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Vol. 3, No. 12 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, JULY 3, 1953 5 cents

FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF CANAL BEING STUDIED

BY UNDER SECRETARY JOHNSON ON PRESENT VISIT

Board Chairman Plans

To See All Principal

Installations In Zone

Problems of such a fundamental nature that their solution will affect Panama Canal

operatfohs for many years in

the future are being studied

by Under Secretary of the

Army Earl D. Johnson during

his present visit to the Canal

Zone.

As Chairman of the Board of Directors

of the Panama Canal Company the Under Secretary is one of the key Washington officials in Canal affairs. His

present trip is his first to the Isthmus and

a busy schedule has been arranged which

will permit his personal inspection of the major Canal installations in addition to many conferences for background infor- mation on a variety of subjects.

The Under Secretary is accompanied

by Mrs. Johnson and their son, Raud E. Johnson. Other members of his party

are Michael E. Kalette, consultant to the Under Secretary; Col. John T. O'Neill and Lt. Col. Homer H. Bowman, members

of the Under Secretary's personal staff; and Chief Warrant Officer DeBolt G. Weyer.

The party arrived Monday afternoon on the Panama liner Cristobal and were welcomed at shipside by Governor and

Mrs. Seybold, Army officials, and repre- sentatives of the United States Embassy.

The group boarded a special Panama

Railroad motor car soon after the arrival of the ship for the trip to the Pacific side. Following their arrival at the Balboa

Heights station, Under Secretary Johnson went to the Caribbean Command headquarters at Quarry Heights for an honor

guard csremony. He then began a heavy

round of activities which will continue

during the coming week beginning with

a press conference at the Hotel Tivoli on

the afternoon of his arrival. There are many Canal problems of an immediate nature which will occupy the

attention of Mr. Johnson (SeepagsS)

DISCUSSIONS ON CANAL matters began as soon as the SS Cristobal docked last Monday after- noon. The picture above, left to right shows: Governor Seybold, Michael E. Kalette, Special Consultant

to the Secretary of the Army, and Under Secretary of the Army Earl D. Johnson, Chairman of the Panama Canal Company Board of Directors.

Long-Range Studies On Canal Investment

Will Set Firm Basis For Fiscal Policies

The first phase of a comprehensive and

detailed study of the financial status of the Panama Canal and its adjuncts is presently being completed by the Canal

administration. Despite its complex nature and the requirement of positive answers to a multitude of questions, the study is intended to answer only two main

questions: How much does the Govern- ment have invested in the Canal and

how much should ships be charged for

its use? The results of the study, which is being

conducted by the Office of the Comptroller, will have a far-reaching effect and undoubtedly will be used for many

years to come in determining basic fiscal policies of the United States Government

with respect to the Canal enterprise.

To an extent the study embraces

factual, theoretical, and speculative as- pects. The factual aspect calls for an

accurate evaluation of the physical properties, their economic value, and probable

earning capacity. On the speculative

side, answers will be sought on future trade trends, future (Seepage IS)

• The

JULY FEATURES

Power Branch and what does - it page 8. • Gair boa's doll lady and the little shoes—page 6. Dutch • He guards prisoners and catches runaways

pafte 11. • How water came to Panama page <
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3,1953

Housing Heads List

Of Subjects Raised

At June Conference

Discussion of commissaries, clubhouses,

and housing occupied most of the time of the June Governor-Employee conference, with housing—from point of view of time

elapsed—heading the list. Housing matters which were brought up ranged from

assignments to types. The June conference, despite the sultry

weather, was one of the liveliest in recent months. As usual it opened with answers to questions which had been presented

at previous meetings and with new

announcements made by Governor Seybold. During this part of the conference, the Governor told the employee

representatives:

That the "emergency" service sections at Balboa and Cristobal Commissaries

would be open for the last time on

July 13; That any changes in the policy of capital evaluation of houses would be reviewed first by him and then by the Board of Directors; That no decision had yet been reached on the closing of the Gamboa Clubhouse,

a subject brought up again later during

the conference and discussed more fully; That a new housing assignment policy

had been established under which a

limited number of one-bedroom, four- family houses of the 215 type in Diablo

and Margarita will be set aside for assignment by seniority to bachelors; to qualify

for such an assignment, however, a bachelor must have not less than 15 years

service, he said; That the American Institute of Laundries, an association to which the Canal

laundry belongs, had made a favorable

report on the type of work being done

locally on washable materials. James P. Boukalis, of the Machinists,

commented on the recent order requiring

the licensing of all dogs in the Canal Zone and asked that the Canal Zone criminal code be amended to provide for punishment of anyone who injured an animal. Edward A. Doolan, Personnel Director,

said that a provision of this sort is under

study in the General Counsel's Office for inclusion in future revisions of the Code. Mrs. B. 0. Orton, representing the Gamboa Civic Council, returned to the subject of the Clubhouse there, saying

that the Gamboa people considered the proposed closing as unfair. She asked if

this unit could not be subsidized by one

of the larger clubhouses, Balboa for instance, instead of the Gamboa unit having to be self-supporting.

This led to considerable around-thetable talk, during which Robert C. Daniel

of the Railroad Conductors, suggested

that the clubhouse operation might be

turned over to a concessionaire. Governor Seybold said he doubted that this could be worked out but that certainly the possibility of a Clubhouse concessionaire would be considered. Several employee representatives

brought up the matter of reduced hours

at the swimming pools and the Governor,

with the comment that this was part of a

necessary retrenchment which would

primarily affect the adult recreation program, promised to pagelS)

July 4th Celebrations Will Be Held

Tomorrow On Both Sides Of Isthmus

FOURTH OF JULY, 1919, brought out decorations like this for the little park in front of the Balboa Clubhouse.

Flag raisings, patriotic and athletic programs, and fireworks will be the order

of the day tomorrow when the Canal Zone

celebrates the Fourth of July.

On the Pacific side, the Independence

Day activities will be centered in Balboa

as they have been for years. The Atlantic

side celebration will take place in Margarita.

The Pacific side program will get under

way tonight, with a dance at the American Legion Club near Fort Amador.

Both sides of the Canal Zone will open

tomorrow's programs with a parade and

flag raising. That at Margarita will end

at the flag pole near the Margarita school; the Balboa parade will begin with the

flag raising in front of the Balboa Clubhouse and will be followed by the child- ren's parade down the Prado. For both sides of the Isthmus, the

greatest emphasis will be laid on activities for the younger generation—athletic events, rides on jeeps, kiddie trains (made

up of the little industrial trucks which

ordinarily scurry around the docks), fire

trucks, and, at Margarita, on the Army's

amphibious "Ducks."

There will be a swimming meet at the Gatun pool at 9:30 a. m., and one at Balboa at 1:30 p. m. At 3:30 p. m. there will be patriotic exercises at the Balboa stadium with Lt. Gov. Harry 0. Paxson as the day's chief speaker. This will be followed by a massed band concert. The band concert on the Atlantic side will begin at 6 p. m. and will be held near the Margarita school. Traditional fireworks displays will end

Fourth of July activities for both sides. On the Pacific side, Sosa Hill will be the

firing spot, as it has been for a number

of years. The Margarita fireworks will be set

off from a location near the baseball field. Both fireworks displays are to start at

7:30 p. m. Emmett Zemer is chairman of the

Pacific side July 4 celebration; S. Ross Cunningham heads the Atlantic side committee.

Be Careful—Anopheles Is Biting

The malaria season lasts 12 months of the year on the Isthmus of Panama but

the recent increase in the malaria rate among

!J») Canal employees em- y?) phasizes the fact that

this is one of the likeli- est times of the year

for you to contract this crippling or killing

disease. Generally the peaks in the malaria rate here occur during the early months of the rainy season and at the beginning of the dry season. It is during these periods

when stagnant water is likely to remain

long enough for the Anopheles mosquitoes to breed. This malaria-bearing

mosquito is also especially favored at this time of the year by gentle winds which

permit it to fly long distances. Health authorities carry on a never- ending fight against malaria but they

require the help of all residents in the

fight. You can best help them and yourself by observing the following commonsense rules, which are published here along

with a picture of "Ann," malaria's famous

trademark:

1. Stay within screened houses between

early dusk and daylight. Avoid such

nighttime activities as beach parties,

picnics, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation.

2. Be especially careful when visiting

anywhere outside of the sanitated areas.

3. If you must be out of doors after dark, use some good insect repellent.

4. Report defective screens and request

immediate repair.

5. Report collections of standing water

or defective drains to the proper agency

responsible for such work.

6. Consult your physician immediately

if you or members of your family develop

any symptoms of malaria. Remember

that early treatment may save your life and will spare you much suffering.
July 3,1953 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Basic Changes Adopted

In Accounting Methods

Of Canal Organization

A revised accounting system designed

to simplify procedures and permit a ready identification of direct costs for each activity in the complex CompanyGovBrnment operations was adopted

July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year. The new system entails some major

changes in accounting policies and procedures. Basically it eliminates the confusing method of applying to indi- vidual activities indirect charges over which those concerned with the activities have, in fact, no control. The stripping of each function to its elemental costs, primarily materials and

labor, is expected to increase cost awareness and to provide better accountability

for those responsible for individual operations.

The revised accounting system is called "activity accounting" since cost and

revenue data will be accumulated by

activities. An "activity" is defined in a memorandum to Bureau Directors, on

the new system, as the work or operation

of a single organizational unit relating to a single function or purpose. Except

for job order work, it represents the lowest practicable unit for accounting

purposes. One account will be maintained for each

activity and every item of income or cost

will be carried to and remain in that

particular account. Several activity accounts will generally be required to determine unit costs. Where costs are transferred between activities, the distri- bution credit will be carried in a separate account so as to retain the record of the

total costs incurred by an activity.

"Activity Accounting" is not new. This

or similar accounting procedures are widely used in private enterprise and in many other U. S. Government agencies.

The system is expected to facilitate accounting work in the Canal organization because of the great variety of operations and types of services. The newly adopted system will require an almost complete recomputation of the Company's internal rates for transferring

costs between service divisions. This,

however, is not expected to result in any

material changes in the total cost as far as the ultimate consumer is concerned. The rate recomputation is required

since service costs will be reduced at

divisional levels by the discontinuance of allocations for general and administrative

expenses. When these expenses are added at the end, however, the result will be the same but the charge for general

corporate expenses will appear higher because they will be combined into a

single element. The plan has been under consideration and study now for several months. The

principal features were outlined last December in a memorandum from Lindsley H. Noble, Comptroller, to the various Bureau Directors. Since then, members

of the Accounting Systems Staff with the

assistance and advice of accountants on

loan from the Accounting System Division of the General Accounting Office have

been engaged in working out the detailed

Under Secretary Of Army To Have Full Schedule Here

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY WASHINGTON. O. C

23 June 1953

Governor John S. Seybold

Balboa Heights, C. 2.

Dear Governor Seybold:

In response to inquiries from Congress and other interested

agencieB, Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens has directed that

I conduct a thorough review of military service and Panama Canal Company activities, with a viev toward making such recommendations

as will reduce any unnecessary coets in the Caribbean area. My present trip is an integral part of this review process. Moreover, it will satisfy a long-standing desire to see the great engineering marvel, and it will give me a better understanding of the many problems affecting the operation and administration

of the Canal Zone.

