HE Gift ofthe Panama Canal Museum

Vol. 3, No. 4 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, NOVEMBER 7, 1952 5 cents MOVING DAYS STARTING FOR EMPLOYEES ASSIGNED

TO NEW QUARTERS IN ANCON AND DIABLO HEIGHTS

ALL THIS PICTURE proves is that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and that there are some

cute youngsters in the Canal Zone. The cover girl—or is it a boy—is five-year-old Elaine Grace Vestal, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Vestal of Davis Street in Diablo Heights. She says she's a boy—"Can't you tell by my pants?" Canal Sets New Records In October

For Commercial Transits, Lockages

A new record for the number of commercial ships to transit the Panama

Canal in one month was set in October when 674 ships of 300 tons and over were put through the Canal. The previous record for one month of 622 ships, set last May, was broken on

October 29. At the close of that day

the total transits amounted to 629 and

the next days' transits brought the month's total to 674. October also set a new record for lockages. Lockage figures include not

only commercial ships, large and small, but also government vessels, such tolls- free craft as Colombian naval vessels, and Canal equipment. Small craft fre- quently are put through the locks in tandem, two or more vessels to a lock chamber. Recent average is about \yi, ships per lockage. Lockage figures also differ from lock

to lock, since Canal equipment ordinarily moves through only one end of the Canal on a single trip. Until the present calendar year, lockage

records had not been broken since August

1945. In that month, new records were

set at all three locks: Gatun, 664 lock- ages; Pedro Miguel, 700 lockages; and

Miraflores, 6S9 lockages. In April of this year, however, lockages

at Gatun totalled 665. In September

this record was broken with 674 lockages

at Gatun for the month.

Last month new records were established at all three flights of locks: Gatun,

729; Pedro Miguel, 74S; and Miraflores,

741.In addition to the 674 large commercial

vessels which transited the Canal in October, there were 88 government

vessels of 300 tons or page to)

The first five apartments to be completed by contract this

fiscal year were to be occupied

this week end by the families

to which they were assigned

several weeks ago. By next spring, probably by April, a

total of 70 U. S.-rate families will have moved into their new masonry quarters on the Pacific side, and other families will be in some of the new homes in Margarita. The first five apartments to be occupied were a duplex, located close to the site of the former Diablo mess hall, and three cottages nearby. One of these is a revised version of the Breezeway type, another is a type 327, which has two bedrooms, and

the third is a type 331, with three. Notices were sent October 28 to the

four families to whom these houses were

assigned, asking that they occupy their new quarters not later than November 8. A second group of the Diablo houses is to be turned over to the Housing Division soon and these will probably be occupied by November 15. AH of the new Diablo

houses will probably be occupied by

mid-December.

Application for these 14 units, in 12 houses, were accepted in September. All

of the new Diablo houses have been

assigned. Service of the occupants ranges from 31 to 13 years. One of the houses was designated for official assignment. Applications By November 17 In Ancon, the first of the new quarters

will be completed this month. Applications will be received until November 17

for 16 of the 56 apartments which are now under construction. These houses

are located along Ancon Boulevard and

in Parita Place, which is in the area formerly known as Reservoii Hill. Two of the houses in this area, Nos. 502 and 509, are not sufficiently completed to be included in the group for which appli- cations will be received. Signs carrying the type and house number of each quarters are placed near each house. As in Diablo, the Ancon (See page so) SPECIAL FEATURES

FOR NOVEMBER

• Lock Supervisor has unusual hobby of seeking beneficial plants on Isthmus. See Page 4. # Your favorite football team and your

favorite cheerleaders are pictured on Pages

10 and 11.

The story of one of the Canal's best cus- tomers, the United Fruit Company, is interestingly told on Page 17.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952 21 -Year-Old Mutual Benefit Association

Holds Unique Place In Canal Zone Life

The Mutual Benefit Association, the only death benefit group for American

employees in the Canal Zone, is about to move into a new home. On December 1 the Association, whose

headquarters have been in Gamboa since

1943, will have offices in one wing of the Canal Zone Credit Union Building on

Balboa Road.

Its officers hope that the move will be

a permanent one, for almost since its for- mation in 1931 the Mutual Benefit Association has had a "pillar to post" existence

as far as offices are concerned. Until 1940

it had operated from an office in the base- ment of the Administration Building at Balboa Heights; enlargement of the

cafeteria took over this spacs. Next stop was the old Ancon Clubhouse

Building in space once occupied by what

was then the Silver Personnel Bureau. Then came offices in the Property Shed at Gamboa followed by other offices in the Gamboa Clubhouse and Theater buildings. Once settled into its new offices in Balboa the Mutual Benefit Association- MBA to practically everyone—will go about its main business: "To provide to

their beneficiaries as quickly as possible

after the deaths of the members the substantial monetary assistance which is all too frequently necessary at such times." Long Standing Problem

For a number of years this problem, the

situation in which employees' families often found themselves at the death of their main provider, was of major concern

to a group of Canal Zonians. As J. F. Everett, one of the founders and a former officer of the MBA, put it 20 years ago: "When the family of a deceased Gold

employee needed assistance, the hat was

passed; the popularity of the employee,

rather than the amount needed by his family, governed the amount collected." That the plan has worked and "hat

passing" has practically become a thing

of the past is evident from the fact that today's MBA membership is over four times as many as the 1,250 which the MBA counted as members in the first year of its existence. Any of its 5,266 members -the figure

is as of September 30—can be sure that within a matter of clays and frequently

within hours the sum of $1,000 will be

turned over to their survivors by the MBA.

Since it was organized in June 1931, the MBA has paid 712 death benefits; the

total dollar amount of these is $700,230.58

again as of September 30. In addition the Association has on hand funds amounting

to approximately $300,000. MBA Supplements Insurance The MBA makes no pretense of operating on an actuarial basis, as do

insurance companies. Its operations were defined some years ago by the late C. F. Chase, for many years its vice

president, as follows: "It is not the purpose of our association to offer a substitute for commercial in- surance, but merely to supplement it with ready cash payments and to relieve im- mediate distress of dependents not

provided for otherwise." The idea of an MBA met with immediate, favorable response. By February

iSvnraHHi

WALTER W. WHITE will become secretary of the Mutual Benefit Association this month when he retires after 39 years of service with the Canal organization. Now Records Analyst in the Administrative Branch, he came to the Canal Zone in 1913 to work

for the Commissary Division.

1933, the membership had grown to

1,750; in 1938 there were 2,559 members,

and by January 1947, the MBA had

5,50S members, had paid 444 death benefits, including 15 war casualties and had

on hand a reserve of $248,000. The war casualties were young Canal

Zonians who had gone into the military

service and had died or been killed in action. Only recently the MBA paid a death benefit to the family of a young man killed in Korea. Four Presidents

Its officers have been as permanent as

its membership. The first president of the MBA was H. H. Evans, for many years

Assistant Superintendent of the MechanJAMES H. JOHNSTON, according to MBA

President A. C Medinger, is "Executive Assistant to Hn President, MHA." That is his out-of-hours title; between 7:15 and 4:15 daily he is Assistant Chief Accountant in the Finance Bureau. He is a long- time member of the Mutual Benefit Association's Board of Directors and works closely with the MBA

secretary.

ical Division. He served as MBA presi- dent until his retirement in April 1943, and was succeeded by John G. Claybourn,

Superintendent of the Dredging Division. The next MBA president, who also served until his retirement in July 1950, was Vera D. Calloway, Administrative

Assistant to the Municipal Engineer; its president for the past two years has been

A. C. Medinger, Railroad and Terminals

Director. With the longest continuous service of

all, although he says he is now retiring from active MBA work, has been its secretary, William A. Moore. He has

held that post for the past 18 years. Leaving MBA Work

"Judge" Moore was the MBA's first auditor when the Association was formed. He was then working as an accountant in the Chief Examiner's Section. "Judge"

has been his nickname for 45 years but he

says that he can't remember how it started. Since his retirement in 1937 he has de- voted most of his time to MBA work. He

plans to stay on the Isthmus for the time

being, certainly until warmer weather comes in the United States. Then, possibly, he may go back to his native state

of South Carolina which he left in 1907 to come to the Canal Zone. Membership in the MBA is open to anyone in good health who is not more

than 35 years old and who is a permanent

U. S.-rate employee of the CompanyGovernment, and American citizens who

are civilian employees of other depart- ments of the U. S. Government or directly

allied interests on the Isthmus. Newly

appointed employees of the CompanyGovernment are eligible up to 45 years of age, provided they apply for membership

within six months after their permanent

appointments. Membership is for life, regardless of change of residence or employment, and

can be forfeited only upon failure to pay

assessments as prescribed. Originally the MBA admitted its members up to the time they were 45

years old; in 1935 the maximum age for admission was reduced to 35 years, except in case of prospective members

under 45 who previously have had no

chance to join and who submit applications within six months after their permanent employmen t

Members In Three Classes Members are divided into three classes: A, who are those under 35 years of age; B, those between 35 and 50, inclusive; and C, those over 50. When a death occurs the Class A

members pay 25 cents for each death;

(lass B members pay 50 cents; and Class

O, $1. At first the death benefit was $1 multiplied by the total number of assess- able members of all classes. As the membership increased, so did the death benefit and for some time it has been the $1,000 which was set as a maximum in the

original constitution and bylaws. The sum collected over and above the amount of the benefits paid goes into a reserve fund created to take care of extraordinary conditions. The initiation

fee is $3, of which $2 goes {See page 20)
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW fnnfprpnrp Hparc Shipwrights, Plumbers Organize

t ,1 a „ • After Hour Classes For Study

Talk On Housing, ^^^^^m^mmrmmmm

Rents, Hospitals

Questions regarding hospitals, rent, quarters assignments, and a wide range of other subjects were raised October 22 at the latest Governor-Employee Conference. The matter of hospitals was raised by

John J. Tobin of the Central Labor Union who asked if anything was being done to improve this situation on the Atlantic

siil". Mr. Tobin was supported in his inquiry by Jack Rice, representing the Cristobal-Margarita Civic Council. William H. Ward of the Gamboa Civic Council pointed out that for some time

the Company has been buying certain drugs through the Army, thereby getting

a discount. "Why can't the Armed Forces get together with the Administration and

have one hospital on each side," he asked.

