town was renamed Balboa. The

Peruvian Minister to Panama had sug- gested the change, saying "As the Atlantic entrance to the Canal is named 'Cris- tobal Colon' for the great navigator and

discoverer of our continent, so should the

Pacific entrance be named after the in- trepid Balboa, its discoverer." Thereafter, although there continued to be a

thriving Pacific side town it was known

as Balboa or East Balboa, and the name

La Boca disappeared from official records,

temporarily.

Again La Boca

In August 1913, exactly one year before

the S. S. Ancon made the first official transit of the Canal, Colonel Goethals

authorized "the construction of a labor camp at La Boca to provide accommodations for West Indian laborers." At this time the name for the town had not been

chosen. Several names were suggested: La

Boca, Lesseps or deLesseps; Espinosa,

after the founder of Old Panama; Morgan

Town, for the buccaneer; and Lincoln, in honor of the Civil War President. Some

objection was found to all except the

first of these and on August 18, 1913, the

MRS. BEDLAH M. SHOEMAKKU

Nurse-in-Charge, First Aid Station
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

town was officially named La Boca. La Boca, substantially as it is today, was laid out in a rectangular plan on part

of a large fill, southeast of Sosa Hill. Both streets and avenues, which now

bear such names as Martinique and Gren- ada Streets and Jamaica Prado, wer^

originally numbered. The town was di- vided lengthwise by a park; family quarters were all on the south side and

bachelor quarters on the north. A commissary, near the present entrance to Dock 6, supplied "canned vegetables and

cold storage goods."

An elementary 'school was opened early

in 1914 and in September of that year its enrollment was 129. Last year over 1,000 students attended the three La Boca

schools. Street car tracks ran parallel to La Boca Road and provided transportation to Panama City. The street car

service was maintained until 1941. Houses — Old And New

Some of the houses were new but many

were brought from towns which were

being abolished. There were the old hospital, dispensary, and commissary from

Portobelo, converted into living quarters; a laborer's barracks from Gorgona; a bar- racks from Paraiso; two houses from Gatun; and several from Diablo. Not all of them had plumbing or kitchens. Wash

houses, outhouses, and cook sheds stood behind each small group of quarters. Wood to fuel the stoves was dumped

daily into boxes at the entrance to each

set of quarters by a wagon from a sawmill

located where the Balboa police station now stands. Maintenance of La Boca was something

of a problem. In late 1914, the administration offered prizes of $5, or a percent- age reduction in rent, for the best-kept,

neatest, and cleanest quarters of various

types. The prize system was followed for about two years. While La Boca was primarily a town

for local-rate workers, there were a few

American families living there. Most of the Americans were people waiting completion of quarters in Balboa and Balboa

Heights. Old La Bocans still call the

street where they lived "Gold Street." In 1915 the Acting Governor, Chester

Harding, turned down a Metal Trades

Council request that the La Boca quarters be assigned to Americans and said: "The administration hopes to provide

quarters sufficient to house every Gold

employee on the permanent force. Quarters are being constructed as fast as the money is available. I think the present

unsatisfactory state-will not continue for more than a year."

Sports Town

Present day Zonians know La Boca as a great sports town and it was in its hey-day in the 29's and 30's. The East End cricket team, later the La Boca

Cricket Club, drew big crowds to their Sunday games and mid-week games wer?

scheduled whenever a British ship came

into port. Both men and women played "rounders," a sort of ballgame, between their quarters, and the youngsters diverted themselves sliding down Sosa Hill—no- where near the same shape now as it was

then—on palm fronds, or swimming in the sea behind the old Clubhouse. Dominoes, which can be quite an athletic sport

BOCA

FRANCIS A. CASTLES

Principal, La Boca High School when played in La Boca, was an underthe-house pasttime.

Goats, kept for their milk, wandered

through the town and bees from the numerous apiaries—some families had as many as 30 hives behind their quarters

stung unwary passersby. Fishermen, in those "good old days," sold their catches, not by the pound but by the string and

EDWARD A. GASKIX

Principal, La Boca Elementary School

for as little as 10 to 15 cents a string.

Movies cost 5 cents for youngsters in the

silent film days.

The war boom almost doubled La Boca's population. From 3,228 in 1930, the town swelled to 6,076 in 1942. Contract

laborers from Colombia, Salvador, Costa

CECIL C. GITTENS

Service Center Manager

Rica, and the West Indies were housed

in giant new barracks and fed from central messhalls. As nearly as possible they were separated by nationalities -Jamaicans in one

building, Colombians in another, etc.

but despite this there were international

difficulties which flared into frequent dis- turbances until the men learned to work

together and keep their frazzled tempers

under control. Sports helped to make

them friends —although international ri- valry was keen— and the various groups formed football teams which drew crowds

of two to three thousand at their matches.

Facilities Added

During the hectic World War II period

the town's facilities were strained. A

theater was built as an addition to the Clubhouse; the restaurant was enlarged.

A library was established in the high

school which had been built in 1937, and

a dispensary and emergency fire station were built. Town spirit made itself felt in an active Civil Defense group. After the end of the war the contract

laborers went back home and the town

returned to normal, except for such flur- ries of excitement as the Commissary fire in February 1950. An emergency commissary was established in the old res- taurant but it was months before the badly-damaged Commissary building was

repaired and back in operation. 1953 Population About 3,000

A year ago La Boca was a community

of about 3,000 and its population is still dwindling as its people are moving into newer and more modern quarters in Paraiso. But there are still six churches in the town.

It still has its big Commissary and one

of the largest Service Centers—La Bocans

still call it a clubhouse— in the Canal

Zone. Headquarters for the Balboa Federal Credit Union are in the Service Center building and its auditorium, once the movie hall, is used for public meetings.

The building also houses a barber shop,

beauty shop, and shoe shop and a small,

private typing school is operated in its basement. The Lat-teen Club, a junior organization, is back in the old restaurant build- ing from which it was hastily evicted when its space was needed for the emer- gency Commissary. This club provides a

recreation spot for the senior juniors of the town. Dominant features of La Boca are the two school buildings. During recess periods, between classes and just before and

after school, that end of town is a hubbub of activity.

Old La Bocans are proud of the fact that their town has not lost its reputation

as a "great town for sports." Cricket is back again and one fan holds that this year's league is the best yet. There is

still football—of the soccer variety

baseball and Softball. Outstanding athletes, like Carlota Gooding who recently won the 100-meter race in the Central American Olympics, and Frank Prince,

who won the 800 and 1,500 meter events

at the same Olympics, are products of La Boca training.

