Gift ofthe Panama Canal Museum .HE

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Vol. 6, No. 10 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE MAY 4, 1956 5 cents

CANAL EMPLOYEES ARE EXTREMELY COMPETENT

AND COOPERATIVE GROUP SAYS GOVERNOR SEYBOLD

Superior Award Winners

(See story on new Incentive awards on Page 4)

SEVEN COMPANY-GOVERNMENT employees were the first to receive Superior Award citations under the new extension of the Incentive Awards program approved last month and announced in this issue of The Review. Six of the employees so honored for excellent work are shown above. Left

to right, they are: Richard B. Potter, Electrical Division; Ellis F. Fawcett, Schools Division; Mrs. Faye C. Minton, Engineering and Construction Bureau; Leon M. Warren, Engineering Division; Lee Kariger, Locks Division; and T. C. Tavares, Schools Division. The seventh, William G. Mummaw, of the Maintenance Division, was away from the Isthmus when this picture was taken.

Governor Believes Sea-Level Waterway Plan

Is Inevitable In Solution Of Canal Problem

Four years of supervising the operations of the Panama Canal and observing

its operational problems have convinced Gov. John S. Seybold that conversion of the Canal to a sea-level waterway is "both feasible and desirable and, in fact, inevitable." He believes that the project should be urged from the standpoint of future re- quirements of commercial traffic and

national defense. Governor Seybold has reviewed the report and recommendations

developed by the Isthmian Canal Studies

of 1947 and believes that the proposal is

still sound and rational. The Governor expressed his opinion on

the desirability of a sea-level canal at the

April meeting of the Board of Directors

of the Panama Canal Comp?~" *-* '

'

he appeared for the last time as President

of the Company.

He will speak on this subject next Monday night at a meeting of the Pan- ama Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers to be held at the Tivoli Guest House. He expects at that time

to reiterate his views on the subject and

discuss in some detail the problems in- volved and the major features of the 1947

proposal.

Studies Of Canal Improvements

Although he considers a sea-level water- way the inevitable solution to the Isth- mian canal problem, the Governor told the Board of Directors that the Canal

Company should continue to press studies of possible improvements in the water-

' Mncre? ' «;*-- (s?e mgr

Chief Executive And

Wife To Say Farewell

To Canal Zone May 19

"I am sincerely proud to

have been associated with

the employees of the Panama Canal organization."

This quotation succinctly phrases the sentiments expressed by Governor John

States Seybold in a special farewell message to Canal employees on the eve of the completion of his four-year term as

the administrative head of the Panama

Canal Company and Canal Zone Government. The Governor's term of office has covered a critical four-year period in the 52-year-old enterprise of the United

States Government. A brief review of

this eventful period and his administration is carried on pages 10 and 11 of this issue of The Panama Canal Review.

Expressing his admiration for the competence and cooperativeness of employees

in the organization, Governor Seybold

issued the following message to them:

"I should like to note briefly but sincerely my high regard for the employees of

the Panama Canal Company and the Canal Zone Government. The transition period since the reorganization has been a

trying one for them. Such actions as the extension of the income tax and the increase

in housing rents and other changes in policies have, in varying degrees, affected their pocketbooks and their morale.

"Nevertheless, they have as a group

given the Canal enterprise their conscientious help and loyal support at all times. They have retained a well-deserved pride in being an essential part of an enterprise which is in the nature of a public utility

serving world commerce and which has a world-wide reputation not onlyfor efficiency but J

or hospitality to all users of the Canal. "In my opinion, the personnel of the Canal agencies represent a selected group

of extremely competent and cooperative employees. It is they who in large part make

the Canal enterprise so successful and the Canal Zone a congenial place to live and

work. "I am sincerely proud to have been associated with them." Governor and Mrs. Seybold plan to

sail for the States Saturday, May 19, aboard the Panama liner Ancon. Their

plans for the immediate future call for an extensive tour of Europe.

High t~'' «*•» to both has been paid

several • rivate (Set y
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

Latin American Schools

Will Reopen Next Week;

Plan Pacific High Move

School days will begin again next Monday for over 3,700 boys and girls

in the Canal Zone local-rate communities.

The opening date of this year's school

session, May 7, is the earliest during the calendar year for many years. It has been advanced gradually for the past two

years until the Latin American schools are now operating on approximately the same schedule as those of the Republic

of Panama. Schools will close February

6, 1957. School officials, who have had an un- canny ability in past years to anticipate

enrollment, estimate that 3,759 students

will be enrolled in kindergarten through

Grade 12. The figure is about 140 less than the enrollment when the Latin

American schools closed for the dry season

vacation in March. Opening day enroll- ment last year was 4,042. The enrollment

figure dropped to 3,895—a loss of 148

students by the end of the school year. Several changes will be made as the

school year progresses in the locations where the students will attend classes. The principal change will be the transfer

of the Pacific side high school from La

Boca to Paraiso toward the end of May

when the new high school building at Paraiso is scheduled for completion.

New Paraiso High School

When the high school pupils move to the new building at Paraiso, the La

Boca elementary and junior high school

building will be vacated and students from that building will move a few

hundred feet into the more modern La

Boca high school building. Next Monday, however, Pacific side Latin American high school students will begin their classes in the La Boca build- ing where they attended school last year. By communities, the following facilities

will be offered for Latin American students: La Boca: Kindergarten through ninth grade students will attend school in the elementary school building, and high

school students will begin their school year in the high school building. Paraiso: Kindergarten through ninth grade students will attend school in the same buildings used last year. Santa Cruz: Kindergarten through

eighth grade students will be accommodated in Santa Cruz this year. Ninth

grade students will go to La Boca.

Chagres: Grades one through six will be taught in the two-room Chagres

school. Rainbow City: Kindergartners through

sixth graders will attend school in the elementary school building and Junior

and Senior high school students will have

their classes in the high school building.

The junior high school classes will occupy

the new wing of the high school building

which was built about two years ago and last year was used for elementary

school classes.

All-Spanish Teaching Continues

t The curriculum for the Latin American

fiools will remain substantially the same

that of last yeaj\_J2Mitog in all

TWO MONTHS BEFORE the Canal was opened to commercial traffic Gaillard Cut looked like this with dredges digging away at Cucaracha Slide in the distance. Contractors Hill, now a stairway, is framed by the steam shovel working in the foreground. Those on the Honor Roll well remember

such scenes as this during the days when they were first employed.

Today marks the 52d anniversary of the formal beginning of the Panama

Canal enterprise under the United States Government.

Formal transfer of the French Canal

Company rights and properties took place

May 4, 1904, in the building on Cathedral

Plaza which now houses the Panama

Post Office. For an event of such strik- ing historical significance it was practically devoid of pomp and ceremony.

Acting in behalf of the United States Government was a young officer of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Mark Brooke; he was designated for the task in the absence of his commanding

officer. What ceremony there was consisted chiefly of Lieutenant Brooke's

signing and delivering to the French

Canal Company official a $40,000,000

receipt, followed by the raising of the United States flag over the building which was then the Company's headquarters.

The simple ceremony started a 10-year

period of feverish activity in digging a

ship canal to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The task was a formidable one even for a nation the size of the United

States. Had a vote been taken at that

grades will continue to be in Spanish.

The major change will be the introduction of classes in English reading for third graders. These children have been

taught entirely in Spanish since they

began school, and will now begin the

process of becoming bilingual with the addition of the English reading classes. Temistocles Cespedes, who retired re- cently as Chief of the Panama Schools' Technical Service Section, will continue

to serve as a consultant for the Canal

Zone's Latin American schools. A number of new textbooks in Spanish

are to be usxl this year in the schools,

and additions have been made to the

school libraries. The textbooks are published in Mexico, Chile, Cuba, and Argentina; Spanish dictionaries which will be used are published in France. Physical Changes Listed

The major physical change in the

school plant this year will (.sve page 9)

time, it is doubtful if half of the population of the United States would have

expressed confidence of its completion.

During that 10-year period, tens of thousands of Americans left their homes

and came to the tropics to help in the

job. While many were out-and-out ad- venturers seeking new fields, thousands came to stay and see the job done. Of

the latter group, several thousands

remained in service to operate the Canal.

Construction Ranks Dwindle

Of those who had a part in building the Canal and today can boast that they were employed during the construction

period, only 12 are still in service. The

ranks have dwindled fast in recent years. Ten years ago there were about 400 in service. There were 106 names on the honor roll when the list was first published in The Panama Canal Review in May 1950. The last woman's name on

the list was stricken from the roll last December when Mrs. Lea K. Dugan

retired from service. As it has for the past six years, on the anniversary of the beginning of the work

in May, The Review pays honor to all those who participated in building the Panama Canal. And, as it has since it was first published, it pays special tribute to those remaining in service by the publication of their names. Below is the Honor Roll as it stands

today. Holders of the famous Roosevelt Medals, indicating two or more years of continuous service during the construction period are indicated by an asterisk, and the names of those with continous

service are shown in capital letters. Adrien M. Bouche* - July 2, 1909 GEORGE N. ENGELKE*—Sept. 5, 1911 Bernard W. Mclntyre*—Sept. 28, 191

1

Gregor Gramlich*- Oct. 14, 1911 Samuel J. Deavours Mar. 1, 191

2

Thomas J. Breheny Nov. 1, 1912 George C. Orr—Dec. 5, 1912 ARTHUR MORGAN—Dec. 16, 1912 David W. Ellis —June 11, 1913 Edward P. Walsh —July 1, 1913 EMMETT ZEMER—July io, 1913 William V. Brugge- Dec. 17, 1913
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Panama Liners Will Be Crowded

By Vacationers In Next Few Weeks

SWIMMING CHAMPS

With school vacation figuratively at

the finger tips of several thousand Canal Zone children, the study of travel folders and road maps has become almost as much a must in many Zone households

as cramming for final exams. The vacation and travel season has

already opened with great promise and

the last two Panama Line ships sailing

in April left Cristobal with nearly all passenger accommodations taken. While most of the travel by Panama

Canal employees and their families until the close of school will be by those with- out children of school age, all Panama

Line ships northbound have already been

fully booked for sailings up through June

16. There were still a few available spaces on the SS Ancon, sailing for New

York on June 23, at the time this issue

of The Review was closed. In addition to those employees planning to travel by Panama Line, a large

number of others will use plane travel or

will go by other shipping lines to New

Orleans and west coast ports. Employees taking advantage of free home leave travel may go by ship or

plane. For the information of those planning to travel by ship, the following

is quoted from the Home Leave Travel

Regulations:

"Ocean transportation will be via the Panama Line, unless the allowable cost

of travel will be less by utilizing other

available ocean routing. The cost of transportation on the Panama Line will be based on the administratively deter- mined cost in effect at the date of the employee's departure."

The "administratively determined

cost" for home leave travel on the Pan- ama Line is established by the Office of the Comptroller General, the full one- way fare this year being established at

$170.

While the study of road maps and

travel booklets is presently an engrossing

subject in many households, employees

will have an even more absorbing study

when they return from free home leave

travel. This will be the subject of home

leave travel vouchers which baffle about

nine out of ten employees.

This will be made easier this year by

the appointment of one or more employees in each Canal unit to assist in the preparation of travel vouchers, which

are required to be submitted within 30 days after an employee returns to duty.

This service was announced last month

in a memorandum issued by the Governor's Office to all Bureau Directors. Those employees designated to assist

in the preparation of travel vouchers will be given special instructions by arrange- ments through the Office of the Comptroller which will also furnish the names

of employees in each unit who fail to submit vouchers. The number of employees to be appointed in each Bureau

will depend upon the size of the organization and the location of the various administrative offices. With respect to vacation travel, employees have been urged to forward

their requests for leave and travel as far

in advance as possible. Applications for

travel on the Panama Line are received

as much as 90 days in advance for northbound bookings. Because of the heavy bookings already for northbound

sailings in May and June, many employees may be delayed in their vacation

plans by not having taken advantage

of this 90-day rule. The Transportation Section has pointed out that normally it is not necessary for an employee to follow-up on the receipt

of his application in that section. The

Transportation Section will contact the employee about 30 days before the sched- uled departure date in connection with rout- ing and other details of free leave travel. The "teachers' special" this year for the northbound trip will be the Ancon,

sailing June 9. The northbound sailings on which employees with children of

OUTSTANDING among Canal Zone swimmers is this pair above. They hold the Grieser Trophies, named for Henry Grieser who coached the famed

Red, White, and Blue Troupe for many years. Robert Connor, 17, is a senior at Balboa High

School and plans to attend the University of Okla- homa next year. He holds Canal Zone and inter- scholastic records for freestyle swimming. His older

brother, Donald, was also a crack swimmer here

several years ago. Although Grace Argo is only 15 and a sophomore

at Cristobal High School, she has set a fine swimming

record. Her specialty also is freestyle. She wilt vacation with her family this summer in Hawaii.

school age will be given priority in assign- ments are those of May 26, and June 2, 16, and 23. The Panama Line ship sailing from

New York southbound on August 30

will be the "teachers' special" this year.

