Gift ofthe Panama Canal Museum ^^ PANAMA /T^^McB CANAL,

cjCj^j-:i]L^'(3)

VoL 6, No. 4 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, NOVEMBER 4, 1955 5 cents

Five Members Of Canal Subcommittee CANAL PAYROLL

Scheduled To Arrive Here December 1 TO BE UNIFIED

Five members of the House Merchant

Marine and Fisheries Committee are scheduled to arrive in the Canal Zone December 1 for a 10-day visit during which hearings will be held on various Canal matters. The five Congressmen are members of the Subcommittee on Panama Canal

Affairs of the Merchant Marine and

Fisheries Committee. The group will be headed by Rep. Edward A. Garmatz,

Democrat, of Maryland, Chairman of the Subcommittee. The other four members are Representatives T. James Tumulty, Democrat

of New Jersey; Francis E. Dom, Republican of New York; William K. Van Pelt, Republican of Wisconsin; and James A. Byrne, Democrat of Pennsylvania. All

five members of the House will be accompanied by their wives. Also accompanying the group will be Bernard Zineke, Counsel of the Merchant

Marine and Fisheries Committee, and

Mrs. Zineke, and Mrs. Frances Still, Chief Clerk of the Committee. The visit of the House group was an- nounced near the close of the last session

of Congress by Mr. Garmatz. The Committee will consider legisla- tion pending in Congress during their

visit to the Canal Zone.

Sailing November 25 The legislative group is scheduled to

sail from New York November 25 aboard

the Panama liner Ancan, arriving here December I. They will return 10 days

later, sailing December 10 on the Panama. The Subcommittee Chairman has an- nounced that formal hearings have been

tentatively scheduled on Monday and Tuesday after the Committee's arrival. These will be held in the Board Room of the Administration Building. The first day will be devoted to hearings on the Railroad and the group will spend its second day on legislative problems. The remainder of the stay in the Canal Zone will be devoted to making a study

of Canal installations and operations. Four members of the subcommittee

have made previous visits to the Canal

Zone; Representative Tumulty is the only Congressional newcomer of the group. Representative Garmatz, subcommittee chairman, and Mr. Zineke, its Counsel, were here together last November. At

the time the Congressman was making

studies of Canal operations in his capacity

as a committee member. A native of Baltimore, he represents Maryland's Third Congressional District, one of two covering the city of Baltimore. He has been a member of Congress

since 1947.

U. S. REPRESENTATIVE Edward A. Garmatz

Chairman of the Panama Canal Subcommittee of the Merchant Marine and P'isheries Committee, will head a group of Congressmen due here in December. Two Civic Councils Hold

Elections November 8

The first step toward an overall election day in the Canal Zone to coincide with

election day in the United States—will take place next Tuesday when Zonians go to polling places in their respective communities to elect representatives to the Civic Councils representing Cristo- bal-Margarita and Gatun.

Provisions of the constitutions of the

Pacific and Garaboa Civic Councils prevent

the residents of the communities repre- sented by those groups from participating

in the November 8 elections. Council members said, however, that an amendment to the constitutions to provide for November elections will be presented to Civic Council constituents

at their next election. Local-rate Civic Councils will continue

with their prescribed election dates this year but are expected to take the neces- sary action so that next fall their repre- sentatives will also be chosen at a general

election day. The idea of a single date for a Canal Zone Election Day has been considered

for some time. It was suggested some

months ago to Council Representatives by Governor J. S. Seybold at one of his Shirtsleeve Conferences.

NEXT JANUARY

A unified payroll system for the Canal organization, as an- nounced last month by Governor Seybold, will become fully effective at the end of next January. The first pay checks under the new system will be

delivered in February.

With the adoption of a unified payroll, salary checks will be delivered to all employees the same day by units of the

organization. The present U. S.-rate pay period will be used as the basis for

all employees and timekeeping procedures

will be adapted to that schedule. Because of the size of the organization and the workload involved, it will be

necessary to stagger the paydays. The

exact schedule for the paydays will be announced later. The unification of the two payrolls will require a change for hourly employees

(mostly employees on the piers) who are now paid weekly. The change for this group to a two-week pay period, coincid- ing with the present U. S.-rate pay

periods, will be made in December. Administration Policy The consolidation of the payrolls into a single system is a part of the Canal

administration policy of eliminating any

practice which may seem to differentiate conditions of employment opportunity, enunciated last month by Governor Seybold in an address at the dedicatory cere- monies of the new Paraiso Civic Center. An important phase of this policy, he said, is the centralization of employ- ments and the standardization of employment conditions for both U. S.- citizen and non-U. S. citizen groups. Most of the units of the Employment

and Utilization Division of the Personnel Bureau have now been moved to the Central Labor Office on Roosevelt Avenue

in Balboa. This move permits the consolidation of all work pertaining to employments, processing, placement, transfers and promotions, record keeping, and

Civil Service procediu-es. The Cristobal office of the Personnel Bureau has handled all emplojonents through the single office since it was

opened, although further consolidation of records and procedures will be accomplished coincidental with the changes made on the Pacific side. The adoption of the unified payroll system early next year will necessitate several transitional changes which wOl

affect principally the pay {See page is)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955 Commendations Outnumber Recommendations

In Evaluation Of Cristobal High School

(Following is the second in a series of four articles reviewing reports on Balboa and Cristobal High Schools and the Canal Zone Junior College as prepared by Visit- ing Committees representing the Middle

States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools which were here in February and March 1Q54 for the purpose of evaluating the three schools for accreditation.)

Commendations literally outnumber

recommendations for the Cristobal High

School in the written report from the

Visiting Committee of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary

Schools which emphasizes that "the basic preparation given in this high school is sound for students in college preparatory and vocational work."

In reference to the overall curriculum,

the exhaustive examination conducted at Cristobal brings forth the conclusion that "the members of the evaluating committee would like to commend the varied and

extensive program of studies, especially noticeable for a school of rather lunited enrollment." The report adds that "there

is a wide participation in many extra- curricular activities with a larger per- centage of the students taking part than

is often the case." In each of those vital phases of the evaluation process which involve the determination whether a school's operations and accomplishments are in con- formity with its purpose Cristobal High

scored favorably. It is noted that the philosophy of the school accepts the fact that the school does not constitute the

entire educational life of the child; that

the faculty recognizes the necessity of the home, the church, and the Civil Govern- ment sharing the responsibility with the

school in attempting to meet the educational needs of youth. Getting dowTi to specifics, the report provides these insights, among others, into the school's operation as seen from a

professional and objective viewpoint:

Staff and Administration—A well qualified and competent staff with high morale, excellent community relations and

an excellent pupil-teacher relationship. Although the citizens in the Zone have

less direct connection with the operation

of the school than is commonly found in the States, the Government of the Zone

has succeeded in analyzing the needs of youth in the Zone quite well and has a

lively and intelligent interest in the welfare of the pupils in the school. High Mental Ability Student Body—The mental ability of the students of the Cristobal High School

is higher than that found in the average

high school in the United States, probably due to the careful screening which parents

receive before they come to live in the Zone. Approximately 46 percent of the graduates of Cristobal High School attend

institutions of higher learning. School Plant—The school is designed

for a tropical climate and the aesthetic quality of the setting is an inspiration to good study. This locality, including the school building, is slated to be transferred to the Republic of Panama and will have

to be replaced by a suitable building in another locality. We express a hope that

as much care be given to planning the new building as was given to the planning

of this present building. Throughout the report, which will be one of several factors under consideration by the Middle States Association next month in determining whether Cristobal High School should be accredited, stress

is given to the need for more extensive

audio-visual aids and for facilities for wider use of such materials. In practically every one of 17 divisions of the

report which give consideration to indi- vidual subjects of study, ranging from mathematics to physical education, there

is set forth a strong recommendation that

additional attention be given to the

utilization of audio-visual aids. The most emphatically presented rec- ommendation is in behalf of art, a course not included in the curriculum this year. The lengthy statement on this subject

advises "it is evident that it is necessary

to justify art in the Cristobal High

School's curriculum. Take art out of the luxury category ... it contributes as much to the needs of the adolescent in preparation for adulthood as, for example,

music." The only division of the school curricu- lum to bear the scrutiny of the Committee and to come through without a single recommendation for improvement is the Reserve Officers Training Corps. One of the commendations for this activity states that "the Army R. 0. T. C. staff at

this school is excellent; well qualified in the work in which they are instructing, they have had not only educational preparation, but the experience which is so

essential to instruction in this field." In

this instance the report commends the

"exceptionally large number and amount

of visual and audio aids available and

in use." A high commendation is given the English language program of study and

the English teachers. Along with the commendation is a recommendation that

the school not admit foreign students to English 9, 10, 11, and 12 without a demonstrated knowledge (Se« page i)

D—Program of Studies DI -D 1 6 Subject Fields

I. Organization

II. Nature of Offerings

III. Physical Facilities

I\'-A. Instructional Staff

IV-B. Instructional Activities

IV-C. Instructional Materials IV-D. Methods of Evaluation..

V. Outcomes E—Pupil Activity Program

F—Library Services G—Guidance Services H~School Plant

I—School Stafif and Administration

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November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Suez Canal Company

To Give Panama Canal

Bust Of De Lesseps

Viscount FERDINAND de LESSEPS A bronze bust of Viscount Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, whose name is permanently linked with the early history of the Panama Canal, will be formally presented

to the Panama Canal Company on November 23 by the Board of Directors

of the Suez Canal Company.

The presentation ceremonies will be

held in the Administration Building; the bust will be placed in the rotunda to become a part of the permanent statuary

of the Canal Zone. The presentation marking the 150th anniversary of de

Lesseps' birth on November 19, 1805, will be a feature of a world-wide observance

of the Ferdinand de Lesseps Sesquicentennial Celebration.

Participating in the ceremony at Balboa Heights will be a group of officials of the Suez Canal Company, the French Embassy in Panama, and the Comite

France-Amerique of France and Panama.

Gov. John S. Seybold will accept the bust on behalf of the Panama Canal Company.

Following the presentation, the official party will visit Miraflores Locks and make a trip through Gaillard Cut. The

party will then be guests at a buffet luncheon at the Tivoli Guest House. The bronze bust will be mounted on a pedestal of striped Brocadillo marble

with a verde antique base. The pedestal

is three feet, nine inches in height, and

one and a half feet square. Mounted on

the pedestal just below the bust of the Suez Canal builder will be a bronze

tablet, six by twelve inches, on which is inscribed the name and tribute to the man whose memory is being honored. The placing of the bronze bust of de Lesseps in the Canal Administration

Building will take place just 75 years

after he visited the Isthmus of Panama

to inaugurate the work of building the Panama Canal.

It was under his leadership that the

International Congress met in Paris in May 1879 to decide on a canal route through the Isthmus joining (See page 1-5)

Blood Bank For Canal Zone

Will Be Established Soon

Plans have been completed for the establishment of a Canal Zone blood bank

as soon as it can be determined if public

interest is sufficient to provide volunteers

to donate blood and to administer the program. The plans have been developed by the Canal Zone chapter of the American Red

Cross in cooperation with the Health

Bureau. Responsibility for collecting, processing and distributing blood will be assumed by the Health Bureau, while the Red Cross will conduct a campaign for volunteer donors as well as volunteers to

assist in recruitment and record keeping.

It is planned to confine the campaign

to residents of the Canal Zone, and the Armed Forces have been invited to participate. In a recent letter to Lt. Gen. W. K. Harrison, Commander-in-Chief of the Caribbean Command, Carl J. Browne, Chairman of the Red Cross chapter, outlined the proposed program and invited the cooperation of the components under

his command. Would Provide Ample Supply The proposed plan would make avail- able an ample supply of fresh blood to meet the requirements of the two Canal Zone hospitals and the mercy missions, plus a small reserve for emergencies. With a large list of volunteer donors the blood bank could be replenished at frequent intervals by calling donors on a

rotating basis. At present, Gorgas Hospital maintains

a blood bank but recipients are required

to replenish the bank, with the amount of blood used, by volunteer donations from

their families or friends, or to pay $25 a

pint which is used to buy blood from

professional donors if necessar>\ No

bank is maintained at Coco Solo Hospital but a list of volunteer donors is maintained and they are called when

transfusions are required. The necessary equipment for the maintenance of a blood bank at Coco Solo Hospital is on order and one will be

established there in the near future. Gorgas Hospital maintains a supply of about 75 pints of blood at all times. The

hospital uses about 150 to 175 pints a month, including the supply which is issued for mercy missions in the air-sea rescue operations. The establishment of a Canal Zone

blood bank is consistent with the National Blood Program in the Office of Defense

Mobilization. This was established by

Executive Order of the President in December 1951, and the American Red

Cross was designated as the coordinating agency for blood collection for the Depart- ment of Defense and the Federal Civil Defense Administration. The Red Cross has been instrumental

in the establishment of blood banks

throughout the United States on a vol- unteer basis; these are available both for military and civilian personnel. Similar To U. S. Although not directly a part of the National Blood program, the Canal Zone

program for volunteer donors and for the maintenance of the Canal Zone blood bank will be conducted along the lines adopted by the American Red Cross in the United States. The same general limitations on volunteer donors will be adopted in the Canal Zone program as those for the national program. In general, these are: Any

person between the ages of 18 and 59 may give blood if he or she weighs 110 pounds or more. Parental consent is required of persons from 18 to 21 years of age.While the primary objective in the campaign will be to secure an adequate number of volunteer donors, the Canal Zone chapter of the Red Cross is inter- ested now in obtaining volunteer workers

to administer the program. These vol- unteers are needed to assist in the clerical work and record keeping required during

the drive for volunteer donors and later in administering the program. Volunteer nurses will also be required to assist at the two hospitals when the blood banks are replenished. Volunteer Workers Needed

Volunteers for this type of work have

been requested to communicate with Mrs. Thelma Monagan, Chairman of the Vol- unteer Services, or at the Red Cross

offices in Ancon or Cristobal. Volunteer workers may communicate with Mrs. Monagan by telephoning Curundu 6194,

or writing to Box 322, Balboa Heights. Volunteers on the Atlantic side have been

requested to write Box 5045, Cristobal, or

call personally at the Red Cross office on

Roosevelt Avenue in Old Cristobal. The campaign for volunteer blood donors will be conducted throughout the Canal Zone, including the military establishments, during the coming few weeks. Pledge cards will be (See page 4)

I Am A Volunteer For The

CANAL ZONE BLOOD BANK

Your Mailing Address

Office Phone Blood type

Home Phone (If known)

PLEASE TYPEWRITE OR PRINT
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW Novembei 4, 1955 Company Income Statement

A net income of $581,134 (tentative) was reported for the past fiscal year by

the Panama Canal Company, according

to financial statements issued during the past week by Gov. John S. Seybold,

President of the Company.