No story of La Boca, the townspeople

say, would be complete without mention

of them and the man who trained them

and otheryoungsters—Ashton Parchment,

La Boca physical education director.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

Supervisors' Groups Learn

About Security, Civil Defense

9 9

n :-> r>

MAINTENANCE, COMMISSARY. Electr'cal, and Fire Divisions are represented in this supervising group. Left to right are, seated: J. B. Gilder, W. H. Casswell, P. J. Barker, Leo D. Goulet, John

A. Taber, E. W. Zelnick, G. A. Sollaa. Standing: J. W. Huson, H. F. Butz, M. J. Sterling. Fred Ebdon,

William L. Brooks, Kenneth T. Daly, Ernest E. Fe ris, Frank Wilder, Security Officer, Internal Security

Office, lecturer; W. G. Dolan, Chief, Civil Defense, lecturer; and Brodie Burnham, Acting Training

Officer, Personnel Bureau.

THIS GROUP, from the Electrical, Commissary, and Fire Divisions and the Comptroller's Office, met at Balboa. Left to right, seated: A. C. Nagy, W. W. Spencer, P. A. Downs, E. G. Haydel, John

A. Morales, and W. E. Jones. Standing: Mr. Burnham, Mr. Dolan, Mr. Wilder, J. W. Casey, J. F.

Sherer, L. C. Paulson, F. N. Dahl, Orlando Flye, J. E. Corco, Murray Klipper, A. B. Hendricks, C. J.

O'Sullivan, John H. Foster, and T. A. Brennan.

Three units of the Panama Canal Company-Canal Zone Government recently

joined forces to bring several groups

of supervisors a joint program designed

to combine responsibility as supervisors with responsibility as leaders in an ade- quate security and civil defense program. The three units were the Personnel Bureau, the Internal Security Branch,

and the Civil Defense Branch. The

supervisory groups included personnel

from the Commissary, Electrical, Industrial, Fire, and Maintenance Divisions and

the Comptroller's Office. The supervisors' training program,

sponsored by the Personnel Bureau under

the direction of Brodie Burnham, Acting

Training Officer, included talks by Frank

Wilder of the Internal Security Branch,

and W. G. Dolan, Chief of Civi'l Defense. Mr. Wilder supplemented his lecture on "The Supervisors' Role in Security" with

a number of visual aids, such as maps,

charts, Communist propaganda, and

photographs. In addition, he distributed

several prepared leaflets and bulletins, including "Spotlight on Security" and

"Questions and Answers on Communism

in This Country." These were all pre- pared in the Internal Security office as part of the Security Education Program

which is under his direction.

Playground Facilities

Extensively Improved

When the school year opens next September, children attending school in Bal- boa and Ancon will find that the playground facilities at each of the elementary

schools in those districts have been ex- tensively improved.

The major work of the year will be accomplished at the Balboa elementary

school where a new playground area of approximately two and one-half acres

will be built adjacent to the school

building.

The project will entail the demolition

of six buildings in that area and the

relocation of a part of Morgan Avenue.

It is expected that it will provide more

adequate play facilities for the 1,000 or more children now enrolled in the Bal: boa school. Improvements in the Ancon School playground were completed during the

past two weeks and consisted mainly in the removal of several large trees which

had become dangerous because of internal decay and the concreting of the patio area

for an all-weather playground behind the

school.

Sanitary Division Asks

Residents Of Canal Zone:

Help Prevent Mosquitoes

The precautions which Canal Zone res- idents can take to prevent or eliminate mosquito breeding have been outlined by

the Sanitary Division of the Health

Bureau. Mosquitoes will breed in many common

and usually preventable collections of water. Householders should watch flower pots

and vases to see that they do not contain stagnant water. Tin cans and other metal

containers, in which water can accumulate, should either be disposed of or so placed that they cannot hold water. Automobile drivers should be careful not to put ruts in lawns, since mosquito

larvae can breed in even such shallow

depressions.

Company-Government units concerned

with highway construction and mainte- nance are being asked to check ruts on

road shoulders, or improperly graded

shoulders, clogged roadside drainage

ditches and culverts. In storage areas mosquitoes can breed

in puddles of standing water under piled or stored materials or in water held in the concave surfaces of materials. These

will also be watched.

The Health Bureau will maintain such

drainage as may be feasible in unassigned

areas and will inspect and take temporary

control measures, in all areas. The best protection against the mosquito, however—and consequently against

malaria—is to see that it has no breeding

places.

Service Ended

BENJAMIN ALLEN, who went up and down

some 400 times a day as operator of the elevator at the Balboa Heights Administration Building, made

his last trip in May. He went onto retirement status May 28 after 34 years of service, the past 20 of which were as daytime operator of the 12-passenger

elevator. An ardent "Yankee" fan, Ben Allen could and did

discuss baseball at the drop of a bat, and during World Series times always mysteriously knew exactly who was doing what to whom at any given moment,

although the elevator equipment has never included

a radio. His old friends in the Building got together last Friday to say goodbye to Ben and to present him

with one of the handsomest purses ever given to any

retiree in the Canal organization.
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11

INSTRUMENTS, GAUZE, and other equipment for many surgical uses are packed in trays like

this at Central Sterile Supply. Looking over a typical tray is Mrs. Hearn, head of the new unit, and

Col. Howard Doan, Gorgas Hospital Superintendent.

Surgical Trays Come Ready-Packed From Hospital's Sterile Supply Unit

[Continued from page a) like an iron lung.

(Webster defines an autoclave as an

airtight vessel or chamber which can be

filled with superheated steam under pressure, attaining moist temperatures above

212 degrees, used for sterilization, cooking

and heating liquids.) There are other kinds of sterilizers which work with dry

air or boiling water, but the autoclave is the one which best fits the unit's need. Twenty minutes in the live steam of the autoclave will kill any germ known

to man. The tray remained in the starilizer for that time and then was allowed another 10 minutes to dry before it was removed to an adjacjnt closed room and

put in its place on a stainless steel rack.

Eventually 200 Trays

After this particular tray had been

stowed away, Mrs. Hearn and her assist- ants resumed packaging other trays for other purposes. Eventually she hopes to have 200 trays of many and varied types

packed, packaged, and sterilized. Even

without this backlog any unit of the hospital can have a prepared tray in as many minutes as it takes for a messenger

to deliver it. The service is available 24

hours a day, seven days a week.