Sailings southbound on August 16 and

23 and September 6 and 13 are the end

of vacation sailings on which there will be priorities in assignment for employees

with children of school age.

36 BALBOA SENIOR STUDENTS NAMED ON 1956 HONOR ROLL

GIRLS are smarter than boys—at any rate, they outnumber the boys almost two to one among Balboa High School's honor students. Commencement

speakers will be chosen from this group.

Left to right in the bottom row, they are: Judy Crosby, Frances Brandl, Peggy Donovan, Martha Hackett, Becky Esser, Diane Staples, Shirley Harned, Diane Hannigan, Allison Health, Beth Little, and Janeth Vinton. Center row:

Janet Stockham, Mary Jo Euper, Alba Martinez, Rose Bricefio, Shirley Ransom, Pat Hattler, Margaret Cleve, Etilvia Arjona, Ellen Bathman, Pat Allen, Rose McGarr, and Mary Curtis. Back row: Jack Perantie, Steve Laidlaw. Tim Hotz, Enrique Ho, Mike Witkin, Ed Scott, Jim Reece, Ed Kirchmier, Jay Clemmons, Allen Lowrie, Dan Eggleston, Milton Rodriguez, and William

Lewis.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956 ^1 Canal Employees To Get Special Awards

Three Women Employees Win

\ Highest Performance Rating

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE RATINGS were won by Mrs. Marcia H. Van Home, Mrs.

Beatrice Lee, and Miss Mary Maguire, left to right above. This was the first time that more than one employee has won this rating in any one year, and it was the first time any woman employee

achieved the honor by their work over a full-year period.

Three women employees of the Canal

organization received Outstanding Per- formance ratings for the year ending in March and last month were presented

certificates by the Governor for their achievement.

This was the first time since the new

performance rating system for Federal Government employees was adopted

several years ago that more than one employee had received the highest possible rating in any one year. Only two

other employees have ever received the Outstanding rating before. These were

Paul W. Morgan, Supervisory Medical

X-ray technician at Gorgas Hospital,

who was given the rating two years ago, and Harold I. Perantie, Chief of the Administrative Branch, who was given an Outstanding rating last year. The three employees to receive the

rating for the performance of their jobs

during the last yearly rating period were: Marcia H. Van Home, Secretary to

the Health Director. Beatrice E. Lee, Passenger Traffic Clerkin the Administrative Branch. Mary F. Maguire, Secretary to the Governor- President. Not only was this the first time that more than one employee has won the Outstanding rating in one year, it was

the first time that a woman employee

has received the highest performance

rating possible.

How Rating Is Won

The present system of performance

rating for Government employees pro- vides for one of three ratings—unsatisfactory, satisfactory, and outstanding. For the latter, an employee must per- form all duties assigned in a superior manner throughout the year. The regulation also provides that: "An outstanding rating must be supported by a writ- ten statement from the rating official setting forth in detail the performance in every respect, based on the performance

standards, and the reasons for considering each aspect of performance outstanding and worthy of special consideration." The Outstanding rating is separate

from the Distinguished and Superior

Service awards which have been made a

part of the Incentive Awards program

and which are announced for the first time

in this issue of The Review. The per- formance rating is based on an employee's work for an entire year. The Dis- tinguished Service award may be made

for an individual act or exceptional service, and the Superior Service award may

be given to an employee for superior per- formance of duties for a minimum pjriod

of six months.

Two new types of honorary awards in recognition of superior employee perform- ance have been made a part of the Company-Government Incentive Awards

program with the first awards being made

under the expanded program last month.

An announcement of these awards and

their recipients is carried in this issue of The Panama Canal Review.

The new plan is in line with that fol- lowed in other Government agencies and was developed by the Incentive Awards

Committee and given final approval by

Governor John S. Seybold last month.

The two new awards for which citations signed by the Governor will be presented

are for Distinguished Service and Superior Service. This recognition for exceptional per- formance by employees may be given

with or without monetary rewards, de- pending upon the type of service per- formed. It is also separate and apart

from the performance ratings which are made on a yearly basis and are required

for all employees. Under the latter, an employee may win an "Outstanding"

rating for performance over a full-year

period.

All recommendations for outstanding

performance rating as well as teeommendation for honorary awards under the Incentive Awards Program are subject to review by the Incentive Awards Committee and final approval by the Governor. Members of the committee are John D.

Hollen, Chief of the Executive Planning

Staff, Chairman; L. M. Brockman, Pro- grams Coordinator, Secretary; Capt.

Frank A. Munroe, Jr., Marine Director; and Col. Hugh M. Arnold, Engineering

and Construction Director. The following briefly describes the two new awards under the Incentive Awards

Program:

Distinguished Service

The Distinguished Service Award, the

highest of the two honorary awards, will rank with the Distinguished Civilian Service Award given by the military

services. It will be given on the basis of an employee's achievements, accomplishments, or performance of duties unanimously recognized as being clearly

exceptional by all of his supervisors in the chain of supervisory authoiity and

by the Incentive Awards Committee.

To qualify for this award an employee

must have accomplished his assigned

INCENTIVE AWARD suggestions are reviewed by this Board. Left to right are: Col. Hugh M.

Arnold, John D. Hollen, chairman, Leonard M. Brockman, secretary, and Capt. Frank A. Munroe. Jr.
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

duties in such a manner as to have been

clearly exceptional among all who have

done similar work; should have made

some original development or major improvement or have changed methods,

procedures, or products so that the changes were extraordinarily beneficial to the Canal organization; should have per- formed some special service in the public

interest but related to his employment

over and above his position requirements;

or should have demonstrated outstanding courage and voluntarily risked his per- sonal safety in the face of danger.

Superior Service While not so high as the Distinguished

Award, the Superior Service Award will

still call for a high level of employee per- formance. It will require an employee to perform his work in a fashion which is superior to normal work requirements. In general it will be limited to the perfor- mance of regularly required duties and

will not cover the outstanding features covered by the Distinguished Service. An employee whose performance of one

particular phase of his duties is recognized

as clearly superior to normal requirements

and expectations may be granted the Superior Service Award, whereas clearly

superior performance in all phases of his assigned duties would be necessary to

justify the awarding of the outstanding

rating under the annual personnel review- program. The superior service award may

also be granted for sustained superior

performance on a special task or assignment throughout a period of six months,

whereas the outstanding rating requires

performance throughout the full year covei ed by the personnel ratings.

The new plan has the approval and

backing of President Eisenhower and the U. S. Civil Service Commission. Last fall President Eisenhower called for a pro- gram which would bring increased re- wards for constructive ideas and recognition of superior performance in the Federal service. In line with the President's request

and the Civil Service Commission's pro- gram, "emphasis in the Panama Canal

Company-Canal Zone Government's In- centive Awards Program will be placed

this year on the encouragement and rec- ognition of superior performances at all levels," Mr. Hollen, Chairman of the

Incentive Awards Committee, told The

Review.

Program Expanded

"In the past," he said, "the Incentive Awards Program has been restricted to recognition and rewards for individual

actions resulting in savings to the Company-Government, community improvements, or improvements in working conditions. "This program will continue to be

pushed to the limit, but in addition, under

the Incentive Awards Program as implemented by the Civil Service Commission,

greater emphasis will be placed on recognition of superior employee performance

in carrying out the responsibilities and

duties of the various positions throughout

the organization.

"The United States Government, from

the President down," Mr. Hollen added, "has recognized the fact that many gov- ernment employees who are doing much

more than is normally expected of them

have not received full recognition for meritorious work."

Citations Given Eight Employees

In Incentive Award Program

%

THE HIGHEST AWARD possible for a Canal employee to win was presented late last month by

Governor Seybold to Livingstone Reece for his part in saving the life of a five-year-old boy.

A Distinguished Service award and

seven Superior Service awards were ap- proved late last month by Gov. John S. Seybold following an extension of the Incentive Awards program to provide

recognition of unusual or exceptional

performance.

The Distinguished Service award was won by Livingston Reece, of La Boca,

who is employed in the Armature Repair

Shop of the Electrical Division in Balboa. His citation was personally presented by

Governor Seybold.

One woman employee was among the seven who were presented Superior Service

citations by the Governor last month.

The seven to receive this award were:

Ellis F. Fawcett, Principal of Paraiso

School. Lee Kariger, Administrative Assistant in

the Locks Division. Mrs. Faye C. Minton, Administrative

Assistant in the Engineering and Construction Bureau. William G. Mummaw, Lead Foreman in

the Maintenance Division. Richard B. Potter, Technical Assistant, EUctrical Division.

T. C. Tavares, Janitor at Balboa High

School. Leon M. Warren, Architectural Engineer,

Engineering Division. The Distinguished Service award was

presented to Mr. Reece for his part in saving the life of Jesus M. Carlo, a five- year-old Panamanian boy, at Hideaway

Beach on February 22. He rescued the young child after seeing him swept into the water from a rock offshore. After bringing him to the beach, he applied

artificial respiration. The child was

breathing faintly by the time other medical aid was received.

Mr. Fawcett, long a leader in civic

affairs in the Canal Zone communities,

received a Superior Service award for his outstanding work as head of the Paraiso School and for related work. Mr. Kariger was honored for his out- standing work during the Atlantic Locks

overhaul this year. He was recommended

for the citation on his handling of this major project with respect to additional

duties assigned over a period of eight

months. Mrs. Minton, the only woman employee to be honored by a citation under

the new program, received her award for exceptional performance of duty which was described by the Incentive Awards

Committee as surpassing the require- ments of her position. Mr. Potter was recommended for the

special honor because of his excellent work in assisting the Plant Inventory

and Appraisal program on which he was

assigned special work for his Division. Mr. Mummaw, a veteran employee in the Maintenance Division, was awarded

a citation for his contribution to the success of the Preventive Maintenance Teams.

Mr. Tavares won his citation for the

superior manner in which he performed

his duties. He was recommended for the award by the Director of Secondary Education and the recommendation had the endorsement of the Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Warren was awarded the Superior

Service citation for his work in engineering estimates prepared in connection with

the annual inspection of public buildings

and installations which was centralized

for the first time this year in the Engineering and Construction Bureau.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW MAY 4, 1956

FOR YOUR INTERESTED GUIDANCE IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION !£ 3

THAT'S NOT ALL

You hoar a lot of talk these days about

'lifting with the legs instead of the back,"

and that's fine, as far as it goes. But,

there's more to it. Lifting with your legs instead of your back won't guarantee

that you won't be injured. You've got to be aware of the hazards

of slivers, nails, wire, and jagged or sharp

edges, too. You need to be sure-footed, sure- handed, and steady in movement. Don't

tii' yourself into knots with twisting or jerky motions.

And remember to wear safety shoes and hand protection.

SAFE DRIVING THOUGHT

A car can help you to see the world -

hut it's up to you to decide which

world. HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

MARCH

SUPPLY AND EMPLOYEE SERVICE

BUREAU

HEALTH BUREAU

CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

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

Marine

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES

1ARCH

COMMISSARY DIVISION

NAVIGATION DIVISION

HOSPITALIZATION AND CLINICS

MAINTENANCE DIVISION

SERVICE CENTER DIVISION

HOUSING AND GROUNDS DIVISION

INDUSTRIAL DIVISION

ELECTRICAL DIVISION

MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

STOREHOUSES DIVISION

AIDS TO NAVIGATION

SANITATION DIVISION

ON THE HOME FRONT

What are you doing to help your child to safety?

Do you make safety a cooperative

understanding in your family?

Do you have your child examined

periodically by a doctor? Do you help your child to develop confidence in himself? Knowing that children are great imitators, do you practice safety yourself at

all times? Do you give your child sufficient opportunity to develop sound muscular

control? Do you help your child to learn the

correct and, therefore, the safe way of doing things?

Have you made an inspection of your home recently to discover hazards, and

have you taken steps to make your home

as safe as possible?