The net income figure for the past

fiscal year corresponds to a net income of $4,160,010 in the previous fiscal year. The substantia] decrease was attributed

principally to lower gross revenues from

tolls and other sources and to the in- creased interest rate on the Government's

investment and employee benefits granted by Congress. The favorable balance was shown last year although a deficit of

$244,700 had been budgeted. The financial statements showed the Canal Company paid the U. S. Treasury

$9,043,766 in interest, the latter an

increase of approximately $200,000 over

the previous fiscal year. The release of net income in tentative

figures is necessitated by the fact that the

final determination has yet to be made,

as required by the Company's Federal

charter, on the capital values of properties acquired at the time of the Company's reorganization on July 1, 1951. The condensed income statement for the fiscal year 1955 is shown below:

Condensed Income Statement Year Ended June 30, 1955 canal and allied maritime operations

Revenue:

Tolls from commercial vessels $33,918,993

Tolls credits from U. S.-Government vessels 1, 217,-536 Other revenue . 9,195,027 $it,:« 1,556 Operating Expenses:

Direct expenses and supporting services $18,661,733 Depreciation on canal and allied maritime facilities, exclusive of depreciation or amortization of channel,

harbors, treaty rights, and similar costs 2,383,405* 21,045,138 Net Operating Income, Canal and Allied Maritime

Operations $23,286,418 sales of supporting services

Sales to employees and others $39,485,846 Cost of goods sold and other direct expenses. . 37,412,812

Net operating income, sales of supporting services 2,073,034

Total Net Operating Income_-_..,--- $25,359,452 general corporate expense

Net cost of Canal Zone Government $9,779,271

Intel I'st payable to U. S. Treasury (tentative) 9,043,766 Administrative and other general expenses 5,955,281 $24,778,318 Net Income, as Tentatively St.\ted $581,134

*Exclu.sive of depreciation on service and general facilities amoiintini;

to $2,552,977 which is included in the costs of the activities served.

Blood Bank For Canal Zone

Will Be Established Soon

Commendations Outnumber Recommendations

(Continued from page 3) distributed throughout the Canal organization and these may

be filled out and mailed to the Red Cross

Offices at Balboa Heights or Cristobal. The Panama Canal Review carries on page 3 a coupon which may be clipped and mailed to the Red Cross oflSces. The processing of these applications

will require some time, depending upon

the number of volunteer workers to assist

in this task. Some information will be

required in addition to that appearing on the volunteer pledge cards or in the coupon carried in this issue of THE

Review. The Red Cross will communicate with volunteer donors for this in- formation as soon as possible after receipt of the pledges.

If you desire to cooperate in this program to establish a Canal Zone blood bank, please fill out and clip the coupon

on page 3, mailing it to: RED CROSS,

Box 322, Balboa Heights, or Box 5045,

Cristobal.

(Continued from page 2) of English suffi- cient to understand the class discussions,

directions, and assignments. "These

classes are designed to teach advanced

English to students who had had eight years previous study in the language." One highlight of the report is the commendation that "the Industrial Arts program is being conducted admirably. Enthusiasm for their work is apparent

in both students and teachers." Similarly, "the ease and informality of stu- dent^teacher relations" in mathematics

and the high percent of the student body

(aj)pr()xiniately 66 percent) enrolled in mathematics courses is singled out, as is music which earns the comment that

"this is a well balanced small high school music department doing an excellent job.

It is gratifying to not<? the extensive per- formances in both school and community

activities. Performances are excellent, showing fine musicianship and effective training." While the Physical Education program

is treated favorably so far as it goes, the

Last Construction-Day

Post Office Is Closed

Only a few collectors of first- and last- day postal covers took advantage last month of the closing of the last of the Canal Zone post offices which had been open continuously since the construction period and of the re-re-re-establishment

(to make up a word) of the Paraiso post office. Postal officials reported that only about

50 covers were received at Pedro Miguel

post office to be stamped on its last working day, October 14, and at the Paraiso

oflice which opened the following Monday.

Pedro Miguel post office was opened August 9, 1905, and had been in operation continuously since that date, according

to records of the Postal Division. A number of well-known past and

present Zonians have served as post- master at Pedro Miguel. Among them

are Gerald Bliss, William D. Taylor, J. Wendell Greene, William Hodges and Harry Corn. Mr. Corn now heads the Mail Handling Unit at Balboa.

Paraiso post oflRce, which was re- established October 17 for the fourth

time, is the only Canal Zone post office to have such a history. It was one of the Canal Zone postal units opened in January 1906; there are no records to show

its original date but it is included in a

list dated January 20, 1906, as being in operation at that time. Other records show the date of its establishment as January 1, 1906, and that date is used

officially by the Postal Division.

report carries recommendations for facili- ties for swimming instruction, for a program of corrective physical education and for an adjustment so that all students

get some regularly scheduled physical education throughout their high school

career. "The practice of substituting R. 0. T. C. for physical education deprives many students of opportunities and values which can be derived from physical education," in the opinion of the (Committee.

Specific comment extends to other

fields, as in the case of Business Education where "there is obvious need for better equipment;" Health and Safety where "the content of lessons is practical, of immediate daily value to students; Science where "outstanding use is l)eing made of local specimens of plants and

animals in biology;" and Social Studies where consideration is warranted to

offering courses in Latin-American History, Consumer Economics, and Asiatic History and Society, and to having more

field trips. In the Pupil Activity Program

it is recommended that a greater variety

of clubs be offered for students in order

to meet a wider area of student interest, that a study be made of objectives and

functions of the homeroo?n, and that changes in the time schedule be made to allow for more homeroom t<>acher guidance. The report also proposes a greater variety of assemblies and an increase

in the number of issues of the school

publication. So fared Cristobal High School in one phase of the 1955 accreditation test. How

well Balboa High and the Canal Zone

Junior College scored individually will be

discussed in the next two issues of The

Panama Canal Review.
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW PICTURES OF THE MONTH

OCTOBER was an eventful month in the Canal Zone; a few of its happenings are shown in the photographs on this page. Speaking at the formal dedication of the new Paraiso Civic Center, Governor J. S. Seybold, above, took the occasion to outline some of the administration's policies affect- ing local rate employees. These included a

repetition of his earlier statements un housing in the Canal Zone and the adoption of a

unified payroll system.

After the ceremony in the Paraiso Theater, the crowd of several himdred moved to the Civic Center next doer where Ellis Fawcett, Civil Council President, cut a large cake made especially for the opening of the Paraiso luncheonette. Top right: P. S. Thornton, General Manager of the Service Center Division, and Wilson H. Crook, Community Services Director, together with

a group of pleased Paraisanos watch the

first slice cut from the commemorative cake. The theater was filled to capacity during

the Governor's speech and was again packed

during the evening when free movies were shown to end the day's celebration.

Earlier in October, the Canal Zone had

observed Fire Prevention Week. In the center photograph, a fireman dangles from the

75-foot e.xtension ladder to the delight and awe of pupils in Ancon Elementary school. During the week the school children were

given simple hints on fire prevention, and

had a chance to swarm over fire equip- ment as well as to gape at Sparky, the Fire Dog, who was called by the children in the Latin American schools. Sparky, El Perro Bombcro.

During the month, the Canal Zone re- ceived a distinguished visitor. President Jose Figueres of Costa Rica. During an

official visit to Panama, President Figueres asked to see how the Panama Canal Locks

work, and was escorted one day to the Miraflores Control Tower.

.'\t the bottom, right. President Figueres, flanked by Mrs. Figueres and Major David

H. Smith, Military Assistant to the Governor, listen to Emmett O. Kiernan, Control House Operator, as he explains all about

rising stem valves.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION

VDUi. JLL Cac SAKirS MONUMENT

Did you realize that the Panama Canal

itself stands as one of the greatest monuments ever created by man for a Safety Program? Stop to think about it for a moment. What is a Safety Program? It is a program designed to protect man against

injury from human, mechanical, and

natural dangers. Its records show the number of man hours lost on the job.

If those records show a high figure for

lost man hours, the job cost goes up. If the records show an extremely high figure, the job cost is going to be so high that the job cannot be finished. That is what happened to the Panama

Canal idea when it first came into being. There were just too many lost man hours and the job failed. Perhaps there were good safety measures to protect the HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

SEPTEMBER

COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Community Services 5 Supply 3 Engineering and Construction 3 Health 3 Transportation and Terminals 1 Civil Affairs 1 Marine

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES SEPTEMBER

NAVIGATION DIVISION SERVICE CENTER DIVISION ELECTRICAL DIVISION INDUSTRIAL DIVISION GROUNDS MAINTENANCE DIVISION STOREHOUSES DIVISION SANITATION DIVISION HOUSING DIVISION AIDS TO NAVIGATION AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Aids to Navigation 8 Housing 8 Sanitation 8 Maintenance 7 Electrical 6 Grounds Maintenance 6 Industrial 6 Motor Transportation 6 Service Center. _ 6 Storehouses 6 Railroad 5 Dredging 4 Commissary 3 Hospitalization and Clinics 3 Locks. 1 Terminals 1 Navigation-,-- -- --,,, 1

workers from human and mechanical

dangers but the element of nature, cruel and untamed in a jungle wilderness was

too much to cope with in its natural state and the project was abandoned. However, the dream remained in the

hearts of men. And man is an amazing

creature. He not only fights to protect himself against human and mechanical

failure but he even battles nature itself. So man designed a Safety Program to protect himself against nature. He fought and won against the heat and damp. He

fought the battle of malaria and yellow

fever. He fought against jungle and swamp and he conquered them all. We

remember those men today: Walter Reed,

Goethals, and Gorgas. We see their liv- ing monument to a Safety Program in the Panama Canal.

Yes, the battle against nature was won

for you. And so perhaps you say to

yourself, "there are no new worlds to conquer." Don't belittle your part in the Safety Program today just because

the glamour of being a great doctor who

conquers yellow fever is no longer a part

of that program. A human life is still the most valuable thing in the world. And there are things you can do to save

lives or to save a man's ability to earn a

living. Don't miss an opportunity. You may not have a monument built for you

on this earth if you prevent an accident, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you or a fellow worker have

a lifetime of earning power ahead of you. Don't look for worlds to conquer

look for the little things—the slippery spot on the floor, the protruding nail, the

loose rung in the ladder. Don't be

safety-conscious just for yourself. Don't

be satisfied to say, "I'll be careful because

I know the floor is slippery, or the nail is protruding, or there is a loose rung to be stepped over." You know about them

so you won't get hurt. But perhaps the man who follows you

doesn't know about them and so he is injured. Who is to blame? He or you? Never take if for granted that because you know a machine must be handled in a certain way that the next man to use

it will know that too. Perhaps you can handle a machine without a guard on it and not get hurt but it is possible that

the next man is not so clever or so careful as you are. Don't leave Safety to chance. Taking chances causes accidents. Wipe

up the slippery floor! Bend down the protruding nail! Get the loose rung

fixed! Don't just skip over it. It may be regrettable but nevertheless

it is a fact. We don't live in a glamorous

world, today. We live in a practical one. Be practical—be careful—and do it for the other man too. Let us make the monument created by

those early giants a monument to be honored today the world over as a living symbol of a fine Safety Record.

DID YOU KNOW. . . That the eagle is one of the world's

oldest national symbols, having been used by the Mesopotamian city of Legash some 5,000 years ago?

When the "eagle screams," it's pay-day

for millions of workers. You'll always have a better chance of being around to pick up that pay check if safe habits and

attitudes are your constant partners oa

the job.