"If they can work out something on the drug angle, why can't they on the

hospital angle?" Governor Seybold said he realized that Colon Hospital is obsolescent and that "something will have to be done about

hospitalization on the Atlantic side." He

added, however, that consolidation of drug purchases and consolidation of hospitals are not exactly similar. "Hospitals

deal with humans," he said. "Drugs have

to do with bottles." Representation Asked

E. W. Hatchett, secretary of the Central Labor Union, appealed to the Governor for labor representation on the Company's Board of Directors. He cited the successful representation of labor on

the Wage Board and added: "I would

like to have someone on the Board of Directors who represents me. I honestly think that this would solve half your

problems. Certainly it would scotch rumors." Governor Seybold said he thought this matter one which was beyond "manage- ment here and one which I'm not capable

of commenting on." Margaret Rennie, president of the

Pacific Civic Council, asked for a clarifica- tion of the quarters assignment policy, pointing out that an employee with 23 years service had anticipated assignment

to certain quarters only to have the house

assigned to a man with one month's

service. The Governor said that a policy would be presented at the next meeting.

Policy Discussed

This led to the matter of policy in general. Charles W. Hammond, president

of the General Committee of Civic

Councils, asked if the Company had a

definite policy for the next three years. Sine? he was relaying the question from a

constituent, he was unable to say whether

this meant a policy on labor, housing,

or what.

After some discussion, the Governor

answered that "generally speaking there

is a policy on everything, housing, laboi,

etc., but I can't say that the policy won't

change."

In answer to questions from several of the employee representatives present, the Governor said that members i See page 8)

SHIPWRIGHTS from the Industrial Bureau's Woodshop at Cristobal are a third of the way through

their course in Hull Lines and Tables of Offsets, the

first of four projects which they have planned for

this year. The group, which includes 12 journeymen

and five apprentices, meets for two hours each Monday evening. The night class was formed by the shipwrights to study some of the technical aspects of the shipwright and boatbuilder crafts.

PLUMBERS from both sides of the Canal Zone meet twice a month in Cristobal to work out problems

of their trade. A major consideration of the seminar which was organized by Local 606 of the Plumbers' Union is reduction of maintenance costs. Attending

a recent meeting were: Oliver Culp, Thomas Herring,

(an apprentice), Samuel Garriel, Qeorge Bennet, Edmond J. Roddy, seated, and standing, James

Young, (an apprentice), William Carson, Milo

Kissam, and Bob Maynard. Out of range of the camera was Thomas 0. Custer.

Two more groups of skilled craftsmen

in the Company-Government organization have organized after-hour classes to develop even more skill in their particular

fields. One study group was formed by Local 606 of the Plumbers' Union, with the cooperation of Bob Maynard, Assistant Supervisor of Plumbing for the Maintenance Division. The other program

was organized by a group of mechanics from the Industrial Bureau's Wood Shop

in Cristobal, with the help of Wallace Melanson, Master Shipwright, and Industrial Training Coordinator Philip Green. Although the plumbers' seminar was

started by Atlantic side plumbers and

the group meets twice a month in Cristobal, plumbers from both sides of the Isthmus attend. Apprentice plumbers James Young and Thomas Herring are always present at the meetings.

Mr. Maynard, on the invitation of the plumbers, acts as chairman for the seminars. After holding several meetings by themselves, the group invited the Assistant Training Coordinator, Kenneth

Krogh, to sit in as secretary and prepare

their reports for distribution. In return for the time and service supplied bv the Apprentice School, the Plumbers' Union has arranged for some of the union members to give off-the-job

practical craft training to apprentices. During the seminar sessions, the plumbers discuss problems which arise during

the course of their every day work. The

group "kick these around," and try to work out a solution. An important subject of discussion is that of methods for reducing maintenance costs. The Wood Shop mechanics have formed

a night class devoted to some of the

technical aspects of the ei page 9)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952

Lock Supervisor Spends Spare Time

Prospecting For Beneficial Plants

Andrien M. Bouche, Control House

Supervisor at Pedro Miguel Locks, is a

prospector of a special sort who gives away his finds. He prospects for plants in off-duty hours and passes them on to botanists, pharmaceutical research laboratories, other scientific institutions, or to interested individuals who can propagate

or put them to good use. His plant prospecting has led him to an

Indian cancer cure and arrow poison; yams which might be good to eat or might make cortisone; wild grapes that grow

to golf ball size, the root stock of which he

sent to his ancestor's home in France for

trial propagation; and huge red, white

striped orchids little known until he

found them.

For 40 years he has prowled jungles and

llanos from Mexico to Brazil, spying out thousands of different plants—useful and

otherwise. His individual finds may or may not

interest scientists, or horticulturists or laymen but, big, little, showy, or obscure they always interest the collector. Native Remedy Plants Native remedies which might have a

basis in botanical fact are sometimes

important to collectors. West Indians in Bohio told him some

30 years ago about something called a "rheumatism root" which they used for infusions for rheumatism. The plant from which the home remedy came was Dios corea sapinoides known to some Isthmians as "cabeza negra" and to others as just "wild yams." Many years later, news cf the medical

miracle of cortisone spread to a large part

of the public, and research laboratories started experimentation with wild yams

as a possible new source of the product. Knowing of the scientific interest, Mr. Bouche started his own search for wild yams. So far he has discovered and

sent to laboratories, five new species that grow on the Isthmus. He explains that some which might have medical possibilities take several years to mature. His hope—and of course, the hope of researchers— is to find a perennial or biennial wild yam from

which cortisone could be extracted more

quickly. Yam Chips Are Mailed The yams he finds he chops into mailable "potato chips," dries them to oneeighth their original weight, then sends them to laboratories in the United States

for identification and analysis. The two types of yarrs tint are used

for food on the Isthmus, according to Mr. Bouche, are both introduced, one from the South Pacific and the other from

the West Indies. The "yampi," the more

generally used of the two, is available only

in the dry season. He hopes that his probing in the field of wild yams might turn up a native

variety that would prove a better staple food than those now used on the Isthmus. Nothing in the yam family is toxic, he

says, so he gives them his own taste test. He also farms out to friends—or perhaps

the Canal Zone Experiment Gardens any find that seems worthy of trial propagation.

THOSE MAY LOOK like plain old spuds to you

but they might be. a source of cortisone. Inspecting them is Adrian M. Bouche, Control House Supervisor at Pedro Miguel Locks, and an off-duty plant

collector. He explains that they are wild yams, possibly of unknown species, which he finds in local jungles and sends to pharmaceutical firms for study

as a possible source of cortisone. Mr. Bouche works with pharmaceutical

firms, botanists, and scientific institutions on what might be termed a free lance

basis. Listed As Plant Collector He is listed as a plant collector by the Missouri and New York Botanical Gardens, Smith Institute, and the Botanical Museum of Harvard, for instance. He attemps to fill any requests they, or

others, send him for plants of a certain

species. Unsolicited finds, if he cannot

identify them himself, are sent to the expert in a particular field or the institu- tion he believes would be most interested

in them. Orchids go to Harvard, ferns and fungi to Iowa State College or the National Herbarium in Washington, for instance. The plant folklore picked up by Mr. Bouche in his years of collecting often involves native remedies or tonics, which

he always considers interesting if not of

real medical value. The big, long roots of the native "iron weed," actually purslane, are brewed into

tea, he says, which, supposedly because

of the strength of the plant, makes the person who drinks it strong. The peperoma, he says, can provide a

fast, cheap drunk, but might also have

possibilities in the field of local anesthesia. The Mormodica chinensis, known

locally as surce, is used as a cure for headaches, either twined around the head or brewed into a headache curing tea. "Cancer Cure" Investigated What was once reported to him as a supposed cure for skin cancer used by

Indians in the Estrella River area of Costa

Rica, proved to be their own empiric cure

for yaws, which was already known to science. A request for a pure sample of Indian arrow poisoning once came to Mr. Bouche

from a drug company in the United

States. He found that two species of the plant from which the poison was extracted

(Strychnos Spp.) were known to grow in Panama but he went further and found a

third species unknown even to those best versed in the plant lore of the Isthmus. Wild grapes with fruit the size of golf

balls and skins like a potato were first classified after Mr. Bouche found them

about 20 years ago in the Talamanca

Valley in Costa Rica, where he was

serving at the time as an engineer for a

gold mining company.