Knowledge, they say, is what you

learn from others. Wisdom, is what you teach yourself. You need both to live safelyl UNFAVORABLE ODDS

If you had $18,000,000, would you bet your vast fortune against one dollar that you could toss a ball into the air and

catch it as it falls? Of course you wouldn't. The odds are

all out of proportion to the risk. Maybe

you feel that no one in his right mind

would take such a chance. If so, you're wrong. Thousands of apparently sane

drivers - not once, but many times each day take chances in the face of these

odds. Only they wager years against minutes. And it's in this fact that we find one

of the most convincing arguments for

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Aids to Navigation 3 Motor Transportation 3 Sanitation 3 Service Center 3 Storehouses 3 Commissary 2 Electrical 2 Hospitalization and Clinics 2 Industrial 2 Maintenance 2 Navigation 2 Railroad -. 2 Dredgi ng 1 Housing and Grounds 1 Terminals 1 Locks

every person who supports the cause of safe driving. The average adult of 35

has some 18,406,600 minutes to live. Every time he takes a chance to save a minute he wagers all his remaining years. Remember . . . when you gamble on

the highway, you bet your life!

EVER NOTICE?

Nothing is so upsetting to a woman

than to have company drop in to see

the house looking as it usually does.

GETTING THE WEAR OUT OF

SAFETY SHOES

Keeping shoes clean adds to their life as well as to their appearance. After

wearing, muddy shoes should be cleaned with mild soap suds and wiped dry, if possible.

Shoes of elk, retan, or similar leather can be preserved and made more waterrepellant by treating with animal or vegetable oils or shoe compounds once a week

or oftener. Shoes of smooth grain upper leather should be cleaned with saddle soap and

polished with a high-grade shoe polish.

When shoes become wet from perspir- ation or from outside moisture, they

should be dried away from any heat. When drying, shoes should be placed on

ventilated shoe trees to keep their shape.

If shoe trees are not available, the shoes can be sutffed with crumbled newspaper.

Leather can be made water repellent

by use of silicon dressing.

In using a leverage tool, be sure you

use the proper tool for the job, be sure

of firm footing and secure grip, and

guard against a sudden slip or let-down

of the load.

MARCH 1956

Supply and Employee Service Bureau

Health Bureau

Civil Affairs Bureau

C. Z. Covl.-Panama Canal Co. (This Monlh)

Marine Bureau

Engineering and Construction Bureau

Transportation and Terminals Bureau

C. Z. Govl.-Panama Canal Co. ( Last 3-Year Av.)

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

(Frequency Rale)

O 10 20 30

Number of Disabling Injuries 6

10 20 30

Man-Hours Worked 2,433,166 LEGEND

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

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

Accumulative Frequency Rate This Year
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

-Ue-L, fflt-L-afal

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. W. Schull, Jr. Lieutenant Governor

William G. Arey, Jr. Public Information Officer

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Assistant Editor

SUBSCRIPTION—$1.00 a year SINGLE COPIES—5 cents each On sale at al! Panama Canal Service Centers, Commissaries, and Hotels for 10 days

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

Clerk, Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

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

Canal Review, Balboa Heights, C. Z. Leaves Service

TWENTY-FIVE years of Canal service—all in personnel work—came to an end this month for A. L. Wright, well known to those who have had

dealings at Building 69 on Roosevelt Avenue in Balboa. Mr. Wright left the Isthmus recently and,

for the time being, plans to live in Europe. A native of Georgia, he worked for the United

Fruit Company in Guatemala and Costa Rica before he came to the Isthmus in 1929 as Office Manager

for Pan-American Airways in Cristobal. He joined the Personnel Bureau of the Canal

organization May 12, 1931. During the construction period just before World War II and the war

years he wa? assigned to what was known as the

Silver Control Section, which handled the thousands

of contract laborers brought from Central and South Amarioa and the West Indies to work in the Canal

Zone. In 1954 he was promoted to Chief of the

Ceatral Labor Offics Division. Last fall, when the Personnel Bureau was reorganized, he became Assist- ant to the Chief of the Employment and Utilization Division.

OF CURRENT INTEREST

HONOR STUDENTS OF the Cristobal Senior Class this year are shown above. Left to right, are: Carolyn Jones, James Ambrose, Sally Morland, Allen Robinette, Margaret Leigh, Felipe Garcia, Edith Ann Eckhoff, Sue Pincus, Robert MacSparran, Rupert Chin, and Mary Jo Aycock.

The announcement made recently by the Canal Zone Health Bureau that during

March, for the first time in its 52-year

history, a full month had passed without a

single case of malaria being reported among

employees in the Canal Zone organization,

military personnel, or other residents of the Canal Zone, attracted wide attention.

In an editorial, The New York Times

called it a victory of the first order and

although not the end of the war a sign that

this hard war can be won. The editorial said that the conquest of malaria means

drudgery, devotion, and the endless repeti- tion of the same tasks. Meanwhile the Health Bureau has issued

its annual warning that with the advent of the rainy season, the danger of contracting malaria becomes more acute and that all the basic precautions should be taken. Malaria has not been eradicated yet, health officials warned. It can strike at any

time of the year and its control is a matter

of constant vigilance on the part of all residents as well as Health authorities.

the larger Commissaries. Customers will then be able to buy their favorite blend of whole bean coffee packaged in one-pound or half-pound sacks, pour it into the machine,

turn a dial to the preferred grind and,

presto, a sack of freshly ground coffee. If the method proves a success, coffee grinders

may be installed in the grocery sections of other Commissary retail stores.

A total of 50 U. S.-rate student assistant

positions have been authorized this year

for allocation on the basis of bureau justi- fication for the coming school vacation months from June 6 through September 7,

it has been announced by the Personnel

Bureau. These positions can be filled by Canal Zone high school students or junior college students of 16 years of age or over who

meet the general qualifications for U. S.- rate employment in the Company-Govern- ment organization. As in the past, the jobs

also will offer training opportunities for those who may later obtain positions similar to those held during the vacation period. Students who apply for jobs must register

at the Employment and Utilization Division

of the Personnel Bureau on Roosevelt Ave- nue in Balboa or at the Cristobal Central Labor office. Selections will not be made

until the applications have been screened,

qualified, and referred to the employing

bureau. The Personnel Bureau has asked that only those students who expect to remain

on the Isthmus during the entire summer

vacition apply for these positions.

Rainbow City is one of the cleanest towns

in the Canal Zone these days. Fences have been repaired and painted; debris has dis- appeared; gardens have been weeded;

shrubbery has been pruned; and the resi- dents under the sponsorship of the Rainbow

City Civic Council have adopted the motto: "Every Day A Clean-up Day."

The campaign, which made Rainbow City

a model for other Canal Zone communities, was started March 3 and continued for four

days. The town was divided into five sections and during the campaign, residents working with the Civic Council, the Inter- national Boy and Girl Scouts, the Army

Mothers, community clergy, and the Housing Division, cleared away approximately

100 cubic yards of debris.

A new item on the Commissary shelves

this month is reconstituted milk, put up in quart bottles for sale at 15 cents a quart. The milk, the Commissary Division an- nounced, has the same properties as fresh dairy milk and has the endorsement of the Health Bureau as a nourishing and whole- some product recommended for inclusion in the daily diet of children and adults. The

milk is available for home delivery as well as retail in the Commissary stores. The

price of 15 cents per quart will be exclusive

of the regular deposit on the bottle.

There will be a new deal for Commissary

coffee customers soon if the coffee grinding

midline purchased recently by the Commissary Division proves a success. The

machine is designed for individual use and

will be set up on a trial basis in one of

Atlantic side residents will have a chance

this month to enter a bid for surplus furniture, miscellaneous household items, and

other articles to be auctioned off May 25 and 26 in the Cristobal Storehouse by the

Division of Storehouses. To make it more convenient for prospec- the customers, the Storehouses will try a sjstem of putting various lots up for sale witnin a specific time pe iod. The time

schedule is printed in the auction bulletins which were posted on public bulletin boards

this week. The sale will start at 6:30 p. m. Friday

night, May 25, and will continue until 175

lots are sold. It will reopen Saturday morning at 8:30 a. m. and continue until all articles are sold.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

One And Only Official Photographer

Leads Harried Existence On His Job

CLYDE S. LAOLAIR

The Canal's Official Photographer has photographed the Locks from practically every angle.

As the one and only official photographer for the Canal organization, Clyde

S. LaClair is well qualified, the second in

this new Review feature thumbnail

sketches of the men and women who hold

"singleton" jobs in the Canal Zone. His

work brings him into contact with, probably, a greater variety of people, in a greater variety of places, reached by a greater variety of transportation, than any other in the entire organization.

A typical LaClair day may go something like this: In the morning, when the day is bright

and clear, he may be up in an Air Force

helicopter taking aerial shots of anything

from an overall shot of the Gatun Locks

Two Observances

To Remember

IN MAY

ARMED FORCES

DAY

May 1

9

and

CANAL ZONE

CANCER FUND

DRIVE

May 1 5 through 3

1

overhaul to an air view of some specific

building. Back on the ground again, he may return to the locks to take detailed pictures of some particular process and

may grind out a few movies while he's at it—all for study and record. Back at his office at Diablo Heights, he may find an emergency call waiting to take an entirely different type of picture:

A crack may have developed, inexplicably,

in a concrete wall, or possibly termites have been discovered where no one ever thought they would go. These must be photographed for detailed study by crack and termite experts. Before he has a chance to catch his breath he has to arrange for prints to be made from negatives made earli3r; each month his studio turns out an average of 2.300 such prints. Or he may have to decide some question in connection with

the preservation of the old photographic

records, a highly technical process. Medicine Man

His job has also taken him to many of the out-of-the-way places in the Republic

of Panama. Several years ago he accompanied a medical group which was giving vaccinations against yellow fever and

tracking down the monkeys which are the unwitting hosts to the jungle yellowfever. That particular trip took him to Bocas del Toro, the Darien, and Chiriqui.

While he has been on picture expeditions he has been called on for a number

of unusual (for a photographer) services - from changing tires to baby sitting. On

the yellow fever trip he found himself

practically practicing medicine. When

the others in the group went out to hunt

monkeys and he remained to watch the camp, he was beset by the ailing natives who always flocked around whenever the party stopped.

The doctors in the group had antici- pated something of the sort and had left him a goodly supply of aspirin which he

dispensed before the day was over to about 100 men, women, and children and,

as far as he knows, may have helped some

of them. It is only fair to say, here, that he warned those who seemed really sick to come back later for more professional care. Serving as official photographer has not all been as entertaining as that. He

has waded through hip-deep mud to get a picture, waited for hours in the rain

for another. He has crash-landed in a

plane in the Darien, gotten pneumonia

taking jungle pictures at night during the war, been attacked by owls in his old studio at Balboa Heights -and has come

out of most of his adventures unscathed. The quality of his pictures is considered,

by experts, to be excellent and he seldom

misses a shot. Like all photographers,

he has his jinxes and there are some

places and some people he dislikes to photograph, because something invari- ably goes wrong with the camera or film. Minnesota- Born

Born in Faribault, Minnesota, Mr.

LaClair has been working with cameras

for over 30 years. In the mid 1920's, he was assistant sales manager for the Buzza Greeting Card Company in Minneapolis. A camera salesman visited the

office, walked out with $800 worth of orders in his pocket, and the assistant

sales manager found that he was the company's official photographer, too. Taking pictures provided an interesting new angle to his job and gave him a remunerative sideline to replace the

prestidigitation with which he had been

amusing audiences professionally for years. In recent years he has abandoned

his magic entirely.

His current hobby is painting, done to the accompaniment of a record player turned on at full volume. Mrs. La Clair, who is considerate of her neighbors, has set a 9 p. m. curfew for painting, and listening.

PRIZE NEWSGIRL

EDNA HARRISON, cashier at the Balboa Heights

cafeteria, is a prize salesgirl for The Panama Canal

Review. Each month she sells close to 300 copies

to employees in the Administration Building.
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Canal Employees Are Extremely Competent

And Cooperative Says Governor Seybold

(Continued from page 1) affairs which

have already been held in their honor.

Several other affairs of a similar nature have been scheduled by organizations

and personal friends during the two weeks

before their departure. Governor Seybold, a native of Topeka,

Kan., was serving as Assistant Chief of Engineers for Personnel and Administration when he was appointed by President Harry S. Truman as eleventh Governor

of the Canal Zone. He took oath of office May 27, 1952, in the Pentagon Building

in Washington soon after his confirmation by the United States Senate. The Governor, accompanied by Mrs.