SEPTEMBER 1955

Communil; Services Bureau

Supply Bureau

Heallh Bureau

Civil Affairs Bureau

Engineering and Conslruclion Bureau

C. Z. Govl.-Panama Canal Co. ( This Month)

Marine Bureau

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

Transportation and Terminals Bureau

Number of Disabling Injuries 19

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

( Frequency Rale)

Man-Hours Worked 2,222,689 LEGEND

I Amount Better Than Canal ^jne Government—Panama Canal Company Last 3-Vear Average

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

Accumulative Frequency Rate This Year
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Official Panama Canal C^ompany Publication Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by Ihe Prinling Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

John S. Seybold, Governor-President H. W. ScHin.L, Jr. Lieutenant Governor William G. Arey, Jr. Public Information Officer

J. RuFUS Hardy, Editor Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Assistant Editor

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

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

Clerk, Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

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

Canal Review, Balboa Heights, C. Z. Retires

CIL\RLES F. HIXZ. senior Postmaster in the

Postal Division, ended 32 years of postal work, 30

years of which was in the Canal Zone, when he

retired last month. He had worked as a postal clerk

in Milwaukee, his birthplace and his future home,

before he came here in 1924 with the .\rmy. Most

of his postal service has been on the Pacific side. He

was postmaster at Balboa Heights when he retired but he has also been in the post offices at Ancon and

Fort Clayton. Mrs. Hinz is one of the most accomplished linguists on the Isthmus. She speaks

English, .Spanish, French, Dutch, and some Portuguese and Italian in addition to Papamiento, the language of her native Curacao.

OF CURRENT INTEREST

CHECKS ranging from $10 to $2.5 each, and totaling $120, were presented last month to six Company-Government employees who had submitted suggestions accepted by the Incentive .\wards Committee. Five of the award winners are shown above with Henry L. Donovan, far right. Chairman

of the Incentive Awards Committee. The award winners are, left to right: George Brathwaite, Clerk with the Division of Storehouses who suggested the elimination of typed specifications on Stock

Protection and History cards; Cecil F. Haynes, also a Clerk in the Division of Storehouses who sug- gested a change in design in Section B, where he works; Mrs. Ruby L. Willa, Accounting Clerk in the Office of the General Manager of the Commissary Division, whose suggestion concerned parking

at the Margarita Post Office and Commissary; George D. Gregory, Chief Foreman of the Dredging

Division Shops, who suggested that barge sheathing be cut diagonally; and Mrs. Bernice E. Stephensen, Chief Clerk in the Northern District of the Motor Transportation Division, whc suggested an improvement in the system of distributing local-rate identification-privilege cards. Not present when

this photograph was taken was Charles K. Cross, of the Records Management Section of the Administrative Branch, who suggested a change in handling drawings and cartographic records.

Approximately 113 buildings and more

than 76 apartments are scheduled for exterior and interior painting under the first large group-maintenance paint project to be

advertised for bids by the Panama Canal Company since the last dry season. In- cluded in the group of apartments are 48

located in Pedro Miguel which are scheduled for assignment to personnel of the U. S. Air Force.

Listed for exterior painting are 15 houses

in Gamboa, 22 houses in Paraiso, 19 houses in Gatun, 12 houses in Margarita, one house in San Cruz, and 44 in Rainbow

City. On the list for interior painting are four buildings and three apartments in Mindi, 14 buildings and 25 apartments in Rainbow City, three rooms in the Cristobal Administration Building, several rooms in the Sanitation Building in Ancon, and the

toilet and locker rooms in Section B of Gorgas Hospital. Bids on the project will be opened at 10 a. m., November 7, in the Balboa Heights Administration Building.

People who have relatives and friends overseas, which means almost any place except the United States, should get their Christmas packages in the mail pretty soon now. In their annual "mail your Christ- mas packages early" request, the Canal Zone Postal Division emphasized that Nov- ember 15 is the last date on which packages and letters can be sent overseas with any

assurance that they will arrive before Christmas. Airmail letters and packages

however, can be sent overseas as late as December 15. Ordinary Christmas mail being sent any- where in the L'nited States should leave the Canal Zone anytime from December 1 to 10 and airmail can be sent out as late as December 18. A list of boat schedules will be announced by the Postal Division later.

Applications for the 1956 Canal Zone

vehicle license plates will be made available

this week-end; applications will be accepted by the Canal Zone License Section in the

Civil Afifairs Building any time after Monday, November 7, it has been announced by

the Canal Zone License Section. The forms can be obtained at the License

Section, at all police stations, Commissary

and Post Exchange gasoline stations, as

well as the office of the License Examiner

in Cristobal. The annual drawing of low license plate nimibers will be held at 8:30 a. m. November 18 in the License Section oflSce under

the direction of Michael Zombory, Chief

of the License Section, and Civic Council

representatives. The low numbers will be drawn from the applications received by

the License Section up to the close of business, Thursday, November 17. Each applicant for a personal automobile

registration must enclose with the application his current registration card and a fee

of S5 in the self-addressed envelope pro- vided for the purpose. The envelope

should be securely sealed and the return address enclosed. Remittance should be made by check or money order payable to the Treasurer of the Panama Canal Company. Currency should not be mailed, the License Section advised. A public auction, or "old hoss sale," of unclaimed freight will be held at 9 a. m. November 26 in Building 42 of Section I of the Storehouse Division. The items, which

represent an accumulation of freight refused or left unclaimed on the Panama Canal

piers for many months, include such things

as toys, angel hair, and a shipment of Christmas cards, in addition to hundreds

of other miscellaneous items. An inspection of the collection can be made by

interested parties November 22, 23, and

25, from 7 a. m. until 4 p. m., in Building

42, where they will be on display.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955 Suez Canal, 86 Years Old This Month,

One Of World's Most Strategic Waterways

The Suez Canal, a 100-mile sea-level channel joining the Mediterranean and Red Seas, is one of the most strategic waterways in the world. Constructed in the 10-year period between 1859 and

1869 it made accessible a vastly shortened

trade route from industrialized Europe

to the Far East. Opened in a period when sailing ships were still a mainstay of world merchant

fleets, the Suez Canal was buOt to accom- modate vessels of only a few thousand

tons with a maximum draught of less than 22 feet. The channel has been widened repeatedly, deepened, and improved; today it can accommodate the

largest ocean liners of a draught up to 35 feet. Traffic through the Suez has risen phenomenally during recent years. In

the calendar year 1954 there were more

than 13,000 transits. Until recent years

ships using the waterway were princi- pally of European registry. British, Norwegian, French, and Italian flag vessels made up more than half the traffic in 1954, although the number of ships flying the flags of the United States, Panama,

and Liberia have greatly increased since the close of World War "ll. Two Anniversaries Two anniversaries of great significance

in the history of the Suez Canal occur in the month of November. This month

marks the S6th anniversary of the official opening of the Canal, which took place November 17 to 20, 1869. The other anniversary is that of the

birth of Count Ferdinand M. de Lesseps. He was bom November 19, 1805, and

this year, the 150th anniversary of his

birth, will be the occasion of a world-wide

observance. On the Isthmus, where he

exerted great influence on the course of history, special ceremonies are being

planned. These are described elsewhere

in this issue. As in the case of most great enterprises

of the same general nature, there are many parallels and dissimilitudes between

the Suez and Panama Canals. These are interwoven in the history of the two

waterways and are to be found in their physical characteristics and operations.

THE SUEZ CANAL BUILDER, Count Ferdinaiul de Lesseps is memorialized by this statue at tlie harbor of Port Said.

Since Panama Canal employees are

well acquainted with the waterway join- ing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a

better understanding of Suez can be

gained by listing some of the likes and

unlikes of the two projects. Activating Genius

Such a list might well be headed by Count de Lesseps, activating genius of both projects. De Lesseps visualized both Canals as international channels of commerce which would benefit all mankind. In the names of both companies he organized was included the word "universelle."

It was this idea of universality which he

followed in promoting both enterprises. In both instances he "allocated" blocks

of stock to the major maritime nations

so that they might share the benefits.

The idea succeeded at Suez but failed at Panama. The dissimilarities of De Lesseps' ex- periences at Suez and Panama are both

striking and tragic. At Suez he won world renown for his success. At Panama he was vilified for his

failure. He overcame problems of terrain, labor

supply, health conditions, and climate at one spot but they contributed to his defeat at the other. Interoceanic Canals The Panama and Suez are the only two canals in the world which can be

called interoceanic. The Panama Canal

is a direct Imk between the Atlantic and

Pacific while the Suez provides a water

connection between the RIediterrean and Red Seas and thence to the Atlantic and

Indian Oceans, respectively. Perhaps the greatest contrast between

the two canals is in the terrain through which they are cut. The Isthmus of Suez

is a relatively flat land with some areas below sea level and none more than about

50 feet higher than sea level. The Pana- ma Canal is cut through a mountainous

region with the highest point 312 feet above sea level. A striking similarity of the two water- ways is the fact that both run north and

south to connect seas which lie to the

east and west. One of the great oddities in comparison

of the two Canals is the fact that the

original plans for both were changed. Suez was first planned as a lock canal but became a sea-level waterway. Original plans for the Panama Canal called for a

sea-level channel but it became the

world's greatest lock canal. Other fact sheet comparisons:

SUEZ PANAMA

Opened

Nov. 17, 1869 Aug. 15, 1914 Construction cost 8148,500,000 $380,000,000 Excavation at completion

(cubic yards) 97,000,000 284,500,000 Minimum channel width (feet) 197 300

^ *"^

;1

THIS NEW BY-P.\SS channel is nearly seven miles long and provides for two-way traffic at a point about one-third of the way between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez. The new channel was a part of the

latest of seven major improvement projects of the Suez which have been made since it was opened to traffic. A total of 15,650,000 cubic yards of material were dredged to complete the channel, which was opened in 1951.
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

UJMIXATI.NG THE VIEW of the harbor at Port Said at the MeditCTranean end of the Canal is the building housing the Suez Canal Company's principal offices. Minimum depth ((cvi i 41 42 Normal transit time

15 hours 8 hours

Rates' of Toils

SO. 97 ton vessels laden So.go

0.445 ton vessels in ballast 0.72 Number of transits, ocean-going

ships 13,215* 8,584** Annual cargo tonnage

96,881,000* 39,085,000**

Calender year 1954 * 'Fiscal year 1954 Like Panama, the Isthmus of Suez was

at one time under water as evidenced by

sea fossils along the highest points of land on each canal route. The history of the two lands is buri?d in the geological ages and the history of canals cut through the Isthmus of Suez is of such antiquity that

there are no wTittsn records of the beginning.

First Canals

Efforts to cut a passage for vessels between the Mediterrean and Red Seas began with the dawn of historj', perhaps soon after man learned to build and paddle, canoes. The first successful water- way was completed between 1800 and

1200 B. C. Fragments of history pieced together indicate that it was a rambling

passage connecting the Nile with the Red

Sea, large enough to accommodate war

vessels of the Pharoahs as well as small

trading craft. 0\-er the centuries it was

silted up by shifting sands or filled at the whims of temperamental monarchs and

re-dug by ambitious Persian, Roman,

Arab, and Turk rulers.

It was last reopened in the middle of the Seventh Century and remained in service for about 1.50 years. It was finally refilled^by the Abbasid Caliph to prevent

supplies from being shipped to Medina

which had revolted against his rule, and

because of his fear of attracting outsiders

into the Islamic World. Napoleon's Support The modern idea for a Suez Canal seems to have been bom at about the same time as that for a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. Navigators were

just beginning to learn of the shape and

scope of the world and were seeking shortened water routes to the Far East. The idea for a Suez Canal was born after Vasco de Gama made his trip arotmd the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and thus

established a new water route to Europe.

It was not until the time of Napoleon

that thoughts of a Suez Canal were

strong enough to induce actual surveys. After personally inspecting the route and

remains of the Canal of the Ancients in 1798, Napoleon directed a survey of the Isthmus. From then until 18.54, when De Lesseps obtained concessionary rights from Mohammed Said, Viceroy of Egypt,

the idea of joining the two great bodies of water by waterway was alive in the minds

and hopes of world maritime leaders. The Suez Canal Company (La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime

de Suez) was formed in 1858 and work on

the Canal was begun in April 1859. Al- though it was estimated the channel

could be dug in six years, slightly over

10 years were needed for its completion. Dredging Experts De Lesseps employed some of the most

eminent engineers of France to assist in the great task. Although excavation was

begun with picks and baskets these im- plements were soon replaced with modem

excavating and dredging equipment, some

of which were invented for the job. Among the engineers assembled to dig the Suez was one whose name became

well-knowTi on the Isthmus of Panama

Alexandre Lavalley. He and Borel, another French engineer, were in charge

of dredging operations and at one time

60 dredges were in simultaneous operation. It was Lavalley who hit upon the

idea of flooding certain sections of the Canal route and dredging the channel through these depressions—a mode of

operations recommended for the Panama

Canal when plans for it,were first discussed. Lavalley served on the International Congress convened in Paris in 1879 to consider the Panama Canal. His name

became well-known to contemporary Panama Canal employees by the big dredge Laralley which was in Panama

Canal service for 65 years. It was built

for the French and was part of the equip- ment bought by the United States. After

ser\ ice throughout the construction period

it became the first self-propelled vessel to make a complete transit of the Canal.

It was later converted into a quarterboat

for Dredging Division employees and was sold only a year ago. The successful completion of the Suez was hailed as one of the fabulous engineering feats of the Nineteenth Century

just as the completion of the Panama

Canal was called the engineering miracle

of the Twentieth Century.