Supplies are also prepared for the hospital wards and delivered daily by a supply cart. Wards no longer have to stockpile the items they need. Hospital planning authorities, the people at Gorgas say, have long recognized a Central Sterile Supply Department as one of the most important departments

in a modern hospital.

Along with other improvements and

changes made recently at the hospital, it

is part of Gorgas Hospital's new look. Ten Years Ago

In May

World War II had still over a year to go but it had moved farther away from

the Canal Zone. The number of govern- ment ships using the Canal continued to increase and more and more the Canal

organization was being called on to pro- vide all types of services to transiting

ships. Canal operations, and people's

daily lives, were tied to the war.

On May 17 Brig. Gen. Joseph C. Mehaffey took the oath of office as the ninth Governor of The Panama Canal, succeeding

Gov. Glen. E. Edgerton. The oath was administered, in the Governor's office, by A.

T. Schmidt, Chief Clerk of the then Supply

Department and a notary public.

Succeeding Governor Mehaffey as Engineer of Maintenance, No. 2 man in the Canal organization, teas Col. Francis K.

Newcomer. Another top appointment was

that of Col. James G. Steese as Assistaiit

to the Governor. He had served as Executive Assistant to the Engineer of Maintenance since February 1941.

FATHER'S DAY is June 20. It's high time

to be thinking what to give the gentleman

who spends most of the year giving things

to the rest of his family. The Canal commissaries, of course, have a number of items

to please him.

If he smokes, he probably knows that the commissaries stock several of the filter-tip cigarettes; Kents, Viceroys in king- Tips on and regular size, and the new

Tobacco L&M (Liggett & Myers, to you)

filter-type. The commissaries also plan to carry, at least on a trial basis, others of this type. And if he smokes cigars he will be inter- ested in vacuum packed cigars. Due any

time now, they will come 25 in a can which

should guarantee freshness and the proper

dryness even in this climate where humidities of 90 or over are not unusual. Also

expected are cartons of a new—to the commissaries —brand of small cigars which

are packed 10 to a carton and will sell for about 55 to 65 cents a package. Watch

the retail stores for these.

CIGARETTES AND CIGARS call for lighters. Zippos, which work in the strongest breeze and operate on one filling of fluid for an amazingly long time, are available

in the commissaries. Decorated with the Canal seal, they make a handsome gift; about $2.75.

Another item which should please father, especially if he is a camera fan, is what is known as a "gadget or photographic

In the bag." The bags are made of Tolex, Bag a plastic with a leather-like finish, have a round-the-top zipper opening, an outside pocket with a separate fastener, and a handy and adjustable shoulder strap. They are about $4.50. (Don't tell Father, but women travelers say they are wonderful for train or plane cases, to hold make-up

and a fresh blouse.) A SUPER PRESENT would be one of the Nylon golf bags, for men, which the commissaries have on order. Only a few are expected, though. They hold 10 clubs, have a "selector ball pocket" on the side: $22.

Another really special gift would be an

electric shaver, especially now that so many

of the new quarters have plug-in outlets

in the bathroom light fixtures. The

Close shavers operate, of course, on 25- Shaves cycle current. The commissaries have

Remington Rands at $19. 8 5, or Shavemasters at $23.65. Or how about a table radio to go beside his bed? Several models

are stocked, all with five tubes and bands,

to operate on 25 cycles; from about $19.95

to $36.95.

CONSERVATIVE DONORS may like to

stick to the old standbys. For such, there are

neckties, from 85 cents up; leather belts, which begin at $1.75; a wide assortment of

cufflinks and tie bars, from about $1.20 to $5; sport shirts of rayon, cotton or nylon, in fancy prints or plain, about $3.25 to $6.50. There are cufflinks, for french-cuff shirts (the commissaries have the shirts, too), from $1 .20

up. There are also leather billfolds, from $2.75 to about $9.50, although one cynical papa says they do to hold currency only

until mama takes it over.

If Mother is planning to take Father out

to dinner on HIS day, she'll need a new

bag. She should look in the bigger

Dinner stores for the new shipment of Pearl- Date imesh —"hand-in-hand with fashion

is their slogan —bags. Made of

small beads on an aluminum base, the bags

are creamy-white. They range in size from

clutch bags which are small to fairly large

purses with snap-tops and handles which

look like clear amber, but aren't, and in price from about $6.45 to $16.95.

VERY, VERY YOUNG ladies, in the 1-3

bra:ket, always look good to their fathers, but they will be even sweeter in a dainty new dress. There are, in the commissaries,

organdy pinafores with ruffled shoulders and

embroidered trim, white or pastels, $1.85;

full, skirted polished cottons, dotted Swiss or a sheer stripe, $2.50. One to fours can have their choice of polished cottons with grosgrain ribbon belts and minute bunches

of artificial posies— so grownup — or plisses, which need no ironing, $2.50. There are socks to go with the new frocks, too; 19

cents for combed cotton anklets in solid colors with a variegated color turn-over cuff, or nylons in solid color pastels, 34 to 50 cents, depending on the size.

Forty-four new blue stars had been

added to the service flag at Balboa High

School. Each star represented a former

student or teacher who was serving in the armed forces. In Mav 1944, the B. H. S. flag had 207 blue stars—and

three gold ones.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

MRS. EARL DAILEY displays one of her miniature Royal Poinciana trees; although it is more

than two years eld it is only about 10 inches tall. On the shelf above is a Star Apple tree. In the

renter is another Royal Poinciana. All of the trees are about the same age and in excellent health.

Uanal Zone Couple Thwart Nature's 60-Cycle X-Ray Department

uberance With Miniature Trees At Gorgas Nearly Finished

Completion of a 60-cycle X-ray department at Gorgas Hospital is scheduled

within the next six months. The overall

cost, including a powerline which taps an Armv cable, will be-approximately $120,-

000." Questions have been raised recently,

in the Governor-Employee Conferences,

for instance, as to the relative merits of 25- and 60-cycle current for generating

X-rays. X-radiation, experts explain, is the same whether it is produced by 25-

cycle or 60-cycle current. However, in recent years many technological advances and mechanical im- provements have been made in X-ray

equipment. Because of the scarcity of 25-cycle machines, the improvements and

developments are confined or adapted

only to the 60-cycle equipment.

New Clinic Planned

This was one of the reasons why the Health Bureau started planning a 60-

cycle X-ray clinic at Gorgas Hospital soon after the end of the last war. It was to have been part of the Out-Patient

clinics building which was started but

never completed.