The role of the Panama Canal in our nation's welfare and its importance in international affairs are no less today than at any

time in its history. I hope that my present visit will provide me with a comprehensive understanding of the many facets of its operation as well as the personal problems which affect the welfare of the employees and their families who are responsible for Its successful operation.

I would lilce to assure all employees that I consider their personal problems of major importance in the continued efficient operation of the waterway and its necessary adjuncts.

Sincerely yours.

Earl Ii. Johnson

Under Secretary of the Army

(Continued from pag? 1) during his 10- day visit. Except at the close of the construction period, there has been no

time in the Canal's history that such a

variety of questions of far-reaching

importance has arisen at one time. Foremost among these are plans for increasing the capacity of the Canal;

fiscal policies; administrative matters of

direct interest to employees, such as the study directed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on compensation and

fringe benefits; and the quarters

construction program. Not only are all of the subjects of major

importance, each one is of such a nature

that a solution at an early date is indi- cated. Most of these are of an abstract nature which will require the Board

Chairman to spend much of his time in conference with officials concerned. Aside from this Under Secretary

Johnson has planned to make a personal

inspection of all the principal Canal

Company installations. His schedule

application of the principles and accounting requirements of each Bureau. A detailed description of the procedures

and the basic changes involved were contained in another memorandum to Bureau

Directors last month from the Comptroller in which July 1 was set as the

effective date for the change. In his memorandum, Mr. Noble said that he

expects some procedural and operating

problems to arise. For this reason he

requested that inquiries on general

accounting policies and procedures be

directed to the Chief of the Accounting

Systems Staff; general accounting operations to the Chief Accountant; plant

accounting procedures and operations to the Chief of the Plant Inventory and

Appraisal Staff; and rate structure and

analyses to the Rate Analyst of the Management Staff.

calls for visits to one or more set of Locks;

a trip through Gaillard Cut; and inspection of new housing areas, terminal

facilities, Clubhouses, Commissaries, Hospitals, and other Canal Zone Government

facilities. The complete schedule of the Under

Secretary's activities had not been an- nounced when this edition of The

Canal Review went to press, and the exact dates of his visits to various

installations were still to be set. Mr. Johnson's service as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama

Canal Company began two months ago. He was appointed to the post by Secretary

of the Army Robert T. Stevens in April

to succeed Karl R. Bendetsen who

resigned as Chairman but continued as member of the Board.

The Under Secretary is a native of Hamilton, Ohio, and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. In addition to

their son who is accompanying them on

the present trip, Under Secretary and

Mrs. Johnson have two daughters, Susan Lynne and Cynthia Lee. Mr. Johnson had several years of experience in the financial investment

field between the time he was graduated

from college and the beginning of World

War II. He served during most of the war period as a flying officer with the Ferrying Air Transport Command. He

was Deputy Commander of the Ferrying

Division at the time the war ended and

he was discharged to the Reserve Corps

with the rank of Colonel. He entered Government service in May 1950 when he was appointed

Assistant Secretary of the Army. He was

appointed to his present post as Under

Secretary of the Army early this year

after the change of Administration and

his appointment to the Board of Directors

of the Panama Canal Company followed a few weeks later.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3, 1953

Canal Ends Half Century's Association

With Municipal Services In Panama, Colon

W VTEB for Panama City was first supplied from this reservoir at Rio Grande not far from the

present Empire rifle range. The lake has been dry for years, hut the tower in the background is still standing and may identify the location for those who drive on the road to Empire, Culebra and Paja.

Termination of the water management

contract and the agreement by which the Canal collected garbage in the terminal

cities of Panama and Colon and the assumption of responsibility for these

services by the Republic of Panama

ended almost 50 years of Canal Zone

association with the Republic's water and garbage services. From late 1903 until July 1 of this year, either in connection with the water and sewage systems or from funds derived

from the management contract, there were

laid in Panama and Colon 46 miles of

pipe, varying from 6 inches to 16 inches

in diameter, 56 miles of sewer lines and 43

miles of paved streets. In addition ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

I'M L II. FRIEDMAN has' been appointed W

Supply and Service Director. He has been

with the Canal organization for the past [2 years, serving until July 1951 in the Storehouse Division, most of the lame as Administrative Assistant, lie was one of two Canal nominees selected to take pari

in the second Junior .Management Intern program of the Civil Service ( Jommission. Following completion

of that special training in July 1951, he was named

Assistant to the Supply and Service Director, the

position he has held since that time. He is a gradual, of New York City College and has done graduate work at Harvard University, George Washington

University, and the American University.

streets were maintained in both terminal

cities. There was no public water supply in the

city of Panama and only a limited supply

in Colon when the United States took over

the French Canal Company's properties

in May 1904. One of the articles of the 1903 treaty

provided, among other things, that Pan- ama grant the United States the right "to any works of sanitation such as the

collection and disposition of sewage and

the distribution of water in the cities of Panama and Colon."

The expense of such works was to be borne by the United States, which was

authorized "to impose and collect water

rates and sewage rates" sufficient to amortize their cost in a 50-year period. At the end of this period, these properties were to revert to Panama.

Water From Rio Grande

Engineers immediately went to work on

the Panama City water system, finally

deciding to supply the city from the headwaters of the Rio Grande, about 10 miles from the southern end of Culebra—now

Gaillard Cut- where the French Panama

Canal Company had formed a reservoir by means of a masonry dam. They

decided to raise the dam to a height of 212 feet above mean high tide and to con- duct water from this reservoir, by a

Only Two Will Be DraftedTM

In Lowest C. Z. Quota

The lowest draft quota—2—for the

Canal Zone since the inception of

Selective Service here has been set for July. Selective Service officials said that enough young men have had pre- inductlon physical examinations so that no one additional will be sent for examination this month.

The low Canal Zone draft quota

reflects the overall selective service picture. While no word has yet been

received on the Canal Zone quota for August, news dispatches from Washington have reported that the overall draft quota for August will be 23,000, the same as July.

Ui-inch pipe, from the Rio Grande to a

million-gallon distributing reservoir in Ancon, from which it would feed into Panama by gravity flow. The water sys- tem was designed to supply a population

of 30,000 people with 60 gallons apiece

daily.

There was some delay in construction

of the Ancon reservoir and pending its completion the city was supplied by direct pressure from the Rio Grande pipeline.

Water was turned on in Panama City for the first time on July 4, 1905. The Isthmian Canal Commission report

for that year recounts how the Municipal

Council held a special session and adopted

a resolution of thanks to the government

of the Canal Zone. The President, his cabinet, and Canal Zone officials attended

a special Mass of thanks in the Cathedral

in Panama City.

By the end of 1906, the water system

for the capital was completed, except for a few house connections. Where these were still lacking fire hydrants supplied

the populace.

Water For Colon

On the Atlantic side, the story was somewhat different. In 1904, that part of Colon which was occupied by officials and

employees of the Panama Railroad and

by foreign consuls was supplied with water brought by the Railroad Company

through a small iron pipe from a small

reservoir near Mt. Hope. The rest of the population collected rain water in iron tanks.

In 1906 the Isthmian Canal Commission reported a successful solution to

this problem, saying: "Colon and Cris- tobal now have an abundant supply of pure and wholesome water from a receiv- ing reservoir two miles back from Mt.

Hope. This reservoir has a capacity of 508,000,000 gallons. . . . Street hydrants

have been placed every 700 feet in Colon

to supply the inhabitants with water until house connections are made."

During the quarter ending June 30, 1906, by which time there were 432 con- sumers in Panama City, a water rate was

set at "$4 silver a quarter." This entitled the consumer to 10,000 gallons of water

during the quarter; there was a charge

of "40 cents silver" for each additional

1,000 gallons but the (Seepage H)

CANAL PRINTER

GILBERT H. FUREY became the new Superin- tendent of the Printing Plant June 7 following the retirement of the former Superintendent, E. C. Cotton. The new Canal Printer had served as

Assistant Printer since December 1946. He was

employed as Press Foreman at the Panama Canal

Press in 1923 after 10 years experience as a printer

in his home town of Washington, D. C, where he

served for 4 years in the Government Printing Office.
July 3, 1953 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE

UML LA '<&CCIDENT PREVENTION

3

On Having Bad Luck

Do You Have Bad Luck?

Many of us still think accidents just

happen—that they are due mostly to bad luck. When such a person has an

accident his thinking is usually as follows: "It was just my hard luck; I have been

pushing my luck too long; I was due to have one sooner or later." This kind of thinking is similar to believing that black

cats leave an invisible cloud of bad luck

in their wake from which there is no

escape. Nothing can be farther from the

truth. You can avoid having an accident. Granted, one or two accidents out of a hundred may be caused by an "Act of God," things we are powerless to prevent, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and tidal waves; however, nowadays, it is possible

to protect yourself even against these. The other 99 accidents can be avoided if you do something about them in person.

It may not be possible for you to guarantee your own safety all the time, because others may do something which

involves you in an accident. Yet, even

these can be avoided with everybody

working together for his own safety.

Think back to some of the accidents you have seen or heard about. Didn't

HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

MAY

INDUSTRIAL BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Industrial 4

Civil Affairs 2 Health 2 Community Services 1 Engineering and Construction 1 Marine

Railroad and Terminals

Supply and Service

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES

MAY

NAVIGATION DIVISION

ELECTRICAL DIVISION

RAILROAD DIVISION

MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE DIVISION

DIVISION OF SANITATION

someone say that the man was careless; that he wasn't watching what he was doing? Why sure, that is just what the usual explanation has been. Someone

did something wrong—he did something

that could have been done better and more safely. Now what can you do

personally to prevent having an accident? Take a look at the way you work. A

lot of people work with you and someone

helps you in one way or another. You

know that there must be cooperation and

teamwork to get a job done. Therefore,

teamwork and looking after the other

fellow's safety, as well as your own, will also prevent accidents. The following

suggestions will give some idea on how

to start:

1. Consider safety as much a part

of your job as knowing how to do the work.

2. Look for hazards around your job.

3. When you see something that might cause an accident, stop and fix

it. What if someone else did leave it? That is no reason for you to walk off and not make it right. Always bend

down that nail; pick up those tools; move that pipe out of the way; clean up that broken glass.

4. If you see something you cannot

fix or have no time to repair, then tell someone else who can. Let your boss know of all unsafe conditions and

hazards before starting the job.

5. Be alert every minute while you

are working to protect yourself and

others.

6. When you are doing hazardous

work, protect yourself properly with

goggles, safety hat, safety shoes, face

mask, respirator, or whatever the job

requires.

7. See that everybody working with

you is protected by proper clothing and

safety equipment.

8. Stop whatever you are doing and

set up proper safeguards so no one else

will be hurt as a result of what you arc doing.

9. If you are not sure it is safe for you to proceed, check with your boss

to learn the safe way.

10. If you, as the boss, are doubtful

call your Safety Inspector.

1 1

.

Always find out first how to work

safely. NEVER TAKE A CHANCE.

12. Make yourself a good example for others. Be enthusiastic for Safety. Influence others to work safely. Keep

your work area clean and orderly.

13. Go cautiously. Trying to work

too fast and taking short cuts to save time often results in accidents. Take

a few moments to think how to do the

job safely. A moment of thought may

save hours of delay and days of personal

suffering.