Seybold, arrived on the Isthmus on the Panama liner Panama on June 9, 1952, to assume his new duties. The Isthmus

and its people were not new to them on

arrival for they had resided at Corozal

for three years, 1922-25, when he served

as a lieutenant with the 11th Engineers.

The intervening 27 years until their return covered a variety of important

assignments with the Corps of Engineers.

Principal among these were those of wartime service first as Chief of the Procure- ment Branch in the office of the Chief of Engineers, and later in the European

theater as Executive Officer of the Engineer Section for the Services of Supply,

and as Chief of the Supply Division. After his return from overseas duty in 1945, Governor Seybold served as District Engineer at Syracuse, N. Y., and

later at Baltimore, Md. Two important

postwar assignments were as District Engineer of the Garrison District with

headquarters at Bismarck, N. D., with

responsibility for the construction of the

world's largest rolled-earth-fill dam on

the Missouri River at Garrison, and as Division Engineer of the South Pacific Division which is comprised of California,

Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii.

Governor Seybold was retired from

active duty as an officer of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers with the rank

of Major General last October after 35

years of service. He held the rank of Brigadier General, to which he was pro- moted in June 1951, throughout most of his term as Governor. His promotion to Major General upon retirement was by

Congressional action, one of the rare in- stances when such an honor has been

paid to an officer in the military service

of the Government by an act of Congress.

Latin American Schools Will Reopen

Next Week; Plan Pacific High Move

(Continued from pag°. 2) be the transfer, later, of Pacific side high school

activities to Paraiso. Several other less important changes will greet incoming

students. A complete paint job, inside and out, has been done on the Rainbow

City schools, and the shop building and

the old Paraiso school, and the Rainbow

City pool has been repaired.

Still to be done, but due for this fiscal year, are equipment of the Paraiso gymnasium with dressing rooms and shower

facilities, and construction of a covered passageway from the Rainbow City high

school to the gymnasium.

Several new faces will be seen on the teaching staff. Mrs. Gladys Mauge will replace Mrs. Dorothy Powell, who has

resigned, at the Rainbow City elementary

TV Programs Start Sunday

Several thousand pairs of eyes in the Canal Zone, including those of TV set owners, their wives and children, and

many of their neighbors and friends, will be glued to animated glass screens, from

17 to 24 inches wide, Sunday afternoon,

May 6, when the first television for this area is started by CFN, the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service station in the Canal Zone. A special 15-minute "live" program

beginning at 2:15 o'clock Sunday after- noon will inaugurate television on the

Pacific side. Service on the Atlantic side

will be started sometime later. Under the schedule now arranged, pro- grams will be telecast on week days from

3 o'clock in the afternoon until midnight,

while programs on Saturday and Sunday

will begin at 2:15 and continue until midnight. The telecasting of test patterns

daily has been done since April 24, and

owners having TV sets have been busy

adjusting their sets. Because of the widespread interest in television among Canal employees and

their families, the following program an- nounced by CFN for the first week is carried in this issue of The Review.

The programs are subject to change.

The programs in future weeks will fol- low in general the one outlined below as

to the type of programs and the hours when they will be telecast. Under the schedule announced, the closing program

for each night will be a one-hour drama.

The first week's program and time schedule follows: SUNDAY

2:15 SIGN ON—Special Program

2:30 The Big Picture 3:00 Shower Of Stars 4:00 Arthur Godfrey And His Friends

5:00 Hallmarks Hall Of Fame

5:30 Bums And Allen

6:00 News *

6:15 Jane Froman

6:30 College Press Conference

7:00 Jack Benny

7:30 Screen Directors Playhouse

8:00 Toast Of The Town

9:00 Appointment With Adventure

9:30 The Peoples Choice

10:00 Readers Digest

10:30 Life With Father

11:00 News *

11:05 Goodyear TV Playhouse

12:05 Sign Off MONDAY

2:58 Sign On

3:00 Armed Forces Hour

4:00 Garry Moore

4:30 Robert Q. Lewis

4:45 Eddie Fisher

5 :00 On Your Account

5:30 Zoo Parade

6:00 News *

6:15 Panorama *

7:00 My Little Margie

7:30 Life Begins At 80

8:00 Caeser's Hour

9 :00 Medic

9:30 I've Got A Secret 10:00 Four Star Playhouse

10:30 Talent Scouts

11:00 News *

1 1 :05 Studio One

12:05 Sign Off

school. At Rainbow City High School, Ernest Jamieson will replace Horace

Parker who is on a year's leave of absence and who will not return until September

1. Also at Rainbow City High School,

Clement Dixon has been assigned to re- place Mrs. Clara Wattley, whose year's leave of absence will not be completed

until July 1.

TUESDAY

2:58 Sign On

3:00 Armed Forces Hour

4:00 Garry Moore

4:30 Robert Q. Lewis

4:45 Eddie Fisher 5:00 Strike It Ricli 5:30 Wizard

6:00 News * 6:15 Panorama * 7:00 Bob Cummings Show

8:30 S64.000 Question

8:00 Buick Berle Show

9:00 Big Town

9:30 Dollar A Second

10:00 Loretta Young Show

10:30 Red Skelton

1 1 :00 News * 11:05 Motorola TV Theatte

12:05 Sign Off WEDNESDAY

2:58 Sign On

3:00 Armed Forces Hour

4:00 Garry Moore

4:30 Robert Q. Lewis

4:45 Eddie Fisher 5:00 On Your Account

5:30 Contest Carnival

6:00 News *

6:15 Panorama *

7:00 I Married Joan

7:30 This Is Your Life 8:00 Disneyland

9:00 The Line-Up

9:30 Beat The Clock

10:00 Pabst Bout

10:45 Jane Froman

11:00 News *

11:05 Philco TV Playhouse

12:05 Sign Off THURSDAY

2:58 Sign On

3:00 Armed Forces Hour

4:00 Garry Moore

4:30 Robert Q. Lewis

4:45 Eddie Fisher

5:00 Strike It Rich

5:30 Topper

6:00 News *

6:15 Panorama *

7:00 My Favorite Husband

7:30 You Bet Your Life 8:00 Climax

9:00 Dragnet

9:30 People Are Funny

10:00 The Millionaire 10:30 The Johnny Carson Show

11:00 News *

11:05 The Kraft TV Theatre

12:05 Sign Off FRIDAY

2:58 Sign On

3:00 Armed Forces Hour

4:00 Garry Moore

4:30 Robert 0. Lewis

4:45 Eddie Fisher

5:00 On Your Account

5:30 Roy Rogers

6:00 News *

6:15 Panorama *

7:00 Meet Millie 7:30 Stop The Music

8:00 Colgate Comedy Hour

9:00 Justice i:30 Pantomine Quiz

10:00 ABC Boxing

10:45 Great Moments In Sports

11:00 News +

1 1 :05 U. S. Steel Hour

12:05 Sign Off SATURDAY

2:13 Sign On

2:15 Western Matinee

3:00 Armed Forces Hour

4:00 Game Of The Week

4:30 Encore Theatre

5:30 Imogene Coca

6:00 News *

6:15 Panorama *

7:00 Life Of Riley

7:30 The Hunter

8:00 Jackie Gleason

9:00 Danger

9:30 That's My Boy

10:00 George Gobel Show

10:30 Hit Parade

11:00 News *

11:05 The Bob Hope Show

12:05 Sign Off

* Live Telecast
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

Governor Seybold's Four-Year Term Filled

With Significant Actions And Events

For an area as small as the Canal Zone

a lot has happened here in the past few

years. And, when the history of the first century of the Panama Canal's operations is written in the year 2014, the administration of Gov. John States Seybold

will undoubtedly be considered one of the most significant of the period. Governor Seybold completes his four- year term of office this month. Each year

has been crowded with changes and

events of great interest. While many of these have been of local importance,

others are of international significance

and their imprint will be visible in Canal

operations for many years to come. At the time he took oath of office in the Pentagon Building in Washington on May 27, 1952, the Panama Canal Company was still, rhetorically speaking, a babe in swaddling clothes.

It was then less than a year old and

the basic policies required by the change

from an old-line agency operating on ap- propriated funds to a modern corporate

form of management using corporate

principles and business methods required

to achieve a self-sustaining operation out

of revenues, were still unsettled, or at

least in the formative stages. While primarily fiscal in nature, the changes and new policies required by the incorporation and reorganization of the Canal oper- ations have affected both over-all operations and the individual employee.

Many Policies Settled The initiation and implementation of many of these policies have been the

direct responsibility of the present Canal

administration. In the main, the principles for operation of the Canal and its related activities have now been settled. The Company has not had occasion, since the reorganization, to obtain any

appropriation of funds, either for operating expenses or capital outlay. Under

its charter the Company is required to recover all costs of operation, including

depreciation, and to reimburse the Treas- ury annually for interest on the net direct investment of the United States in the Company, for the net costs of operation

of the Canal Zone Government, and for

INSPECTING a Locks overhaul with Board members in 1952. Governor explains some problems to Lt. Gen. Lewis A. Pick, formerly Chief of Engineers, who was a member of a special committee of the Board of Directors to study Canal traffic and future requirements. At left is Roy ('. Stockham, Chief of the Locks Division.

OATH OF OFFICE was administered May 27, 1952, by Secretary of the Army Frank Pace, Jr. Center is Karl R. Bendetsen, then Under Secretary and Chirman of the Board of the Panama Canal Company.

the $430,000 annuity to Panama under

the 1903 and 1936 treaties. During the first four years of operation

since the reorganization, the operating net income of the Panama Canal Company totaled $89.3 million, after recovery

of all direct operating costs, including

depreciation and general overhead, but

before payments of the fixed general cor- porate charges noted above to the United

States Treasury. Annual payments of the fixed charges to the Treasury totaled $75.8 million during the period. The

resulting aggregate net income for the

four years has therefore been $13.5 million. This annual net income was $2.9

million for fiscal year 1952; $5.8 million

for 1953; $4.1 million for 1954; and $0.5

million for 1955. For the current fiscal year 1956 it is estimated that the net income will be around $2.5 million. In addition to the annual payment of

interest, net Canal Zone Government

costs, and the annuity to Panama, the Panama Canal Company paid into the United States Treasury in November

1954 a liquidating dividend of $10 million, the amount of accumulated cash on hand determined by the Board of Directors to be in excess of the Company's

working capital needs and reasonable for- seeable requirements for authorized plant

replacement or expansion. Another such

dividend in the amount of $5 million was

declared in April 1956. These payments,

totaling $15 million represent a refund- ment of capital, and liquidated the Government's investment to that extent, thereby reducing the Company's interest base. Canal Traffic Increases Commercial traffic through the Canal

has shown a constant increase over the past four years. The number of ocean- going commercial vessels transiting the Canal during this period, of which ap- proximately two-thirds are foreign flag, was 29,715 as compared with 20,512 during the preceding four-year period, an

increase of about 45 percent. Transits by United States Government vessels, on

the other hand, declined sharply after

fiscal year 1953, from 1,064 transits in that year to 800 in 1954 and only 296 in 1955. Tolls revenues and credits reached an all-time peak in 1953, totaling $37.4

million. The decrease since that year was

entirely due to diminished Government

traffic. The peak in commercial ocean- going traffic was reached in 1955, when

7,997 of such vessels transited the Canal

carrying 40.6 million tons of cargo. Tolls on all commercial vessels amounted to $33.9 million in fiscal year 1955 and it is estimated they will amount to $34.9 million in fiscal year 1956 and $35.6 million

in fiscal year 1957. Credits for tolls on Government vessels amounted to $1.2

million in fiscal year 1955 and it is esti- mated they will amount to $0.8 million

CELEBRATING a Centennial. The Governor poses with senior Panama Railroad men, Engineer B. W.

Mclntyre, left, and Conductor C. B. Mcllvaine,

before the departure of the train from Colon on January 28, 1955, reenacting the first transcontinental

train trip 100 years before.
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11

in fiscal year 1957. The high level of commercial traffic is

still holding up, the month of February

1956 having set an all-time high record

of 23.48 average dailv transits of large

commercial vessels. March was almost

as high.

Aside from the many and varied ad- justments resulting from the reorganization legislation, there have been sufficient other outstanding events of the past four years to make the period noteworthy in any historical record of the Canal. While some of these, ruch as the Canal Treaty

revision, have not been of the Governors

making nor his direct responsibility, they

have added to the work load in his office and vitally affected his administration. A partial listing of the more outstanding and newsworthy occurrences of the past four years in the Canal Zone would

include the following:

Approval and initiation of the first phase of a plan to increase the capacity

of the waterway.