Although the fruit is inedible, the plant seemed to him to have possibilities for use as root stock for edible, but more

fragile grapes, which cannot be cultivated

in many places. Stock Sent To France He sent some of the root stock to his father's original home in Normandy,

where his distant relatives have at- tempted to propagate it in connection

with their own native grapes. Another prize find was a new species of dewberry (Rubus Spp.) which he found in Nicaragua in 1921. The individual berries

of this plant measured §\4 inches in circumference. Many New Orchids Found

Other virgin territory, as far as botanical work is concerned, in Cerro Punto

and El Valle netted Mr. Bouche some 18

to 20 discoveries in the fields of orchids and lilies. Mr. Bouche came to the Isthmus when

he was 9 years old, when his father was employed by the Canal, and started his own Canal service 2 years later working

for short periods as a messenger. Since

1912, he has been a regular employee,

except for some short breaks in service. He served as wireman and machinist for the Canal before starting the climb of promotions within the Locks Division up

to his present position as Control House

Supervisor. The Isthmus and this general part of the world are rich in its offerings to the

botanist or collector, partly he says, be- cause few scientists have worked here and

there are few, if any, laymen-collectors.

ROTC Head

I

(WIT. EARL -I. WILSON, Professor "f Military Science and Tactics, is in charge of the ROTC pro- gram this year at Balboa and Cristobal High Schools. A veteran of the Korean War, Captain Wilson re- places Maj. Wayne L. Hart, who was reassigned to the Command and General Staff School.
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION

i-ML JUL (it

ELECTRICAL SAFETY IN THE HOME

Have you eve replaced an electrical fuse?

If you haven't, there is the possibility that you "ill have such an opportunity in the near future. Elsewhere in this issue ol I he Review, there is an article explaining the change in the Company's policy, which will permit you to replace an electric fuse when

one blows out. This change of policy will applj to most quarters, except some of the

older types, which have an obsolete type ol construct ion and electrical wiring system.

In these quarters the electrical panel box, where the fuses are located, will remain

locked. When a fuse blows, it will be neces- sary for the tenant to call the district wire- man to replace it. What is a fuse? The old overworked HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

September ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Community Services. 5

Civil Affairs 3 Industrial 3 Engineering and Construction 2 Health 1 Marine 5 Railroad and Terminals

Supply and Service

Division Awards For NO DISABLING INJURIES

September MAINTENANCE DIVISION MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION GROUNDS MAINTENANCE DIVISION AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Grounds Maintenance 7 Clubhouses 6 Motor Transportation 5 Electrical 4 Dredging. 3 Hospitalization and Clinics 3 Storehouses 3 Main tenance 2 Railroad 2 Sanitation 2 Navigation 1 Commissary

Locks Terminals

deli nil ion thai a fuse is a safety valve is si ill a good on,-. \ In-.,' is normally a part of the

electrical circuit, and its function is to open

the circuit should trouble develop. There

are three types of fuses you will encounter

in Panama Canal Company quarters. The

newer type quarters may have an automatic

type, which opens the circuit mechanically

I he older quarters have a screw plug type, with the electric range and some main

switches by the meter having a cartridge

type. These contain a low melting-point metal which completes the circuit, and

melts, or blows, when the current becomes

too heavy because of a short circuit. The

plug type fuse has to be replaced entirely with a new fuse, which you will be permitted

to do. The cartridge type fuse has a re- placable metal fuse inside, which is to be

replaced only by the district wireman.

In those quarters where you will be permitted to change a blown fuse, you will usually find the fuse box and distribution panel located in the kitchen, hallway, or basement. Sometimes the short circuit you

have caused will not blow the fuse in the

distribution panel, and instead blows the

fuse at the main switch. In this case call the

district wireman to replace the blown fuse. When a fuse blows it indicates that there

is trouble in the electrical system, or in the appliances connected to it. If you are using an electric iron, for instance, and a

fuse blows on the circuit to which the iron

is connected, the odds are that there is trouble in the cord, or in the iron, so be sure

to disconnect the faulty appliance before

replacing the fuse. You can save much of the inconvenience of a blown fuse by

keeping all your appliances in good repair. Inspect your electrical appliances and

lamps regularly for frayed and worn cords, which usually are the source of much

trouble. ' Inspect the attachment plugs

often for loose wires and screws, because

pulling on the wire to disconnect it puts an

extra strain on the cheap fragile plastic plugs usually furnished today. These plugs

break easily when stepped upon. Due to the lack of sufficient baseboard receptacles

in the older type quarters, many have

installed open wires along the baseboard to

a temporary receptacle. These circuits are a dangerous hazard and should not be

installed. Some gadgets also will permit I he connecting of as many as six oi eight appli- ances and floor lamps on one outlet, which was intended for only one or two. Oxerloading a circuit like this will blow a fuse

if nothing worse happens. Always keep a couple of 15- and 20-ampere fuses, of an approved type, on hand for emergencies. Remember, that a blown fuse must be replaced with one of the same size.

If you replace it with a larger one and

overload the circuit, you may siart a fire'by overheating the concealed wires. In other words replace a 15-ampere fuse with a 15- ampere fuse, not a 20-ampere fuse. They

are marked plainly on the bottom. So much

has been written about the hazard of putting pennies back of fuse plugs, that we can

only add that if you had trouble when t he- fuse blew, it is nothing compared to that which you can get into by "plugging" the

fuse with a coin. Should the fuse you replaced blow, after you have disconnected all suspected appli- ances, this is evidence that the trouble is in the wiring and equipment concealed

within the building, in which case call the

district wireman. Also, if your electric range, water heater, or your entire house is without electricity, the district wireman

should be called. It is hazardous to change

fuses or touch the inside of the fuse box

with wet hands, or if you are standing on

a damp concrete floor. If you are in doubt

as to your ability to change a blown fuse, or

if you have doubts as to your safety when

doing so, it is better that you get the help of the district wireman. Remember that even

110 volts going through a well-grounded body can cause severe shock or even more

serious injury.

SEPTEMBER 1952

Engineering and Construction Bureau

Supply and Service Bureau Community Services Bureau

Civil Affairs Bureau

Health Bureau

C.Z. Gov't Panama Canal Co. (1952 lo Dale)

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

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

Industrial Bureau

Railroad and Terminals Bureau

Number of Disabling Injuries 44

Disabling Injuries per 1,080,000 Man-Hours Worked

(Frequency Rale)

Man-Hours Worked. .2,827,179 LEGEND

Amount Better Than Panama Canal Company—Canal Zone Government Best Year Amount Worse Than Panama Canal Company—Canal Zone Government Best Year
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952

THIS TRICK of dropping cards horizontally, well spaced and spread through mid-air, fascinates the shop talking-magicians gathered at the home of Frank

H. Lerchen, Maintenance Engineer for the Canal. The

performer is Maj. Greg Carpenter, Public Information

Officer for the Caribbean Command.

The audience of fellow magicians includes (left to

right) Pat Ryan. Safety Engineer for the Air Force; Col Craig Smyser, Engineering and Construction

Director for the Canal; Russell T. Wise, Supervising Safety Inspector for the Canal; and Mr. Lerchen. The missing magician, not shown in the group, is Clyde S. LaClair, Official Photographer for the Canal, who took the picture.

First You See It And Then You Don't

When You're Watching Zone Magicians

Intellectuals are the easiest to fool and

children are the hardest, in the opinion of some of the Canal employees who are or were magicians. Local sleight-of-hand artists are not

organized; they just get together occasionally to review their tricks and see the performance of newly-arrived magicians. Clyde S. LaClair, Official Photographer

for the Canal and formerly a professional magician, says the fiction that the hand is quicker then the eye was probably

invented by a magician. Because the eye is infinitely faster than even the most dexterous hand, magicians

rely primarily on psychclcgy to give people the fooling they love. Children are not easily taken in, according to the former magician, be- cause they have not learned the habit of concentrated attention. The magician's movements which capture the eye of sophisticated adults may be lost on

children whose interests flit unschooled from first one thing to another. While an adult is concentrating on the

"significant" action experience has taught him to see, guided through just the right mental hoops by the manipulating magician, a child may be watching an ant on

the floor or the "insignificant" movement

which unravels the trick and exposes the whole carefully-set-up plot. Pupil Stumps Teacher

Frank H. Lerchen, Maintenance Engineer for the Canal, learned his tricks from

his neighbor, Mr. LaClair. Proof of the

student's aptitude, highly touted by the

teacher, came when Mr. Lerchen stumped

the photographer with one of the teacher's own tricks. Mr. Lerchen specializes in card tricks. So does Col. Craig Smyser, Engineering and Construction Director, a comparatively new member of the local magicians'

informal group.