Difference In Terrain

Largely because of the terrain the engineering problems in building the Suez Canal were minor compared with

those of Panama. The Isthmus of Suez

is actually what most visitors expect but

fail to find when they \'isit the Canal Zone—a relatively flat land. Cutting a

ship channel through the Isthmus was

not, however, without many engmeering

problems of a formidable nature especially with the excavating and hauling equipment then available. One of the great problems at both Suez and Panama was water. At Suez it was getting fresh water, while engineers

building the Panama Canal fretted over

controling the over-abundant supply. The problem at Suez was solved by

digging a fresh water canal from the Nile

to bring drinking water to the Isthmus and later laying conduits to Port Said. Disease also was a problem at both

places—at Suez it was cholera and at Panama it was malaria and yellow fever. Both Have Lakes An outstanding physical characteristic common to both canals is a great lake forming a part of the channel. Both are

artificial lakes and both were considered

in their day engineering achievements of no small proportions. The Great and

Small Bitter Lakes of Suez required five months to fill and were brought to the maximum level only a few weeks before

the Canal was opened. The official opening of (See page is)

THE IT.\LIA.\ LINER Asia passes a palm-fringed section of the Suez Canal in transit of the

100-mile sea-level waterway.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955 YOUR TOWN

PARAISn IS still the graceful undulating valley descrik-'l a century ago; the section in the fore- ground is Beverly Hills, with Dogpatch just below. From Beverly Hills to the lower end of Paraiso near the ball park is just a little less than a mile.

Paraiso isn't quite like the mythical phoenix which had the ability to resurrect

itself, and quite frequently, too, from its own ashes. Paraiso was never reduced

to ashes but it has had more incarnations than any community in the Canal Zone.

In the days of the buccaneers, it was a stop on the "dry-season trail" between

the Atlantic and Pacific; early Canal Zone

fable had it that Sir Henry Morgan first saw Old Panama from a hilltop near

Paraiso. Whether he did or not is im- portant only to historians, but the tower

at the old city can be seen plainly on a

clear day from the crest of the hill across Gaillard Highway from Paraiso. And in the past hundred years, Paraiso has been: A station on the Panama Rail- road; the headquarters of a chantier, or working section, for the French Canal Company; an American construction day

town; Dredging Division headquarters; a

colored community; an Army camp; and,

today, the largest local-rate town south

of the Canal Zone's continental divide. Beautiful Paradise During the 1850's, when surveyors and

engineers were laying out the railroad line, they found a pass which led into what

Otis, a few years later, described as "the

beautiful undulating valley of Paraiso, or Paradise, surrounded by high conical hills where Nature in wierd profusion seems to have expended her choicest wealth." The

railroad tracks were laid in a 40-foot deep

cut; slides brought on by heavy rains once covered them with 20 feet of earth and rock, and weeks of work went into clearing the rails again. Paraiso itself, eight miles from Panama

City, was the first Pacific coast stop after the trains had passed "The Summit."

During the mid-nineteenth century, it was

little more than a native settlement, although a fine natural spring gave it more importance than most way stops. Toward the end of the 1800's, Paraiso became important for the first time. It was a key spot in all the French Canal

plans and was repeatedly selected as a

site for one or more of the locks. When

the first French Company began work in 1882, Paraiso was the southernmost spot where dry excavation was carried on. Years went on, the French encountered

troubles, but the work at Paraiso continued. In 1888 the Star & Herald

reported that "large and heavy trains of Decauville dumping cars" were hauling

load after load "out of the work and up a steep incline." Work had been started

to relocate the railroad clear of the cut and a bridge was being built on which the

railroad would cross the Canal.

Eventually, the French construction became little more than a token effort and its force dwindled away; at the turn

of the century Paraiso's population was

about 800, living in "125 frame houses and 100 huts." When the United States bought the

rights and properties of the French Company in 1904, some of the Paraiso buildings were still usable. Among them was

a 10-room office building, a two-story

affair with five rooms on each floor. When carpenters and painters began to

ELLIS L. FAWt'ETT

President, Paraiso Civic Council

recondition it, they found in one room

records of the French Company, letter presses (small machines used for copying

letters), a safe, and maps of Paraiso and

Pedro Miguel. Another French building which became American quarters was a two-room mission hi;use which, when the Americans came, still had its church bell o\er the door. The French Company had had small machine shops at Paraisc. These the American forces enlarged by moving seme buildings from Culebra and adding

a shed where locomotives were hostlcd. Light repairs were done at the Paraiso shops to all kinds of equipment at the southern end of the Canal Zone; heavier

repairs were made at Gorgona or Empire.

In 1908, when the Canal work was

reorganized, the Paraiso shops were abandoned, the 265 men who had worked

there were distributed to Empire and Gorgona or elsewhere, the buildings themselves were used for storehouses for material for Pedro Miguel locks, and

Paraiso became more or less a residential community for the locks forces or for the

railroad engineers who worked out of Pedro Miguel. Construction Days A good many Isthmians still remember

Paraiso in those early days. J. J. McGuigan, once chief clerk of the Sani- tary Service of the Canal Zone and much

more recently District Attorney for the Canal Zone, lived in Paraiso from 1906 to 1908 when it was headquarters for the Chief Sanitary Inspector, J. A. LePrince.

In 1906, he recalls, Paraiso's railroad station was on the west side of the Canal

excavation. A passenger from Paraiso had to make his way down one bank,

across the almost inevitably muddy flat which lat^r became the bottom of the Canal, and up another steep embankment. Most people stayed home or took a train at Pedro Miguel station. Mrs. Dorothy Hamlin of the Accounting Division was only a small girl when

she and her family, the Charles Magnusons, moved to Paraiso in 1910. She remembers getting off the train at Pedro

Miguel and boarding a "brake" for the

ride to Paraiso. The conveyance was

drawn by two mules and driven by an old colored man named Dixon. For years he and his mule team were Paraiso's taxi. As in all Canal towns, the size and

quality of quarters depended on the

salary of the family head; locomotive

engineers, who drew good salaries, were

the aristocracy of Paraiso and lived in the town's better houses. Bernard McIntyre, now the Panama Railroad's

senior engineer, was the son of one of Paraiso's elite. Slides and Socials Construction-day Paraiso lay right on

the edge of the Canal excavation. B]very once in a while the unstable banks slid into the cut, houses and offices were hurri(>dly vacated and their occupants moved

t(; safer spots farther from the edge. In 1908 slides necessitated the removal of a great block of the "native" quarters. The commissary and post office were

close to the excavation; the two-story

lodge hall used on Sundays for church

services and the rest of the week for

social or fraternal activities were farther

inland. There was a hotel- which today
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11 P A R A I S O would be called a bachelor mess, a 16-bed

hospitil, one of the half dozen bandstands

in th.> Canal Zone, and a public market

which handled fresh vegetables and fruits to supplement the commissary's supply.

Paraiso's social life was pretty well self-contained. It had a Woman's Club,

orga'ii^ed in 19J7; its original president was Mrs. J. C. Barnett, one of the first women to nuke her home in the Canal

Zone. A D.incing Club held practice sessions every Monday night and dances on Saturday; there were chapters of the

Eagles, Kangaroos, Red Men, and Sojourners at Paraiso. A unique organization was the Texas Whist Club, whose members wjre mirri^'d couples who had

purchased prop'rtv ii southern Te.xas with the idea of making their eventual homes there. Paraiso has played host to two Presi- dents. Early one morning in November

1906, a construction train shunted down

through the Cut to Paraiso, bearing

President Theodore Roosevelt—the first President to leave the United States during his term of office. Accordmg to Mr. McGuigan, "Teddy made one of his short, forceful talks to the workers gath- ered there, complimenting them for being on the job notwithstanding the heavy

rain that was falling and the muddy

ground underfoot." Paraiso's second

Presidential guest was President William H. Taft who gave an address at Paraiso

in 1910 when he was on his fifth visit to the Isthmus.Canal Crossing During the construction period the

railroad crossed the canal channel at Paraiso on a 500-foot wooden trestle. As construction progressed this was

replaced by another bridge closer to the

locks. After the Canal was finished and

the railroad located entirely on the east

side of the Canal, a pontoon bridge, whose

base was built at Mount Hope and towed

through the Canal to Paraiso where the superstructure was erected, provided

access to the west bank. Before the idea

of a pontoon bridge was adopted, a tunnel under the Canal at Paraiso had been considered, and the idea discarded because

of the cost. In July 1913, Paraiso was selected for headquarters of the Dredging Division,

Miss M.\RIE V. BRAUER

Nurse, Paraiso First Aid Station

the organization which succeeded the Sixth Division of the construction period. The old machine shop was refitted to replace the shops at either end of the Canal where the dredges had been re- paired up to that time. From this base

at Paraiso, dredges worked day and night during the period soon after the Canal was

opened when slides repeatedly blocked and eventually closed the waterway for a nine-month stretch. About the time the Dredging Division moved into Paraiso, one of the town's

oldest activities moved out. This was

the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, which had

set up operations in 1905 on the west bank

of the Canal opposite Paraiso. It had

been started by W. N. Seitz, who oper- ated it mainly as a soda water factory

until it was sold to the Panama CocaCola Company. The Paraiso site had

been chosen because of its proximity to the Paraiso springs which shared with the

springs on Taboga Island the reputation

of being the purest water in this part

of Panama.

These same springs had for years supplied drinking water for Corozal and

other construction day towns. A special

train each day hauled dozens of demi-

.\OLA.\ A. BIS.SELL

Postmaster in Paraiso's post office

R. G. ROWE

Manager, Paraiso Commissary

C. C. GITTEXS

Acting Manager. Paraiso Luncheonette

Johns of Paraiso water to the towns

along the line."Silver" Town

By 1918 the danger from slides had

abated and the Dredging Division's force was reduced. That year, Paraiso's American families were moved to Pedro Miguel and their old quarters, together with the one-time hotel and other buildings were

converted to homes for "silver" families. For the next decade or so, Paraiso was

an undistinguished, run-of-the-mill, Canal

settlement. The quarters were grouped

in little subdivisions known as Jamaica Town, Hamilton Hill, and Spanish Town. The Paraiso school, however, was out- standing. For years its principal was the Rev. D. A. Osborne, known far and wide

as "Teacher Osborne." His son, Alfred

E. Osborne, is today Supervisor of In- struction for the Canal Zone's Latin American Schools. The building itself was the first modem school in Pacific

side colored communities; its school gar- den was the pride of the town; and the

quality of its teaching was borne out by

the number of Paraiso students who went

on to the Normal School to become Canal Zone teachers. During the latter part of the 1930's, headquarters of the Dredging Division moved to Gamboa and Paraiso went out

of existence entirely as a Canal Zone

community. In November 1939, just a year after the Canal abandoned it, Paraiso became a military post. Camp Paraiso Troops of the Fifth Infantry moved in, built barracks and quarters, a movie

theater, and a post exchange. Bayonets

bristled in the "beautiful undulating val- ley of Paradise." For a while, the Army

postal locator unit was at Camp Paraiso. Close beside Paraiso what was known as a killer net stretched to a hilltop across the Canal to trap uinvarj' dive bombers. But

as war mo\ed farther from the Canal Zone

Paraiso's forces began to dwindle and in 1943 it was closed as a military camp. The following year Paraiso again be- came a Canal Zone town although for a time the Army retained a few buildings at the upper edge of the old camp. Quarters

built by the Army were remodeled into family residences and barracks became
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955 Your Town Paraiso

CANAL ZONE CLERGY

PARAISO 50 years ago lay close along the excavation for the Canal. From timr ti tinn-, as the banks crumbled, buildings had to be moved out of danger. In the middleground, toward thu right.

is the Lodge Hall with the bandstand close by; the commissary and postoffice were on the edge of the excavation on the right, but out of sight here. bachelor quarters. The Army theater and post exchange became a clubhouse, the commissary was reopened, and a newschool, now the Junior High School, was

built for the elementary grades. Modern Paraiso Today Paraiso is one of the most modern of the Canal Zone's communities.

Its elementary school, for two years an

Isthmian showpiece, is now overshadowed by the new Civic Center which was formally opened last month. Aside from being the first building designed as a civic center—it houses a first-aid station, post

office, a luncheonette, and a meeting room, it is also the first canal building through whose roof trees grow on purpose. Future plans for Paraiso call for a new

commissary adjacent to the civic center, and a new high school will open there next year. Last fall's census gave Paraiso's population as 3,008, just about that of the construction period. Paraiso families

live, for the most part, in modem, concrete, two-family houses, the first of which were occupied in February 19.53. Paraisanos have their own names for the various parts of their town. Lakeview is near the Canal; Spanish Town along Giil- lard Highway; Ghost Town, naturally,

close to the cemetery—where the graves

of two French engineers are evidences of days gone by; Beverly Hills is the "heights" of Paraiso; and Dogpatch lies in the little depression just below Beverly

Hills. Dogpatch, incidentally, belies its comic strip name. It is one of the neatest and besWandscaped sections of Paraiso and its residents take special pride in their outdoor Christmas decorations. Paraiso' school enrollment—children- wise—is 818; its elementary school is the second largest of those in the local-rate towns. But Paraiso's elders also go to

school. Two groups are taking night

classes in Spanish, under the sponsorship

of the Civic Council, one of Paraiso's most active organizations.