14. Cooperate with those who are

trying to prevent accidents. They are thinking of your safety.

15. When you are injured, compensation is a poor substitute for the suffering, loss of pay, and the jeopardizing of your family's welfare.

16. If you do have an injury, no

matter how small, protect your life and

limb by getting immediate first aid and medical treatment. Safety-mindedness and accident pre- vention is one part of the job that can be

safely taken home. Let this part of your

job worry you at home and while you are taking your recreation. Off the job acci- dent prevention is equally as important to you and your family as safety on the job

MAY 1953

Industrial Bureau

Engineering and Construction Bureau

Supply and Service Bureau

Health Bureau

C. Z. Govt.—Panama Canal Co. (This month)

Civil Affairs Bureau

Marine Bureau

C. Z. Govt.—Panama Canal Co. (Best Year)

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

(Frequency Rale)

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR Community Services Bureau Grounds Maintenance 4 D

.. , , T . . n Motor Transportation 4

^droad and Terminals Bureau Sanitation 4 Dredging 3

Electrical 3 Hospitalization and Clinics 3 Number of Disabling Injuries... __27 Clubhouses 2 Maintenance 2 Railroad 2 r- Storehouses 2 Navigation 1

, , Commissary I I Amount Worse Than Canal Zone Government—Panama Canal Company Best Year Locks

Terminals r

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

: :::] Accumulative Frequency Rate This Year

20 30 40

Man-Hours Worked 2.775,346 LEGEND

_I Amount Better Than Canal Zone Government—Panama Canal Company Best Year
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 4, 1953

Doll-Dressing Hobby Benefits

Many Children On The Isthmus OUR OUT-OF-DOORS

DRESSING DOLLS is a hobby for Mrs. Claude M. Kreger of Gamboa. The Scotcn lassie in the foreground, the demure Dutch maid on the fence, and the five Panamanian dolls are only a few of the many she has dressed.

Mrs. Margaret B. Kreger of Gamboa

plays with dolls —but only to dress them

in fancy finery and then give them

away. She has dressed hundreds in the past three years but has only those shown in the accompanying picture to show her handiwork.

About 100 of her finely dressed dolls were given last Christmas to children

in an orphanage in Colon and other poor

children in Panama. Her niece in Europe has a collection of 80 that Mrs. Kreger has dressed. Many others have

been sold and the proceeds given to charitable and community organizations.

Girls State, sponsored by the American

Legion, will benefit this year from the proceeds from three of her larger dolls. Mrs. Kreger has been an active member

of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 6

at Gamboa for the past 10 years. Other doll sales have financed sizable

gifts for food packages and clothing sent

to Czechoslovakia, earthquake victims

in Ecuador and a $100 check last Christ- mas given to Panama's First Lady as head of the Panama Red Cross for use

in the purchase of foodstuffs for the

city's poor children. Dolls dressed by Mrs. Kreger are a cosmopolitan group. The first one she made was a blonde Scotch lassie who

wore a kilt, a bonnie feather in her hat, a shawl with a gold buckle, a purse of camel's hair, shoes crocheted in black

linen thread with silver buckles crocheted

of metallic thread, black chiffon velvet

jacket trimmed with gold braid, and lace

ruffles for collar and cuffs.

Polleras For Panama

Then there were others dressed in French, Dutch, and Spanish costumes and costumes of other nationalities but

probably the greatest number of her dolls wore Panamanian polleras. Mrs. Kreger

has also dressed dolls as sweater girls, brides, Easter paraders, and sophisticates

in evening clothes. The fine needlework necessary for the

pollera dolls' lacy and ruffled full skirts and other such miniature feminine frills was learned by Mrs. Kreger long before she turned her talents to dressing dolls. Born in the old Theatre Royal in Kidderminster, Worcester, England, while her American parents were filling an

engagement at the theater, Mrs. Kreger

grew up all over the world but received most of her education in French and

English convents and in Germany where

she was taught needlework of all kinds. From that time on, she made all her own clothes, including the theatrical costumes she wore when she followed in her parent's footsteps, playing in theaters

all over Europe and the United States.

Tailor, Too

Since she married and retired from

the stage in 1927, she has also made all the clothing worn by her husband, Claude

M. Kreger, Rotary Drill Operator in the Dredging Division. Mrs. Kreger studied dolls a long time

before she tried to dress one, inspecting

all that she could find and studying the costumes of many nations as they were shown in pictures and books. The materials that go into the costumes

for the dolls come from many unsuspected sources. The "gold" pollera

jewelry worn by one of her dolls was a fancy chain belt once worn by a belle of the Gay Nineties era. Gold braid and

beads go into the making of jewelry for pollera dressed dolls. Their "temble- ques" are tiny beads, "pearls," and fish scales strung on fine wires. The dolls' shoes are crocheted with fine metallic thread.

All laces and insertions are imported

from Holland, France, England, Belgium,

and other countries known for their fine beading and laces. A little Dutch girl among her dolls wears tiny flowered porcelain "wooden"

shoes that Mrs. Kreger ran across in a

store one day and put away, as she does many such little treasures, for a time

she will find a doll to fit them.

Mrs. Kreger started work on her hobby

in 1951 when her husband was transferred temporarily to the Atlantic side

of the Isthmus, leaving her more freedom

from household duties. Her next doll project, and her most

ambitious, will be a United Nations doll family, which she plans to start as soon

as she can find the proper dolls. Most

of the dolls that she dresses come from

Canada, Spain, Italy, and the United

States, but male dolls with blond hair, the kind needed for the European and

The Strangler Fig, pictured in the accompanying photograph, does exactly

what its name implies.

It begins to grow on other trees when

a seed, usually dropped by a bird or in some other fashion, lodges in a crevice

or at the base of spreading palm leaves. The fig sends small feeder roots to the ground and continues to grow. Over a period of years the loots increase in number and encircle the entire trunk of the host plant. As both trees grow, the fig's roots tighten, until all circulation to the original tree is cut off and it dies. By this time the fig, whose botanical name isFicus, is strong enough to support

its own branches. It frequently outlives and overtops the host tree; sometimes the host tree disappears entirely, leaving the

giant climber twined around a large, hollow cylinder.

Many species of the Strangler Fig then drop aerial roots to the ground. These

form what may be called a new trunk. They continue spreading, killing any trees

in their way.

STRANGLER FIGS engulf their hosts. This tree

is one of two in a meadow near Ridge Road, Balboa

Heights. Another fine specimen is in George Green Park on Madden Road.

It is said that Alexander the Great once camped under such a tree, which was

large enough to shelter an army of 7,000 men. About 20 years ago this tree was

measured; it was 2,000 feet in circumference and had about 3,000 trunks. The Strangler Fig is one of over 600

species of Ficus. They are scattered throughout the warmer regions of the

world. Its best known varieties, inter- nationally, are the edible fig, and the pot

plant which is used extensively in the United States and is commonly known as

the India Rubber plant. Best known of the local Ficus are the Ficus retusa —the Chinese Banyan trees—

which line both sides of Roosevelt Avenue

in Balboa from the Railroad station to the commissary.

American models in the United Nations

group, are difficult to find anywhere,

she says. Mrs. Kreger hopes to complete this project in time to present the United

Nations dolls to President Eisenhower

before the end of his first term of office.
July 3, 1953 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Official Panama Canal Company Publication

Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

John S. Seybold, Governor-President

H. 0. Paxson, Lieutenant Governor

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Oleva Hastings

Editorial Assistants

SUBSCRIPTIONS—$1.00 a year

SINGLE COPIES—S cents each On sale at all Panama Canal Clubhouses,

Commissaries, and Hotels for 10 days after publication date.

SINGLE COPIES BY MAIL—lOcentseach

BACK COPIES— lOcentseach

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.

Applications May Be Filed

Between July 13, August 7

For Empire Street Houses

Applications for the 22 houses now

under construction on Empire Street in Balboa will be accepted by the Housing

Office at Balboa starting July 13 and up

to 4:15 o'clock in the afternoon of August 7.

It is expected that the 24 apartments

in the development will be available for occupancy late in August or early in September.

There are seven types of houses in the

area, including two new ones, Types 339 and 333, that have not been built in Canal communities before. Type 339, designed for large families,

is a two-story four-bedroom duplex of masonry construction in which all the bedrooms are located on the second floor. There are two of them in the Empire

Street area. Type 333, the other new type in the development, is a one-family masonry

cottage in which a "modernfold" door

separating two bedrooms makes it possible to have either two or three bedrooms.

There are seven of these houses. The other types of houses in the area

are: One 431, a composite type three- bedroom cottage like those in the San

Juan area of Ancon; six Type 334, onefamily, two-bedroom masonry "patio

house" like those built in the Ancon

Boulevard development; three Type 332, one-family, two-bedroom masonry cotOF CURRENT INTEREST

Third Commendation

THE THIRD COMMENDATION received by Thomas S. Grant for personal bravery and excellent seamanship is presented to the motorboat operator by ('apt. Horatio A. Lincoln, Balboa Port Captain. A copy of the letter to Thomas Grant also went to Rafael A. Lescano, seaman, left, who assisted in the rescue for which the commendation was given. At the height of the windstorm which struck the Pacific side of the Isthmus the afternoon of May 27, the two employees rescued two Panamanians from their capsized cayuco which had overturned in the high winds. The Panamanians, residents of Taboga, had clung to their capsized boat for about an hour before they were picked up in the Canal channel near Flamenco Island. The motorboat operator and seaman, in the launch Mackerel, which had been dispatched before the storm broke to pick up a Panama Canal pilot, also towed to safety a Panamanian schooner in the same

vicinity which was drifting toward the shoals. On two other occasions the launch operator had been highly commended for similar bravery and

seamanship. In August 1935, he rescued, under trying conditions, 16 crew members and passengers

off the motorboat B. E. de Obarrio when it sank after a collision with the S. S. Cathtcood.

In July 1940, while he was operating the I. S. Coiinga, he sighted and saved from drowning an American man and woman who had been in the waters of the Canal for about four hours after their sailboat Riptide capsized. The launch operator on that occasion was credited with saving their lives by having

artificial respiration administered after they were rescued. "You displayed an utter disregard for your personal safety and you also exhibited quick thinking, good judgment and expert seamanship. I take pleasure in commending you for this excellent performance, which is in keeping with the highest standards of service in the Panama Canal Company," the Port Captain wrote in his letter of commendation. The launch operator has been employed as seaman and motorboat operator in the Canal organization

since 1925.

The small service sections at the

Balboa and Cristobal Commissaries

which have been open on Mondays

when the rest of the Commissaries are

closed will be discontinued July 13. The decision to discontinue the

special Monday service was made fol- lowing a suggestion from an employee

representative in the monthly Gover- nor-Employee conference.

It was decided to close the special sections because of a continuing in- crease in the number of items requested

particularly those that cannot be considered "emergency" type purchases,

and the change in the Panama Line

schedule so that the ships arrive on Monday afternoons.

assistants serving in 20 different CompanyGovernment units. Fifty of the vacationing students are in U. S.-rate position- and tin- remainder are on local-rate rolls. The number ol student assistants is considerably lower than last year when

there were about 100 students employed

during the summar vacation period.