Russell T. Wise, Supervising Safety

Inspector for the Canal, and Pat Ryan, now an Air Force safety engineer and a former Canal employee, concentrate on

sleight-of-hand tricks as their magician's

specialty. Both of them formerly gave

shows, primarily for Isthmian audiences. Maj. Greg Carpenter, Public Information Officer for the Caribbean Command,

also specializes in card tricks but spices them liberally with quips and cracks from

a seeming boundless vitality. He is the most

enthusiastic of the local magicians and

keeps his tricks and patter well polished. The others continue to follow develop- ments in the magic business, but perform very little themselves. They explain that

a magician, like any virtuoso, must have

constant practice for proficiency. Magicians are of two schools of thought, according to Mr. LaClair. One works on

the theory people are going to like magic;

the other, that they are not. The former

try to astonish the audience with feats that defy belief; the latter try most to entertain, not to astonish or astound. Trickery Isn't Enough

Mere trickery, he says, is no longer enough to keep audiences entertained in an age in which people have learned to accept many scientific wonders they cannot understand.

The traditions established by the

old master magicians, Professor Herman,

Kellar, Houdini, Thurston, and Blackstone, have recently been revamped to

fit a new age and new staging conditions. The old masters performed on vaudeville stages and used large props primarily

to astound their attentive theater audiences. The masters among magicians today are frequently night club performers. They may carry their props in one of their pockets and must pace their chatter

to livelier and more intimate audiences. The old patterns for performances

established by the masters were carried

Braniff And Panama Line

Sign Air-Sea Agreement

Confirmation that Braniff Airways has

recently signed an air-sea transportation agreement with the Panama Line has just been received on the Isthmus. The agree- ment is similar to that signed in August by

the Panama Line and Pan American World Airways. Under this agreement, Canal employees

are eligible for a 10 percent discount on one-way airline fares to and from the United States. In order to take advantage of the air- line discount on the air-sea transportation, Canal employees must first purchase

their steamship tickets from the Panama

Line offices on the Isthmus; the tickets

will be stamped to identify them as part

of an air-sea trip ticket. After the tickets are so stamped they

are to be taken to the Braniff offices where arrangements for the trip can

be completed.

on for many years and it was not until 1939 that new creative tricks began to appear. Now, according to Mr. LaClair, magic is really ingenious. The current bag

of tricks and principles of entertainment

are new conceptions in the business. Most good magicians, like other vir- tuosos, take up their trade in childhood when their fingers are nimble enough to learn the tricks that must be contin- uously practiced for good performances. Each Has "Trade-mark"

Every magician, amateur or professional, has his "trade-mark" tricks. Mr. Ryan's specialty is the silk knot

trick, a classic in the business, but such a

classic, his fellow magicians say, a good

performance proves a real craftsman.

It consists of holding up by one corner

a large silk handkerchief knotted in the middle. The handkerchief then unties

itself, leaving no wrinkle behind. Mr. Ryan's specialty is another classic, one in which big brass Chinese rings are

first shown separately, then miraculously welded into an unbreakable chain. Mr. LaClair's specialty, although he

runs the gamut, are card tricks that "read

the mind." You think of a card and he

finds it in the deck and presents it to you. Major Carpenter is noted primarily for the patter that bubbles forth as he goes through his bag of card tricks, but he has

a way of standing cards in mid-air when

he drops them horizontally (shown in the

picture) that other long-time followers of the magic business have never seen performed before. Magicians think it's a dirty trick to reveal the tricks of their trade. People want to be fooled and if a trick doesn't

fool them because they know the "secret," they feel the same as the child who learns there is no Santa Claus.
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Official Panama Canal Company Publication Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

PrMtd by thi I'rMiiuj riant Mount Hope. CanalZone

John S. Seybold, Governor-President

SUBSCRIPTIONS—$1.00 a year

SINGLE COPIES—5 cents each On sale at all Panama Canal Clubhouses, Commissaries, and Hotels for 10 days after publication date.

SINGLE COPIES BY MAIL—lOcents 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.

Safety Engineers Will

Hold Monthly Meeting

A safety meeting will be held each month for all safety engineers and in- spectors, it was decided October 14 at a meeting of the Canal Zone Government- Panama Canal Safety Board.

Safety inspectors said they have felt the need of such a meeting for some time and expressed the opinion that it would

benefit the entire organization by creating

a better means of coordinating the indi- vidual division safety programs and

accident prevention campaigns. Such a meeting would also present a means whereby the safety inspectors could discuss and submit any new safety

policies for the consideration and approval

of the Safety Board.

Lt. Gov. H. 0. Paxson, a visitor at the meeting, said he was very much in favor

of a monthly meeting for the safety men. He pointed out that the responsibility

for safety was still that of the Bureau

Directors; the Safety Board should act to promote and improve the safety pro- grams by finding ways and means to help

those units in need. The safety engineers and inspectors would exchange ideas and mutually

assist each other at the working level. The Administration is particularly in- terested in the safety problems of the

local-rate employees. Part time safety assistants, in those

divisions not at present having full-time safety engineers and inspectors will be

given the opportunity to attend these

safety meetings which will be held on

alternate months in the northern and

southern districts.

RAIN'? We haven't seen anything this year. This is what the weather can do when it really tries. No rainfall this season has been able to even approach the Pacific side record set August 27, 1944, when

this photograph was taken and when 4.78 inches fell in Balboa in one hour. Canal Zone Commissaries will be open next Monday, November 10, as the

regular schedule is shifted to provide

for the Armistice Day holiday on November 11. Instead of closing on Monday of next week, the retail stores will close on

Thursday. The shift will prevent the commissaries from being closed for three days

in succession. A round dozen of Congressmen, with

their wives, are scheduled to visit the Canal Zone this month and next. One of the

12, Representative W. K. Van Pelt of Wisconsin, is a member of the House

Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee

which handles Panama Canal affairs. Nine of the Congressmen are arriving November 17 aboard the SS Ancon of the Panama Line. They are: Representative

E. Ross Adair of Indiana, with Mrs. Adair,

their daughter, Caroline Ann, and son, Stephen; Representative S. J. Crumpacker,

Jr., also of Indiana, and his wife; Representative Paul B. Dagiie of Illinois, and Mrs.

Dagiie, Representative Frazier Reams, of Ohio, with his wife; Representative Edward

L. Sittler, Jr., of Pennsylvania, with his wife, their daughter, Jane, and son, Richard; Representative and Mrs. Van Pelt; Representative Earl Wilson, another Indianian, with Mr>. Wilson, their daughter, Linda

Sue, and son, Phillip; and Representative and Mrs. Clement J. Zablocki, of Wisconsin. Due on December 1, aboard the SS

Cristobal, is Representative Charles B. Brownson with his wife and their three

children. Nancy, Judith and Charles. The following Monday, Representative H. R. Gross of Iowa, with Mrs. Gn>^ and

their son, Alan, are due on the SS Ancon. The last of the Congressional group,

arriving December 22 on the SS Cristobal,

will be Representative Carroll D. Kearns,

of Pennsylvania, and his wife. Representatives Adair, Crumpacker,

Dagiie, Sittler, Van Pelt. Wilson, Brownson,

Gross, and Kearns are members of the

Republican party. Representatives Gordon

and Zablocki are Democrats, and Representative Reams is an Independent. For the first time in Canal history, residents of some Company-Govern- ment quarters will be permitted to change electric fuses in their houses, according to an announcement just made by the Electrical Division. In the

past householders have had to call an

electrician whenever a fuse has blown. The change will apply to a majority of U. S.-rate quarters and to some quarters in the local-rate towns. For better

fire protection and for safety reasons, however, residents of some of the older quarters will still have to call for an

electrician when a fuse is blown.

Electric plug fuses of 15- and 20-ampere capacity will go on sale today in the

retail commissaries. The entire stock

of some 17,000 fuses which has been

carried by the Division of Storehouses has been transferred to the Commissary Division and fuses will no longer be

carried as a Storehouse item. On the Safety Page of this issue of The Panama Canal Review will be found hints as to the safety precautions

to be followed when changing fuses. A master schedule of all foreseeable school

activities for the school year has been set up

in the office of the Director of Physical Education and Recreation for the Schools

Division. Organizations not connected with the

schools are invited to consult this master

schedule, which has been established as a

flexible file. Such consultation, it is believed, would avoid conflicts with scheduled

school activities. A fraternal organization, for instance, probably would not wish to plan a dance or other large affair for the same evening on which it is traditional that the Balboa High

School holds its annual Junior- Senior Banquet according to G C Lockridge,

Director of the Physical Education and

Recreation Branch. PANAMA RAILROAD TRAIN SCHEDULE

NORTHBOUND

Daily

a. in. Monday—Friday

p. m.

Daily

p. m.

Saturday, Sunday, Holidays

p. m.