Suez Canal, 86 Years Old This Month

{Continued from page 9) the Suez Canal was one of the gala international events of the Nineteenth Century. A convoy of 55 ships, flying the colors of 12 nations, made the initial transit. It was headed

by the French Imperial yacht Aigle with

the Empress Eugenie aboard. The great improvements made in ships and in the Suez Canal during the past 85

years is reflected in the transit time when

the waterway was opened and the time now. The average transit time in 1870 was 48 hours; today ships make the trip from Port Said to Suez in 15 hours or less. Bypass Channel

Three times as much money has been

spent in improving and enlarging the channel as the original cost. The most

recent improvement and one which will aid greatly in the dispatching and handling of the large number of vessels is a

seven-mile bypass channel about 30 miles inland from Port Said. The new bypass channel was completed

as a part of the Seventh Improvement

Program of the Suez Canal Company. Two other such bypass channels are being constructed under the Eighth Improve- ment Program undertaken since the Canal

was opened. The system of handling ships in convoy

through the Suez was adopted in 1949, with convoys leaving each terminal daily. This method obviates the necessity of having ships tie up along the banks when

meeting in sections other than the lake

region. The development of world trade and

specific trade areas has been reflected in

traflSc situations of the Suez in its 85

years of operation. Trade Routes

At the beginning the Canal facilitated the exchange of goods between the

highly industrialized areas in Europe with

the nations of Asia which were still pre- dominantly agricultural or even in the pastoral stage. Consequently, the move- ment of commodities was primarily fin- ished and semi-finished products from Europe in return for shipments of raw

materials and foodstuffs. This type of cargo remained an essential feature of the traffic up to World War II, which radically upset the world map of international and interconti- nental trade rout(^s. Before the first World War, grains, oil seeds, and ores accounted for the bulk of commodities moving northward (from Asia to the

Elmer 0. Nelson, who is Pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in Ancon, is, at

30, probably the youngest clergyman now

heading a Canal Zone congregation. And

the church which he heads here, organized two years ago in August, is probally

the youngest in the Canal Zone, although

its parent body is many years old. When young Elmer Nelson was growing up in Velva, N. D., he had no idea of making the ministry his career ard

planned, as much as a youngster does, that some day he'd probably be a farmer.

It wasn't until he went into the Army

during Wcild War II —he served in the South Pacif c with the 27th Division and saw combat in Okinawa—that he became

interested in the church. And it wasn't

until he had been out of the service for three years that he felt that his future

lay in the ministry. By that time he was married, to a girl who was also a native North Dakotan.

Thelirv. KLMKR (). NELSON

Mrs. Nelson accompanied him to Califor- nia when he entered the Pasadena Nazarene College and Daniel, 6, and Deborah,

3, were born before their father graduated from the theological school in 1952. His first pastorate was in Denhoff, N.D., about 65 miles from his home town. Then

came a year of youth work, as Young

People's President for the Church of the Nazarene in North Dakota. Meanwhile

the Nelsons had asked f(ir foreign service and their hopes were fulfilled when they were assigned to the Canal Zone last May.

The minister of a growing congregation has little time for hobbies but when he has a spare minute, Mr. Nelson enjoys photography. He has already accumulated a fair collection of colored slides of Lsthmian scenes, and hopes to get a great many more in the four years of his Isth- mian tour.

Atlantic) with oil being an insignificant part of the total cargo. With the continued growth of industry

in nations bordering the Atlantic and the development of oil resources in the Middle East, the movement of petroleum and

its by-products has increased in staggering proportions. In 1954 almost 57,000,- 000 tons of petroleum and its derivatives were shipped ndrthliound out of the total

of 74,.'i(ll),(IO() tons of all commodities. The preponderance of commodity ship- ments through the Suez {See page li)
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13 Community Representatives Cover Range

Of Subjects At Latest Commissary Forum

Although the agenda on last month's Commissary Forum was to be concerned

primarily with drygoods and hardware,

the subjects actually covered in the October 6 meeting at Balboa Heights ranged over practically all classes of merchandise carried in the Canal Commissaries and extended to a discussion of Commissary service as well. The meeting was attended by repre- sentatives of conuinmity groups from

both sides of the Canal Zone and of the Commissary Division. A special repre- sentative was Joseph B. McHugh of the Canal Company's Procurement Office in New York. F. R. Johnson, Supply

Director, conducted the forum. Those attending the meeting agreed

that the previous forums had been helpful to the customers and also said they

felt that some improvement in the Commissaries has resulted from suggestions and discussions at previous conferences. Stock Suggestions As usual at Commissary Forums, a number of requests were received for new

merchandise or for additional ranges in stock already carried. And a number of suggestions were made, and questions

asked, on Commissary procedures. Requests for items concerning merchandise included: Shoes for sub-teenage

girls; girls' dresses in "chubby sizes;" men's shoes with built-in arch supports; white lingerie and hose for nurses; a better stock of dresses suitable for office wear; a more varied size range in men's

suits and khaki trousers; better grade shower curtains; ordinary electric irons; a greater variety of frozen foods; a larger assortment of men's wear in dacron and

orlon; women's hose in shades to wear

with black or navy blue; a greater variety

of table lamps and several new grocery

items. Regarding Commissary service, the employee representatives suggested more

emphasis on training of employees in the

retail stores' shoe sections. They also questioned whether orders for replace- ment merchandise are being placed on

the basis of merchandise sold or merchandise requested. Some time was

devoted to a discussion of the length of time required by the various Commissaries to obtain, from the Commissary

warehouses, specially requested items. Other Suggestions

Several of the customer representatives suggested the need for improvement in the special-cuts meat section at the Bal- boa Commissary; among these was a suggestion that remodeling, to provide more working space, might solve many of the section's problems. Another suggestion, from Mrs. Vera

Bolek of the American Legion Auxiliary, was that Commissary hours on Saturdays might be from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m., without

a noon hour break; she felt that these hours would be more satisfactory than

present hours, especially to those who are employed and who concentrate most of

their shopping on weekends. Other suggestions include price marking and packaging of such items as lettuce, cabbage, and carrots so that buyers need

not wait in line at the vegetable section to have such items weighed and priced.

and more careful handling in the vegetable sections of easily bruised fruits. During the forum Mr. Johnson and

B. J. Elich, Assistant to the Supply

Director, gave a brief resume of the Commissary Division's training program. This

includes a shoppers' service for evaluating

sales clerk performance and an incentive pay program. Mr. Johnson reported on the potato

situation and said that as soon as they

are in season supplies of the Maine Russet

potatoes will again be available in the

retail stores. He also asked for customer

reaction to an idea that fresh produce in season might be flown to the Canal Zone

from the States. The cost would be somewhat higher than that of present

stock, but reduced spoilage should partly

offset the price increase. The general

reaction of the forum to the suggestion

was that customers would be glad of the opportunity to purchase fresher fruits and

vegetables, even at somewhat higher

prices. Those attending the meeting were: Mrs. M. K. Morgan, W. H. Esslinger,

Pacific Civic Council: G. K. Shear, Cris- tobal-Margarita Civic Council; Mrs. C.

V. Scheidegg, Gatun Civic Council; Richard Jenks, United States Citizens Association; Mrs. Walter Wagner, Mrs.

C. L. Coate, Central Labor Union; Herschel Gandy, American Federation of Government F^mployees; Mrs. H. J. Quinlan, Balboa Women's Club; Mrs. Helen

Daniels, Isthmian Nurses' A.ssociation; Mrs. Vera Bolek, Emblem Club and

American Legion Auxiliary; Mrs. Patricia George, American Legion Auxiliary; I^. M. Brockman, Personnel Bureau. The Supply Bureau and the Commissary Division were represented by Mr.

Johnson, Mr. Elich, Mr. McHugh," R. L. Sullivan, General Manager of the Commissary Division, V. J. Huber, head of the Drygoods Branch, and C. P. Shay,

Assistant Chief, Retail Stores Branch.

VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS—»o say

nothing of turkey and dressing —will dance

through the heads of most of the small fry on

the Isthmus for the next two months. They

will dance through the head of the lady of the house too, whose job it will be to produce

holiday food to go with the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations —and she, like the Commissary Division, has probably been making plans far in advance.

To meet the holiday demands, for instance, the Commissary has ordered nearly 90,000

pounds of eviscerated turkeys

Gobblers and that is a lot of turkey. They

for are due to arrive in two ship- Gobbling ments, one early next week and

the other about the first of December. The Commissary people believe that

this will be plenty of turkey for everyone and

furthermore they have been ordered in sizes suitable for everyone—meaning they will run from seven to nine pounds for the small

birds up to as high as 26 pounds for the

turkeys destined for large families.

THE BELTSVILLE TURKEYS, which aren't much larger than a good sized capon, will also be available at a slightly higher price per pound but are fine for the small party or

for the hostess who doesn't care to eat cold

turkey for at least a week. Swanson also

puts out a small, five to seven pound, turkey complete with dressing —which means there

si nothing to do but put the bird in the oven.

At this time of the year and sometimes even

earlier, the Christmas fruit cake is concocted

with great ceremony in the famEasier ily kitchen. Once this was a

Fruitcakes long and tedious business, but modern housewives, including those in the Canal Zone, con now whip up a

fruit cake with a minimum of effort. The

Commissaries will hove on sale soon nine- ounce jars of mixed fruit chopped in the proper sized hunks ready to be thrown into the fruit cake batter. They will sell at 35

cents a jar and one jar is sufficient for a one-pound fruit cake. Prepared fruit cokes

also will be sold at Commissary retail stores

this month. They have been ordered from several different firms with prices ranging

from 58 cents to a dollar a pound. OTHER TRADITIONAL DESSERTS include mince and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and

English plum pudding for Christmas. The

ingredients for the mince pies will be sold by

the jar. The pumpkin pie mix in tins is a

regular item in the Commissary stock. Im- ported plum puddings, the Grocery Depart- ment has promised, will arrive here in plenty

of time for Christmas. They are put up in one-pound tins and need only to be warmed

and ssrved with the family's favorite sauce.

With the Thanksgiving turkey goes dressing and most good cooks are as fussy over their particular recipes as a Southern

Filling for planter is over his mint juleps. Fowls The Commissaries will be able to supply the ingredients demanded

by the housewives. These will include im- ported chestnuts and fresh select chilled

oysters from New York. The Commissary

stores already hove these in stock and more

will arrive for the holiday season.

Hard candies for Christmas are a "must" and again this year the Commissary has ordered a supply of hard candy Candy and in five-pound jars due to arrive Chocolates early in November. The jars, by the way, are practically ant- proof and are wonderful to use later in the

kitchen. Chocolates in boxes ore available

most of the time in the Commissary stores. They arrive fresh each week from the States and are placed on sale immediately. Holi- day chocolates in special boxes and tins have also been ordered and will be avail- able as soon as they arrive.

FRESH CRANBERRIES for the traditional cranberry sauce have been ordered in one- pound boxes and will arrive 10 days before Thanksgiving. About the same time the Commissary Division expects a shipment of

fresh fruits including oranges, grapes, apples, and pears. For the traditional Thanksgiving

nut bowl, there will be an ample supply of prepackaged mixed nuts. Other types can be bought by the pound in all retail stores.

OLD FASHIONED CANDELIGHT seems

to be as much a part of Christmas as the Christmas tree and the glitter of tinsel. Holi- day candles in all shapes and sizes, some of them almost too pretty to burn, will be avail- able soon in all stores. They will include candles shaped like turkeys and ears of corn

for Thanksgiving; and like snowballs, ever- green trees, and Santa Clous for Christmas. As in other years, there will be the traditional bayberry candles, large column candles in Christmas colors, and an ample stock of the regular red and green table candles.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955 PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS ANNIVERSARIES

September 15 through October 15

Employees who were promoted or transferred between September 15 and October

15 are listed below. Within-grade promotions are not listed. ADMINISTRATIVE BRANCH

Mrs. Nelma L. Rommel, from File Clerk

to Mail Clerk, Records Section. CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Robert A. Engelke, from Motorcycle

Officer and Policeman to Motorcycle Ofificer, Policeman, and Detective, Police Division. Herman W. Lynn, Howard J. Toland, from Policeman to Policeman and Detective,

Police Division. John T. Glancy, from Chief, Customs

and Immigration Service (Cristobal), to Chief Inspector (Cristobal), Customs Division. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Richard W. Coy, Edward J. Lucas, Ernest A. Bishop, .Accountant to Auditor,

Internal Audit Staff. Norman J. Tewes, from .Auditor to Supervisor.- Auditor, Internal Audit Staff.

J. Patrick Conley, from Claims Examiner

(Supervisor) to Assistant Chief, Claims

Branch.COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU

Mrs. Sarah B. Rothwell, from Accounting Clerk to Supply Clerk (Genera(), Housing Division. Richard S. Brogie, from Clerk to Accounting Clerk, Housing Division. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION BUREAU

Mrs. Gail A. Ward, from Clerk-Typist to Clerk (Typist), Electrical Division. Ocus S. Kleinfelder, Contracting Officer, from Contract and Inspection Division to Engineering Division. Mrs. Lila M. Arosemena, Clerk-Typist, from Contract and Inspection Division to Engineering Division. Frank R. Turman, Jr., from Foreman

Crater and Packer to Lead Foreman, Crater and Packer, Maintenance Division. Victor D. Young, from Operator-Foreman

Electrician, Power Branch, to Supervisory

Electrical Inspector, Power Conversion

Project. Charles F. Magee, from Super\ising Construction Inspector, Contractors Hill, to Mate, Pipeline Suction Dredge, Dredging

Division. Phra A. Ashby, from Maintenance Mechanic Leader, Corozal Hospital, to Hospital Maintenance Foreman, Mainte- nance Division. Carlos M. Badiola, from Construction Engineer (General), Contractors Hill, to General Engineer (Surveying and Cartographic), Surveys Branch. Mrs. A. Elizabeth Lester, Clerk-Typist, from Communications Branch to Electrical Division. Joaquin N. Ponce, from Engineering NOVEMBER SAILINGS

From Cristobal

Crislohiil *

- November 4 A neon November 1

Panama November 1 Cristobal November 26 From New York A neon November .? Panama November 1 Cristobal November 1

A neon f November 25

* Because of the .Armistice Day holiday,

Cristobal leaves one day early, arriving New York November 10.

t Because of Thanksgiving Day, Aneon

sails Friday instead of Thursday, arriving in Cristobal, December 1. (Southbound the Haiti stop is normally from 7 a. m. to 4 p. m. Monday; northbound

the ships are also in Port-au-Prince Monday

from about 1 to 6 p. m. This month, be- cause of holidays, the northbound Cristobal, out of Cristobal November 4, will be in Haiti Sunday, November 6, and the Aneon, southbound from New York November 25,

will be in Haiti Tuesday, November 29.)