There are 11 students employed in the Canal organization this summer a- student

tages, also built in the Ancon Boulevard

area; two Type 337, one-family, three- bedroom masonry patio type house; and one Type 329, to be assigned to a large

family, a one-family, four-bedroom breeze- way type house, also built in the Ancon

Boulevard development.

The following weekly rents have been

set for the new houses: Type 431,

The first of a series of town meetings

in Canal communities to organize a

civil defense warden service have been

held at Gamboa, Santa Cruz, and

Chagres. Others are being scheduled

by William G. Dolan, Chief of Civil Defense. As a result of the meetings

already held, warden organizations

have been set up at Gamboa and Santa

Cruz, the first in Canal communities.

$20.60; Type 334, $1V-'II; Type 332, $16.35; Type 333, $18.35; Type 337, $22.15; Type 329, $24.45; and Type

339, $22.S0.

The Office of the Secretary of the Army

announced this month the resignation of Edward D. McKim,

insurance executive

ill Omaha, as a

in ember of the

ard of Directors the Panama

inal Company,

had served on

the Board since

early in 1951 and

had been a member

of the Executive

Committee since its formation in Sept.

1951.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3,1953

Power Branch Keeps Electricity

Flowing From Source To Consumer

usually called the Army and asked if a balloon were loose. Frequently the dis- patcher's call was the Army's first infor- mation that a balloon had broken from

its moorings. The trailing cables would

drag across the lines and put them out of

service. Once a runaway balloon, leaking

hydrogen from breaks in both ends,

caught under wires directly in front of the Miraflores station. The balk on

exploded, breaking windows, twisting

window frames, and blowing out a heavy

metal door at the back of the power

station. Herbert F. Paddock, now Acting Chief Dispatcher, was on duty that

night. He recalls that no one was

seriously hurt. From Power Supply

While handling emergencies like that

of the recent Saturday evening is an

important part of the power people's job,

it is not by any means all. They, and the

plants they operate, are all part of the Power Branch of the Electrical Division. Their main job is to see that the Canal Zone has a steady supply of electric power to operate the locks, light streets and houses and offices, run refrigerators,

lathes, washing machines, electric clocks, typewriters, heat bakery ovens, stows,

and dry closets, and do the hundredand-one things for which electricity is essential. Power in the Canal Zone is generated

by two fluids: Water and oil. Water, in the principal of the old mill wheel, operates the generators at Madden and Gatun

hydroelectric plants. Diesel oil, on the

principle of the internal combustion engine, runs the six Diesel generating

stations. The system's main Diesel plant

at Miraflores is manned day and night

for emergencies such as that on the

MACHINES dwarf men at the Madden hydroelectric station, source of the bulk of Canal Zone, electric jpower. Lew Ryan. Madden Chief Operator, in a flowered shirt, talks with Pat Coakley, acting supervisor

for the southern district of the Power Branch. In the background is James Sobers, one of the oilers.

One recent Saturday night lights flickered in houses all over the Pacific side of the Canal Zone. Then they

dimmed, almost went out. In the Power Dispatcher's office in the

Miraflores Diesel-electric station, an alarm

bell rang. At the same time instruments on his switchboard indicated a major

disturbance in the normally smooth flow

of electric power. Simultaneously, in the Gatun hydroelectric station, identical instruments showed Operator-Dispatcher

William Schuster that the Canal Zone's power system had "lost a generating

plant," as electricians say. At Miraflores, Power Dispatcher John

S. Skinner, Jr., blew a siren; Daniel J. Sullivan, Diesel engineer on watch, dropped

whatever he was doing and started up

one of the plant's Diesel units, affection- ately known to the men who work there

as "rock crushers." Mr.Skinnerconnected

this and other units to the electric lines, as needed, to assure light and power to the locks and the power system's other

customers. At Gatun, Mr. Schuster performed the necessary operations which enabled his plant to pick up additional load.

All over the Pacific side, the lights

stopped flickering, slowly gained power

and in a matter of seconds were back to

full brilliance. Later the dispatchers learned that something, probably lightning, had

knocked out both of the 44,000-volt lines which come from the Madden hydroelectric plant and join the trans-Isthmian

44,000-volt line at Summit. The next day a line crew checked the Madden lines and found them undamaged.

Lightning, Birds Or Animals

At this time of year power failures on

the lines anywhere usually mean lightning,

but there may be other causes—child- ren's kites caught on a high wire, for

instance. The section of the transmission

line between Gamboa and Fort Davis is a

favorite playground for animals, birds,

or snakes. A power failure there may

mean that a sloth has slowly climbed a transmission tower and taken a firm and

fatal grasp on a high-voltage line. Or a snake may have slithered across a line and put it out of service. Until the garbage dump at Gatun was moved some time ago, a power failure on

the transmission lines north of Gatun

usually meant that a buzzard, on the lookout for a tasty morsel in the dump,

had chosen the power line for a perch.

During the war, barrage balloons were

frequent causes of power failures. If a

line went out the dispatcher on duty

POWEE DISPATCHERS seldom cluster in threes but they did for The Review photographer.* Talking on the telephone is Frank Mauldin while Herbert F. Paddock, Acting Chief Dispatcher, center, discusses electrical matters with Pat Coakley, who is presently acting supervisor for the Branch's southern

district hut whose regular job is Chief Power Dispatcher. Mr. Paddock's usual work is Chief Operator

at the Gatun hydroelectric station.
July 3,1953 1HE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Saturday night we've been talking about. The other Diesel stations, most of them

built during the war, are used as standbys

and for emergency power supply.

The Madden hydroelectric station is the system's major power producer.

Water from Madden Lake flows through

great pipes under the station floor, through turbines which turn the generators to make electric power and out, under the station, to the river below the towering dam.

In the station's spotless long, narrow main room, where the temperature is at

least 90 degrees all the time, are three

big, flat-topped semi-ovals. These house

the generators themselves. Atop each

housing is a pile of cylindrical shapes, each smaller than the one beneath like a set of child's graduated blocks. These are the "exciters." Each controls the operations of the one beneath. "Without these little babies and their direct current, the big boy (the generator)

below won't produce alternating current," Madden Station's Chief, Lew Ryan

explains.

Over Transmission Lines

Madden and Gatun hydroelectric

stations generate current at 6,000 volts, a volt being a unit of electrical pressure. Outside the station the voltage is stepped

up by means of transformers to the 44,000 volts at which it is transmitted. The generators cannot produce current

of such high voltage but it is desirable

for more efficient power flow. Over the

high voltage lines, suspended on their towers, the electricity is transmitted to the various substations. Maintenance of the transmission lines

is a major problem. They are patrolled twice a month and, in addition, always

the day after a power failure. Some

sections of the lines are patrolled by car, some by "speeders" on the railroad, others on foot. Sometimes the towers,

like Nos. 12 and 13 on the Madden Line. are deep in the Forest Preserve. To

reach them linemen have to follow paths

through head-high undergrowth.

On these patrols, linemen all too

frequently find that someone has made

off with equipment for its metal value. Formerly the linemen had been able to

store strings of porcelain insulators—

a

four-insulator unit weighs 81 pounds

at the bases of some of the more isolated towers and thus avoid hauling them in each time there was need of replacement.

But recently these reserve strings have

been found smashed, for the slight bit of bronze the insulators contain. Ground

wires down the sides of the towers have

been cut and removed; not long ago a long section of deenergized 11,000-volt

line was stolen. Through Nerve Center

If the power system can be described anatomically, the generating plants are the heart, the transmission lines and

underground cables the veins and arteries, and the office of the chief power dispatcher

the nerve center. From his desk, which happens to be

in the Miraflores Diesel station, he has

the power system, quite literally, at his

fingertips. Red and green lights on a

panelled board tell him what is "live,"

what is deenergized. He knows, and is prepared to do something about it, when there is a failure on a power line anywhere.

CABLE SPLICERS work underground, but do not usually have as much space as this. John C. Francis works on cables in a double manhole while his helper, Stanford E. Allen, stands readv to assist him.

He is not only the power dispatcher

but he is also operator of the Miraflores substation in time of trouble, power plant

operator for the Miraflores plant, and,

by remote control, substation operator

at the Balboa, Gamboa, and Summit

substations. Sometimes, according to Acting Chief

Dispatcher Herbert Paddock, he is also a question and answer man. Invariably

when there is trouble and the dispatcher

is in the middle of dealing with it, people

call up to tell him what he already knows,

that their lights are off. This is especially true if a failure happens during the peak load periods—8 to 11 a. m. weekdays and early evenings over weekends.

As dispatcher he controls the flow of power into the various substations, where

it is stepped down by transformers to the

2,200 volts which run through under- ground cables to the consumers. At the consumer end, in the little block-like transformer houses one sees here and

there, the power is again stepped down,

METER. READING is part of the job of Carl .1. Mellander, an apprentice wireman for the Electrical Division. Here he records current consumption at a Diablo house.

this time to the 220 or 110 volts which

is safe for house or office service. To The User The amount of current 'each user consumes is measured by a meter, a watt-hour meter if one must be technical. Reading and testing meters is the job of men like Ernest Berger or Donald

Kaan who, between monthly meter readings, work in the electrical instrument

repair shop at the Balboa field office. Meter readers, on their rounds of their 9,000 watt-hour charges, have their troubles. They are followed by mis- chievous children with a million questions

each, set upon by irritable dogs, and

cornered by irritated housewives who

want to know why their light bills are so high "when Mrs. Jones across the street- does twice as much baking and her bill's nothing like mine!"

Processing the meter readings for payroll deduction as well as for cash and

intra-agency billing by the Comptroller's

Office requires considerable time so the consumer doesn't pay for his light until about six weeks after the meters are

read. For instance, charges for current used between February 15 and March 15

this year did not appear on deduction

slips until May 4. By that time most

consumers had forgotten just what they

had used electricity for during the 30-day

period covered by the bill. A change was made recently in billing

procedure and deduction slips now show

the period in which the current was used.

"Electric current to 7-15" will mean that the current was used between June 15 and July 15. The rate is two cents for the first 150 kilowatt hours each month

and one cent a kilowatt hour for the next

99,850 kilowatt hours. Local electric rates compare favorably

with those in the United States. The

1952 issue of the Federal Power Commission's report on power rates in cities of more than 2,500 population shows that

in Cleveland, Ohio, electricity which

would cost a Canal Zone customer $2

costs a Cleveland customer $3.35; the Cleveland customer would pay $10.48 for
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3, 1953

mount of power which costs the Canal Zone user $6.50. In Tacoma, Wash., the rates are lower.

ricity for which a Canal Zone user pays $2 costs $1.70 and that amount

which costs $6.50 here costs $5.35 in Tacoma. But in San Antonio, Tex., current for which a Canal Zonian pays

$2 costs $3.59 and that for which ' a Zonian pays $6.50 costs $10.59.

Irons vs. Lights

Most heating units irons, stoves,

toasters, wattle irons, water heatersuse more current per hour than a light or

a motor on an electric fan, refrigerator, record changer, or vacuum cleaner. A

l.iii in-watt iron consumes 1 kilowatt hour

of electrical energy as against 0.1 of a

kilowatt hour for a 100-watt light, for each hour of operation. However, many

heating appliances have heat-regulating thermostats which snap the current on

and off as needed.