Panama, Leave

Colon, Arrive

7:00

8:25 12:402:05 SOUTHBO

4:40

6:05 UND

10:10

11:35

Colon, Leave | 9:40 1 12:30 1 4:30 1 10:00 Panama, Arrive^! 11:05 1 1:55 I 5:55 1 11:25 Northbound, freight train leaves Diablo crossing at 6:15 a. m. daily, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays. Southbound, freight train leaves Mount Hope at 9:55 a. m. daily, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952 Scholarship Students

iff I I vW^ % I /^B

i Jr l

r aZl a

"fc

SHOWN UNDER THE SHADE of Shakespeare

in the library of the La Boca school are two of the

three scholarship students now attending the La

Boca Junior College. The third, George Hamilton,

is shown at the left.

Eldeka Daniels (left, above) is attending the College on a tuition scholarship from St. Peters Church

in La Boca. She is a first year student and is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ethelridge Daniels of La Boca.

William A. Ellington fright, above) is also starting

college this year on a scholarship awarded him by

Aurora Lodge No. 523, I.B.P.O.E.W. of Rainbow

City. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ellington

of Rainbow City.

George Hamilton's tuition scholarship was an award from Club 20 of La Boca, a social club of teachers in the colored schools. Because he did not take a full course last year, he is now in his third year at the College. He lives with his grandfather Joseph Grant, in Red Tank. Forty Years Ago

In October

Politicking and pre-election plans pre- occupied Canal Zonians 40 years ago in October. Local politicians took to the hustings

in Isthmian Canal Commission Clubhouses to get out the vote for "Married

Progressive" and "Independent" party

candidates in Culebra, for instance, seeking such posts as "poor food inspector," "overseer of the poor," etc. The mock election shennanigans in the Clubhouses were planned to fill the enter- tainment void in intervals between

receipt of actual election results from the United States, to be thrown on screens

in the Clubhouses as they came in on

election night. Other pre-election plans included extra

trains on the Panama Railroad on election night, November 5, so that employees could get to the points at which elec- tion results were to be received. The returns were to be transmitted from the cable office to the main telephone exchange at Cristobal and from there to the clubhouses and other points. The

returns also were to be sent to Portobelo by "wireless telegraph."

The "future facilities" of the Atlantic ami

Pacific entrances of the Canal were described in The Canal Record and plans

for construction at the Pacific terminal were approved. The piers for commercial use at Balboa

were to be about 1,000 feet long and 200

feet wide with 390-foot slips between. Only

one pier was to be constructed at first and an

old French steel icharf, about 1,000 feet long, was to be retained "for some time in

the future," for commercial use. Permanent shop buildings on the Pacific

side were to be built in this order: Planing

mill; foundry and pattern storage building; machine and erecting shop, forge shop, boiler house, gas house, storehouse, and office; paint shop and steel storage shed; boiler shop, car repair shop, and galvanizing

plant; and roundhouse and lumber shed. Two wharves and one pier were under

construction at Cristobal. The Atlantic side ducks were planned primarily to meet the commercial requirements of the Panama

Railroad. It was explained, however, that

if there were enough traffic to justify it after the Canal teas completed, four other piers, each about 1,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, would be constructed.

Four steel tanks to be erected on the Isthmus for the storage and distribution

of fuel oil were contracted for by the Canal Commission. Each was to have a

capacity of 42,000 barrels of oil and was

to be 93 feet in diameter by 35 feet high.

Conference Hears Talk on

Housing, Rents, and Hospitals

(Continuedfrom page 3) of the Board

of Directors draw no salary from the Company but that they do receive expenses for travel and subsistence when

they attend Board meetings. Also in answer to questions, the Governor said that he knew nothing of rumors

that employees would be required to buy

their own stoves and garbage cans and

that rents on garages will be increased. Want Legislation Rufus Lovelady of the AFGE asked whether the administration would support

a bill to make tolls carry a portion of housing expenses, pointing out that "it is inconceivable that the basis of toll rates are what was set years ago when everything else has doubled." The Governor

answered that this question of backing

legislation would have to go to the Board

for decision. Herschel Gandy, President of AFGE

Lodge No. 14, supported Mr. Lovelady, adding that employees are "getting less and less and if we don't make a fight things will go on and on." Touched on more briefly were: the Diablo dump, for which the Governor said authorities are trying to find an alternate

site; the difference in commercial courses

in U. S.-rate and local-rate high schools, with the Governor reporting that 67 per- cent of the U. S.-rate high school graduates go to college while the local-rate high schools prepare their students for jobs immediately after high school; covered walkways for some schools, this matter being included in the 1955 budget;

standardization of equipment to prevent

a large inventory of such items as plumbing parts; demolition of houses in Balboa

Flats, half of which are now to be torn down in fiscal year 1954 and the re- mainder the following fiscal year; a tentative building program for Pedro Miguel where about 70 new houses may be

constructed in 1956; and a question as to whether any costs of maintaining the Armed Forces are attributable to the Canal Zone Government, which the Governor answered in the negative. Attending the meeting were: The

Governor; E. A. Doolan, Personnel Director; and Forrest G. Dunsmoor, Administrative Assistant to the Governor; and

the following employee representatives: William S. McKeej Machinists; Joseph

Garriel, Plumbers; Mr. Loveladv and Mr. Gandy, AFGE; Walter Wagner, Mr.

Tobin, Owen J. Corrigan, and Mr.

Hatchett, Central Labor Union; Andrew

Lieberman, Marine Engineers; Mr. Hammond, General Committee of Civic

Councils; Mrs. Rennie, Pacific Civic

Council; Mr. Rice, Cristobal-Margarita

Civic Council; Captain Ward, Gamboa

Council; Bronson Powell, Pedro Miguel

Council; Raymond Ralph and Carl N.

Nix, Gatun Council; and Chester Luhr,

Pacific Locks Association. Fireman's Ball Tonight

Tonight is the night of the annual

Canal Zone Fire Fighters Ball, to be

held at the Hotel El Panama. The

affair is the second to he given by

this group. The advance sale of tickets indicates that an even larger attendance than

last sear's is expected. Frederick A. Slohl, of the Balboa Fire Station, is chairman of this year's Ball. Features of the dance will be a floor show and three door prizes.
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Washington Office Is Moved To Indiana Ave.

The Panama Canal Company's Washington office, established about 1905, was moved October 20 to its new location on

the seventh floor of 101 Indiana Avenue

in Washington, I). C. The move of the

office from its longtime location was

almost simultaneous with the retirement

of B. F. Bui-dick, who had headed the Washington office since 1939. The new Washington office will be the headquarters of the Company's Secretary, W. M. Whitman, and will have a staff of eight. Many of its functions have been transferred within the past months to other

units of the Company. Purchasing operations are now handled by the Office of the Vice President in New York; accounting becomes the function of the Comptroller, and personnel work now comes under the Personnel Director. The Personnel Bureau is maintaining a small staff in the Washington office, under

B. F. BUR DICK

the direction of Otto Helmerichs, formerly of the Central Labor Office here and more recently a recruiting officer with the

Civil Service Commission. Mr. Helmerichs' staff will handle certain recruitment

functions and will also do some wage

statistical work as well as maintaining

liaison with the Civil Service Commission.

All U. S.-rate recruitment is now

centered in the Employment and Utilization Division of the Personnel Bureau and

inquiries ai. to employment should be

sent to the Canal Zone rather than to Washington. Mr. Burdick retired October IS after more than 34 years of Government service. Born in Houston, Ala., he worked

for 18 years with the War Department

and the General Accounting Office, joining the Canal organization in 1936. After a few months in the Canal Zone, he was made Assistant Chief of the Washington office in 1936. He was made

Chief in 1939, and at the same time he became a member of the Board of Directors. Seven tons of war-vital crude rubber from the Darien section of Panama were

dispatched to the United States on Army

bombers during the early part of World War II. In charge of the shipment was a

representative of the Rubber Reserve Co.

B. I. Everson Named

Assistant Director

The appointment of B. I. Everson as Assistant Railroad and Terminals Director was announced late in October. Mr. Everson was Superintendent of the Motor Transportation Division from 1947

until his new appointment. He has been succeeded as Motor Transportation Division Superintendent by

Roger W. Adams.

Both appointments were effective November 2. Both Mr. Everson and Mr. Adams are graduates of the in-service training course

of the Canal organization, as well as of Balboa High School. Both also hold degrees in Mechanical

Engineering, Mr. Everson from Carnegie

Institute of Technology and Mr. Adams

from Iowa State College.

Shipwrights, Plumbers, Organize

After Hour Classes For Study

{Continuedfrom pageS shipwright and

boatbuilder crafts. Five apprentices and

twelve journeymen meet for a two-hour

session each Monday night. Although the Industrial Training Coordinator is nominally the instructor, most

of the actual teaching is done by members

of the class. Four projects have been planned for the mechanics and the first of them, a course in Hull Lines and Tables of Offsets was the project for October, November,

and December. Members of this class are the following journeymen: John Van der Heyden,

Alrick L. Nelson, Duncan Laird, Martin

G. Klontz, Charles K. McNiel, Walter D.

Johnston, William Wirtz, Jr., Vincent \). Ridge, R. C. Casanova, 0. P. Strickland, R. H. Kirkpatrick, and Vincent Canamas,

and the following apprentices, John A.