Completion of the Contractors Hil! project.

Planning and initiation of the $25,-

000,000 electric-power-conversion project.Planning and initiation of a program

for replacement of the locks towing lo- comotives.

A substantial revision and completion of the long-range quarters replacement program.

The change from English to Spanish

as the basic language of Latin American

schools in the Canal Zone, together

with extension of the teaching of Spanish in all grades of the United States

schools. Consolidation of all hospital facilities in the Zone. A revision of the functions of the

Canal's Washington office with the

transfer and consolidation of all pro- curement activities in the New York

office. Transfer of the water management

contract to the Republic of Panama.

Closing of the Panama and Colon

Health offices. Two public Congressional hearings

in the Canal Zone. Completion of the plant inventory

and appraisal program.

The Booz, Allen, Hamilton study and

report.

Implementation of the so-called Fringe Benefits legislation.

And, added to these would be a variety

of public events of unusual interest such

as the celebration of the Canal's 50th

anniversary, the Panama Railroad's centennial, completion and dedication of the Goethals Memorial, and visits by the Queen of England and the Vice President

of the United States. This list could be extended indefinitely

by adding other events which would be

included in a more comprehensive review. No single administrative action during Governor Seybold's administration aroused so much turmoil among employees as the increase in rents which was

approved by the Board of Directors at

its meeting at Balboa Heights in September 1952, less than four months after he took office. The question of increasing

rents to cover all costs had been pending

for several months before he took office, but he inherited the headaches of its actuality. Because of the many protests, the Governor obtained authority to postpone the

ENTERTAINING a Vice President. Operation of the Panama Canal Locks were explained to Vice

President Richard M. Nixon on his visit to the Canal Zone in February 1955. At the right is Henry

F. Holland, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter American Affairs.

effective date of the increase, and an impartial panel held public hearings. The

end result was the acceptance by the Board of Directors of three of the panel's

recommendation for rental adjustments.

A second occurrence vitally affecting

employees and their pocketbooks came

on the heels of the rent raise when the House of Representatives cut the 25 per- cent differential to 10 percent. Governor

Seybold immediately took the lead in what proved to be a successful fight to save the full differential. Worries On Fringes Benefits Coupled with this was a Congressional

directive for an independent study of the

differential and other fringe benefits. The study was conducted by the management consultant firm of Booz, Allen, and

Hamilton. Its report recommending re- tention of all fringe benefits plus some

additional ones was one of the biggest boc sts to employee morale in many years. Other events of major importance of the Governor's first year in office included resumption of studies on conversion of the Canal Zone power system to 60-cycle

current, and approval of plans by the Board of Directors for a modification of the Canal locks to increase the capacity

of the Canal. Plans for the power-conversion pro- gram have now been fully developed. Before Governor Seybold leaves the Isth- mus, some residents on the Atlantic side

will be cooking, washing clothes, and fan- ning themselves with 60-cycle electrical appliances. Modification of Gatun Locks

has been completed and successfully

tested during the overhaul this year. Another project of major importance

directly affecting the waterway was the Contractors Hill work where a rock fis- sure required the removal of most of that rocky precipice overlooking Gaillard Cut. 1 he quarters replacement program has

been, one of continuing concern during Governor Seybold's administration. The

program had already begun when he took

office. At that time plans called for an

expenditure of $80,000,000. This pro- gram was drastically revised and reduced,

with the result that the total expenditure was cut to about $25,000,000. Five Fewer Towns

One phase of importance in the revised housing program which will have a long- range effect on operation and mainte- nance costs is the consolidation of quarters near the Canal terminals. This has

or will ultimately result in five fewer

townsites or integrated communities

Red Tank, Pedro Miguel, La Boca,

Camp Bierd, and New Cristobal. Consistently with the gradual stabili- zation of Canal operations in general after the war, together with the Congressional

directives requiring a self-sustaining operation, many adjustments were made

and new policies developed during Governor Seybold's administra- {See page 15)

A JOB.COMPLETED. The Contractors Hill project was the biggest thing of its kind since the removal of big slides in the Canal soon after it was opened. It was completed during the Governor's

administration. He is shown here congratulating A. Ray Smith, President cf the Tecon Corporation,

center with checkered shirt, at job's completion. Facing camera between the Governor and Mr.

Smith is Col. Hugh M. Arnold, Engineering and Construction Director, who supervised the job from the beginning until it ended in September of last year.
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

m

Here's How

The Review

I s Printed

•Just six years ago, the first issue of The Panama Canal Review went on sale

in the commissaries, clubhouses (as they were in those days), and hotels in the Canal Zone. Today, in addition to its local circulation, it goes to some 1,500 subscribers throughout the United States and in several other countries as well. To celebrate its birthday, The Review

staff presents here some of the men of the Printing Plant at Mount Hope who have

had a hand in the printing of the magazine's 63 issues—including this one.

If the reader will start at the top of this page and follow the pictures down, across

the bottom of this and the facing page and then up that page, he will see, in order, the major processes involved in turning an average of 20,000 words and

25 pictures into a magazine each month.

The Review type is set by monotype,

unlike the lintotype used by most newspapers. Earl A. Dyer, top left, is at the keyboard of the complicated machine

which sets the 10-point Modern (of the Roman type family) used for the "body"

of most of The Review's stories, the

8-point type (Binny and Cushing) used

in the Current Interest and Promotion

and Transfer pages, and the type, also 8-point Modern, used under the pictures. Mr. Dyer, temporary head of the Monotype Section, has been in the printing business here and at the Government

Printing Office in Washington, for over

33 years. His job is Group Chief and

Assistant to the Printer. When the perforated tape, like a

player piano roll, comes off the monotype

keyboard, it goes to the monotype caster, operated by Carl DaCosta, center left. He has been at the Printing Plant since 1918. He feeds the tape into the casting

machine which then casts into galleyscolumns to the non-technical—the type

which comes from the caster. Next step for each Review issue is the
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

composing room where the galleys of type, the pictures (which have been

transformed into metal plates, or cliches, by Reinaldo De Pool, of Panama City),

and the headlines, which have been set by hand, are fitted into page-size forms. At the bottom, left, J. B. Coffey, Composing Room Foreman, who served his apprenticeship at the Printing Plant more than 25 years ago, and Eustace

Wiltshire, a veteran of 37 years service, put a page together according to a dummy

prepared by the editorial staff. A proof is made of each galley of type

and for each page. This is the job of Harold Lewis, who is shown in the one- column picture on page 12. The type

is inked with a large cylinder and the proof sheet pressed, by a weighted roller, onto it. A. A. Doyle, not shown here, reads each proof for errors. Each 16-page issue of The Review is printed in two sections, of eight pages

each, and every 20-page issue in three

sections, one of four pages and the other two of eight pages apiece. Each section

is known as a "sig."

Richard Ennis, in the one-column pic- ture below, arranges each sig on a large

flat "stone," adjusting and tightening

the columns and pages so that they do not

slip under the pressure of the press. The actual printing of the Panama

Canal's official monthly is done directly

from type on a flatbed press. This, too, is unlike most newspaper production where

the type is impressed into a papier mache

matrix from which stereotype plates are made to fit the cylinders of a rotary press. At the bottom, right, Gilbert Furey,

who heads the Printing Plant and who

has been in the printing business for over 40 years, and John M. Purvis, Jr., who

is in charge of the presses, looks over a

sheet, still wet from the press. In the background, on the upper step of the

press is Stephen Jeanmarie, whose first job at the Printing Plant, 40 years ago, was as a messenger. Putting the sections of each Review

together, trimming them and binding each copy, and distributing the completed

magazines is the job of the Bindery

section. The pages are folded by the machine at the top right. W. R. Price, Bindery Foreman, checks a folded issue while Donald P. Peart, left, keeps an eye on the machine.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS

March 15 through April 15

I inj loyees who were promoted or trans- tween March 15 and April 15 are

below. Wiihin-grade promotions are

not listed.

CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Mrs. Norma E. Hamilton, from Clerk- Stenographer, Supply and Employee Service Bureau, to Clerk (Typing), Division of Schools. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Mrs. Ida H. Fuller and Mrs. Dorothy J. Herrington, from Time, Leave, and Payroll Clerk to Accounting Clerk, Payroll Branch.

Florence M. Peterson, from Accounting

Clerk to Time, Leave, and Payroll Clerk, Payroll Branch. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

Elizabeth A. Allen, from Clerk-Typist,

Commissary Division, to Clerk (Typing),

Electrical Division. Victor C. Melant, from Accounting Clerk

to Supervisory Clerical Assistant, Dredging

Division. Frederick A. Ebdon, from Wireman, Electrical Division, to Electrical Inspector, Power Conversion Project. James A. Van Dyke, from Crater and

Packer Foreman, Maintenance Division, to Pumping Plant Operator, Water and

Laboratories Branch.

Alfred J. Waldorf, from Pumping Plant Operator to Pumping Plant Operator and

Tractor-Bulldozer Operator, Water and

Laboratories Branch. Joseph A. Orvis, from Cablesplicer to

Electrical Distribution Foreman, Electrical Division. OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

Paul M. Runnestrand, from Executive

Assistant to the President to Executive

Secretary, Canal Zone Government, and

Executive Assistant to the President, Pan- ama Canal Company. INTERNAL SECURITY OFFICE

Mrs. Cloy C. Dorey, from Personnel Se- curity Clerk to Personnel Security Assist- ant, Internal Security Office. HEALTH BUREAU

Mrs. Maxine K. Hitchcock, from Clerk- Typist to Clerk (Typing), Corozal Hospital.

MARINE BUREAU

Charles E. Hughes, from Electric Welder

to Boilermaker, Locks Overhaul. Hugh B. Smith, from Wireman, Electrical Division, to Lock Operator Wireman, Pacific Locks. Joseph M. Hunt, from Marine Traffic Controller to Supervisory Marine Traffic Controller, Navigation Division. William E. Pierson, from Machinist, Locks Overhaul, to Lock Operator Machinist, Pacific Locks.

Felix Karpinski, from Machinist, Locks

Overhaul, to Lock Operator Machinist.

Atlantic Locks. Martin S. Sawyer, from Branch Superin1 ident, Posial Division, to Marine Traffic

I ontroller, Navigation Division. Richard W. Abell, from Control House

Operator to Lookmaster, Pacific Locks. Preston M. Trim, from Lock Operator

Wireman Foreman to Control House Operitor, Pacific Lock-. Elden W. Coffey, from Lock Operator

Wireman to Lock Operator Wireman Fore- m in, Pai ific Locks. James H. Bowen, from Wireman, Elec-

•ivision, to Lock Operator Wireman,

fii Loi ks. SUPPLY AM) EMPLOYEE SERVICE BUREAU

Ruth P. Housley, from Usher to Door- man, Service Center Division. Mrs. Lucille Abernathy, from Commissary Assistant to Commissary Supervisor,

Commissary Division. Mrs. Gertrude J. Connard, from Commissary Checker to Commissary Assistant,

Commissary Di\ision.

TRANSPORTATION AND TERMINALS

BUREAU

Dan G. Nellis, from Apprentice Wireman,

Electrical Division, to Electrician, Motor

Transportation Division. Charles E. Staples, from Foreman to Lead Foreman, Tire Reclaiming Plant, Motor Transportation Division. James T. Wiggins, from Rigger, Locks

Overhaul, to Lead Stevedore Foreman,

Terminals Division.

MAY SAILINGS

From Cristobal

Panama May 5

Cristoba I May 12 A neon May 19 Panama May 26 From New York

Cristobal May 3 A neon May 10 Panama May 17

Cristobal May 24 A neon May 31 North- and south-bound ships are in Haiti Mondays.

RETIREMENTS

Retirement certificates were presented

the end of April to the following employees

who are listed alphabetically, together with

their birthplaces, titles, length of service, and future addresses: Anson G. Kinsman, Missouri; Marine

Superintendent, Terminals Division; 39

years; Seattle, Wash.

Marie Arias Smith, Panama; Clerk, Gorgas Hospital; 36 year., 4 months, 12 days; address undecided.