Incidentally, electricians say, don't

heat an iron just to press a blouse. It takes current to heat that iron.. Wait

until there are half a dozen blouses and

do them all at one time. Don't use an oven just to bake potatoes; cook a meat

loaf and a pie at the same time. Leaky

hot water faucets make a water heater work overtime; youngsters opening and

closing refrigerators doors make refriger- ator motors work extra and electric bills run up. Maids are generally less careful with electric current than their employers,

who have to pay the bills. People who talk about the "good old days" aren't thinking about electricity.

Among the property turned over to the United States by the French Canal

Company in 1904 were 10 "electrical machines," book valued at about $13,000.

And historians recount that French forces worked in Culebra Cut at night under

electric lights. But electricity for domestic consumption was something else. In 1905, the only Commission buildings which were

electrically lighted were the hospital, the administration building, and a few quarters at Ancon along with some quarters

in Colon and Cristobal.

Electricity And Kerosene

People whose houses had electricity

paid 75 cents a month apiece for the first 10 lights and 50 cents for each additional

light. Those who had no electricity were

furnished kerosene free. This led to protests of discrimination and one letter

in the old files asserts: "If electrical employees have to pay for their light, kerosene employees ought to pay, too." After lengthy discussion when some

methods of electrical charges were considered and discarded, the Commission

decided, toward the end of 1906, that all buildings should be furnished light, water, and fuel without charge.

In 1910 considerable excitement was

roused when a neglected electric iron started a lire in Gatun. The damage

was slight but the incident sparked off 'since this is an electrical story) an

investigation that disclosed that 57

electric irons, as well as some toasters, chafing dishes, percolators, etc., were

being used on the current which was

intended for lighting only. An official estimate showed that the use of these unauthorized appliances was costing the Commission $103.26 a month!

On March 1, 1910, Colonel Goethals

ssued a circular that the electric current

MACY'S had full-page ads in New York

papers to tell the world about "Scrabble."

Locally, it might do what the television we

don't have can't to keep the family on the home front. Scrabble, that ha; Macy's crowing, is a

crossword game with a scoring system that

fits the tastes and talents of both young and old. Macy's copywriters gamboled through the

usual gimmicks to tell how much fun Scrabble

is. To which the Canal Commissaries could

only add: "We sell it for only $2.50."

Two new pie mixes that come in cans, available soon in the CommisFruit Pies saries, will make the job of filling

fruit pies as easy as ihe pie crust mixes have made the making of pie shells. There will be blueberry and cherry pie mix, both of which have sugar, lemon juice, salt, and stock added to the fruit. The cans are

large enough to fill an eight- or nine-inch pie crust and will cost about 38 cents. NEW NYLON TIES for men will be in the

stores soon. They are grenadine weave

rough, almost like monk's cloth and are in solid colors and small prints. They will cost about $1.25.

A large stock of maternity dresses and

separates that are on order "Pop Coats" are now arriving in the stores. Among the many pretty styles —including the new polished and embossed

cottons—will be white pique "Pop Coats"

with "jewel trimming, which wholesale

drygoods people at Mount Hope expect to be especially popular.

INDOOR-OUTDOOR furniture with unusually pleasing lines, tubular steel construction

that is as sturdy as it is light in weight and

appearance, seats and backs in tomato or emerald green fibre with steel wire reenforce- ment core in each strand, will be in the stores soon. It is comfortable and will be sold at comfortable prices well below comparable

lines. There will be dinette tables with chairs

to match; two-arm lounges and two-arm

pull-ups; left and right chairs and armless

fillers for sectional combinations; end tables; lamp, or corner tables; cocktail tables; and

outdoor loungers.

Prices will range from about $18.50 for single pieces to $69.50 for the dinette set.

Fully leather-lined shoes for men—the kind cl that are built for long wear—are bhoes

For Men

coming to the Commissaries from England. There will be plain toe and straight tip styles in black and

brown and, because of the favorable ex- change rate, they will cost about $6.25.

LEMONADE CONCENTRATE, in frozen

form, which was unavailable for a short time,

is now back in the stores to stay.

Fruits from the United States will be coming

into the stores now and for the

Fresh Fruit next few months, when they are

in season up north. Cherries,

plums, cantaloupes, and watermelons are

available, on order, or enroute. Nectarines

and plums can be expected later as the fruit season progresses. ORLON SWEATERS for women, shrug

styles and slipovers, in three- and two-tone

color combinations are expected early in July. They will cost about $4.

There are new lines of Yardley cos- metics —new to Yardley's and

Yardley new in the Commissaries —for Cosmetics both men and women. There

are shaving cream, brushless shaving cream, oath oil, after-shower powder, and a new perfume and essence of perfume called "Flair." A KITCHEN SERVANT that will take the tedium out of a multitude of cooking chores

is the Griscer all-purpose kitchen cutter that has been ordered for the Commissaries and

is expected soon.

It has been so well advertised and so well liked by those who have used it, about the only thing left to tell Commissary customers is that locally it will cost about $10 complete

with four cutters. They are: The chopper that crumbs bread,

chops nuts and vegetables very fine, crushes

ice, rices ootatoes; a shredder that shreds coconut, cheese, lemon or orange rind, carrots and other firm vegetables, crumbs crackers, toast, bread, chocolate, cuts nut meats,

eggs, onions, etc.; a shoestringer that shoestrings vegetables, soup stock, casserole

dishes, cuts fruit and other foods for baking,

preserves, salads and candies, etc.; and the

slicer (thin) that cuts cabbage, peppers,

onions, cucumbers, radishes, carrots for salads,

etc., reduces green or wax beans to bits and

is fine for potato chips, for instance. A baby server, a table with an adjustable T i| seat for the baby right_in the

les For Babies

middle, will be in the Commissaries soon. Also available will be an attachment that makes the same server do service for baby's bath. It is a versatile, safe, and ingenious bit of equipment that is designed to fit the needs

of a baby from early infancy to about three

years, after which it can continue in service as a game and play table. BLACK TAFFETA RAINCOATS, expected

soon, will be the fanciest rainy season attire seen so far in the Commissaries. They will cost about $1

1

.

Copper-bottomed, stainless steel Revere

cooking ware, unavailable for Copper some time, is coming back to the Bottoms Commissaries, probably early in July. Included in the lot will be

matched mixing bowls with handles for hanging.

"WITWHIP" was given top honors in a ten-page review of kitchen tools in LIFE Magazine as the first really new develop- ment in the line of beaters since the conventional egg beater came into existence in 1 860. The new device is operated with one hand,

whips at the very bottom of a container, and,

for example, will whip one spoonful of cream

in a tiny teacup, quickly and without spraying the surroundings. It will be in the Commissaries soon and will cost about $1.85

was furnished for lighting only and could not be used for power, heating, or cooking.

Those who owned electrical appliances could continue to use them only on the

condition that they pay for the current consumed, and no other employee was to buy electrical appliances. Practically all the electrically-equipped householders immediately said they would discontinue

the use of their appliances.

Today there are approximately 4,400

electric ranges and water heaters in Canal quarters and a large but unknown

number of refrigerators, washing machines, fans, radios, and other equipmentThe amount of electric power generated

in 1952 was three and one-half times that- generated in 1922. All of which means

that the increased electrical load in employees quarters, plus the additional load

for the various Canal and Armed Forces

facilities, has resulted in the use of 350

percent more electricity than was being used 30 years ago. Which means, in the long run, more

and more work for the people of the Power Branch.
July 3,1953 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11 Penitentiary Guard For 42 Years

Brought 'Em Back If They Escaped

For 42 years Canal Zone convicts have

had to reckon with Sidney King, who is credited with bringing back most of the

prisoners who have broken out of Canal Zone penitentiaries.

There have been 39 attempted escapes

in local penal history but only one convict, No. 643, got away for good. That was

back in 1913 and things have changed a

lot since then, according to the long- time guard and clerk who remembers all the prison breaks. No. 643 first made an unsuccessful attempt to break out of the stockade at Mandingo and was shot by the guard who

stopped him. Placed in the prison

dispensary at Culebra for treatment, he made a rope out of his hospital sheet, swung himself two stories down to the ground and made the one clean getaway

in Canal Zone penal history. Mr. King recalls that the guard at

the hospital was dismissed for negligence.

Canal Zone police and penal affairs, he says, "are regulated a lot better today" and many lessons have been

learned from local police experience, in- cluding the efficacy of thorough training

for prison personnel.

Only two escapees on Canal Zone convict records attempted the same thing

twice. Both were recaptured on the second try by the long-time prison guard,

who, in years past, was ordinarily detailed

to ferret out prisoners who were believed

to have escaped into Panama.

For the past several years he has

served as chief clerk in the office of the penitentiary at Gamboa.

Sawed Out Of Cell The most audacious of the prisoners

who escaped, in Mr. King's opinion, was

one who sawed himself out of a dark

cell at Gamboa in 1913, together with his cellmate. That was not difficult in the

old wooden building that served as the

prison at the time. The prisoners made it through the

wire of the prison enclosure and were not

missed until the next day when one was

recaptured near Summit. There was no

trace of the other prisoner until about

four days later when he returned to the

penitentiary and left a calling card. On a movie night at the prison, when

most of the prison personnel were on duty watching the prisoners as they

watched the moving pictures, one of the guards returned to his quarters to find that he had been robbed. About $600 in cash, a watch, and some

jewelry were missing. The timing of the burglary on a movie night convinced

police that it was the escaped convict who

had come to call. Mr. King was detailed to go into Panama to see if the missing prisoner could be found there. He combed the town for several days and finally caught

sight of the fugitive at the Panama

Railroad station just as he was getting

ready to board a train for the Atlantic

side.When he was caught he still had $500

and the watch and a ticket to Cuba on a boat that was sailing within a few hours from Cristobal. Detective In Trinidad Mr. King came to the Isthmus from

Trinidad where he had been a detective

i

SIDNEY KING

on the police force for about 10 years. He had gone there from his native Bar- bados because he wanted to be a police- man and there were no vacancies on the

force at home. When he came to the Canal Zone he had the same thing in mind.

He came to the Isthmus in July 1911 and since he couldn't get a job immediately with the police, he went to work

as an orderly at Ancon Hospital. About

five months later, he was employed at the Gorgona police station. There was plenty of activity there in those days according to the long-time

guard. The machine shops for the Canal

work were located there, there were many nationalities among the Canal

"diggers" stationed in the town, plenty

of saloons, plenty of business, and plenty

to keep Gorgona's 16-man police force busy.

In December 1913, he was transferred

to the penitentiary office at Culebra,

where prisoners were taken before they

were transferred to a temporary prison at Mandingo. The prison building at Culebra had been abandoned in 191 1 when

slides on the west bank of Culebra Cut

threatened to break back to the prison.

A road was being built at the time

from Empire to the Panama boundary at Paja and the temporary prison at Mandingo, built of the trees readily available

in the area, was about halfway between

the two points. There were a lot of prison breaks in those days, Mr. King

recalls, a fact that is not surprising in view of the facilities. Moved To Gamboa

In 1913 the prison was moved to its present location at Gamboa, where prisoners were housed in a former messhall used by European Canal laborers. The

laborers were moved across the Canal to Matachin and prison personnel moved

into the quarters that were vacated at Gamboa.

The penitentiary had the most and the

least prisoners in 1913, according to Mr.