Pescod, Edward Bringas, Clifton Hayward, Robert Brown, and James Ramsey. The bringing together of the practical knowledge of the journeymen and the

theoretical knowledge of the apprentice

school is proving advantageous to all in the class, but especially to the apprentices.

Look

Who's

Here

RUDOLPH, the record reindeer, is back again this year, sticking his big, red, bulbous nose into our Christ- mas business. And it isn't too soon to be thinking about Christ- mas either.

You'll find him at the records sections of Canal

Clubhouses, along with a lot of other records you can buy for the holiday season

Rudolph's records will retell his adventures with Santa Claus. Other Christmas

records will brighten the holidays with other songs and stories.

There are many records in the records sections especially for Christmas

listening; and there are a lot of other records that are just right for Christmas giving. There are records for children, records to please 'teen-agers, and records for

all kinds of adult tastes. There are jazz and classics, tunes of today and oldtime

tunes—something to please everyone.

They are available at the records sections in all speeds and in single records or albums. There are records to fit different phonographs and differing states of finance. A record is a lasting thing that gives pleasure throughout the year. When you're Christmas shopping, remember to buy records from the Canal Company Clubhouses.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952 Here Are The Canal Zone Teams—

BALBOA BULLDOGS have a big squad. Left to right: bottom row: Miller Haynes, (manager) Abdiel Flynn, Tom Davidson, Joe Oliver, Fred Cotton, Ed Benny, Ray Nickisher, Ronnie Stover, Carl Widell, Cesar Von Chong, Bob Glud, and Danny Gressang; second row: Francis Boyd, Jim Stevens, Jim Fulton, Don Huff, Curtis

Jeffries, Paul Smith, Everett Stacy, Larry Keene, Bill Dawson, Bill Campbell and Dick Lomedico; third row: Tom Grim'ison (manager), Jim Jones, Tom Jenkins, Miles

Pace, Tom Hale, Louis Charles, Jack Corrigan, Bob Coleson, Frank Smith, Bob Morris, and Jim May. Top row: Bob Presley (manager), Bruce Orvis, Ted .Morris, Kirk Tibbetts, Bill Fulleton. Ronnie McConnell, Andy Wright, and Bruce Quinn (manager).

#'W -**W^" - # # §' 9* y&f y*i js ySi *& wm U 13 to 27 36 W±m

33 f

JUNIOR COLLEGE GREEN DEVILS huddle on the bench just before game time. Left to right they are, bottom row: Didacio Silvera, Jack Tinnin, William

Nickisher, Ralph Huls, Freddy Aleguas, Bob Dolan, Bill Willoughby; top row: Bob Sievers, Salvador Aleguas, Nick Gorham, Elias Entibe, Johnny Attrition, Carl Meissner, Jerrv Fox. and Dick Dillman.

CRISTOBAL TIGERS sit still for the camera. They arc, left to right, bottom row: Anselmo Arias, Lain Cox, Roland Leea, Bruce Newhard, Luke Palumbo, Jr., Dick Cunningham, Dick (iondhead, Herbert Lewis, l-'lo_\d Mil lermit, Bruce Sanders; second row: Leslie Rinohart. I >an I ieorge, George Bennett, Bob Salter, Stanley Smith, Dick Sasso, Ralph Reocia, Tony Dyer, Theodore Chin, Bill Price, and Bob Connard, third row: ( loach Palumbo, Jim Everett, Demetrio Tagaropulos, Leo ( lon- stantine, Ben Favorite, Bill Roberson, Vernon Bryant, John Robinson. Dick Reed, Tom Hughes, and Bob Orvis; top row: Carl Tuttle, George Sewoll, Rudy South, Bob \nderson, David Lane, Eugene Didier, Anthony Naboa, Charles Thompson, Bob Hodges. John Hayes, Coach Moser.
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11

CHEERLEADERS AREN'T BORX; lots of hard work and practice gc into the maneuvers which they

execute with such aplomb before crowded stands at

football games. Using Joyce Gardner as a model, co- captain Marilyn Bevington shows the girls of the

Balboa High School cheering squad how to get that

right toe up. The girls, in their perky red and white

outfits, are, left to right: Judy McCoy, Joyce ( 'ollinge, Marguerite Neal, Marilyn Bevington, Joyce Gardner,

Alice Paxson, Edna Hart, and Ann Gorman.

—And Here Are The Cheerleaders

November is football lame and turkey time in the Canal Zone, just as it is in most parts of the United States. This year the high spots of the Canal

Zone's fourth tackle football season come

during the Thanksgiving week end. Then, Cristobal High School's Eleven

will play the Key West, Fla., high school team, at Key West, ami the team from

Lake Worth', Fla., high school will fly to the Canal Zone to meet the Balboa High School team at the Balboa Stadium. Both games will be played at night; the date for both is November 28. Intersectional football was started here

in 1950, the second year that tackle

football had been played in the Canal Zone schools. Miami Played Here That year Balboa played MiamiJackson at Balboa; in 1951 Balboa flew

to Miami for an exchange game and Key

West flew its team to the Canal Zone to play Cristobal High School. (An added

attraction last year was a Key WestCristobal basketball game, which Cristobal won.) The local teams have put up valiant

fights but, so far, have been losers in the

football games; this year they hope to turn the tables and, with 3 years of experi- ence behind them, come out winners. G. C. Lockridge, Director of the Physical Education Branch of the Canal Zone Schools, gives credit for the success

of football locally to two factors: The

public, which has turned out in droves to attend the school games, and the Student

Associations of Balboa and Cristobal High Schools and Junior College. The Student Associations are responsible for all the football bills. They buy

uniforms, pay for the lights and services

of the men who officiate at the games. Dad's Was Different Today's 25-pound uniforms are a far cry from the 60-pounders which the

fathers of some of the present players wore. For one thing, Dad's uniform was seldom, if ever, laundered during a football season. It couldn't be. Removable foam-rubber pads have replaced the weighty kapok and reed padding of the

old days and afford just about the same

protection to the players. Balboa, for instance, uses easily washable uniforms of cotton, loosely woven

for ventilation. The uniform is a "shell," Mr. Lockridge says, into which the rubber pads can be inserted. Balboa players have both shorts and conventional type

pants, but seldom use the shorts. Steering the three local school teams

are two comparative oldtimers in the Canal Zone and a newcomer. Luke Palumbo, who has been at Cristobal High School since 1943, is the dean of the local football coaches. John Fawcett, who has been an Isth- mian since 1946, is the man behind the Balboa High School football squad.

Junior College has a new coach this year, J. L. Wolf, who played halfback on

the Pennsylvania State College team.

In addition to the intersectional games,

in which only the high school teams will participate, the three schools have their own local championship to play off. The football season, local and inter- sectional, winds up Thanksgiving week

end.

ON RAINY DAYS a big study hall makes a fine place for the Junior College cheerleaders to work out. They have additional inspiration from a series of Green Devils (for the team) on the blackboard. In

one of their favorite stunts are, bottom, left to right: Marguerite Flynn. Merry Mallen, Shirley Butler, Beth Lockridge, and. top, Betty Wilkinson. Mary

Adelia Morley, Shirley Karst, and Marilyn Dupuis.

ON GAME NIGHTS spectators get full advantage

of all the prior practice and training. Plus, of course, the full force of young lungs. Here, Cristobal's cheering squad goes into action before a grandstand

full of rooters. Left to right are: Nancy Kariger,

Helene de Boyrie, Pat Kelly, Judy Palun Thomas, Blanquita McXatt, and Mercedes

Judy, daughter of coach Luke Palumbo, is a likely captain for CHS' cheerleaders in 19M; she is only six and a first grade pupil at Cristobal Elementary School.
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952

Year-Old Rainbow City Community Band

Provides Music For The Atlantic Side

Ten Years Ago

In October

Whenever anyone on the Gold Coast wants music for a concert or a parade, he

is likely to think of the Rainbow City Community Band.

Although the band celebrated its first birthday only last month it has already made such a name for itself that it gave

a concert for Colon's Alcalde, Jose Dominador Bazan, when he took office September 1. The Rainbow City Band is a younger

relative of the Panama Community Band

which was formed in 1943 when the Isthmus was expecting a visit from Dr.

Finley Wilson, then Grand Exalted Ruler

of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of The World.

Last October a group of Atlantic siders got together and decided that they too wanted a band. As a result of their desire 45 musicians meet in the study hall of the Rainbow City High School twice a week

for practice sessions under the baton of their Organizing Director, Reginald Prescott, who teaches instrumental music in the two colored high schools. Membership in the band, according to

its bylaws, is open to anyone interested

in the progress and development of

classical music, although the playing membership is limited to 50. From 40 to 14 At the present time the oldest in the group is in his late forties. The youngest

is 14, a seventh-grade student. Fifteen of the players are graduates of the Rainbow

City High School, 14 are members of the community, 12 are students, and four are Atlantic side teachers. Seven of the band members are women. Some bands have a few stringed instru- ments; the Rainbow City Band, however,

has no strings. All of its instruments are wind or percussion, with the accent heavy

on the brasses. For public appearances, the band is uniformed in white. The Rainbow City Band is sponsored by Roscoe Haining, Principal of the

Rainbow City High School. Mr. Prescott

is its Organizing Director and its Secretary

is Miss Myrtle Kirkaldy, a teacher, who

is also a saxophonist in the band.