Consequently it was decided to convert

the existing X-ray department to 60

cycles and make improvements in that department. Planning began in 1951 and

last year the first piece of 60-cycle equipment, a therapy machine, was received and installed at a cost of about $26,000.

Considered the best attainable, it can give

deep, intermediate, and superficial therapy.

It was followed by two combination

60-cycle radiographic - fluroscopic machines which have all the latest devices

for efficient and economical service. In

addition, a 60-cycle, 35-mm. radio-graphic

chest unit has been obtained and is in- stalled in the lobby of the hospital for chest examinations and surveys. Improvements Authorized

Other improvements to be made, all of which have been authorized, are: Devel- opment of two toilets and barium units

to facilitate fluoroscopic and other diagnostic procedures; installation of air conditioning in the diagnostic rooms and

darkroom; installation of a new dryer in the darkroom; provision for a small office and space for a receptionist at the entrance to the department. In addition,

improvements are to be made in the therapy room and additional appliances

and accessories are to be obtained for improvement of the service.

and indulge in Ming-tree gossip.

The cultivation of unusual plants is nothing new for Mr. Dailey who has experimented with such things as miniature tomatoes and tropical pansies and

violets. He has a collection of plants in the garden of his home on Empire Street

in Balboa and takes a ribbing from his cronies when he is seen watering his plants

each evening with a tiny watering can. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dailey are second

generation Canal Zone residents and both

are graduates of Balboa High School. After graduation from Tulane University, Mr. Dailey went to work with the Electrical Division in 1936. In addition to gardening, he also has taken an active

interest in astronomy and is a member

of the Canal Zone Astronomical Society.

In the Canal Zone, where nature bursts with exuberance and the jungle can cover

the works of man in a short space of six months, Earl O. Dailey, Supervisor of the Southern District of the Panama Canal

Electrical Division, and his wife Charlotte

are cultivating trees in miniature. The hobby is perhaps the natural out- come of living in the lush tropics where,

for a change, it is rewarding to see a tree grow to maturity perfect in every way

except that if is only 24 inches tall instead

of,the usual 25 to 50 feet. Mrs. Dailey became interested in the

cultivation of dwarfed or Ming trees, as they are known professionally, about a year or so ago when she saw an advertise- ment in a States paper. For some time

her husband had been an ardent amateur

gardener and she decided to take part in

his hobby.

They soon found that the instructions

in pamphlets and books from the States might have worked fine in the temperate

climates but, for the Canal Zone, the Daileys would have to experiment and

devise their own methods.

Seedlings from the States did not grow

to maturity in the tropics but sometimes

a tree grown here from seed brought from

the States would adjust itself to the hot

climate and flourish. It also took on all the habits of the tropical plants and

became a tropical bum of the vegetable

kingdom, so to speak.

Most of their best results have been

with local trees, however. These include royal poinciana, star apple, African tulip, and several varieties of evergreens brought

to the Canal Zone from the Volcan region.

As explained by Mrs. Dailey, the method of producing dwarf or Ming trees was an old Japanese secret brought to the States recently by an industrious GI. The fad caught on in the States and many amateur horticulturists there

now have Ming trees in their homes.

The secret of cultivation of the little trees consists mainly of cutting the tap

roots of the seedling and trimming off the top to make sure that the plant never grows any higher than 24 inches. After two or three years of this treatment, the

THE WATERING can is as big as the miniature

tree which Earl O. Dailey is holding.

trees are planted in a shallow pot or tray

and kept on a near starvation diet. They grow to maturity in about five years and assume the habits of their normal brothers and sisters. The flower- ing trees produce flowers and the fruit trees produce fruit. Some types of trees, such as the evergreen, adapt themselves

well to pruning and shaping into unusual

spreads and windblown effects. Since starting their hobby, Mr. and

Mrs. Dailey have found several other dwarf tree enthusiasts on the Isthmus

and sometimes they meet and exchange

ideas. Nearly all have found that they

must use new methods of cultivation for the tropics and hope to form a club soon

so that the members can meet regularly
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

SUPPLEMENTS AVAILABLE

A limited number of THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW'S Fiftieth Anniversary Supplement issued in May are now available for sale. The Supplement may be bought

from the Vault Clerk on the third

floor of the Administration Building

at Balboa Heights. Mail orders will also be accepted while the supply

lasts. The price of the Fiftieth Anniversary Supplement is 10 cents a copy. The sale of the May issue exceeded

expectations and no copies of the

regular issue of THE REVIEW for May are available.

Latin American Teachers

Training For Changeover

(Continued from page 2) as the basic language in the Latin American schools, non-U. S. citizens eligible for free schooling in the Canal Zone will be

assigned to these schools. Simultaneously, all children whose parents are United States citizens will be assigned to the United States schools. Teacher Assignments

There will be a comparatively large

number of reassignments of teachers during the coming year, since only those adequately trained for teaching in Spanish will be used next year in the elementary grades. They, however, will return

to their normal teaching duties after further training, when the complete change

has been made throughout the school sys- tem in the following school year.

It is presently expected that all teachers employed during the coming school term will be sufficiently trained to meet

requirements for all-Spanish teaching in

the 1956-57 school year. In the faculty tests conducted prior to the opening of the Summer Institute, it was found that nearly one-half of the

teachers already are sufficiently qualified.

The program of training will be continued

through the coming school year on an

intensified basis and the Summer Institute

training will be resumed the following summer. Those teachers who fail to achieve the necessary qualifications will be replaced.

With the adoption of Spanish as the

basic language in the schools, only that language will be spoken in the classrooms and children will be encouraged to speak

only Spanish during play periods. English will be taught in all grades of the Latin American schools just as Spanish

will be taught in all grades of the United

States schools. Although the full results of the changes

to be inaugurated in the Canal Zone

school system will not be evident for some years to come, Canal officials are completely confident that the change will have a marked effect in better fitting all

student graduates from schools in the Canal Zone as useful citizens whether

members of Spanish-speaking or Englishspeaking communities.

Forty Years Ago

In May

Ten years old, as far as its American

forces were concerned, in May 1914 the Canal organization was looking both for- ward and backward.

What The Canal Record called "the

beginning of regular commercial service through the Canal" started that month

when tugs and barges began to shuttle through the Canal carrying 12,100 tons

of sugar and 200 tons of canned pineapple

which had been unloaded in Balboa from

the American-Hawaiian Line's S. S. Alaskan. The Alaskan was diverted to the Isth- mus because of interrupted traffic on the Tehauntepec railroad. Twelve Canal

barges were placed in the shuttle service and the tug Mariner was transferred to the Division of Operation. A schedule was set up under which one-third of the barges were loaded at Balboa, while onethird were in transit, and the remaining

third were being unloaded at Cristobal.