ANNIVERSARIES

With 41 years of government service, Carl G. Brown, Chief of Area Sanitation for the Health Buieau, is again this year the

senior employee on the April list of anniversaries. There are few Zonians who

have not seen him, dressed in khaki and

wearing a sun helmet, poking around

potential breeding places for mosquitoes

and other pests. He had his first Federal service as a

sergeant in the United States Army Medical

Corps. After five years in the service, he

decided to become a civilian, and in 1920 went to work in the Board of Health Laboratory in Ancon. With the exception

of a brief break in service in 1921 he has been with the Health Bureau continuously

for the past 36 years. His friends and associates are forever amazed at his long list of hobbies, all of which, they add, he does very well. He is a ham radio operator, a chess player, a musician, an amateur botanist, and a photographer of considerable ability. 40 YEARS

Adrien Bouche, Control House Supervisor

at Pedro Miguel Locks, has spent most of

his life in the Canal Zone. Born in Mount

Carbon, W. Ya., he came here when he was only 9 years old. Last month he completed 40 years of government service, all with the Canal organization and most of it with the Locks Division. As he did when he was a youngster, he

still prowls the Isthmus from end to end in his spare time. A competent local historian,

ADRIEN M. BOUCHE

he has been of great help on several occasions to members of The Review staff who

wanted to know just where a certain old building might have stood "way back

when .

In November 1952, other of his extracurricular activities were described in a Review story concerning his "plant pros- pecting." In his off duty hours, the story

said, "he prospects for plants . . . and

passes them on to botanists, pharmaceutical

research laboratories, other scientific insti- tutions, or to interested individuals who

can propagate or put them to good use."

30 YEARS

Five Canal employees, all of them men

and only two of them in the same division, rounded out 30 years of government setvice

last month.

Senior from point of service among the

five 30-year employees is Anthony Lombroia, Lead Foreman in the Maintei ance

Division's Planing Mill. He is a native New Yorker who came to the Isthmus

to work with the Gatun Golf Club. His total Federal service is just three days more than that of William F. Browne,

Supervisory Accountant in the Agents Account Branch. Mr. Browne, who was

born in Springfield, Mass., served as an Army officer during World War II and is active in the local Reserve Officers Association. Two employees of the Locks Division,

Floyd R. McDermitt and Stanley Sudron,

follow, in that order. Mr. McDermitt,

who once called Point Pleasant, W. Va.

his home, is a Lockmaster at Gatun. Mr.

Sudron was born in England but came to the Canal Zone in time to serve an apprenticeship here. He is a Lock Operator

Machinist Foreman at the Pacific Locks. Junior on the 30-year list, although first alphabetically, is Boyd M. Bevington,

Supervisory Administrative Assistant in the Housing and Grounds Division. He was

born in Cleveland, Ohio, but has lived most

of his life in the Canal Zone.

25 YEARS

Three of the eight employees who rounded

out a quarter of a century of government

service in April have unbroken Canal

service. These three are Mack F. Bailey,

John W. O'Connell, and Freddie S. Southerland. Mr. Bailey, who originally came from Deer Park, Ala., is a Supervisory Sanitation

Inspector; all of his service ha? been with

the Health Bureau. Mr. O'Connell, whose

formal title is Supervisory Railroad Transportation Specialist, is Master of Transportation for the Panama Railroad. He comes

from Durango, Colo., is a Navy veteran of World War I, and has never worked here
May 4,1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Governor Seybold's Four-Year Term Filled With Significant Actions And Events

(Continuzd from, page 11) tion to increase

efficiency and effect economies in the Canal enterprise. These included internal reorganizations, elimination of activities where possible, and the use of private contractors for new construction and

major maintenance services. The contracting policy effected very substantial savings in the housing program and is doing so currently in the general mainte- nance program, while at the same time

benefiting the Republic of Panama be- cause of increased reliance upon contractors located in the Republic.

These and other policies applied to the postwar, post-reorganization conditions have permitted a reduction of nearly 28

for any other unit but the Railroad. MrSoutherland, who was born in Morristown'

Tenn., is a policeman and detective' stationed at Balboa. Other 25-year employees last month

were: Mrs. Gladys B. Baldwin, once of New Jersey and now Secretary in the Superintendent's Office at Gorgas Hospital;

Richard A. Edmonson, Police Sergeant at

Cristobal, who is a native Zonian, having

been born in Ancon; Burton J. Hackett, Jr., another native Anconite, now Grounds

Maintenance Lead Foreman in Housing

and Grounds; Willard E. Percy, who was

born in Buffalo, N. Y., served his machinist's apprenticeship in the Canal Zone and

is now No. 2 man in the Apprentice Training School; and Clifford V. Russell, who was

born in Gloversville, N. Y., has never worked for any other Canal organization but the Health Bureau and is now Hospital Administrative Officer at Corozal Hospital.

20 YEARS

Two native Zonians, Jack W. Clarke and

Mrs. Janice G. Scott, are among the five who completed 20 years of government

service in April. Mr. Clarke, whose

service is continuous, is a General Foreman

for Grounds Maintenance with Housing

and Grounds. Mrs. Scott is an Accounting

Clerk in the Maintenance Division. Other 20-year employees are Leonard

R. Gale, Distribution and Window Clerk now assigned to the Director of Posts'

Office; John C. Paige, Cash Accounting

Assistant for the Treasury Branch; and

Harvey G. Rhyne, Texas boin, a Police Sergeant at Balboa. Mr. Gale and Ser- geant Rhyne have unbroken Canal service,

15 YEARS

Thirteen of the employees who completed

15 years of government service in April have unbroken Canal service and two, Emerson W. Cottrell and Robert G. Rowe,

share the same service date. Those with

continuous Canal service are: Joseph A. Blackburn, Guard Supervisor, Locks Security Branch; William T. Clute, Pilot, Navigation Division; Emmett O. Collins, Police- man, Balboa District; Emerson W. Cottrell, Control House Operator, Gatun; Mrs. Eldermae Duff, Accounting Clerk, Accounting Division; Walter W. Fox, Auto Repair

Machinist, Motor Transportation Division; Orlando L. Flye, Jr., Electrical Engineer,

Electrical Division. Wallace E. Gibson, Property and Supply- Clerk, Commissary Division; Robert G.

Grocott, Histopathology Technician, Board

of Health Laboratory; Daniel J. Ianoale, Guard Supervisor, Locks Security Branch; Donald M. Luke, Chief, General Ledger and

Processing Branch, Office of the Comptroller

;

Mrs. Jettie Price, Commissary Assistant; Robert G. Rowe, Commissary Supervisor;

and John A. Taylor, Quarters Maintenance

Lead Foreman, Maintenance Division. Other 15-year employees are: Frank A. Baldwin, Chief of the Plant Appraisal Branch; Macon W. Foscue, Supervisory

Electrical Engineer, Engineering Division; Robert Hassler, Optical Technician, Commissary Division; George F. Husted,

Boilermaker, Industrial Division; James

F. McGloin, Fireman Driver-Operator,

Fire Division; Gale A. O'Connell, General

Engineer, Engineering Division; Paree L. Roland, Lead Foreman, Public Works,

Maintenance Division; and Roy M. Steele, Stevedore Foreman, Terminals Division.

percent in the personnel force since 1951. This decrease has for the most part been

achieved by normal attrition, with a minimum of reductions in force. The stabil- ity of the personnel force that has been

achieved is indicated by the fact that the separation rate for the Federal Govern- ment as a whole was nearly double that

of the United States citizen personnel of the Canal agencies last year. The betterment of working and living conditions for local-rate employees has been of continuing concern during Governor Seybold's administration. Administrative actions in this area included: The institution of the Latin American

schools; an increase in the minimum

wage; a bill sponsored by the Canal ad- ministration which increased disability

relief payments from $25 to a maximum

of $45 a month; provisions for payment

of night differential rates to local-rate employees; and the adoption of a unified

payroll.

Of major importance was the encourage- ment and assistance given to the organi- zation of Civic Councils in the principal

Latin American communities. Following

their organization monthly conferences with their selected representatives were

instituted on the same basis as those with U. S.-rate Civic Councils. The last four years have been marked by the special interest of the Canal administration in civic and community affairs and organi- zations representing all groups in the Canal Zone. The further development of playground and recreational facilities for employees and their families has been a noteworthy improvement.

Numerous organizational changes have

been made during the past four years.

Some of these were end-products of the Canal's incorporation, and others were made because of changes in the workload, for more economical operation or improved conditions, or because of the changing economic picture in the Zone. The most recent and extensive of these was the consolidation of the Community

Services and Supply Bureaus. A complete internal reorganization of the Fi- nance Bureau was made soon after Governor Seybold took office. At that time

the name of the unit was changed to

Office of the Comptroller.

Other changes have included intsmal

reorganizations of the Personnel and

Civil Affairs Bureaus; transfers of the Dredging Division from the Marine Bureau to the Engineering and Construction

Bureau, and the Motor Transportation

Division from the Supply Bureau to the Transportation and Terminals Bureau,

the latter being made at the time the name of the bureau was changed from

the Railroad and Terminals Bureau; and

transfer of the procurement functions of the Washington to the New York Office. While the problems which have arisen during the Governor's term have been

unusually high in number and complex

in nature, there is little likelihood that he

will be able to take a "breather" even

during his last few days in office. The

duties of the Governor of the Canal Zone

and President of the Panama Canal Company do not permit time-out periods and

Governor Seybold, by nature, is not one

to look for such periods.

So, it is an even guess that his last day

in office will be much like the other 1,460 - busy, up to the hilt, with barely enough

time to do what has to be done. Champ And Nears Champs

A HIGHLIGHT OF the Field Safety Day held in Paraiso late last month under the sponsorship

of the Paraiso Civic Council was the line-heaving contest to determine the most proficient in this ancient art among Locks Division employees. Winner of the first three places, above, are: Manuel Rodriquez, of Miraflores, first with seven

points deft); Juan Gorzon, of Miraflores, second with six points (center); and Esteban Canizales, Pedro Miguel, third with five points. The champion will have his name placed on a plaque designed

for this purpose. Also-rans in the contest were Stanley Chambers, of Pedro Miguel; and the two entries from Gatun Locks, Mortland Hinds and Arthur A. Clarke. Marks for future line heavers to better were: Distance, 107 feet, 10 inches; height, 50 feet from

50 feet away; and target bullseye, 14 inches. All three first-place winners clearei the 50-foot marker

for height. Representatives from the three Locks were selected by preliminaries held earlier. The line- heaving contest was but one of the many attractions for the several thousand residents of communities from both the Atlantic and Pacific side for Safety Field Day, the second sponsored by the Paraiso Civic Council.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

Everything But Dogwood Blooms

During Canal Zone's Dog Days

Change of season—the Isthmian dog

days is not completely disagreeable,

despite the heat. It is the time of year

for the flowering trees which dot Canal Zone hilsides and jungles with great

patches of brilliant color. Washington's famed Japanese cherry

trees would be completely overshadowed

if some of the Isthmian blossomers could be concentrated along one road or avenue, but the local trees simply don't grow that way, nor do they lend themselves to

transplanting.

One of the most beautiful vistas during

the past month was a long-range view of a portion of Gatun Lake from the trans- Isthmian highway about 15 miles from

Cristobal. The jungle was studded with

bright yellow guayacan trees; their color was visible for miles.

Off Schedule

In an ordinary dry season, which this year has not been because of the heavy

rains through January, guayacans ordinarily blossom about a month earlier on the

Atlantic side than on the Pacific side

of the Canal Zone. This year, however, a

giant guayacan on a hillside near the

Christian Science Church in Ancon was

in full bloom more than a month before the Atlantic side trees began to flower. One of the last guayacans to blossom is a great tree opposite the Governor's House

on Heights Road. This ordinarily flowers

in early May, but this year it did the unexpected and bloomed during the last week in April.

Another of the large flowering trees whose season has been thrown off schedule

this year is the roble, whose blossoms

range from a pale pinkish white to a fairly

dark lavender. There are many of these

trees on the hillsides behind Gamboa and

Albrook Field. Blossoming Now

Trees which should be at the height

of their blossoming season right now are the poinciana, or flame trees, and the jacaranda. There are two clumps of poinciana trees on the Pacific side which

can usually be depended upon to be

spectacular. These are on the slope beside the First Baptist Church in Balboa

Heights and near the Balboa Elementary

School Building. Another cluster which

ordinarily is in full bloom in May and

which invariably attracts photographers

by the dozen is that on the Plaza de

Francia in Panama City. In addition to the red, or flame

poincianas there is a yellow poinciana

tree which should be in blossom now. It has a long flowering period which began

last month. An especially handsome yellow poinciana grows near the Civil Affairs Building on Gaillard Highway.