King. There were so many—about 200

at one time—that an extensive program

of rehabilitation was instituted by Rich- ard L. Metcalfe, who was in charge of

civil administration in the Canal Zone

during the last few months of the third and last Isthmian Canal Commission.

Many prisoners also were pardoned and

the penitentiary population then dropped

to its lowest point, totaling about 40. Police work has been Mr. King's one

absorbing interest from the time he was

a boy and incidentally provided a hobby

he has followed most of his life. When he was on the police force in Trinidad, some

of the policemen there made their own

shoes because the ones that were generally available were not as good looking as they thought the boots of a policeman

should be. Mr. King learned shoemaking from

fellow policemen there and has made all his own shoes since that time. He also has always made all the shoes worn by

his wife and two sons, many for police

and prison personnel and a large circle of friends.

Dog Registration And

Will Begin About Mid

Rabies Inoculation

July In Ten Zone Towns

Registration of dogs for licensing and

the mandatory vaccination of the animals

against rabies will begin about the middle

of July in 10 central locations in the Canal Zone The exact dates when vaccinating and

registering teams will be in the various

locations will be announced within a short time. As present plans now stand, the teams

will work one day in each of the follow- ing towns: Old Cristobal, Rainbow City,

Margarita, Gatun, and Chagres on the Atlantic side; Balboa (which will also serve residents of Ancon and Diablo

Heights), Gamboa, La Boca, Paraiso,

and Pedro Miguel on the Pacific side. Dog owners will register their pets, have them vaccinated against rabies and

pay the $2 license fee at the same time. A recent Executive Regulation issued by

Gov. J. S. Seybold requires that all dogs in the Canal Zone have the anti- rabies inoculation and be licensed by

August 1. Working with the veterinarian who will

vaccinate the dogs will be clerks from the License Section who will fill out the necessary forms and issue the dog tags. The tags, of brass with black letters, and

the anti-rabies vaccine were ordered some

time ago from the United States and will arrive here shortly. The tags are numbered from 1 through 4,000. After the initial registration period,

dog owners may have their pets vaccinated

against rabies at the Corozal kennels on

the Pacific side or at the Humane Society kennels at Brazos Brook on the Atlantic

side. Pacific siders will then take their dogs' vaccination certificates to the License Section in the Civil Affairs Building where the licenses will be issued. Atlantic siders will mail their certificates to the License Section as they do for automobile license plates and the dog

license tags will be returned by mail. Dog licenses will be valid from August

1 of this year to July 31, 1954, and

will be renewed annually. Unlicensed

animals will be impounded.
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3,1953

Book By Two

C. Z. Teachers

To Be Published

Probably the greatest thrill in a child's

life is learning to read, according to two

Canal Zone teachers. But the child doesn't learn to read the

first day as he anticipated; instead, at

first he learns whole words and phrases

but at a later stage the use of letter sounds

is a great aid as he takes his first steps

toward exploring the world of books. Modern education stresses the im- portance of the phonetic approach to reading and to that field the two teachers,

Eunice Monroe and Josephine Withers,

have recently made a contribution. The Gel-Sten Company of Brookfield,

III., one of the largest U. S. publishers of school duplicating materials, has just

bought their book, Beginning Phonics.

It will be available in time for the coming

school year. A second book by Miss

Monroe and Miss Withers has recently

been submitted to the same publisher.

The two Canal Zone teachers developed

their book because they felt there was a

lack of good usable material available in

this field of teaching. Both were first grade teachers at the time—Miss Withers

will be teaching third grade in Diablo

next year and Miss Monroe is a first grade teacher. Comparing notes and exchanging lesson sheets on their work, they found that

their ideas for the teaching of this phase

of phonics were almost identical The

book developed from these ideas. Teachers' Evaluation

Before accepting material for publication, Gel-Sten ordinarily has it evaluated by key teachers. When they compiled

their manuscript, Miss Monroe and Miss

Withers asked a representative group of teachers in the Canal Zone schools to give

their evaluation of it. The letters of these teachers accompanied the finished manuscript when it went to the publishers and, Miss Monroe and Miss

Withers believe, were in great part

responsible for the prompt acceptance of the book. An interesting sidelight on Beginning

Phonics is the fact that the pictures for the original manuscript were prepared by

Michael McNevin, who is Miss Withers' nephew. He was graduated from Balboa

High School a year ago and has just

completed his first year at the University

of New Mexico. The illustrations play an important part in the book. Michael's

pictures will not appear in the finished volume, however, since Gel-Sten has its own artists. Miss Monroe, who was born in Colo- rado but now considers California her home, is a graduate of the Colorado

State College of Education at Greeley.

She taught in Colorado Schools before coming here in 1944. While on leave during the 1949-50 school year she taught

first grade in Bellflower, Calif. Miss Withers, Virginia-born, attended Tulane University and is a graduate of the Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers' College

in Chicago. She taught kindergarten in Tampa, Fla. Before coming to the Canal Zone schools in 1945 she had her own

private nursery school in Chicago.

NEW IRON ORE TRADE BOOSTS CANAL TRAFFIC

IRON ORE from new mines was loaded aboard this Panama-registered ship in San Juan, Peru. Lamyru

was the first ship to transit the Canal destined for Morrisville, Pa., new U. S. Steel Company port.

Cargo tonnage through the Panama

Canal was increased by 94,300 tons and

tolls by $60,570 in a six-week period as the

result of the recently inaugurated iron

ore trade from Peru to the United States. From the first of May through June 15, 14 ships transited the Canal, either in ballast southbound or carrying an aver- age of slightly over 10,000 tons of the iron

ore northbound. Almost all of the ships

had transited previously in other services. The ore is coming from new mines near San Juan, Peru. In its issue of May 4, Time Magazine described the new

operation:

"At the southern port of San Juan, the

freighter Libertad took aboard the first 10,000 tons of iron ore from Utah Construction Company's new Marcona mine.

Starting work last January, the United

States firm had built a 15-mile road, got

shovels digging at the open pit and

started 60 specially designed 19-ton trucks hauling ore to dockside. By June, hematite ore will be leaving for U. S. East Coast ports at the rate of 2,400,000 tons a year."

First Ship May 16 The Libertad, a 5,184-ton freighter

operated for the Orion Shipping Company

and registered under Panama, was north- bound through the Canal May 16. She

carried 10,850 tons of iron ore and was

headed for Baltimore.

Since May 16, eight other ships have

transited northbound carrying loads of iron ore. Four were en route to Mobile,

Ala., two to Philadelphia, and two to

Morrisville, Pa., the new United States

Steel Company port. The ore carriers in the 6-week period were: the Vassalis, San Roque, Giovanni

Amendola, Maria Parodi, Maria de Larringa, Lamyra, Turmoil, and St. Helena. Turmoil, which is of Liberian registry, and

San Roque, Panamanian-registered, have

made round trips for the ore trade be- tween May 1 and June 15. Southbound between May 30 and June

1

5

were the Challenger, Andre, and Kingsmownt, all destined for San Juan to load

ore.Of the 14 transits, seven ships were under

the Panamanian flag, two were of Italian

registry, three were registered with Great

Britain and two trips—those of the Turmoil—were under the Liberian flag.

Atlantic Side Supervisors

Complete Training Course

Twenty-three Atlantic side supervisors

received certificates at "graduation" cere- monies last month, concluding a 16-week

supervisory training conference series under the joint supervision of the Terminals and Grounds Maintenance Divisions and the Personnel Bureau.

Several other groups have completed

similar courses which are designed to teach the supervisors to lead planned conferences, a recent development in solv- ing numerous business and industrial problems.

The final meeting of the Atlantic side supervisors was held in the Red Cross rooms over the Central Labor Office in Cristobal. A. E. Beck, Superintendent

of the Terminals Division, spoke briefly. The certificates, together with covering

memoranda for the employees' files and

group photographs, were distributed by

E. B. O'Brien, Assistant Superintendent.

Conferees receiving certificates were: R. D. Armstrong, James A. Brooks, Harry

Cain, Joseph Corrigan, Norman E. J. Demers, W. J. Dockery, Gerald R. Fruth,

John W. B. Hall, George W. Jones, Jr., John H. Leach, J. H. Michaud, Leonidas H. Morales H., Ray Perkins, Joseph

Reardon, Wallace F. Russon, Maxwell S. Sanders, Edward C. Stroop, Peter A.

Tortorici, E. B. Turner, Randolph Wikinstad, and Harry Witt, all of the Terminals

Division; Gene E. Clinchard and Virgil C. Reed of the Grounds Maintenance

Division.

Brodie Burnham, Assistant Training

Officer in the Personnel Bureau who

served as leader of the conference series, acted as master of ceremonies. Coffee and doughnuts rounded out the program.
July 4, 1953 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

NEW ARRIVAL

CAPT. E. J. DUNN, USN, became the new

Director of the Industrial Bureau effective June 30. He came to the Canal Zone from California where he

served as Repair Superintendent at the Long Beach

Naval Shipyard. An engineering duty officer, the new Industrial Bureau Director has also served at the New York Naval Shipyard and before that time had lengthy service at sea. He was born in Farmersville, Tex., and was graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1930.

Long-Range Studies On Canal Investment

Will Set Firm Basis For Fiscal Policies

All Records Are Shattered As Canal Ends

Busiest Fiscal Year In Its Entire History

{Continued from page i) monetary values,

wage scales, and changes of a varying

nature which might affect the revenues and operating costs of the Canal.

First Phase Near End

The investment and depreciation study

is being conducted by the Plant Inventory and Appraisal Staff. Other Company units and porsonnel will assist in specialized phases.

The first phase, now being concluded by the Plant Inventory and Appraisal

Staff, is what might be termed a "quick

inventory" of the physical properties.

Its purpose is to arrive at principal figures, within a narrow margin of error, and a quick review of probable service lives of physical property, which can be used for an investment and depreciation base. A report on this phase of the long-range

study is being prepared for consideration

of the Board of Directors in its determination on the adequacy of present rates

of tolls. This telescoped phase to provide a

close estimate of the value of the Canal

and its allied facilities together with its accrued depreciation to date is to be

followed by a detailed inventory, cost

analysis, and depreciation studies. Aside

from the objective of providing a broad

foundation for the Government's fiscal policies in operating the Panama Canal,

the long-range study will also provide a comprehensive and adequate plant ac- counting system that should make unnecessary any studies of this nature in the

future. It is expected that the plant

appraisal program will extend over a period of two to three years. Consultants Engaged

The consultant services of two of the leading firms in their fields have been

engaged to assist in the study and to provide expert and unbiased opinions on

its various developments.

Ebasco Services, Inc., of New York,

has been engaged to furnish engineering

consulting services in connection with the establishment of estimated service lives of the major plant and equipment and

All existing records in the history of the Panama Canal for commercial traffic,

tolls, and cargo shipped through the waterway were broken in the fiscal year

1953 which ended June 30. Figures on the number of transits by

ocean-going commercial ships and tolls for any previous year were topped by the end

of May, with June totals still to be added

to complete the 1953 record. Although figures on the surging traffic

of the past fiscal year were still incomplete

when this edition of The Canal Review

went to press, the number of transits had

passed the 7,400 mark, exceeding by

875 the record total set in the previous

fiscal year. Tolls were expected to climb to approximately $31,900,000, well above

the former record total of $27,128,893

collected in the boom year of 1929. The amount of cargo shipped through

the Canal last year was well above any

previous totals for one year. During the

first 11 months of the past fiscal year more than 32,830,000 long tons had been

moved through the Canal. The former

record for any year was 33,610,509 long

tons which was established in the fiscal year 1952. The surge of commercial traffic through

the Canal began during the early part of the calendar year 1952 and, for the first time since the Canal was opened to

traffic in 1914, a monthly record of more

than 600 transits by large commercial

ships was recorded in March 1952. This

record was to be broken three times

during the following 12-month period.