Looking backward, The Record said: "The decade has seen the virtual completion

of the Canal and the beginnings of its commercial and naval use." During the pre- vious year the sea-level channel had been opened to Gatun and Miraflores locks; Gatun and Miraflores lakes had been filled

to their normal height; Culebra Cut had

been flooded; all of the locks had been operated repeatedly; and a number of vessels

in the Canal service, as well as several

rafts of piles tinder tow, have passed from

ocean to ocean.

One bridge across the Canal was being

placed in operation and another was being removed.

At Paraiso the pontoon bridge over which trains were to cross the waterway was connected to the abutment on the

Retires

FLORENCE WILLIAMS, who went to work for the Isthmian Canal Commission before any American employee still on the Canal rolls, retired the end of May.

She worked from 1907 until 1909 at Empire as a

telephone operator, thereby qualifying for the Roosevelt Medal. After that she returned to the United States to attend school and did not re-enter the Canal service until 1922. Miss Williams has lived in Ancon since 1912 and

plans to continue there; she expects to live at the

Tivoli Guest House, for the time being, at least.

east bank of the Canal, and the work of laying the track on the bridge aprons and on the trestle on the barge was under- way.

In the meantime, traffic on the suspension bridge over Culebra Cut at Empire

was suspended. The bridge, which had

been used since July 31, 1909, had been

designed, The Record said, "to furnish a means of communication between the

east and west sides of the Canal and also

to carry compressed air and water mains

over the Cut." It had a seven-foot road- way.Suspended on towers, the bridge's

height above the water of the Cut was

only 108.5 feet, which did not give suffi- cient clearance for the masts of larger

vessels.

Offices of the Captains of the Ports of Ancon and Cristobal were formerly estab- lished May 4, 1914. Commander Douglas

E. Dismukes, Cristobal Port Captain, had

his headquarters, temporarily, in rooms

above the Panama Railroad Freight station.

Lt. Comdr. H. V. Butler, Port Captain at Ancon, set up his office in the Railroad

building at the Balboa wharves.

Enough applications for positions as Canal pilots had been received that The

Record said: "There will be no difficulty

in increasing the complement of pilots as the trade of the Canal warrants." Appli- cants had to be American citizens, under

45 years of ago, holding master's licenses

for unlimited tonnage on the Great Lakes

or oceangoing vessels. The pilots were to be uniformed in "ice- cream colored palm beach cloth, plain,

without stripes or figures." The coats would have stiff, standing collars, two

high pockets, and brass buttons marked

"CP."

A three-man committee, composed of Capt. R. E. Wood, Capt. L. P. Williamson,

and S. M. Hitt, was appointed to recom- mend a site in Cristobal for a 50-bed

hospital. It would be used for the treatment

of emergency cases.

Extensive Post Office Changes

Announced To Civic Councilmen

All "banking-type" operations of Pacific side post offices south of Pedro Miguel

will be consolidated July 1 at the Civil

Affairs Building on Gaillard Highway.

Simultaneously these operations will be

terminated in the post offices at Balboa,

Balboa Heights, Diablo Heights, Albrook

Air Force Base, and Fort Amador.

On the same date, Ancon and Curundu

post offices and Fort Davis will go on a

mail delivery only basis. Mail will be put into boxes at these post offices and

mail will be collected from them, but

there will be no window service of any

sort. Cocoli post office on the Pacific side and Fort Gulick on the Atlantic side will be closed. Other changes to be affected July 1

will be the institution of four-hour service at the post offices at Balboa Heights,

Diablo Heights, Pedro Miguel, and Gamboa. The hours for these post offices and

for the "banking-type" office at the Civil

Affairs Building will be announced later. The changes have been made necessary because of budget limitations. They

were announced May 26 at the Governor's conference with U. S.-rate Civic Council representatives.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS

April 15 through May 15

Employees who were promoted or transferred between Vpril 15 and May 15 are

listed below. Regradings and within-grade

promotions are not listed. CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Mrs. Jane N. Clinton, Mrs. Harriet

K.. Serger, Mrs. Betty J. Jones, from

Substitute Teacher to Elementary School

Teacher. Kennth R. Coleman from Fireman to Fire Sergeant. James V. Bartlett, from Fire Sergeant

to Fire Lieutenant. Thomas J. Egger, from Pumping Plant Operator and Tractor Bulldozer Operator,

Maintenance Division, to Customs Guard,

Postal, Customs and Immigration Division. Mrs. Ethel V. Bialkowski, from Substi- tute Teacher to Junior High School Teacher. Charles C. Fears, from Detective to Police Sergeant, Police Division. Gerald J. Johnson, from Policeman,

Police Division, to Fireman, Fire Division. Mrs. Jean A. Violette, from Typist to Clerk Stenographer, Division of Schools. Mrs. Jessie O. Lindsay, from Clerk to Procurement Clerk, Division of Schools. COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU

Claude W. Wade, from Steward to Restaurant Manager, Cristobal Service Center. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

Robert K. Hanna, from Cash Accounting Assistant, Treasury Branch, to Contract Assistant, Contract and Inspection

Division. John F. Kalafsky, from Painter Leader,

Maintenance Division, to Construction In- spector (General), Contract and Inspection

I >i\ ision. Ralph H. Otten, from Architect (General) to Electrical Engineer, Engineering

I >i\ ision. Mrs. Patricia E. LeBrun, fromAccounting Clerk (Typist), Claims Branch, to Accounting Clerk, Electrical Division. John H. Childress, from Service Mechanic (Refrigeration and Air Conditioning)

to Pumping Plant Operator and Service Mechanic, Maintenance Division. Leslie O. Anderson, from Construction

Inspector to Supervisory Construction Inspector, Contract and Inspection Division. Vernon C. Douglas, from Public Works

Foreman to Filtration Plant Operator,

Maintenance Division. Edwin J. Compton, from Assistant

Public Works Foreman to Special Combination Welder, Maintenance Division. William J. Turner, from Wireman to Operator-Foreman Electrician, Electrical

I Hvision. Zane Z. Zizz, from Powerhouse Operator-Dispatcher to Power Dispatcher, Electrical Division. Carl M. Nix, from Operator- Foreman

Electrician to Powerhouse Operator- Dis- patcher, Electrical Division. OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

Mrs. Isabelle C. Wolford, Clerk Stenographer, from Agents Accounts Branch to Executive Planning Stall. INTERNAL SECURITY OFFICE Edward J. Kirkus, from Police Sergeant