There are two types of the jacaranda

tree to be found in the Canal Zone. Both have purple blossoms. One type, which flowers along its branches, is found in the jungle; the second, more common in Zone towns, has large terminal clusters of blossoms in a crown around

the upper part of the tree. One of the former type is located opposite the Governor's House at the corner of the road

leading into Quarry Heights.

Another of the large flowering jungle

trees is the palo santo, or iriplaris. It has two types of flowers, male and female,

A FLAMING BEAUTY of the Isthmian forests is the guayacan tree during the dry season.

but the brilliant red female flower is the one which attracts attention. It was in bloom in the Canal Zone last month.

Showers Of Flowers

Other flowering trees which should—

and may—be blossoming right now on

the Pacific side are the golden, the bronze,

and the pink and white shower trees. Most trees of this family on the Atlantic

side bloomed in April, but there may be

a few stiagglers still to come. A number of the golden shower trees are located along Balboa Prado, but their blossoming this year has been somewhat

sporadic. The pink and white shower,

which can be found in most of the Canal Zone towns, should not be confused with

a native pink shower. The town variety,

which is an imported tree, has its blos- soms clustered along the branches while the native variety flowers very much like apple trees. The bronze shower has pendant

clusters of flowers, like bunches of grapes.

Canal To Join Nation

In "Job Safety Week"

"Not a single accident during the entire week of May 13." This is the theme and the objective of Job Safety Week which will be observed

in the Canal Zone this year during the week of May 13-19. It is a theme which

every employee and every resident of the Canal Zone must know and follow to make the observance a success. President Eisenhower has designated

this period as Job Safety Week throughout the United States and has called on

all Federal Government agencies as well as private citizens to join in eliminating

for that week all accidents. Details of the "no-accident week" campaign were announced to all Bureau Directors last month in a memorandum

from the Governor's Office. The program

is under the sponsorship of the Federal

Safety Council and will be conducted on

a nationwide basis. The objective of Job Safety Week in the Canal organization will not only be

safety at work for employees, but safety

at home, on the streets, and at play.

While the safety program will be intensified in the various units of the organization, all residents of the community

will be asked to cooperate and make the campaign a success. Full Cooporation Asked

Bureau Directors have been asked to spearhead the campaign in the organization by publicizing Job Safety Week

throughout their units; holding safety

meetings; appointing special Workers In- spection Committees for each activity or

installation to report unsafe conditions; encouraging the submission of safety suggestions; conducting safety training and

practice for employees who have completed first aid courses; and reporting

promptly and thoroughly all accidents,

however trivial. Power Conversion Job Completed

THE FIRST MAJOR PROJECT of the power-conversion program to be completed was the Mount

Hope Substation built by Louis R. Sommer, Panama contractor, at a cost of $820,000. This shows

the switching yard with the big transformers which step down 44,000-volt current to 2,300 volts and feed it out to the various communities. In the background is the masonry substation building. Final inspection was made late last month.
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 17

STATISTICS ON CANAL TRAFFIC

For the purpose of comparison between pre-war and post-war traffic through the Panama Canal, statistics for the fiscal year 1938 are used in this section, as being more nearly normal for peace time than those for 1939. CANAL TRAFFIC AT HIGH LEVEL IN PAST QUARTER

South America Trade

To States And Europe

Boosts Traffic Total

With commercial traffic moving through

the Canal at near high records during

February and March, the total number

of transits for the third quarter of this

fiscal year reached 2,057, one of the highest quarterly totals in the Canal's history. Increased trade movements of the shipping routes between the east coast of the United States and South America;

Europe and South America ; and the east coast of the United States and the Far

East were primarily responsible in the. high level of Canal traffic during the three-month period.

Traffic was lighter in the quarter than

in the third quarter of the past fiscal year on three of the main trade routes through

the Canal. These were: United States

intercoastal; Europe and the west coast

of the United States and Canada; and

the east coast of the United States and

Central America.

The amount of United States Govern- ment shipping moving through the Canal

continued low with only 63 transits by

ocean-going vessels.

Tolls And Traffic Up

Both traffic and tolls for the first three quarters of this fiscal year are running

considerably in excess of the first nine months in the fiscal year 1955. There

were 6,140 transits by ocean-going commercial vessels up through March of this year, as compared with 5,961 in the first three quarters of the past fiscal year. Tolls this year amount to $26,918,000, as compared with $25,035,000 last year. The increasing traffic through the Canal between Europe and South America has served largely to offset the major

decline of recent months in oil shipments

from California to east coast ports in the United States. The trade over this route has been increasing since 1953 with

increased tonnage in both raw and

finished products.

Much of this merchandise is being

carried in vessels flying the German flag which have been on the increase for the past two years. During the past quarter

there were 145 German ships listed in Canal traffic carrying 450,000 tons of commodities, as compared with 106

transits with 270,000 tons of cargo during the third quarter of the past fiscal year. Leading Flags In Canal

By nationality of vessels, the United

States, Great Britain, and Norway

ranked the top three in that order in the past quarter. These were followed,

in order, by Liberia, Germany, Honduras,

Japan, and Panama. There has been a

considerable alteration in the top eight

places during the past year. In the third quarter of 1955 fiscal year, Panamanian

vessels ranked fourth while German shipping was in eighth place in numerical

rating.

New Industrial Division

Chief Arrives For Duty

i^. SHIPS iNo SHIPPING •- i.^_i

Transits By Ocean-Going Vessels March

1,956 1955 Commercial 712 709

U. S. Governments 32 19

Total.

.

744 728

Tolls* Commercial $3,073,307 $3,020,527

U.S. Government.. 198,079 64,891

Total... $3,271,386 $3,085,418

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

A new record in Panama Canal traffic was established in February with a daily average of 23.48 transits by tolls-paying

commercial transits. The previous high was 23.45 for July 1955 when there were

727 transits. This total is still the highest on record although March traffic this year was not far behind with 712 transits, the second highest month on record. COMMANDER HUGH S. KNERR

SUCCEEDING Capt. Robert H. Emerick as Chief

of the Industrial Division next week will be Comdr. Hugh S. Knerr, who comes to the Isthmus from

Washington, D. C, where he has been on duty as Assistant Director General in the office of the Chief

of Naval Operations. The new Industrial Division head was graduated from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1934. He served three years, 1949-52, as Industrial Engineer Officer at the Navy shipyard in Charleston, S. C,

and two years with the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory in San Francisco, Calif. During the past war he was stationed in Ports- mouth, N. H, serving as Assistant Hull Superintendent in charge of fitting out new construction and later as Progress and Scheduling Officer. Captain Emerick plans to leave the Isthmus May

9. He will return to Charleston, S. C, where he will resume private practice as a consulting engineer.

Cristobal had one of the biggest tourists seasons of the past 15 years during

the past few months. There were 38

cruise ships docked in Cristobal from the time the SS Ocean Monarch opened the season on October 28 until it was closed by the visit of the SS Kungsholm on

April 8. During this busy period there were

15,341 cruise passengers arriving in port

to see the Canal, visit the hundreds of places of interest in Panama, and shop

in Colon and Panama City. This number

of tourists does not include the many

hundreds who arrived on vessels which

call regularly at the port.

MONTHLY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC AND TOLLS

Vessels of 300 tons net or over By fiscal years

Transits Tolls

(In thousands of dollars) Month

1956 1955 1938 1956 IV5

5

1938

[uly 727

676

640 457 83,247 82,646 $2,030

August . . _ 652 505 2,980 2,752 2,195

September 686 660 444 3,053 2,756 1,936

October .-.-_-. 709

627

683

636

461 3,065 2,831 1,981

November 435 2,706 2,630 1,893

December _ . 658

664

676 439 2,944 2,853 1,845

668 444 2,844 2,832 1,838

February. 681 637 436 3,011 2,720 1,787

March., ..... . . 712 709

685

506 3,068 3,015 2,016

April . . . . 487 2,938

3,072

2,804

1,961

Maj - - - - - 698 465

445 _:

1,887

June. . . - . - 653 1,801

Totals for first 9 months

of fiscal year 6.140 5,961 4,127 $26,918 $25,035 817,521

Totals for fiscal vear 7,997 5,524 $33,849 $23,170
18 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

Heavy Ore Shipments

Balance Tonnage Loss

In Pacific Crude Oil

A major increase in the amount of ores shipped through the Panama Canal from

the Pacific to the Atlantic during the

third quarter of this fiscal year largely

offset the loss in tonnage of mineral oils

in recent months moved in this direction. The ore tonnage during the past quarter was 600,000 tons over that in the

third quarter of the past fiscal year, but

the amount of oil shipped from the

Pacific to the Atlantic dropped from

812,000 last year to 155,000 tons this year. Although there were fluctuations in the commodity movements through the Canal

in both directions during the past quarter, the two mentioned were the most

significant in the commodity tonnage

reports. Oil Shipments Down

The decrease in oil shipments resulted when the movement of crude oil from

California to refineries on the east coast

of the United States began a decline last November. This major movement of oil began in January 1955 and reached a peak of 500,000 tons shipped through the Canal in July of last year. It continued

through October and averaged during the 10-month period approximately 250,000

tons a month. Since that time, shipments

have averaged about 50,000 tons a month.

The amount of ores being moved from

South America, principally iron ore from

Peru, to Atlantic destinations has in- creased materially during the past year. There has also been a substantial increase during that period in the movement of manufactured products from Europe to South America.

There has been a major increase in the number of special ore carriers moving

through the Canal during the past few

months. Many of these were transferred during the winter months from the ore trade to Labrador. There have been al- most seven times as many special ore carriers in Canal traffic since last December as the average of the previous few months.

Cargo From Atlantic Increases The amount of cargo shipped through

the Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific

in the past quarter totaled 5,177,000 tons, an increase of about 600,000 over the comparable period in the previous fiscal year. Commodities moving from the

Pacific to the Atlantic dropped about

100,000 tons. Of the leading commodities, those with

higher tonnage last quarter in the Atlantic to Pacific trade were mineral oils, coal and coke, manufactures of iron and

steel, phosphates, ammonium compounds,

scrap metal, sugar, paper and paper products, machinery, tinplate, ores, and fertilizer. Tonnage losses were recorded in two commodities, soy beans and cement.

Increased tonnage in commodity movements from the Pacific to the Atlantic were shown for ores, wheat, nitrate, canned food products, sugar, bananas,

refrigerated food products, coffee, raw

cotton, and copra. Other than mineral

oils, commodities with less tonnage

moved in this direction last quarter than

the third quarter of the past fiscal year were lumber, metals, barley, and wool.

Principal commodities shipped through the Canal

(All figures in long tons)

ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

Commodity

Mineral oils Coal and coke Manufacturers of iron and steeL Phosphates

Soy beans Ammonium compounds

Metal scrap Sulphur.

Sugar

Paper and paper products. _ Machinery

Cement

Ti opiate

Ores, various

Fertilizer All others

Total

.

Third Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956

1,274,686 740,552

520,526

332,270

165,998

162,516

156,356

128,216

119,928

100,962

85,960

81,986

75,135

70,585 66,247

1,095,222

5,177,135

1955

1,159 720

461 249

185 108

1118284

7382

5240

53

1,112

995

518

280

,624

,391 233 483

,247

,452 603 940

,113 ,838

,824

,085 920

1938

4,579,546

236,664

27,867 362,008

67,518 493

7,872 134,275

44,830

32,587

90,274

25,179

26,719

56,451

7,809 6,003

923,105

2,049,654

PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC

Commodity

Ores, various Lu mber

Wheat

Nitrate Canned food products

Sugar Bananas

Refrigerated food products (except fresh fruit). Metals, various Mineral oils Barley

Coffee Raw cotton Wool

Copra

All others

Total.

Third Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956

1,495,915 827,379

524,030

375,560

325,467

284,532

257,619

186,736

162,450

154,639

132,991 87,039

78,639

74,912 68,118

857,807

5,893,833

1955

892,294

951,720

456,284

328,149

305,652

257,907

235,476

158,284

197,439

811,523

181,825

75,869

75,973

75,679

58,590

947,080

1938

6,009,744

542,936

632,901

267,904

530,861

220,124

299,404

20,076

106,820

165,473

498,282

81,435

53,179

37,801

37,915

52,011 766,001

4,313,123

Canal commercial traffic by nationality of vessels

Third Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956 1955 1938 Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

12 307

15

8 50

6

906

4,279

1,893,191 71,875

70,797

61,871 40,625

Brazilian

British 298

19

7 58

8

1,814,576

120,168

57,831

75,391 47,738

348

3 1,626,625 Chilean Chinese . . 10,012

Colombian

Costa Rican . 2 56

1 2686

1910

77

17926

14528

124

1 il

115

6 149

3 39

13 255

100

8

7

217 ii

282,484

24,493

34,891 167,574

449,617

259,957

102,114

10,350

182,631 905,050

17,513 1,260,920

10,429 189,305

21,592

1,380,445 425,983

35,488

43,494

1,927 72,317 175,163

70

12

3 38

106

23 110

251,632

14,999 20,543

156,660

267,700

214,907

100,952

161,735

4,021 138,303

Ecuadorean .