Draftsman (General) to Engineering Drafts- man (Electrical), Engineering Division. HEALTH BUREAU

Maj. Walter H. Goggans, Medical Officer, from Gorgas to Coco .Solo Hospital. Mrs. Evelyn S. Slowick, from Staff Nurse, Coco Solo Hospital, to Head Nurse,

Atlantic Medical Clinics. Dr. Jaime L. Barraza, from Hospital

Resident, Gorgas Hospital, to Medical

Officer (Ophthalmology), Coco Solo Hospital. Dr. Evelyn K. Barraza, Medical Officer (Ear. Nose, and Throat), from Gorgas to Coco Sc.lo Hospital. Mrs. BobbieH.Freschi, Staff Nurse, from

Gorga?. Hospital to Coco Solo Hospital. Dr. Glendy G. Sadler, from Hospital

Resident, Gorgas Hospital, to Assistant to Chief, Pathologic, Anatomy and Clinical Pathology .Section, Board of Health Laboratory. Dr. David Senzer, District Physician, from Pedro Miguel to Gamboa.

Dr. William E. Prier, from Hospital Resi- dent to Medical Officer, Orthopedics, Gorgas Hospital.

C. Louise Zug, Mrs. Evelyn R. Koperski,

Staff Nurse, from Gorgas to Coco Solo

Hospital. MARINE BUREAU

Fred E. Whipple, from Foreman, Aids to Navigation Section, to Lead Foreman,

Navigational .Aids. Mrs. Helen C. Light, from Typist, Commissary Division, to Accounting Clerk,

Industrial Division. Charles W. Garden, from Locomotive

Machinist, Railroad Division, to Lock

Operator ( Machinist), Pacific Locks. Frank R. Costanzo, from Guard, Locks

Security Branch, to Towing Locomotive

Operator. Locks Overhaul.

Charles M. Swisher, from Apprentice

Pipefitter to Pipefitter, Industrial Division. Eviyn W. Brandt, from Postal Clerk,

Postal Division, to Supervisory Administrative Assistant, Industrial Di\ision. Charles W. Brown, from Supervisory

Storekeeper (General) to Supervisory Clerk

(Typist), Pacific Locks. SUPPLY BUREAU

Mrs. Elizabeth Z. Beall, from Clerk- Stenographer to Clerk-Typist, Division of Storehouses. Richard J. Koperski, from Storekeeper

(General), Division of Storehouses, to Procurement Officer, Commissary Division. TRANSPORTATION AND TERMINALS BUREAU

Arthur B. Rigby, from Road and Yard

Conductor to Road and \i\rA Locomotive

Engineer, Railroad DivisioTi. RETIREMENTS

Retirement certificates were presented the end of October to the following employees who are listed alphabetically, together with

their birthplaces, titles, length of Canal service, and futiu'e addresses: Howard C. Anderson, Virginia; Leading- man, Navigation Div'ision; 14 years, 9 months, 29 days; address undecided. Daisy D. Fortner, Wisconsin; Elementary

School Teacher, Pedro Miguel; 24 years, 6 months, 14 days; Galesville, Wis. Charles F. Hinz, Wisconsin; Postmaster, Balboa Heights; 30 years, 8 months, 22 days; Milwaukee, Wis. Mrs. Laura C. McLintock, Pennsylvania;

Clerk-Stenographer, Contract and Inspection Division; 17 years, 5 months, 15 davs; Canal Zone. Frank R. Molther, New York; General

Engineer, Plant Inventory and .Appraisal

Staff; 20 years, 2 months, 28 days; Panama.

Allan B. Parker, Maine; Chief Towboat

Engineer, Ferry Service; 15 years, 6 days;

El \'olcan, Panama.

J. Milton Reed, Iowa; Chief Towboat

Engineer, Navigation Division; 14 years,

1 month, 13 days; Bellingham, Wash.

J. Barnabe Robles, California; .Signal- man CarnKui, Railroad Division; 31 years,

8 months, 6 days; Richmond, Va.

OTTO L. SAVOLD

Along about the time that Otto L. Savold, now Postmaster at Cristobal, got his first razor, he got his first joli: Car clerk and

baggage man at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad's station in Oakes, N. D.

Trains carry mail and mail needs post offices so it was a logical step from the railroad job

to one in the Oakes post office. Ever since then he has been in postal work; last month

he completed 40 years of government service, continuous with post offices except for a brief time during World War I when he was in the Infantry at Camp Lewis, Wash.

Mr. Savold came to the Isthmus 29 years ago to work with the Canal Zone Posts. His

first Canal Zone position was at Cristobal. Then came Aneon, Cristobal again, Balboa

Heights, Cristobal for the third time, Aneon, and finally back to Cristobal where he has been postmaster since 1954. Outside of the office he has two hobbies: Wirehair terriers and gardening. "Biff," the

current vvireh.air is the latest of a long line. He is currently boarding at the Corozal kennel while his master is on leave in the United

States. As far as gardening is concerned, Mr. Savold is no rank amateur. At his place in Santa Clara he has done a lot of e.xperimental work, trying to develop a better line of avocados, grapefruit, and the like. His latest venture is attempting to adajn to Panama a tropical cherry native to Puerto

Rico.

35 YEARS

Harry H. Corn, another post office old- timer, is second man on this month's list of anniversaries. Born in Kansas, he came here

in 1932 but had worked in post offices in the United States for some years before that. For almost 10 years he was postmaster at Pedro Miguel and then was transferred to Aneon. He is now clerk-in-charge of the Mail Handling Unit at Balboa. He is a

small-boat enthusiast and has made a number of long trips on craft considerably smaller than the Queen Elizabeth, or the Cristobal,

for that matter.

30 YEARS Two of October's 30-year employees are teachers who came to the Canal Zone on

the same date —October 1, 1925 —and who

today are both teaching in the Balboa ele- mentary school. Thev' are Miss Alida Drew,

whose hometown was .Ardock, \. 1)., and

Miss Mary Grace McDonald who was born

in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, not Michigan. Miss Drew teaches first grade and Miss Mcdonald third, at Balboa. Other 30-year employees, whose Canal

service has been continuou.s, are: Edward E. Eder, .Sujiply Officer in the Wholesale I lard- ware Section of the Connnissary Division, who buys the electric irons and pots and

pans and such items that Zonians need in their homes; Zera K. Esler, postal clerk in the Mail Handling Unit at Balboa who

comes from Lansing, Mich., and who has never worked for any other Canal unit ex- cept the Postal Divi.sion; and George A. Sausel, l.ockmaster at Mirafiores who does more w.ilking everv- day beside transiting
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

shijis tli.ui he ever did as a boy in La

Cross, Wis. Two other Zonians completed 30 years of Government service in October. They are Mrs. Marione Campbell, who has spent most of her Canal career with the Health Bureau and a good part of it in the Panama

Health Office, but is now a Time, Leave, and

Payroll Clerk in the Payroll Branch; and

John Hallo, postal clerk with the Balboa

Post Office, all of whose service has been

with the Postal Division, and who is now a postal clerk at the Balboa Post Office.

25 YEARS

All three of October's tiuarter-of-a-cen- tury employees are connected in one way

or another with the Sc' ools Division and

all have unbroken service with the Canal

organization. They are: Roger C. Hackett, Dean of the Canal Zone Junior College and a native of Marion, Ky.; G. C. Lockridge, who was

born in Iowa and is nosv head of the School's Physical Education and .\thletic activities; and Kenneth W. Vinton, .Science Instructor

at the Junior College whose trips to the Galapagos Islands and prowess with local boa constrictors have entertained many audiences, both here and in the United States.

20 YEARS

Three of the employees who completed

20 years of Government .service in October have unbroken service with the Canal organization. They are: Annie L. Allnut, Dental

Hygienist at the Pacific clinics; Robert B. Harrison, whose title is Pneumatic Tools and Magnetos Electrician with the Electrical Division; and Beauford J. Hartley, General Operator with the Grounds Maintenance

Division. Those with broken service are: Ralph E. Blevins, Pumping Plant Operator with the Maintenance Division; L. t). Bowman, Jr., a Marine Traffic Controller at Cristobal; Edmimd C. Fishbough, who is Balboa Police

District's senior traffic officer and whose

title is Motorcycle Sergeant; Jennie G. Jo- hannes, a Head Nurse at Gorgas Hospital; and Mrs. Ora Virginia Stich, Gorgas Hospital Librarian. Miss Johannes, whose father was Chief of the Canal Zone Police for many

years, and Mrs. Stich, whose father—for whom she was named —came to the Canal Zone in 1906, are native Zonians.

15 YEARS

Of the 15 employees who passed the 15- year mark in Government service last month

all but two have continuous service with the Canal organization, although in several cases their Canal employment was preceded by serxice with other Government units. Those with unbroken Canal service are: Paul E. Ackerman, Wireman, Electrical Division; Henry E. Argue, Sergeant, Cris- tobal Police District; Edward N. Belland, Admeasurer, Navigation Division; Arnold

R. Bjomeby, Policeman, Balboa Police District; Charles J. Connor, Foreman, Pipeline Suction Dredge, Dredging Division; Richard

F. Daniel, Pumping Plant Operator, Maintenance Division; Olive E. Hardie, Staff Nurse, Gorgas Hospital: Edward W. Isaac, Contraband Control Investigator; Mrs. Mil- dred Kopf, Physiotherapy .Supervisor, ("lOr- gas Hospital; George J. Moreno, Personnel

Assistant, Central Labor Office; Fred F. Schwartz, Control House Operator, Gatun

Locks; Elsie N. Smith, Voucher E.xaminer, Agents Accounts Branch; J. M. Vandergnft. Control House Operator, Gatun Locks. The 15-year employees whose service is broken are Howard W. Blaney, Postal Clerk, Mail Handling Unit; and Rubelio D. Quintero, Supervisory Electrical Engineer, Engineering Division.

New Canal Zone Family

B.\LBO,\'S new Magistrate, .John L. lAmiiig. airiml last iiMiith from his formtr home in Omaha to assume his duties in the Canal Zone. He is shown here with Mrs. Deming and their three sons. William, 6, is seated between his mother and father. Standing are Dennis, 9, and .John, 13.

** Operation Homefront'* Begins

Weeklong Program Next Sunday

"Operation Homefront," a concerted

educational program urging every family

in the Canal Zone to take several basic

civil defense survival steps, opens Sunday

and will continue throughout the week. The campaign is a part of Operation Home Front Week being sponsored throughout Region III of the Federal

Civic Defense Administration, of which

the Canal Zone is a part. This region covers the seven southeastern States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The local campaign will have five main

objectives, which are: L Learn public action signals

2. Join the Warden Service

3. First Aid training

4. Provision of home first aid kits

5. Grandma's Pantry the stock and

maintenance of a three-day supply of canned and non-perishable foods for emergency use. In connection with "Operation Homefront" in the Zone, a one-reel documentary color film of the atomic test in Nevada earlier this year will be shown on the Panama Canal Theater circuit. The picture, "Survival City" will be shown this weekend at the Balboa Theater and will

make the circuit of other Zone theaters with the feature picture, "Violent Satur- day," starring Victor Mature and Stephen McNally. The documentary is a powerful and spectacular picture of the atomic ex- plosion and its effects in the test town

set up for that purpose.