Police Division, to Investigator, Internal Security Office.MARINE BUREAU

Vincent D. Ridge, from Shipwright Leader to Special Shipwright Leadingman

and Assistant Dockmaster, Industrial Division. Martin G. Klontz, from Boatbuilder to Shipwright Leader, Industrial Division. Scott J. McKay, from Chief Towboat

Engineer to Senior Chief Towboat Engineer,

I >i\ isii in. Albert L. Wilder, from Probationary

Pilot to Qualified Pilot. William A. Hadarits, from Gauger, Division of Storehouses, to Towing Locomotive

Operator, Atlantic Locks. PERSONNEL BUREAU

Mrs. Madeline M. DeRapps, from

Ticket Seller, Service Center Division, to Clerk-Typist, Local Rate Records Branch. SUPPLY BUREAU

Dorothy B. King, Clerk-Typist, from

Personnel Records Division, to Division of Storehouses. Mrs. Ruth J. Bain, from Accounting

Clerk to Commissary Assistant, Commissary Division.

JUNE SAILINGS

From Cristobal Ancon June 4

Cristobal "June 12 Puna ma June 18 Ancon June 25 From New York

Cristobal **June 3 Panama June 8 Ancon June 15

Cristobal June 22 Panama June 29 "Leaves Cristobal Saturday; arrives New

York Friday. "Leaves New York Thurs- day because of holiday, New York. (Northbound the ships are in Haiti from 7 a. m.

to noon Sunday; southbound the Haiti stop

is Saturday from 7 a. m. to -1 p. m.)

RETIREMENTS

Retirement certificates were presented

to the following employees who are listed alphabetically, together with their birth

places, titles, length of service and future

addresses. (Retirements did not appear in the May

issue and are included below). IN MAY

John G. Johnson, England; Storekeeper

Division of Storehouses; 28 years, 2 months,

23 days; Panama. David L. Norton, Pennsylvania; Car

Inspector, Railroad Division; 25 years, 1 month, 15 days; Los Angeles, Calif. John G. McCoy, Pennsylvania; Salary

and Wage Analyst, Personnel Bureau; 33

years, 2 months, 22 days; Jacksonville, Fla. Floyd F. Rogers, Mississippi; Lock Operator Machinist; Pacific Locks; 1-1 years, 4 months, 8 days; Hurley, Miss. Leonora Smith, Kansas; Principal, Cris- tobal Elementary School; 31 years, 8 months; Seattle, Wash.

Lucile A. Waters, New Jersey; Accounting Clerk, Payroll Branch; 36 years 1 month,

14 days; Canal Zone for present. Florence E. Williams, New York; Accounting Clerk, Cost Accounts Branch; 33

years, 8 months, 8 days; Canal Zone for present. IN APRIL

Sylvester N. Belanger, Washington;

Master of Transportation, Railroad Division; 22 years, 7 months, 14 days; Los

Angeles, Calif. Joseph A. Farr, Washington; Senior Chief Towboat Engineer, Navigation Division; 29 years, 7 months, 8 days; Santa

Clara, R. de P. William Gaudette, Massachusetts;

Policeman, Police Division; 23 years, 7 months, 28 days; Lowell, Mass. Arthur R. Grier, Iowa; General Fore- man, Dredging Division; 36 years, 7 months,

27 days; Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Percy L. Hooper, Alabama; Fireman,

Fire Division; 31 years, 10 months, 24 days;

Mcintosh, Fla. William L. Howard, Maryland; Post- master, Cristobal; 38 years, 3 days; St. Petersbtirg, Fla. Charles L. Leeser, Maryland; Press Foreman, Mount Hope Printing Plant; 25

years, 2 months, 12 days; Houston, Texas'; Samuel R. Meyer, Oklahoma; Senior Gas Plant Operator, Industrial Division; 33 years, 1 month, 16 days; Tampa, Fla. Ernie L. Payne, Missouri; Chief, Per- sonnel Records Division; 33 years, 7 months,

16 days; Portland, Oreg. Carroll S. Sanders, Kentucky; Pumping Plant Operator, Maintenance Division;

14 years, 3 months, 10 days; Fontana, Calif.

ANNIVERSARIES

Employees who observed important anniversaries are listed alphabetically below. The number of years includes all Govern- ment service with the Canal or other agencies. Those with continuous service with

the Canal are indicated with (*). (Anniversaries did not appear in the May

issue and are included below).

IN MAY

42 YEARS

*George Herman, Chief, Police Division.

35 YEARS

Edward T. Kirchmier, Lockmaster, Pacific Locks.

'Jessie S. Pugh, Clerk-Stenographer, Personnel Records Division.

30 YEARS

*George D. Cockle, General Supply Assistant, Commissary Division. *Fred H. Olsen, Plant Maintenance Supervisor, Industrial Division. "Fred W. O'Rourke, Marine Bunkering

Foreman, Terminals Division. "Frederick C. Rose, Chief Towboat Engineer, Navigation Division.

25 YEARS

Eldridge N. Burton, Assistant Post- master, Balboa. "William E. Lundy, Assistant Treasurer, Treasury Branch. "Raymond O. Simon, Assistant Manager, Tivoli Commissary.

20 YEARS

Kenneth M. Edwards, Lock Operator

Wireman Leader, Pacific Locks. David W. Ellis, Floating Crane Operator, Dredging Division. "Ernest E. Faris, Accounting Clerk,

Electrical Division. "Henry E. Lewis, Painter Leadingman,

Industrial Division. "William J. Rose, Diesel Locomotive

Machinist, Railroad Division. "Walter V. Underwood, Lock Operator

Machinist, Leader, Pacific Locks.

15 YEARS

"Roy A. Fort, Pilot, Navigation Division. Winfield S. Ireland, Postal Clerk, Air Mail Field, Balboa. John E. Jennison, Water System Fore- man, Maintenance Division. James S. Morel, Lock Operator Wire- man, Pacific Locks. Chester W. Pearson, Policeman, Balboa. "Harry J. Quinlan, Boiler Inspector,

Industrial Division. Norbert M. Schommer, Accountant,

Commissary Division. "Leslie H. Slavin, Public Works Fore- man, Maintenance Division.

IN APRIL

35 YEARS

"Charles F. Hinz, Postmaster, Balboa

Heights.

30 YEARS

"Rodger W. Griffith, Assistant Chief,

Police Division. "Sallie F. McKeown, Fiscal Accounting

Clerk, Industrial Division. "Albert Terwilliger, Pilot, Navigation

Division.