Director Is Well Known

The director is well-known in local

circles. He attended school in Panama

and in May of this year received the degree of Bachelor of Music, majoring in composition, from the Extension Division

of the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Three years ago he won first prize, $100,

in a contest sponsored by the Panama

Carnival Junta to select carnival music. Two of his most recent compositions are sacred anthems. One is dedicated to the Reverend Mainert Peterson, Rector of Christ Church-by-the-Sea, where Mr.

Prescott sings bass in the choir; the

other is dedicated to the Acolyte Guild

of the same church. He plays eight or nine instruments but

prefers piano, clarinet, saxophone, string

bass, and flute. His oldest son—he is the

father of four children—is in his sec- ond year at the Panama Conservatory, studying clarinet.

ALL LOCAL-RATE WORKERS TO

BE PAID BY BANK CHECK

All local-rate employees of the Company-Government who are paid bi-weekly will receive their pay by bank check before the end of this month.

Checks will be issued to about half

of the local-rate workers this coming

week; the remainder will receive

their first checks the week of November 23. New, rectangular shaped plastic laminated photo badges which local- rate workers must have to cash their checks are being issued to those who

do not have photo badges.

All U. S.-rate employees have been

paid by check since last July.

A tax bill "imposing the greatest revenue burden in history upon the people

of the United States" was signed 10 years ago in October by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Canal Zonians breathed a sigh of relief when they found it did not apply to them. The provision that would have required Canal Zone residents to pay income tax was excluded by a Senate and House

Conference Committee responsible for the

final form of the legislation. Santa Claus in the Canal Zone, not quite a wartime casualty, had his beard singed by shipping problems and shortages that beset the Commissary Division. The announcement that there would be no

toys in the Commissaries also included the warning that shortages would also mean less fancy, more practical holiday gifts and

feasts, no tinsel or gilt on Christmas wrappings and no big Christmas trees. A new Quarantine Area at Corozal to replace the Quarantine Area at Fort Amador, which was to be transferred to the Navy by the Canal, was started 10 years ago in October.

"Several dozen" families of Canal

employees had received notice early in the month that they would have to move

from their quarters in the Quarantine

area of Balboa so that it could be taken

over by the Navy. "The Quarantine

Area," a newspaper account stated, "has

long been among the choicest residential sections in the Canal Zone. Most of the

families living there have many years of service with the Canal organization and many are in the real 'old-timer' class." Rusty relics of the French effort to build an isthmian canal were being gathered to- gether for salvage to be sent to the United

States as part of the all-out war effort. Among the scrap metal prepared for ship- ment were old French dredges, long since towed to shallow water along the Canal

banks and abandoned, as well as later floating and excavating equipment used by

the Americans.

WHEN IT'S MUSIC TIME mfltainbow City. the Community Band can be counted on. Made

up of 45 musicians, ranging]; in age from 14

years to the late Mil's, the band is under the direction

of Reginald Prescott, teacher of instrumental music in the Occupational High Schools. The

Rainbow City band is only a little over a year

old but has already made an important place

for itself in the community.
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

OUR OUT-OF-DOORS

Of all the shrubs commonly used in this area for landscape work, it is difficuH

to oame one of local origin. The three most common of the numerous varieties that have been introduced to the Isthmus are the Hibiscus, Croton, and

Bougainvillea. The common Hibiscus ( Hibiscus TOSQr sinensis) is grown everywhere in the

tropics hut the origin of its numerous

varieties may he traced to China. It is sometimes called "shoeflower plant" in India because the petals, which turn

black when they are crushed, are used

there for shoe blacking. Chinese women

use the flowers to dye their hair and eye

brows. The flower-buds are also often

eaten, either fresh or pickled. The hibiscus flowers are either single or double and of a great variety of colors. In Panama the plant is called "papo." The "Chinese Rose," "Blushing Hibiscus," or "Mexicali Rose," (H.mutabilis) has been introduced recently to this area by J. S. Skinner, Power Dispatcher at the Miraflores Substation of the

Electrical Division, an ardent and pains- taking horticulturist. The large flowers, which are either single or double, are white when they open in the morning and gradually turn pink as the day progresses. The cultivated hibiscus is closely re- lated to the well known roselle or "Jamaica sorrel" (H. sabdariffa) which is grown in large quantities in Panama for the juicy calyces (outer, usually green, portion of a flower) used for making cool drinks as well as jam and jelly.

THE NELLIE HIGGIN'S Hibiscus shown here is one of the most numerous of the varieties of this plant that are commonly cultivated on the Isthmus. It was developed in Hawaii and was named for the late Mrs. J. E. Higgins, the wife of a former director of the Canal Zone Experiment Gardens at Summit who

was engaged in horticultural work in Hawaii and the

Philippine Islands before coming to the Isthmus.

Crotons (Codiaeum varicgatum) are, with hibiscus and bougainvillea, the most

abundantly planted local ornamental

shrubs, being used extensively for hedges and specimen shrubs. The leaves of this plant vary widely, ranging from obovate (roughly, egg- shaped) to linear, colored in an almost

endless number of combinations of green,

red, yellow, white, and pink. The

blanches are often used indoors in place

of floral displays because they are hand- some in appearance and last well. Those who handle crotons should take care that

the juice which exudes (Seepage SO)

"THIS IS IT, please Santa," young Valerie Spencer

tells the white-whiskered old gentleman in the red

suit. There wasn't much doubt, when Valerie got

into the Commissary Division's Balboa toy display, that it was a bicycle which had caught her eye and

heart. She did remember to tell Santa that big sister Janice wanted a basket for her bike and that a doll was exactly what her pal, Elvia, wanted. Valerie and

Janice live with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie M. Spencer, on Ridge Road in Balboa Heights.

There's a story behind the Hi-Protein

(also called Cornell Loaf or Triple-Rich, in the United States) bread now sold in the Commissaries on Tuesdays and Fridays. It

is a story that is considered revolutionary in the field of nutrition. The bread was developed at Cornell University as a result of a study Bread is requested by Governor

Like Meat Dewey to improve the diet

of patients in New York

State mental hospitals. The formula for high-nutritional value bread which was developed as the result of the research project headed by Clive M.

McCay, was made freely available to bakers and individuals and was quickly adopted by many state institutions and bakery concerns. The Commissary Division acquired the open formula, by which the Hi-Protein bread is baked at Mount Hope, simply by

directing a request to Professor McCay,

who, with the help of his wife, has sent out hundreds of mimeographed recipes, without charge and without profit to anyone. Bread has been much maligned in recent

years, Mrs. McCay explained in a recent

letter in a national women's magazine,

largely because of the general belief that it

is valuable only for calories. Actually, it is one of the leading protein

foods, supplying as much protein in the national diet as meat, she pointed out. The protein in the special Hi-Protein

bread, in which milk, soy flour and wheat germ are added to enriched unbleached

white flour, performs in the bodv like meat, Mrs. McCay wrote. The enriched bread also supplies additional calcium, the mineral that surveys show most lacking in the national diet, and

the one needed particularly by growing

children and elderly people. The Hi-Protein bread also increases the amount of riboflavin, one of the B vitamins, also known to be low in the national diet. Experimental white rats used in the Cornell University research project proved

the value of the Hi-Protein bread. They

grew sleek and fat on a diet of only Hi- Protein bread and butter, but grew very

slightly and became weak and sick on a diet of ordinary bread and butter.

Cooks and carvers and connoisseurs who

are interested in fine For Holiday fowls for Thanks- Cooks and Carvers giving feasts know

that good looks as

well as good cooks can make a good bird

taste better. To improve turkeys' looks and the temper

of cooks, the Commissaries have tinned

roast racks, that cradle a bird as he browns

for the feast and keep him looking the way

a fine unfeathered friend should look. The roast racks measure 11 x 1% inches and cost about 50 cents. The gleam of a handsome carving set highlights a holiday table and a carving knife that really cuts reflects a happy carver. Three-piece sterling sets in the Commissaries now have Sheffield steel blades that

cut. The sterling handles are tarnish and

wear resistant because of a special process used only by Wolfenden, manufacturers of carving sets to finish sterling flatwear. Then there are other three-piece carving

sets with handles of ivory, simulated horn, and stag. The prices range from $1.75 to So

as compared to $15 for the sterling. For those who eat steak, there are also

sets of steak knives with simulated pearl and rosewood handles. The prices on these

six-piece sets run from $3.50 to $5.00. To deal with the downpours that hit the

Drizzle Boots [sthm"s fr '»" """<<" until For Downpours <lr

>: sea«on' lh

, L' Commissanes have the popular

plastic drizzle boots that cost $1.75. About 71,000 pounds of turkeys have

been ordered for Zonians' Thanksgi\ ing and

Christmas dinners. For those who eat ham,

there are 100,000 pounds on special holiday- order. K\ iscerated turkeys, dressed and ready

for the oven, come in 7- to 26-pound size. The regular undrawn turkeys will vary in weight from 7 to 30 pounds. There will, of course, be the usual trim- mings available for Thanksgiving feasts

cranberries, chestnuts, fresh oysters, etc. The Commissary Division's own mince meat mix is made about a year ahead of the time it is sold in the retail stores, for the proper aging that gives it the right zip to complement holiday meals.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952 THIS MONTH'S CALENDAR ANNIVERSARIES

NOVEMBER

9th—Pipefitters, Margarita Clubhouse,

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

Clubhouse, 9:30 a. m. Plumbers No. 606, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 9:30 a. m. 10th Machinists No. 699, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m. American Legion Post No. 1, Legion Home, 7:30 p. m.