Suez Canal, 86 Years Old This Month

Suez Canal Company To Give Panama Canal Bust Of De Lesseps

(Continued from page S) North and

South America. Because of his outstanding success in the construction of the Suez Canal which had been opened just 10 years before, his influence at the International Congress had great weight. He became President of the first French Canal Company, or Compagnie

Universelledu Canal Interoceanique, which was organized after the Congress met and had bought the Wyse concessions for the Panama Canal granted the year before by Colombia. Count de Lesseps visited the Isthmus

late in 1879 to inaugurate the great work. One ceremony was held at the mouth of the Rio Grande River on January 1, 1880, and a second was held near the

continental dinde on the canal route on January 10. Both ceremonies were gala

affairs and attracted wide attention. Today, however, it is difficult to relate with any degree of accuracy the success

of the two ceremonies because of the

conflicting stories arising from prejudices about the Panama Canal project. De Lesseps spent si.x weeks on the Isthmus durmg which he and his party

visited various sites of the proposed work and the technical commission accompanying his party made an inspection of the

(Conlimedfrom page 12) is northbound, from the East to the West. While this has been a feature of the traffic pattern throughout this century, the difference has been far more pronounced in recent years as more and more oil has poured

through the Canal to feed the industries

of the West. And, in 1954, the amount

of goods shipped northbound, 74,.500,000

tons, more than tripled that of commodity

shipments southbound, aggregating 22,- 730.000 tons. Both the Suez and Panama Canals are great international utilities serving the maritime world on a basis of equality for

all. De Lesseps' ideal of "neutrality and

freedom for all" was spelled out in the Act of Concession of the Suez Canal. The

principle was confirmed by the International Convention of Constantinople in 1888 and is still in force today. The Suez Canal, unlike the Panama

Canal, is operated under a concession which has a time limit of 99 years. Editors Note: This is the first of a

series of articles which will appear in The

P.\NAMA Ca.v.^l Review on great canals of the world.

route and prepared a formal report on the

gigantic task. While the company's

project was doomed to fail, the passing decades have added luster to De Lesseps' name and his imaginative genius in initiating a project which was not completed until 3.5 years after he took it out

of the talking stage.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955 Canal Zone Youngsters Enjoy

Full-Time Athletic Program

SUPERVISED PLAY brings out dozens of children evei-y Saturday morning at the schools where

athletic programs are held. Here Mrs. Mary L. Brophy, far left, puts a group at Diablo Heights

through their paces. Mrs. Brophy is on the Physical Education and Athletics Staff of the

Division of Schools. A full-time athletic and supervised play program, with emphasis on good sports- manship and muscular control rather than on competitive sports, is in full swing this year in Canal Zone elementary schools.

It is a program which is being con- ducted under the supervision of qualified instructors both during the recess periods and out-of-school hours and is so arranged

that super\ised |)lay is i.>r(i\ided at most of the schools for limited ])crio(ls before and

afti'r school, during the lunch hour, and,

in some places, on Saturday mornings. The program is not entirely new to the Canal Zone schools. It is a reinstatement

of a plan sponsored several years ago in the lower grades which was curtailed be- cuusc (if budget limitations. Athletics for the younger children does

not include competitive sports, it was emphasized by the Schools Division. Games

for the children in grades one to three in- clude rhythm games, relay races, stunts, and gymnastics. The older pupils in grades foiu- to si.x may take part in track and field, volleyball, touch football, and

Softball to name a few of the activities. Swimming instruction is available to all children from kindergarten on up. All sports with the exception of football, are open to both boys and girls. This year physical education instructors instead of classroom teachers conduct

the play activities held during the school

recL'SS periods. In order that the pupils in the larger elementary schools can each get a chance to participate in the games, the

recess periods have been staggered and

the children divided into groups small enough to be organized into working units by the athletic instructors. Before and After The program has not been limited to the recess periods, however. Athletic in- structors are on hand at most of the

schools by 7:30 in the morning and take

a hand in organizing prc-school games. Some are also on duty during the noon

hours and again after school until four

o'clock. In schools where there are gymnasium and playground facilities, instructors are on duty Saturday mornings.

Participation in sports outside of the ac- tual school hours is on a voluntary basis. At the Balboa elementary school, for instance, qualified instructors organize

games at 7:30 a. m. and remain on duty

straight throughout the day until 4 p. m. They are also are available Saturdays

frorn 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Other school schedules are as follows: Ancon Gymnasium—8 a. m. to 4 p. m.

on weekdays and from 8 a. m. to 12 noon, Saturdays. Gamboa Gymnasium and Playground;

8:15 a. m. to 1 p. m. and from 2 p. m. to 5:15 p. m. on weekdays, and from 9 a. m.

to 12 noon, Saturdays. Gamboa Gymnasium and Playground;

8:15 a. m. to 1 p. m. and from 2 p. ni. to 5:15 p. m. on weekdays, and from 9 a. m.

to 12 noon, Saturdays. Gatun—9 a. m. to 12:30 p. m. and from

2 p. m. to 5 p. m. on weekdays, and from

9 a. m. to 12 noon, Saturdays. Margarita Gymnasium and Playground —8 a. m. to 12 noon and from 2 p. m. to 5 p. m. on weekdays, and from 8:30 a. m.

until 12 noon, Saturdays.

Cristobal Elementary School Play- ground—8:30 a. m. to 11 a. m. on weekdays only. Cocoli—7:30 a. m. to 11 a. m. from 12 noon to 1 p. m., and from 2 p. m. to 4

p. m. on weekdays only. Fort Kobbe—7:30 a. m. to 1:30 p. m., weekdays only. South Margarita—8:30 a. m. to 1 1 a. m., weekdays only. Diablo Heights—8 a. m. to 11 a. m. and

from 2 p. m. to 5 p. m. weekdays, and

from 8:30 a. m. to 1 1 :30 a. m., Saturdays. Teachers Added

In order to take care of the many chil- dren enrolled in the Canal Zone U. S. schools, several physical education teachers have been added to the schools staff. Some were employed in the United

States and several were hired locally. A

few were transferred from other depart- ments in the Canal organization. Each school works out its own athletic program and selects the games and sports best suited for the children in accordance

with the facilities provided in that particular location. G. C. Lockridge, Director of Physical Education and Athletics,

is in charge of this program. With two months of the new school term gone, everyone connected with the

revised athletic program is pleased with

the successful way it is being conducted.

Domestic Equipment

Survey Starts Soon

At Diablo Heights

The survey of frequency-sensitive equip- ment requiring conversion or replacement

in the Power Conversion Project is scheduled to start in Liable Heights this month

and be completed in time for the survey teams to move into the Ancon-Balboa district early next year. The survey was being completed this week in Los Rics. The work has already been completed in all Atlantic side communities and in Gamboa, Summit, and

Paraiso on the Pacific side. Bids for one of the major contracts in the power-conversion program -the conversion of frequency-sensitive equipment

in the Atlantic area—are to be opened November 29. An addendum to the Atlantic area conversion has been issued changing the opening date for the bid and containing changes to the lists of Company-Govern- ment equipment to be converted. These

changes are being made to provide prospective bidders with a more up-to-date

list of items requiring conversion.

In connection with the survey of do- mestic equipment, owners have again been urged to notify the Engineering and

Construction Bureau of any new electrical equipment bought and any changes made

in their frequency-sensitive equipment

subsequent to the survey. Should Check Lists Residents are furnished with a list of

their equipment after the survey teams

visit the homes and these should be checked immediately and any errors or omission reported promptly. Also, the owner of any equipment requiring conversion which was not surveyed during

the regular survey in any community

should report that fact in writing to the Engineering and Construction Director at Balboa Heights.

It is particularly important for all Atlantic side residents to report all changes

in their frequency-sensitive equipment

and the addition of any such equipment

not already surveyed and inventoried. Only frequency-sensitive equipment in- ventoried, or reported in writing by the owner subsequent to the survey, will be

converted or exchanged free of charge. People on the Atlantic side whose

equipment has not been surveyed because

of having moved into the area recently, having been on vacation during the sur- vey, or for any other reason, have been

requested to notify the Engineering and

Construction Bureau immediately in writ- ing so that their e(|uipment can be sur- veyed and listed \>rwr to con\'ersion.

Have you made

your gift

to the

COMMUNITY CHEST?
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 17 STATISTICS ON CANAL TRAFFIC

For the purposf of comparison bi'tweon pre-war and post-war traffic through the Panama Canal, statistics for the fiscal year I93« are used in this section, as being more nearly normal for peace time than those for 1939. Heavy Oil Shipments

Largely Responsible

For Traffic Increase

ContiniR'd heavy shipments of niiaeral

oils over the United States intercoastal route during the first three months of this

fiscal year were principally responsible for the high level of traffic. Shipments of mineral oils through the Canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic

in the first quarter of this fiscal year

totaled I,272,()()() tons, being near an

all-time peak. This amount was approximately five times the tonnage in the first quarter of the last fiscal year. The heavy movement of crude oils from California ports began early this calendar year and has continued to increase since that time. Transits, Tolls Up

There were 2,089 transits by oceangoing commercial vessels in the first three months of this fiscal year, as compared

with 1,952 in the comparable period of the fiscal year 1954. The number of U. S. Government ocean-going vessels in transit declined from 88 in the first quarter of the past fiscal year to 67 this year.

Tolls on commercial shipping for the

first three months of this year totaled

$9,280,000, averaging more than $3,000,- 0)0 monthly for the first time in any

quarter-year of the Canal's history. The

amount of tolls for the past quarter ewesded tolls in the comparable period of the previous fiscal year by more than

$1,250,000. While the principal increase in Canal

traffic for the first quarter of the 1956

fiscal year resulted from the tanker trade on the intercoastal route, substantial in- creases were shown on the routes between

the east coast of the United States and

Far East, and between Europe and South

America, in comparison with figures for the first quarter of 1955 fiscal year. Trade Routes

There were 317 transits in the first three months of this fiscal year between

the east coast of the United States and

the Far East, as compared with 288 in the comparable period of the previous

fiscal year. Similar comparative figures were 184 this year and 162 last year over

the route between Europe and South

America. The movement of shipping between the

east coast of the United States and South America declined from 502 last year to 483 this year, while the only other route

to show a loss was between Europe and

Australasia, with 95 in the first quarter

of last year and 84 this year. Commodities

The list of commodities shipped through

the Canal from the Pacific to Atlantic

this year is headed by mineral oils, ores, and lumber. The amount of ore shipped

in this direction was less than that in the

first quarter of last fiscal year, but mineral

oils and lumber shipments showed an

increase. Other commodity shipments showing increases were {See page so)

FLYIN'G the Japanese flag, two former United States destroyer escort vessels were southbound

through the Canal last month, en route from Norfolk to Yokosuka, Japan, via San Diego. The ships, shown here in Pedro Miguel locks, are the Asahi, formerly Destroyer Escort 168, and the Hatsuhi,

formerly Destroyer Escort 169. They are believed to be the first Japanese men-of-war to transit the Panama Canal since the end of World War II. Both ships carry a crew of about 160, arc 306 feet

overall, and have a displacement nf 1 ,74(1 gross tons. Kaneji Takane was listed as the captain of the AsdhI and 'l'aday(.shi Sugiyama of the Halsuhi. CANAL TRANSITS—COMMERCIAL AND U. S. GOVERNMENT

First Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956 1955 1938

Atlantic

to

Pacific

Pacific to Atlantic Total Total Total

Cummercial Vessels: 1,069 1,020 2,089 1,952 1,406

*Small ... 131 130 261 319 211 Total commercial 1,200 1,150 2,350 2,271 1,617

**U. S. Go\eniment vessels, oceaii- 25 42 67 88

*Small . 46 24 70 76 Total commercial and U. S. Govern men t 1,271 1,216 2,487 2,435

*\'essels under 300 net tons or 500 displacement tons.

**\'essels on which tolls are credited. Prior to July

ships transited free.

1, 1951, Government-operated TRAFFIC MOVEMENT OVER MAIN TRADE ROUTES

The following table show-, the numlicr uf transits of large, commercial \esscls (300 net tons or over) segregated into eight main trade routes:

First Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956 1955 1938 United States Intercoastal _ ._ . ... 236 149 349 East Coast of U. S. and -South America . ... . ___ 483 502 97 East Coast of U. S. and Central America 146 142 19 East Coast of U. S. and Far East 317 288 217

U. S. /Canada East Coast and .Australasia 55 49 49 Europe and West Coast of U. S. /Canada 182 172 194 Europe and South .America 184 162 137 Europe and .Australasia _ _. . 84 95 44 402 393 300

Total Traffic 2,089 1,952 1,406
18 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW Historic Canal Barge Starts

New Life As Coastal Carrier

November 4, 1955

BARGE No. 20, which waa sold last month after nearly a half century of Canal service, is shown

here on the right just after she and two other barges arrived in Balboa after a 17,500-mile trip from

Cristobal, via the Straits of Magellan. The photograph was taken in 1912. A Magellan of the Canal's floating equipment was sold last month after nearly 50 years of honorable Canal service. Barge No. 20, which once made the

trip from Cristobal to Balboa via the

Straits of Magellan, is being put into condition by its new owners, Luis Eduardo

Barrera and Cesar Torrientes, to haul

cargo between Panama and the Darien. The barge dates back to about 1908. For several years it carried sand and

crushed rock from the Nombre de Dios sand pits and the Portobelo quarry to Gatun where the sand and rock eventually became part of the Atlantic Locks. About 1912, three old French clapets which were used in a similar service on

the Pacific side had to be replaced. Barge No. 20 and two sister craft were

selected as the replacements. The Canal, of course, had not then been flooded. Moving three steel barges, each about 160 feet long, across the Isthmus of Panama meant that they would have to be taken apart and shipped

Supervisors Learning

Simplification Of Work

Forty-nine Company-Government employees in supervisory positions are mid- way through a seven-week course to learn how to make the work of their units

easier. The course, which is being conducted by James G. E. Maguire of the Executive Planning Staff, is known as a study of work simplification and is described as a "common-sense step-by-step method of analyzing jobs so that the methods by

which they are done can l>c improved and

simplified by the supcrvisdrs themselves." The 49 emph^yees taking the course are divided into four groups, three of which meet on the Pacific side and one on the

Atlantic side of the Canal Zone. The first meeting was held October IS and the la.st will take place November 30. This is the first of a series of work

simplification courses which will be given

to Company-Government supervisors.

by rail. It was finally decided that the most feasible method would be to tow the barges around the tip of South America. On February 11, 1912, the tug Reliance, a 134-foot craft designed for deep-water

work, left Cristobal with the barges in tow. Tug and tow were manned by a crew of 34, under the command of R. C. Thompson, master of the Reliance. During the first three days out of Cristobal they ran into heavy weather which kept the decks awash. At times

the towing machine at the stern of the tug was submerged while the prow of the

vessel was in the air. After several days

of this battering by waves and wind, the

Reliance and her triple tow put into Savanilla Bay, not far from Portobelo,

for repairs. Good weather, fortunately, followed.