25 YEARS

Wilson H. Crook, Acting Director, Community Services Bureau. Albert A. Doyle, Foreman Proofreader,

Printing Plant. Edwin C. Jones, Records Analyst, Administrative Branch. "Henry T. Leisy, Recreation Supervisor, Division of Schools. Thomas Lutro, Lockmaster, Atlantic Locks.

20 YEARS

"Henry T. Carpenter, Construction and

Maintenance Supervisor, Maintenance Division. John W. B. Hall, Chief Stevedore Fore- man, Terminals Division. Morton L. LeVee, Sergeant, Police Division. "Jack F. Morris, Sergeant, Police Division."Thomas J. Polite, Sergeant, Police Division. E. M. Reinhold, Automatic Telephone
June 4, 1954 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Contractors Hill Job Scheduled To Start

Next Month; Project Largely Machine Work

[Continued from page 1) awarded by

the Panama Canal Company and is one

of the four or five largest ever let by the Canal organization. It was far exceeded

by three of the Third Locks project contracts—excavation for the new Gatun and new Pacific Locks, and construction of the new Gatun Locks. The smallest of these was $8,500,000 for excavation work

at Gatun, and the largest was $45,700,000

for the construction of the new Gatun

Locks. The latter, however, was cancelled only a short time after being

awarded due to the beginning of the war. Although the Contractors Hill project

is not large, as compared with many construction projects, the work involved will be a delicate operation. It requires blast- ing alongside the Canal channel in an

area where there is a possibility of rockfall of major proportions.

Every precaution will be taken for the

safety of shipping during the work and

the contractor will be required to follow

strict safety regulations. Because of technical skill required in blasting, the Tecon Corporation has announced that

it plans to employ special consultants for

this work.

Members of the four-man Board of Consultants selected by Governor Seybold

to advise the Canal Administration on

the Contractors Hill problem visited the Isthmus late last month for conferences and field investigations. Three members,

Dr. C. W. Livingstone, Edwin E. Abbott,

and Hibbert Hill, were here during the week of May 17-21, and Dr. Arthur Casa- grande visited the Canal Zone for two

days at the end of the month. At the close of the two-day conference

of the three consultants, they issued a

joint statement in which they expressed

the opinion that Canal authorities have

pursued a judicious course in the Contractors Hill project. They agreed in the main with the steps which have been

taken and the proposed plan of operation.

Drill Holes Finished

The sinking of drill holes through Contractors Hill to determine subsurface

conditions, both as to the class of material which will be encountered and the extent

of the rock fracture, was being completed

this week. Five holes have been sunk to a depth of several hundred feet. This

Switchman, Electrical Division. *David C. Ryan, Foreman, Telephone

Repair Shop, Electrical Division. *Harold I. Tinnin, Supervisory Store- keeper, General, Division of Storehouses.

15 YEARS

Elsa L. Bailey, Personnel Clerk (Typist), Personnel Bureau. Donald R. Brayton, Senior Yardmaster,

Railroad Division. *Samuel T. Bruce, Maintenance Man,

Maintenance Division. Erma C. Forbes, Public Health Nurse,

Division of Quarantine. *Hector M. Grant, Pilot, Navigation

Division. *Richard M. Hirons, Assistant Motor

Inspector, Police Division. *Charles O- Peters, Jr., Towing Loco- motive Operator, Pacific Locks. *Gabriel A. Reimers, Chief Towboat

Engineer, Navigation Division. Matthew Shannon, Foreman Painter,

Maintenance Division. Charles T. Smith, Road and Yard

Conductor, Railroad Division. *Raoul O. Theriault, Supervisory Accountant, Commissary Division. William Wirtz, Jr., Shipwright. Industrial Division.

core drilling was done by Dredging Division rigs although additional drillers were

secured on a loan basis from the Corps

of Engineers for the job.

Lt. Col. Edward B. Jennings has been

assigned to the Canal by the Corps of Engineers and will be Project Officer. He has been on duty at the Corps of Engineers Office in Nashville, Tenn. He

visited the Isthmus for several days during the past month during which time

he worked closely with the Canal's engineering force on plans for the job.

Conversion To 60-Cycle Current Moves

Soon Into Planning And Action Phase

Continued from page l) planned to begin this survey in Atlantic side homes

about October and complete it next January. The survey teams will then move

to the Pacific side and it is hoped to have this work completed by July of next year. Occupants of Canal quarters will be

notified in advance of the date the survey

will be made. Each piece of frequencysensitive equipment in each home will be

inspected and listed. This will include such domestic appliances as electric re- frigerators, washing machines, ironers, sewing machines, record players, fans, clocks, vacuum cleaners, electric trains, and hobby equipment. Cooperation of

all employees in making the survey of

their equipment is essential to avoid

costly errors and interruption of electric service during conversion. Conversion Free Under the overall policies adopted for the conversion project, all regularly used

frequency-sensitive equipment which is privately owned will be converted, free of charge. Generally, the cost of converting spare equipment will not be borne by

WINS HONOR AWARD

HECTOR MIRANDA, President of the Phi Theta Kappa Society of the Canal Zone Junior College, was given the College's Honor Award this week at the College graduation ceremonies. He is the twentieth Junior College student and

the fourth man to win the award which was established in 1935. His name will be inscribed on the plaque which was presented by the first graduating

class. The plaque is located at the entrance of the

college building in Balboa.

It honors the student who, each year, "contributed most to the spiritual, intellectual, and extra-curricular life of the college." A graduate of Balboa High School, he has been

active in a wide range of college affairs. He was

assistant advertising manager of the school year- book, Conquistador, a member of the Pep Club, and

treasurer of the Spanish Club. He has taken a lead- ing part in staging and producing Junior College dramatic productions. He plans to teach and will continue his studies in the United States.

the company unless it can be shown that such equipment is a reasonable reserve supply

Following the visit of the survey teams

to the homes to inspect and inventory

equipment, it will be the responsibility

of the individual owners to report any

change in the inventory prior to actual conversion from 25-cycle to 60-cycle current. Equipment and appliances bought

subsequent to the inspection and prior to conversion will also be converted free of charge if the owner has reported in writ- ing the purchase or change to the Engineering and Construction Bureau.

Detailed rules concerning the conversion of equipment, both domestic and in- dustrial, will be announced at a later date. These will cover such questions as re- placement in lieu of conversion and ad- justment of equipment to be replaced.