.

French

312,330

96,467

Honduran 3,839

36

118

1 107

1 36

15 236

143

8

4

218,427

836,906

1277

1

31,762

Japanese- . 495,136

South Korean.

Liberian 782,303

Netherland Nicaragua n 214,212

21,735

1,076,750 776,054

21,994

20,162

77 179,917

Norwegian

Panamanian.. . 174

44

3

2

2

848,325

56,087

4,008

Philippine

4,375

Spanish

Swedish .

654

1 497

13,795 252,113

8,005 3,175,897

28 187,191

United States Uruguayan

.

459

1

1

2,888,442 3,924

9,161

413 2,195,344

2 7,300

Total 2,057 11,070,968 2,014 10,589,290 1.386 6,362,777
May 4, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 19

Governor Believes Sea-Level Waterway Plan

Is Inevitable In Solution Of Canal Problem

(Continued from page 1) and its Safety, "unless and until a sea-level canal is built." In discussing the future requirements

of the Canal with the Board, Governor

Seybold reviewed briefly the success of the plan to increase the capacity of the Canal during overhaul periods by altera- tions to the locks, which represents Phase

I of a two-part plan approved by the Board in 1953 for increasing the Canal's

capacity.

He also listed a number of improvement projects, generally included in Phase

II, which are already in the study stage

which would cost approximately $24,000,-

000. These include: Continuation of the

project to widen the channel through

Gaillard Cut to 500 feet; widening Miraflores Lake channel; removal of DeLessjps Island and certain other islands in Gatun Lake; widen the Pacific entrance

channel; and cut back the west bank at the south approach to Miraflores Locks.

In his statement on the sea-level canal

proposal, Governor Seybold said: "During my four-year term I have

become well informed on the operational

problems of our present waterway, and

I have had occasion to review the sealevel canal proposal. It is my unqualified conclusion that the construction of a sealevel canal across the Isthmus in the Canal Zone is both feasible and desirable and, in fact, inevitable.

Believes Project Sound

"I am satisfied that the recommendation for a sea-level canal as proposed in the 1947 report is sound from an engineering and national-interest standpoint.

"No doubt certain minor changes might

be introduced in current planning or per- formance, but on the whole the 1947 pro- posal was and still is sound and rational

in my view. Although the 1947 estimates

of cost would, of course, be increased by

the general rise in costs since that date,

I am sure that substantial reductions in the estimates can now be made because

of new developments and improved tech- niques that would be worked into the plan for the performance of the work.

"I believe the sea-level project should

be urged from the standpoint of future requirements and national defense. It is also my opinion that further investigating committees, as has been proposed, to review again the broad issues of alternative locations of such a canal and other

possible types of interoceanic waterways

would represent a needless waste of public funds." Isthmian Studies Of 1947 The recommendation for the conversion

of the Panama Canal to a sea-level water- way was made by former Governor Jos- eph C. Mehaffey, based on exhaustive

studies authorized by Congress to deter- mine the best means to meet the foresee- able requirements of interoceanic commerce and meet the needs of national

defense. Estimates prepared in that study indicated that the project would

cost $2,500,000 and 10 years would be

required for the work if done without

interruption to traffic during the construction period.

The report and recommendation were

reviewed by, and had the concurrence of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Department

of the Navy, and the Atomic Energy

Commission.

The study was the most comprehensive

and exhaustive ever undertaken on the Isthmian canal problem. The studies were conducted by the Special Engineering Division with Brig. Gen. James H.

Stratton, now a consulting engineer in private practice, as Supervising Engineer.

Eminent Consulting Board

The studies were conducted under the continuing advice of a Board of Consultants, appointed soon after they were

initiated and composed of some of the most eminent engineers of the United

States. The membership included men

of high reputation in the various fields of engineering. The Special Engineering

Division also had the advice and cooperation of various other governmental agencies and shipping agencies.

The recommendations for conversion of the existing Canal to a sea-level waterway

were made after investigations were made

of 30 possible canal routes and alignments

through the American Isthmus from Tehauntepec, Mexico, to the Atrato River

routes on the Colombian border, and fol- lowing detailed studies of several differ- ent plans for altering the Canal but

maintaining a high-level, lock-and-lake type waterway.

Power Conversion Program

Moving Steadily Forward

The power-conversion program has moved steadily forward on all fronts during the past few weeks although a delay of about a month was necessary

in starting the conversion of domestic

equipment in Margarita because of delays in the contractor-received materials on order. The first major steps in the project on

the Pacific side have been taken with the award of two large contracts and the opening of the first bids for actual conversion of frequency-sensitive equipment.

Madden Contract Awarded

Announcement of the award of a contract to the General Electric Company

for the conversion of the three big power

generators at Madden Dam was made

late last month. Bids for this work were opened at the end of February with General Electric entering an offer of $708,161

to convert the three 10,000-KVA units

to 60-cycle current generation.

Bids were opened last month for the

central area conversion with L. R. Som- mer entering the apparent low offer of $381,512.50 of five bids received. This

work covers the conversion of all domestic, commercial, and industrial equipment

in Gamboa, Summit, and Paraiso with

the exception of the two pumping stations, the Canal lighthouse system, and

the Summit Substation which is to be

rebuilt on another contract.

TRAFFIC MOVEMENT OVER MAIN TRADE ROUTES

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

Third Quarter. Fiscal Years

1956 1955 1938

I nited States IntercoastaL- . ______ 121 149 264

East Coast of U. S. and South America 562 510 145

East Coast of U. S. and Central America 119 132 30

East Coast of U. S. and Far East _ _ 303 275 142

U. S.-Canada East Coast and Australasia _ 39 38 39

Europe and West Coast of U. S. -Canada 194 217 271

Europe and South America, _ _______ _ _ 198 161 134

Europe and Australasia . __ - 97 97 65

All other routes. __ _ _ _ __ 424 435 296

Total Traffic _ _ _ 2,057 2,014 1.386

CANAL TRANSITS — COMMERCIAL AND U. S. GOVERNMENT

Third Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956 1955 1938

Atlantic

to

Pacific

Pacific to Atlantic Total Total Total

Commercial vessels, ocean-going 1,046 1,011 2,057 2,014 1,386

Small - 102 107 209 215 219

Total commercial. 1,148 1,118 2,266 2,229 1,605

**U. S. Government vessels, ocean- going . 35 28 63 65

Small ... 32 51 83 66

Total commercial and U. S. 1,214 1,197 2,412 2,360

Vessels under 300 net tons or 500 displacement tons. Vessels on which tolls are credited. Prior to July 1, 1951, Government-operated

ships transited free.
20 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW May 4, 1956

Locks Alterations Greatly Increase

Canal's Capacity In Overhaul Period

Alterations made to the Gatun Locks

as a part of the overall plan to increase

the dependable capacity of the Panama

Canal more than fulfilled expectations

during the critical operating tests under

overhaul conditions during the past four months.

The overhaul of Gatun Locks was completed during the last week of April and

the Canal returned to normal operations

about three weeks ahead of the schedule

set last January. The completion ahead

(if schedule was attributed to good ad- vance planning, cooperation, and coordition. Also, it was found that the work

could be advanced more rapidly under

the new operating conditions which per- mitted closer supervision with work in progress on one lock wall instead of two

at the same time. Canal Traffic Booms

Comparative figures on the amount of

traffic handled during the first three months of this year and the comparable

period in 1951 when Gatun Locks were

last overhauled reveal not only the tre- mendous increase in Canal traffic during

the past five years, but also the benefits derived from the alterations to the

Atlantic Locks. During the first quarter of the calen- dar year 1951 there were 1,537 transits by ocean-going vessels. This year there were 2,121 transits during the first three months. Daily averages for the two per- iods were 17 for 1950 and 26 for this year.

It is clearly obvious that the amount

of traffic this year could not have been

handled without intolerable delays under

operating conditions before the altera- tions were made, since the number of lockages possible at Gatun previously

under optimum overhaul conditions was

about 24 a day.

This year, as high as 28 lockages were

handled on two different days and days

with 25 or more lockages were frequent

throughout the overhaul. It is estimated

that 30 or slightly more lockages could be handled at Gatun under the new conditions, at least 30 percent more than pre- viously during overhaul. Ship Handling Expedited

The handling of ship traffic during the

past overhaul also was considerably ex- pedited by having a tug at the north end

of Gatun Locks to assist vessels and by

the use of relay lockages for 16 hours a day when only one lane was in service. The system of relay lockages provided

for the doubling of lock operating crews, with one crew handling the ship to the middle chamber and another handling it the remainder of the lockage.

The alterations to Gatun Locks, de- scribed in previous issues of The Pana- ma Canal Review, consisted chiefly in providing means of blocking off the flow

of water in the lateral culverts feeding

from the center wall culvert. This was

done by the use of big metal plugs in the

five openings in each of the lateral cul- verts from the center wall. Other alter- ations required were the sealing off of openings to the center wall culverts' near

the bottom of the chambers for the re- moval of cylindrical valves for overhaul,

and enlargement of access shafts from the top of the wall to permit removal of all

^^^TM

O) C »sKO==S

o^^=-i 5=k in —— ij ft. -n K» =-n -M O

OJ ~= n

(A -i,

•

PLACING METAL PLUGS in the east chamber

was done after the lock chambers were flooded after

the overhaul on that side. A barge equipped with a crane lifted the big stovelids down into the bottom

of the lock chamber. A total of 300 plugs were needed at Gatun to seal off the water from the

center wall culvert.

cylindrical valve parts to the top of the

wall. Before these alterations were made, it was necessary to have the center wall

culvert out of service when either side of

the locks were empty for overhaul. This

required single culvert operation and

single lane traffic throughout the over- haul period.

Improved Operating Features The new system permits double culvert operation during the time when either set

of locks is empty, and double lane traffic with single culvert operation while over- haul of the center wall culvert is in progress.Similar alterations are to be made at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks before the Pacific Locks overhaul in 1958. The big metal plugs, which resemble big

teapot lids and are five and a half feet

across which were used at Gatun, will be

transferred to the Pacific side for the next overhaul. The overhaul at Gatun this year started the first week in January when the east **|^j

chambers were emptied. The work was 5^

shifted to the west side after overhaul of the east chambers was completed, and

the last task was overhaul of the center- wall culvert. It was found under actual operating

conditions that more traffic could be handled with double culvert operation

with one lane in service than with both

sets of locks in service, but with single culvert operation.

Metal Plugs Are Placed

The metal plugs were placed in the west chamber apertures while it was still empty, but those on the east side were

lowered from a special barge equipped

with a crane. It was found that there was no leakage back into the center wall culvert from about 75 percent of the

floor openings after the metal plugs were

in place. However, it was necessary to send down a diver to caulk apertures in two of the lateral culverts because the openings were not true circles. This year eight of the lock gates were removed for overhaul of pintles, bushings, pins, and bearing plates. Other

major work included the removal and

overhaul of all rising-stem valves, 16

of which were replaced; removal and re- placement of the rising stems for the

cylindrical valves; replacement of one

cylindrical valve; and replacement of

cylindrical valve rubber seals.

' The overhaul this year permitted the

first full-scale inspection of the effective- ness of cathodic protection provided for the lock gates five years ago. Canal officials were well pleased to find that the cathodic protection has been highly effective with the result that less bitumastic

coating was required on the exterior of gates so protected.

The overhaul of the Atlantic Locks

this year was accomplished with an out- standing safety record. There were only seven lost-time accidents, none of a serious nature, during the overhaul.

METAL PLUGS, each 5 }4 feet in diameter, have been fitted in every other row of openings in the

west chamber floors at Gatun. These are the apertures which feed or empty water through lateral

culverts from the big center wall culvert. By blocking off these laterals the overhaul of the center

wall culvert is made while both sides of the locks are in service.