The record was broken in May 1952

with 622 transits; in October with 673

transits; and again in March of this year

with 678 transits. Aside from the heavy flow of commercial traffic during the past fiscal year, the number of Government^owned vessels in transit was well above that of the previous

year. Tolls credits for these vessels "amounted to $3,481,681 during the first

11 months of the past fiscal year, which was approximately $800,000 higher than

figures for a comparable period of the previous fiscal year. In addition to other new record totals

in shipping last year, the daily average number of large ships locked through the Canal was the highest in history. The

daily average number of transits for the

first 11 months was 23.2, for both commercial and Government vessels, as compared with the previous record of

19.9 transits in the fiscal year 1952. Although most of the principal trade

routes through the Canal showed gains in the past year, the heavy traffic was attri- buted principally to big gains on those between the east coast of the United

States/Canada and Asia; the United

States intercoastal; and the east coast of the United States and South America.

Canal Ends Half Century's Association

(Continued from page 4) User's bill was Cut by "10 cents silver per 1,000 gallons,"

if the account was paid within 15 days

of the due date. The rate in Colon was

higher: "$9 silver a quarter for 10,000

gallons," and "90 cents silver" for each

additional 1,000 gallons. Meters were

not installed until the middle of 1907. Filtration Plants

Filtered water came later. A filtration plant was opened at Mt. Hope February

23, 1914, and the Miraflores Filtration Plant went into service March 14, 1915. On August 1, 1926, Panama and the United States signed an agreement,

whereby the United States was to do

street cleaning and garbage collections in Panama and Colon, Panama bearing

three-quarters of the cost and the Canal Zone the remaining quarter.

On May 28, 1942, the United States and Panama entered into what is known

as a "General Relations Agreement,"

and under a provision of this the United

States, on January 1, 1946, transferred the water and sewage systems to the Republic of Panama. At this date the unamortized value of water and sewerage systems and pavements in the Republic

of Panama was $669,226.38.

Management Contract On this same day, Panama and The

Panama Canal signed a management contract under which the Canal agreed to

manage the water and sewerage systems

and the street paving functions for Panama's account in Panama City and Colon.

All of Colon was included in the management contract but only that part

of Panama City between the tip of the

city at French Plaza and the old Tumba

Muerto Road—close to El Panama

Hotel—was in the contract. Panama

itself handled water in the suburban areas. The Republic's share of the garbage

collection and street cleaning costs was

to be paid from proceeds of the collections

for the water and sewerage accounts. Early last month, the Maintenance

Division which maintained the streets and

handled the water management contract had eight U. S.-rate and 73 local-rate employees on this work. The Health

Bureau, which handled garbage and

trash collection, employed four U. S.-rate men and about 700 local-rate employees

on this part of their work.

The new arrangement, which went into

effect this week, does not affect the New

Cristobal-Colon Beach and Fort DeLesseps area, since the 1946 transfer specifically provides that the United States has

full responsibility, without cost to Pan- ama, of maintaining and operating water and sewerage systems in these U. S.- occupied areas, as well as maintaining,

cleaning and keeping in repair all streets and pavements and collecting all garbage

in these sections.

possibly other advisory services. The

services of Lybrand, Ross Bros. &

Montgomery, Certified Public Accountants, of New York, have also been

obtained to provide advisory and consulting services on the knotty accounting

and financial problems. In addition to these, the Department

of Commerce is providing assistance in

preparing estimates on future Canal

traffic trends and economic aspects which

affect world shipping. A representative

of the Department's maritime division spent a week here late in May to collect

statistical data on Canal traffic. This

will be augmented by information obtainable from Government sources in Washington and sources elsewhere.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3,1953

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS ANNIVERSARIES

May 15 through June 15

Employees who were promoted or transferred between May 15 and June IS are

listed below. Regradings and within-grade

promotions are not listed. ADMINISTRATIVE BRANCH

George Vieto, from Clerk-Typist to Passenger Traffic Clerk. Robert E. Dolan, from Checker, Locks

Overhaul, to File Clerk, Record Section. CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Carl R. Meissner, from Checker, Locks

Overhaul, to Life Guard, Division of Schools. Reed E. Hopkins, Jr., from Lock Overhaul Foreman to Fireman, Fire Division. Joseph B. Clemmons, Jr., from Estates Administrator to Assistant Chief and

Deputy Public Administrator, Customs and

Immigration Division. Earl F. Unruh, from Post Office In- spector to Assistant Chief and Post Office Inspector, Postal Services. Mrs. Jean A. Violette, from ClerkTypist, Physical Education and Recreation Branch, to Typist, Schools Division. Ruth C. Crozier, Mrs. Elsie D. Naughton, from Elementary School Teacher to Elementary School Principal, Schools Division. John N. Gorham, from Student Assist- ant to Recreation Assistant, Physical

Education and Recreation Branch. Mrs. Margaret B. Zeimetz, Clerk- Stenographer, from Commissary Division

to Police Division. Grady O. Gailey, from Automobile

Serviceman and Heavy Truck Driver, Motor Transportation Division, to Fire- man, Fire Division. Culver M. Call, from Guard, Atlantic Locks, to Postal Clerk. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Donald M. Luke, from Systems Accountant, Cost Accounts Branch to Assist- ant Chief, Divisional Accounts Branch. Ralph F. Schnell, from Organization

and Methods Examiner to Analytical

Statistician, Management Staff. Mrs. Flor E. Martin, Mrs. Jewell F. Story, from Clerk-Typist, License Section

to Typist, Cost Accounts Branch. Mrs. Chevillette R. Dougherty, from

Typist, Cost Accounts Branch, to ClerkTypist, Plant Inventory and Appraisal

Staff. Genevieve F. Quinn, Accounting Clerk, from Agents Accounts Branch to Cost Accounts Branch. Mrs. Eldermae A. Duff, Accounting

Clerk, from Cost Accounts Branch to Agents Accounts Branch. Mrs. Patricia E. LeBrun, from Typist, Cost Accounts Branch, to Clerk-Stenographer, Claims Branch.

Patricia G. Neckar, from Clerk-Typist,

Division of Storehouses, to Typist, Cost Accounts Branch. Mrs. Evelyn R. Reynolds, from Typist, Cost Accounts Branch, to Clerk-Typist,

Payroll Branch. Mrs. Elizabeth Sudron, from Payroll

Clerk, Payroll Branch, to Claims Examiner,

Claims Branch. Mrs. Dema M. McCord, Card Punch

Operator, from Tabulating Machine Branch

to Payroll Branch. Edward H. Appin, from Clerk-Typist to 'Tabulating Machine Operator, Payroll Branch. Joyce T. Clarke, from Card Punch

Operator to 'Time, Leave and Payroll Clerk, Payroll Branch. Mrs. Ida H. Fuller, from Payroll Clerk

to Time, Leave, and Payroll Clerk, Payroll Branch. Mrs. Daisy M . Tettenburn, from ClerkTypist to Time, Leave, and Payroll Clerk, Payroll Branch. Mrs. Mary E. Becker, from Payroll

Supervisor to Accounting Clerk, Payroll Branch. John H. Morales, from Payroll Clerk to Supervisory Accountant, Payroll Branch. Helen N. Minor, from Payroll Clerk to

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

BUREAU

James G. F. Trimble, from Construction Inspector, Contract and Inspection

Division, to W'ireman, Electrical Division. Joseph A. Howland, from Lock Operator-Wireman, Pacific Locks, to Powerhouse Operator, Electrical Division. Robert C. Heppner, from Lock Operator-Wireman, Pacific Locks, to Wireman,

Electrical Division. Leo Chester, from Foreman, Lock

Overhaul, to Filtration Plant Operator,

Maintenance Division. Mrs. Jessie G. Harris, Clerk-Stenographer, from Marine Bureau to Maintenance

Division. Mrs. Neva M. Short, from Clerk-Typist

to Accounting Clerk, Electrical Division. Mrs. Marian M. Langford, from

Substitute Teacher, Schools Division, to Clerk Typist, Electrical Division. HEALTH BUREAU

Mrs. Ruth H. Powell, from Clerk- Typist, Aids to Navigation, to Storekeeper

(Checker), Gorgas Hospital. Mrs. Ana L. Alvarez, from ClerkTypist, Board of Health Laboratory, to Dictating Machine Transcriber, Gorgas

Hospital.

INDUSTRIAL BUREAU

John Van der Heyden, from Principal

Foreman, Locks Overhaul, to Shipwright,

Industrial Bureau. Arthur E. Rizcalla, from Helper, Locks

Overhaul, to Guard, Industrial Bureau. MARINE BUREAU

Alfred T. Veit, from Chief Tovvboat

Engineer to Senior Chief Tovvboat Engineer, Dredging Division. Charles Q. Peters, Jr., from Foreman,

Locks Overhaul, to Ferry Ramp Operator.

Daniel A. Marsicano, from Rigger, Locks Overhaul, to Pump Operator, Dredging Division. Howard J. Schwartzman, Ben F. Smith, from Pilot-in-Training, to Probationary Pilot. Vernon C. Whitehead, from Probationary Pilot to Qualified Pilot. James T. Campbell, from Helper, Locks Overhaul, to Signalman, Navigation

Division. David Vinokur, from Ferry Ramp

Operator, to Pump Operator, Pipeline Suction Dredge.

Max J. Karton, from File Clerk, Administrative Branch, to Guard, Locks Division. PERSONNEL BUREAU

John H. Terry, from Appointment

Clerk, to Supervisory Personnel Assistant, Personnel Records Division. Helen L. Dudak, from Appointment

Clerk to Supervisory Appointment Clerk, Personnel Records Division. Mrs. Kathyleen R. Miller, from Per- sonnel Clerk-Typist to Supervisory Appoint- ment Clerk, Personnel Records Division. Mrs. Dorothy K. Gadberry, ClerkTypist, from Division of Storehouses, to Personnel Records Division. RAILROAD AND TERMINALS BUREAU

Edward S. Weil, from Foreman, Locks

Overhaul, to Gauger and Cribtender Fore- man, Terminals Division. SUPPLY AND SERVICE BUREAU

Harold R. Bodell, from Steam Loco- motive Crane Operator, Pacific Locks

Overhaul, to Storekeeper (Shipping), Commissary Division. Charles Hair, from Signalman, Navigation Division, to Commissary Assistant. Ralph N. Stewart, from Storekeeper to Supervisory Accounting Clerk, Commissary

I )ivision. Gilbert H. Furey, from Assistant

Printer to Superintendent of Printing,

Printing Plant.