Although these rules will generally cover most situations, it is anticipated that many decisions on conversion or replacement must be made on an individual

basis. Converters Unnecessary

According to conversion plans already

formulated, the use of converters will not be required except in some isolated in- stances. The avoidance of the use of converters will represent a sizeable savings in the project. It is possible to avoid

use of converters because all feeder lines supplying high voltage power are in

pairs. The power generating equipment

will be converted on a gradual basis so that an ample supply of both 25-cycle

and 60-cycle current will be available

until the program is fully completed.

The actual conversion of domestic

equipment will be done simultaneously

in a small group of houses supplied by

one transformer. In this manner service interruption will be kept to a minimum

in the individual households and it is not

expected that service interruptions will be more than one hour for such essential services as refrigeration.

The amount of work to be done on the conversion of power generating equipment during the coming fiscal year will not be extensive because of the length of time for the manufacture and delivery of the heavy equipment after contracts have

been awarded. Contracts for $600,000 Contracts for approximately $600,000

worth of equipment and material will be awarded during the coming fiscal year for the new Mount Hope substation. The

major items include switchgear, trans- formers, circuit breakers, and a bus and

bus structure. In addition, the 1955 budget provides for the obligation of $30,000

to replace the transformer at the Agua

Clara Diesel station with a 60-cycle transformer. The major expenditure for the year will be $190,000 for the construction of duct

lines and the installation and re-routing

of power cables to connect the new Mount Hope substation with existing in- stallations. Of this, $100,000 is earmarked

for a new duct line and three 2,500-volt cables to feed Margarita townsite. Other expenditures for the year planned on the Atlantic side include $102,000 for the construction of a building, fence, concrete slab and a steel structure for the new Mount Hope substation, and $30,000 for a new 11, 500-volt underground cable and

overhead line on the transmission towers from the Agua Clara plant to provide

60-cycle service to Fort Davis.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW June 4, 1954

ATLANTIC SIDE newcomers get together for formal meetings once a month,

take field trips.

In between, they

Newcomers Club Helps Atlantic Siders

To Get Acquainted With I sthmian Living

^ restricting their meetings to a once-a- month schedule. In between, they plan

m'< field trips and are already trying to arrange for a group transit of the Canal.

In April some of them "did" Panama

City, from Old Panama to French Plaza,

and they expect soon to spend at least one day on the Canal Zone's Pacific side.

It is not at all unlikely that in the very near future they will make field trips to the Commissary Division's bakery

and ice cream plant, the locks, the Colon

Chamber of Commerce, and the courts. Early in June they and their husbands

were to get together at the Elks Club for a steak and some movies—an old one of the Canal construction and a newer film of Panama Canal operations.

Guest Speakers

They try to have as guest speakers

people who can tell them something of what their new community has to offer. In May the main speaker was Mrs. Britta Marcey, program director for the Cristobal YMCA, who described the swimming

and badminton classes the "Y" provides

for Atlantic side women, told them of the French and Spanish classes which they can attend at the "Y" and invited them

to be hostesses at the YMCA's dances. Mrs. Ozzie Gonzalez, who comes from

New York and whose husband is with

the Free Zone, is the group's program

chairman. She speaks Spanish and

served as interpreter on the April trip to Panama City.

The women of the Newcomers Club

make no pretensions of being a "study

club," or anything so formal. How to deal with prickly heat ("Menticol" from

the Commissary helps) and what to pay

domestic help (it depends on where you

live, but $2 a day is average) are more

apt to come up for discussion than the

difference between the Panama Canal

Company and the Canal Zone Government. The Newcomers are simply trying to

find out what sort of place this is and how

to live here. If they keep on the way

they are going, they will probably have

been more places and seen more things than other women who have lived here

for many years.

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ORIDA 6423 Hill

A growing group of young women, all recently arrived here, has organized on

the Atlantic side to work out one of the most difficult problems which any family ever faces: Integrating themsslves into the community of which they are now a

part. They don't put their aim in any such

sociological terms. They say, quite simply: We're here. No one made us come

here. Now that we're here, let's learn to

like it. Meantime, no griping!

This group, which numbered 18 in mid-May and which has probably in- creased since then, is the "Newcomers

Club." None of them has been on the Isthmus more than two years and most

of them for only a few months. The only

rigid rule for membership is that residence be less than two years. The local organization was sparked by

Mrs. John L. Sugar of Margarita who

came here from Westfield, N. J., last August. Her husband is with the Cris- tobal Commissary. She became choir di- rector of the Cristobal Union Church

soon after her arrival and there found

other newcomers. All of them knew still other young women who were trying,

with varying degrees of success, to adjust

to their different new life. They decided

to do something about it. Clubs In U. S. Mrs. Sugar recalled that she had joined a Newcomers Club when she moved to Westfield—she later became its president

—and suggested that something of the

sort be organized in the Canal Zone. There are similar clubs, she says, in many parts of the United States. Early in March a group of a dozen or

so women met at her home in Margarita.

The result of the meeting was reported

in the following note in a local newspaper:

"A group of ladies recently organized

a 'Newcomers Club' and any woman who

has been on the Isthmus less than two

years is eligible to join. The Club was

formed to help acquaint new arrivals with

their respective surroundings such as in- teresting things to see and places to visit and also to exchange ideas for their own

entertainment. It will meet once a month."

Because it's easier and simpler to operate such groups with a more or less parliamentary structure, they have offi- cers, dues —25 cents a meeting—a few

standing committee chairmen and con- duct their meetings according to the usual Roberts Rales of Order. Mrs. Duke Wilson, whose home state

is Florida and whose husband teaches at Cristobal High School, is president. Mrs. Galeon Jarvis, who comes from Illinois and whose husband is also a teacher, is vice president. She and her husband,

however, are returning to the States, and

she will be succeeded by Mrs. Steve

Crowell who came here from Iowa and

whose husband is a civilian employee of the Army.

Mrs. Henry Tryner, who calls Pennsylvania her home, and whose husband is a pilot-in-training, serves as secretary, and Mrs. William Maynard, wife of a physical education teacher and former

resident of New York, is treasurer. They found that the basement of the Cristobal Union Church was available as a meeting place. What to do with the small children, while their mothers were

meeting, was a problem which was solved by hiring a baby-sitter to keep the chil- dren entertained. The Newcomers have no intention of

WHILE THEIR mothers meet, the younger Newcomers are in the care of Mrs. Alice Wynter who

acts as baby-sitter. Mrs. Georgeanna Griswold, standing, is the club's Child Care Chairman.