Canal Payroll To Be Unified Next January

(Continued {rum page 1) periods and

paydays of local-rate employees and the paydays for a large number of U. S.-rate employees. To implement the system, on January

29 a one-week pay period will be established for all local-rate employees paid biweekly for the week of January 22-29. Pay checks for these employees will be

issued covering one week only, less any

deductions. After that date the pay

periods for the two groups will coincide. The first combined pay period for all employees will begin January 29 and

end February 11. The delivery of pay

checks by units of the organization will begin the following week. With this change fully effective, all employees of the Company-Government

will be carried on the same roll within

their organization regardless of citizen- ship or rate of pay. For example, all employees of the Dredging Division will be carried on a common roll and will be paid on the same

day, although their payday may not

coincide with that of the Maintenance

Division whose employees will also be

paid at one time. The new pay schedule will be announced

well in advance. Once established, all employees will be paid every 14 days and

on the same day of the week for each pay period. The only difference will be

that many employees now paid on Mondays or Tuesdays may be paid on another day of the week.

The 1,100-mile run from Para to Pernambuco in Brazil, for instance, took only

nine days and five hours. Other than

difficulties with their supplies of coal and

water, the Reliance and her tow made the

rest of the trip without incident.

Finally, after a voyage of 126 days -

during 86 of which the tug and the barges were actually under way the

craft reached Balboa. It was the first time that a tow of this sort had ever made

a voyage of such length. MONTHLY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC AND TOLLS

Vessels of 300 tons net or over By Hscal years

Month

Transits

(111 tho

Tolls usands of dollars) 1956 1955 1938 1956 1955 1938

July 727 640 457 $3,247 $2,646 $2,030

-Xiigust-, . .. 676 652 505 2,980 2,752 2,195 September 686 660 444 3,053 2,756 1,936 October 683 461 2,831 1,981 November 636 435 2,630 1,893 December ,_. . 676 439 2,853 1,845 January 668 444 2,832 1,838 February 637 436

506

2,721 1,787 March 709 3,014 2,016

April.. 685 487 2,938 1,961 May . 698 465 3,072 1,887 June 653 445 2,804 1,801

Totals for first 3 months

of fiscal year 2,089 1,952 1,406 $9,280 $8,154 $6,161

Totals for fiscal year 7,997 5,524 $33,849 $23,170
November 4, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 19

Ten Firms Invited

To Submit Proposals

For Towing "Mules"

Invitations for proposals for the re- placement of the Canal towing locomotives were issued last month to 10 large heavy-equipment manufacturing firms in the United States. A four-month period will be given the manufacturers for a study and preparation of their proposals, with the opening

date set for 10 o'clock in the morning of February 10, 1956. After an analysis of the proposals has been made, the one considered best will form the basis for a negotiated fixed-price contract. The award of the contract will be made within 90 days

after the opening of proposals. The firms invited to submit proposals

include the General Electric Company,

R. G. LeToumeau, Inc., Westinghouse

Corporation, Hyster Company, American

Locomotive Company, Baldwin-Lima- Hamilton Corporation, Bucyrus-Erie Co.,

Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company,

General Motors Corporation, and General Dynamics Corporation. The invitation for proposals provides

that prospective bidders may enter offers

for: Towing locomotives of the same general design of those now in use for which

the Panama Canal will provide designs; or for new-type towing locomotives of the manufacturer's design and specifications. New-type towing devices will also be considered. The new towing locomotives will have added towing capacity and will be speedier than those now in use, permitting a

reduction in the number required from 67

to 57. The design and specifications pre- pared by the Canal Company provide for the operation of the locomotives by direct current with little or no change in the

existing towing track system. The replacement of the Locks towing

locomotives will be the biggest single re- placement order for Canal equipment

placed since the waterway was opened. Most of the 67 towing locomotives now

in use have been in service for 40 or more

years. Forty were originally built by the General Electric Company before the Canal was opened. Of the other 27 in service, 16 were built by the General Electric Company from 1916 to 1924, and 14 by the Mechanical and Locks Divisions at

later dates. The invitations for proposals submitted

to the manufacturers contain detailed in- formation as to the locomotives, type of

service, weather and other conditions of operations, and the size and types of ships

to be handled. The booklet also contains a group of selected pictm-es showing ships

of various types in the Canal Locks. CLIP THIS

EMERGENCY SERVICE CALLS

Plumbing Refrigeration Repairs Repairs Day Night Day Night Ancon [

f Balboa i 9_9Q(w 9_9^Qq

Diablo Heights. - ^*' -i -5»ci 2-1522 2-3iaS Pedro Miguel. __ I Gamboa 6-360 6-256 1 Gatun.. (3-2151 3-2151

( Cristobal or or ^3-2644 3-1583

Margarita [3-2152 3-2152

Canal commercial traffic by nationality of vessels

First Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956 1955 1938 Number of transits Tons

of cargo Number of

transits Tons

of cargo Number of

transits Tons

of cargo

16

1 298

17

7 511696

19

3,331

British 253

1710

62

696

13

1,625,637

109,443 59,517 67,476

48,473

277,578

14,767

1,672,060 79,100 60,338

67,811 110,248 256,192 22,458

292

2

2

1,667,795

10,096

13,113

Danish. . 55 254,567

2 4,695

4

32

100

4394

26,041 189,908 255,436

369,198

103,270

French 317638

93

132,318

197,864 295,542

96,711

28

91

319

2

146,788 German . . 450,641 Greek 181,941 Honduran 2,926

11,176

1 48

12165

3 34

10 217

138

23

10,050 249,423

740,027

422,401

10,981 173,509

11,579 918,113 688,177

Italian 3.^ 11398

217,094

792,263

782,465

1375 39,933 522,490

Netherlands Nicaraguan Norwegian Panamanian

30

9 251

1118

7

1 13 49

634

2

157,913

14,191 1,120,682 481,679

59,398 41,445

60 217,168

15554 855,770

155,169

Philippine Portuguese 16,888

55,391 234,771 4,405,318

8,851

1463 483

57,196 220,438 2,795,4102 31 495

2

5

15,280 206,645

I'nited States 2,860,814

1,953 23,151

Total 2,089 11,518,205 1,952 9,308.165 1,406 7,642,111

Principal commodities shipped through the Canal

(All figures in thousands of long tons) ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

First Quarter, Fiscal Years Commodity

1956 1955 1938

1,208,981 893,731 491,615

273,237

185,054

144,495 118,358

115,069

98,642 69,448

67,079

66,067 65,526

61,317 60,796

1,125,697

913,440

822,963 420,748

263,102

101,038 21,076

106,431 91,488

8,871 49,839

63,579

99,846 86,520

58,585 63,668

1,053,184

178,635 47,077 646,493

111,416

3,207 900

83,729

132,018 Corn - -- 33,360

42,072 62,666 Wheat - 343

50,559 534

27,985

1,568,015

Total -- 5,045,112 4,224,378 2,989,009

PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC

Commodity

Mineraloils

Ores, various Lumber

Sugar Canned food products

Barley Wheat

Bananas

Nitrate Metals, various -- Refrigerated food products (except fresh fruit) Copra

Coffee Cotton

Iron and steel manufactures

All othersTotal

First Quarter, Fiscal Years

1956

6,473,093

1955

1,272,407 211,324

990,513 1,138,763 981,476 731,866

545,825 425,528

323,200 302,252

275,901 75,545 248,463 332,709

244.137 204,288

207,629 288,459

197,836 195,312

118,035 112,557 81,706 61,376

73,515 59,681 56,233 45,849

55,300 24,273 800,917 874,005

5,083,787

1938

978,129

541,685 877,574 439,129

306,650

53,158

40,873

8,670 222,756

173,726 45,205

35,092 37,173

37,071 5,966 850,245

4,653,102
so THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 4, 1955

Flag Day Celebrated Today in Panama

As National Holidays Are Continued

Few Zonians need to be told that yes- terday their friends on the other side of Fourth of July Avenue celebrated the 52d

anniversary of the date when Panama

ceased to be a Department of the Republic of Colombia and became a republic in

its own right. But not all Zonians know that although November 3 is the only Panamanian hol- iday observed in the Canal Zone—it has been a holiday ever since there was a Canal Zone—Panama's celebration actually covers a four-day period. The national holidays begin on November 2 and extend through November 5. Later in the month the Republic will cel- ebrate two other national anniversaries. Last Wednesday, November 2, was

observed as Memorial Day in Panama.

It is All Souls Day and was selected by

the young Republic years ago as the day

on which to honor those who gave their

lives when the Republic was born. As the years have passed, November 2 has become a general day of remembrance

for the dead. The graves of relatives and

friends are decorated that day, just as are those of the Republic's founders or of national leaders. The graves of Panamanians who are buried in Canal Zone cemeteries are also decorated on November 2 and the day is observed much as Zonians from the United States celebrate May 30

as Memorial Day. Independence Day

Yesterday, November 3, was the anni- versary of the Independence of Panama.

Traditionally, Independence Day always

begins with dianas, or salutes, blown by

buglers throughout the city long before

the sun is up. Most impressive of the November 3 events is the mass salute to the flag by thousands of students gath- ered in Cathedral Plaza. This is always

followed by a Solemn Mass in the Cathedral and iiy a number of other patriotic and athletic events. For several years the day has ended with a fireworks display from the National Stadium or some other

central location. Today is Panama's Flag Day, and means the same thing to the people of the Republic as June 14 does to the people

of the United States. It commemorates

the day when Panama's two-starred, red, white, and blue emblem made its first public appearance. The flag was designed by the late Dr. Manuel E. Amador, whose father was

Panama's first president; it was made by

Sra. Maria Emilia de la Ossa de Prescott whose husband for many years has headed Panama's communications system. She

is a niece by marriage of the first Pana- manian president. The original flag is kept at her home in Panama City. Today's big event is the annual Flag Day parade. Students from all of Pan- ama City's public and private schools march through the streets and rivalry is keen between the various scholastic drum

and bugle corps. Tomorrow is Colon Day and much of the day's celebration will take place in that city. November 5 commemorates

the date on which Colombian troops with- drew from Colon in 1903 and the city became part of the new Republic. Panama has two other important anniversaries this month, although neither is observed as a holiday in the Canal Zone. The first is on November 10 and is known

as the Primer Grito or First Cry. It is the anniversary of the day when, in 1821, a group of Panamanians met in the little town of Los Santos to advocate the inde- pendence of the Isthmus from Spain. The second is on November 28. It was

the date, also in 1821, when Panama declared itself independent of Spain and

voluntarily sought inclusion in the Republic of Gran Colombia. Observed Since 1904 November 3 has been observed as a holiday in the Canal Zone since 1904. On September 2 of that year the Isth- mian Canal Commission, acting under

authorization of the President of the United States, designated the days and

dates which would be holidays in the Canal Zone. Among these was November 3. The same provision later became

part of the Canal Zone Code. The first proclamation of November 3

as a holiday in the Canal Zone was issued by Gov. George W. Davis on October 28, 1904.

j^.i SHIPS >ND SHIPPING .J ^t

Transits by Ocean-Going Vessels

in September

1055 l"5/, Commercial 686 660

U. S. Government 24 2i

Total 710 68,1 Tolls* Commercial $3,057,606 $2,761 ,07.? U. S. Government -- 149,310 99,899

Tola! $3,206,916 $2,860,972

*Incliides tolls cm all vessel^, ocean-going

aiid small.

Heavy Oil Shipments Largely Responsible For Traffic Increase

(Continued from page 17) bat ley, bananas,

copra, coffee, sugar, and canned food. The three leading commodities moved

through the Canal in the first quarter of

this fiscal year from the Atlantic to the

Pacific were mineral oils, coal and coke, and manufactures of steel and iron. All three showed gains over figures for the

first quarter of the previous fiscal year. Other commodities which showed substantial gains were soybeans and soybean

products, corn, ores, sugar, sulphur, paper and paper products, phosphates, and ammonium compounds. Easter Island Expedition

EASTER ISLAND, off the Chilfan coast, was the

destination of Thor Heyerdahl of Kun Tiki fame and

his 341-ton motorship, Christian Bjelland, when the Heyerdahl Expedition transited the Canal last month.

Aboard the vessel were a number of scientists who

will seek evidence to support the belief that the island was populated from the Americas. They will examine

the famed, hu^e Easter Island statues and drill thniunh rock to determine various facts in the history

of the South Pacific island. Krom Piaster Island, the

i'\pedition will go to Pitcairn Island and some of the

I'Vench islands in the Pacific. They will return to the Isthmus in ,Iuly of next year. The Christian

Ujelland is a former fishing vessel, capable of fair

•jpeed. Members of the expedition expected to reach

y.:isU'.r Island 10 days after leaving Balboa, The

M'.s.sel measures \!H feet overall and carries a crew

of 14. Master of the ship is Capt. Arne HarNinack,