Employees who observed important anniversaries during the month of June are

listed alphabetically below. The number

of years includes all Government service with the Canal or other agencies. Those

with continuous service with the Canal are indicated with (*).35 YEARS

*Eugene C. Lombard, Executive Secretary.

iO YEARS

*Ulrich W. Hughes, Leader, Electrical Instrument Repairman, Electrical Division. Walter E. Zimmerman, Lock Operator, Atlantic Locks.

25 YEARS

Walter J. Allen, File Supervisor, Administrative Branch. Harry B. Friedland, Clerk, Lighthouse

Subdivision. Elmer J. Hack, Clerk, Administrative Branch. Max R. Hart, Safety Inspector, Supply

and Service Bureau. Edward W. Hatchett, Teacher, Balboa High School. *Albert J. Joyce, Wireman, Electrical Division. James H. Rheney, Repair Shop Fore- man, Railroad and Terminals Bureau.

*J. Bartley Smith, Electrical Engineer,

Electrical Division. Mabel A. Sneider, Operating Room

Nurse, Gorgas Hospital.

Claude W. Wade, Steward, Clubhouse

Division.

20 YEARS

Edwin M. McGinnis, Supervising Esti- mating Engineer, Engineering Division. Robert M. Turner, Maintenance Mechanic, Maintenance Division. William S. Walston, Mate, Pipeline Suction Dredge, Dredging Division. Leonard Wolford, Marine Traffic Controller, Navigation Division.

15 YEARS

Leland Brooks, Tovvboat Master, Navigation Division. Alwyn DeLeon, Claims Examiner, Comptroller's Office. Henry P. Kilcorse, Tovvboat Master, Dredging Division. *William E. LeBrun, Administrative

Assistant, Internal Security Branch. Morgan J. Neabry, W'ireman, Electrical Division. Jack E. Scott, Carman, Railroad

Division. Irene S. Walling, Clerk-Stenographer,

Police Division. Margaret F. Wiggin, Clerk-Stenographer, Comptroller's Office.

JULY SAILINGS

From Cristobal

Cristobal July 3 Ancon July 10 Panama July 17 Cristobal July 24 A neon July 3 1 From New York

I' mia ma July 7 Cristobal July 14 Ancon July 21 Panama July 28 (Northbound, the ships are in Haiti from

7 a. m. to noon Sunday; southbound, the Haiti stop is Saturday from 7 a. m. to

4 p. m.)

RETIREMENTS IN JUNE

Retirement certificates were presented

the end of June to the following employees

who are listed alphabetically, together with their birthplace, titles, length of service and future addresses: Ernest C. Cotton, Ohio; Superintendent,

Printing Plant; 42 years, 3 months, 11 days; Address uncertain. Mai L. Dodson, Delaware; Foreman,
July 3,1953 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Premium-Grade Gasoline

Will Go On Sale July 10

Premium-grade gasoline will go on

sale about July 10 in all Canal retail gasoline stations except those at Gatun

and Pedro Miguel, according to the Supply and Service Bureau. The hightest gasoline will retail at two cents above the present price of motor-grade

gasoline.

A contract for 62,000 barrels 2,604,

000 gallons—of the premium-grade

gasoline was awarded early last month

to the Texas Company. This is a six- month supply. The first gasoline pur- chased under the contract will arive in Cristobal about July 6, and the tanker

is expected to discharge in Balboa two

days later. Minor alterations are being made at the tank farms and service stations for handling of the high-test gasoline.

Extra-Curricular Recreation Activities

To Be Curtailed Because Of Budget Cut

Eligibility Card Rules

Changed Effective July 1

The Central Labor Office Wednesday began issuance of eligibility cards

to applicants who had not served with U. S. Government agencies or contractors since January 1, 1946. The change in regulations provides an opportunity to seek employment

to young people, never employed in the Canal Zone, and to older persons who have not worked in the Zone

since 1946. Since May 1951 and until this change eligibility cards were issued only to former employees with service

after 1946 and to others with special

qualifications.

Electrical Division; ii years, 11 months,

27 days; probably Florida. Eric E. Forsman, Alabama; Storekeeper, Terminals Division; 36 years, 11 months, 1 day; Mobile, Ala. Alfred B. Fox, Missouri; Gauger, Store- houses Division; 24 years, 9 months, 16 days; Arraijan, Panama. Harry O. Granberry, Mississippi; Administrative Assistant, Hotel Washington;

24 years, 10 months, IS days; St. Peter- burg, Fla. Leon F. Hallett, Massachusetts; Supply Requirements Assistant, Storehouses

Division; 39 years, 3 months, 17 days;

Dorchester, Mass. George F. Herman, Pennsylvania;

Ferry Ramp Operator, Dredging Division; 26 years, 1 month, 26 days; Florida. Frederick B. Hill, South Carolina; Policeman, Cristobal; 29 years, 8 months,

13 days; Lake City, South Carolina, for present. Charles S. Hollander, New York;

Administrative Assistant, Maintenance Division; 24 years, 11 months, 11 days; Jacksonville, Fla. John J. Kennedy, New York; Foreman.

Maintenance Division; 13 years, 3 months,

24 days; Vermont. Robert H. McCoy, Pennsylvania; Clerk, Payroll Branch; 21 years, 10 months, 25 days; Danville, Pa. Dr. Herbert L. Phillips, Alabama;

District Physician, Pedro Miguel; 24 years,

5 days; Memphis, Term. Mrs. Ethel M. Pitman, Pennsylvania;

Dictating Machine Transcriber, Gorgas

Hospital; 4 years, 5 months, 6 days;

Mobile, Ala. August T. Schmidt, New York, Administrative Assistant, Supply and Service Bureau; 29 years, 9 months, 16 days; North Carolina. John W. Towery, Kentucky, Claims

Examiner, Fiscal Division; 28 years, 6 months, 25 days; California. Bert G. Tydeman, Tennessee; Control House Operator, Gatun; 27 years, 5 months,

20 days; Allentown, Pa.

Some curtailment of adult recreation and summer and weekend activities for both adults and children will be neces- sary this fiscal year because of a $100,00!) cut in the School Division budget.

The cut was made in the budget that was submitted to Congress last January.

Congressional action on the Civil Functions Bill, which contains Canal Zone Government appropriations, had no effect on this particular sum. Much study preceded the decision to make the cut in the recreation field. It was decided that any cut should be made

in extracurricular rather than curricular

activities. In order to stay within its new budget,

the Division of Schools will have to

eliminate, reduce, or modify a number of

activities which have been traditional. Adult groups—such as the Twilight

Baseball League—which have been obtaining recreation equipment from the Schools

Division will now have to supply their own equipment. The Ancon playshed

will no longer be staffed, although it will be used as a rainy-day playground for the Ancon elementary school. Adult

groups, such as square dancers, who have

been using the playshed may continue to do so by arrangement with the school

principal.

The gymnasium at Chagres, local-rate section of Gatun, and the Chagres playground will be closed. Residents of Chagres will use the facilities at Rainbow

City, where there are a swimming pool

and some playing fields. Clerical help and part-time recreation

assistants who have been on duty at Balboa and Cristobal gymnasiums have

been eliminated. The gymnasiums will be still available for evening use, but

adults who have been using them as

recreation centers will be without the

refereeing or coaching which has been

given in some cases. The retrenchment will • affect after- school recreation and swimming for school

children. All gymnasiums will be closed Sundays as at present plus one week-day

but pools will remain open six days a week. Directors of Physical Education

should be consulted in the various towns

for schedules of operations.

The Schools Physical Education pro- gram will not be curtailed; the activities to be reduced will be after-school and

weekend swimming competitions or school

basketball, volleyball, and similar leagues

which have required the use of school

facilities or supervision. Part of the planning for the reduced

expenditures extends into next summer

when that portion of the Summer

Recreation Program which is sponsored

by the schools will have to be modified. This summer's program will continue, as a whole, without major change.

The curtailment of funds limits the number of people employed. Reduction

of force notices have already gone out to 39 recreation assistants and clerks in the Physical Education and Recreation Branch. Of these, 16 were on the U.S.-

rate, 23 on local-rate rolls—many of them

part-time and WAE employees.

Housing Heads List of Subjects

Raised at June Conference

{Continued from page 2) look further into the matter. The possibility of retaining some

12-family houses as low-rental quarters was brought up by Rufus Lovelady, of the AFGE, but the Governor said that

this would not be a solution to the expressed desire for lower rental houses. He said considerable thought had gone

into this problem but that as yet no

satisfactory solution had been reached

for a type of house which would be somewhere between the 12-family accomodations and houses such as those being

built at Corozal. He said he believed that employees

would not be happy in what he called "quasi houses," and pointed out that in the United States people tend to seek neighborhoods of their economic levels but that there are no such neighborhoods

here. The whole matter of low-cost

housing, he said, is still in the talking

stage. Sam Roe of the Pacific Civic Council

raised the question of the method of quarters assignments, which is still under

study, and Carl Nix of the Gatun council reported—as another representative had

during the May conference—that employees with long service were taking

low-cost houses, leaving higher-rent houses the only ones available for new

employees with lower salaries. The Governor reported that he had

made a personal, after-hour check on commissary prices, as of May this year

and May a year ago. The results, he

said, showed that the commissaries are holding the price line. A study is projected for the future, he said, to compare the fixed costs of operating the Commissary Division with

those of United States stores. In answer to a question from Mr.

Boukalis as to whether the Panama Line

stop in Haiti had been "satisfactory"

from the point of view of the Board of Directors, the Governor said that the

Haiti layover was being made on a trial basis and that he thought it likely the

trial period of six months or so would be extended in order to make a better appraisal of the situation. Mr. Lovelady asked about the program

for Under Secretary of the Army Earl Johnson and whether he would be avail- able to meet with employee groups. Governor Seybold said he was certain any

statements submitted by employee groups would be acceptable to the Under Secretary but that he did not know the schedule

at that time, ncr what time, if any, would

be available for conferences. Attending the conference were: The

Governor, Mr. Doolan and Norman

Johnson, Employee Relations officer, for the administration; and for the employees:

Sherman Brooks, Mrs. Orton, Carl

Nix, and Sam Roe, Jr., for the Civic Councils; Walter Wagner, E. J. Husted, Mr. Lovelady, Carl F. Maedl, Mr.

Boukalis, John R. Townsend, Sam Garriel, Central Labor Union and affiliates; H. C. Simpson, 'Marine Engineers; Mr.

Daniel, Conductors; Fred H. Hodges,

Railroad Engineers; and R. F. Hesch,

Pacific Locks Employees,
n6 THE1PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 3,1953

ooPICTURES OF

THE MONTH

IT WAS JUNE! and while their

elders worried about the 25 percent

differential big things came to the Canal Zone young people.

Sober-eyed, and a little scared, some

380 of them donned caps and gowns to

receive the diplomas which opened up for them a new life. A week or so later, the

first contingent of students came down a Panama Line gangway to spend their vacations from States schools and colleges.

Meantime, Sunday drivers enjoyed

cruising along Balboa's Empire Street, sidewalk-superintending the new houses,

and hundreds of harried housewives found

the one-night-a-week opening of half a dozen commissaries helpful and pleasant.

But the subject uppermost in everyone's mind was the differential—what

Congress had done and what Congress was

going to do. On June 22, 300 men and women heard their representatives, Mrs. Margaret Rennie and Mrs. Frances Longmore, report what they had done in Washington to help in the fight to keep

the differential.