11th—Armistice Day.

Pipefitters, Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30

p. m.

Electrical Workers No. 397, Wirz Memorial Building, 7:30 p. m. American Legion Post No. 7, Fort

Clavton, 7:30 p. m. VFW Post No. 100, Old Boy Scouts

Building, Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. American Legion Auxiliary No. 1, Balboa Legion Home, 7:30 p. m. 12th—Carpenters and Joiners No. 913, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m.

Pacific Civic Council, Board Room,

Administration Building, 7:30 p. m.

14th Blacksmiths No. 400 and Boiler- makers No. 463 and 471, K. of C.

Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m. 16th—CLU-MTC, Margarita Clubhouse,

8:30 a. m.

17th Electrical Workers No. 677, Masonic Temple, Gatun, 7:30 p. m.

Truckdrivers, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30

p. m.

18th—Operating Engineers No. 595, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7 p. m. Machinists No. 811, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m.

19th AFGE No. 14, Balboa Clubhouse,

7:30 p. m. American Legion Auxiliary Unit 3, Legion Home, Gatun, 7:30 p. m. 20th—American Legion Auxiliary Unit

6, Gamboa Legion Hall, 7:30 p. m. 24th -Machinists No. 699, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m. VFW Auxiliary, Post 3822 Home, 7:30

p. m. 25th—Marine Engineers, Gamboa Golf

Club. Operating Engineers, No. 595, Lodge

Hall, Balboa, 7 p. m. VFW Post No. 100, Old Bov Scout

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

Clavton, 7:30 p. m. 26th -AFGE No. 88, Margarita Clubhouse,

7:30 p. m. Governor-Employee Conference, 2

p. m., Board Room, Administration

Building, Balboa Heights.

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 2, Legion Home, Old Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. 27th—Thanksgiving Day. DECEMBER

1st Postal Employees 23160, K. of C.

Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m. Pedro Miguel Civic Council, Union

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

Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. VFW Post No. 727, Fort Clayton, 7:30

p. m. VFW Post No. 3822, Curundu Road,

7:30 p. m. 2d —Meatcutters and Butchers, No. 121,

Officers Home, 7:30 p. m. Teachers No. 288, Cristobal High

School Auditorium, 3:30 p. in. Gamboa Civic Council, Community

Center, 7:30 p. in. Gatun Civic Council, Gatun Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. Machinists No. 811, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m. 3d—VFW Post No. 40, W'irz Memorial

Building, 7:30 p. m. Isthmian Nurses' Association of the Canal Zone (First Annual Convention), Army-Navy Club, 1-9 p. m. 4th—Carpenters and Joiners No. 667, Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. 5th—American Legion Post No. 6, Gamboa Legion Home, 7:30 p. m.

November Sailings

From Cristobal Panama November 7

Cristobal November 14 Ancon November 21 Panama November 28

Cristobal December 5 From New York

Cristobal. . . November 5 Ancon _ November 12 Panama November 19

Cristobal November 26 Ancon . December 3

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS

September 15 Through October 15

The following list contains the names of those U. S.-rate employees who were transferred from one division to another (unless the change is administrative) or from one type of work to another. It does not contain within-grade promotions or re- gradings. CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Mrs. Margaret C. Drumm and Mrs. Mary Lou B. Nelson, from Substitute Teacher to Elementary School Teacher. Mrs. Marguerite F. Little, from Substitute Teacher to High School Teacher. COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU James J. McDade, Jr., from Construction Inspector, Contract and Inspection

Division, to Housing Maintenance Inspector, Housing Division. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION BUREAU

Mrs. Dorothy S. Parsons, from Store- keeper (Checker), Division of Storehouses,

to Clerk-Typist, Electrical Division. Mrs. Cornelia B. Laurie, from Clerk-

["ypist to Accounting Clerk, Electrical

1 )i\ 'ision. Monroe T. Phillips, from Powerhouse

Operator to Senior Powerhouse Operator,

Electrical I >i\ ision.

Orlando L. Flye, Jr., from Electrical Engineer, Engineering Division, to Electrical Engineer, Electrical Division. Howard W. Osborn, from Construction

Engineer, Maintenance Division, to Traffic Engineer, Office ol the Director, Engineering and Construction Bureau. Mrs. Ruth B. Krziza, from Clerk-Steno- grapher to Clerk-Typist, Maintenance

Division. Hurman S. Spangler, from Carpenter

Leader to Planing Mill Foreman, Mainte- nance I Hvision. Russell K. Tibbetts, from Powerhouse

Operator to Senior Powerhouse Operator,

Electrical Division. Frank A. Born, Jr., from Lock ( (perator Wireman, Pacific Lock-, to Wireman,

Electrical Division. FINANCE BUREAU

John Montayne, William Goldfein, Albert M. Jenkins, from Governmental

Accountant to Governmental Systems

Accountant

Albert B. Hendricks, Malcolm R. Wheeler, from Accounting Clerk to Governmental Accountant. Florian B. Hopson, Jose E. Corco,

from Governmental Accountant to Ac- counting Clerk.

Employees who observed important anniversaries during the month of October are

listed alphabetically below. The number

ot years i-iicludes all Government service with the Canal or other agencies. Those

with continuous service with the Canal are

indicated with (*).35 years Carl G. Breitenbach, Dock Foreman.

Navigation I >ivision. 30 years Max C. Conover, Carpenter Foreman, Maintenance Division. William H. Keller, Assistant Superintendent, Pacific Locks. GeorgeM. Pervin, Clerk, License Section. Clarendon Sealy, Stockman, Commissar},' Division. John S. Skinner, Jr., Power Dis- patcher, Electrical Division. *Lenora Smith, Principal, Elementarv

School, Cristobal. Agnes E. Sugrue, Public Health Nurse. Health Office, Colon. Leonard B. Wilson, Operator, Utility and

Tractor-Bulldozer, Maintenance Division 25 years Katherine I. Clark, High School

Teacher, Balboa. Albert J. Deutsch, Machinist, Industrial Bureau. "Howard S. Engelke, General Fore- man, Telephones, Southern District, Electrical Division. Leslie R. Evans, Administrative Assist- ant, License Section. Stella I. Frampton, Clerk, Gorgas

Hospital. Mulia Guenzi, Elementary Teacher, Balboa. Walter L. Gorman, Painter Foreman,

Pacific Locks. William E. Hughes, Police Sergeant. *Rosalie Jones, Elementary Teacher,

Cristobal. Edith I. Nason, Clerk, Gorgas Hospital. Eugene E. Orvis, Jr., Machinist, Industrial Bureau. Gilbert B. Owen, Carpenter Foreman,

Maintenance I >i\ ision. 15 years Harold L. Anderson, Administrative

Assistant, Administrative Branch. James F. Campbell, Customs Inspector. Eula Joe Ewing, Cashier, Commissarv

Division. *Rita G. Gribbons, Xurse, Gorgas

Hospital. Adolph Kapinos, Police Sergeant. John L. McDermott, Supervisor, Gatun

I lam, Atlantic Locks. Laura C. McLintock, Clerk Typist, Maintenance I Hvision. Charles A. Mockus, Postal Clerk. Eugene S. Shipley, Police Lieutenant. Robert C. Sievers, Jr., Bakery Manager,

Commissar\' Division. Joseph F. Troyan, Jr., Pumpman,

Maintenance Division. Leon M. Warren, Management Engineer, Maintenance I >i\ ision. *Martha H. White, Nurse, Gorgas

Hospital. HEALTH BUREAU

Dr. Wayne Gilder, front District Physician, Cristobal, to Superintendent, Colon

I [ospital. INDUSTRIAL BUREAU

Charles J. Palles, from Sheetmetal Worker, Maintenance Division, to Sheet- metal Worker, Industrial Bureau. Robert W. Fuller, from Apprentice

Shipwright to Shipwright. Charles K. McNiel, from Boatbuilder to Boatbuilder Leader. MAGISTRATES' COURTS

David M. Jenkins, from Docket Clerk

to Translator, Balboa Court. MANAGEMENT DIVISION Charles S. Robinson, from Lock Operator Wireman, Pacific Locks, to Methods

Examiner. MARINE BUREAU

William J. Cronin, Roy H. Rice, from

Probationary Pilot to Pilot, Navigation

I )i\ isii hi George E. White, Hubert D. Clayton,

Jr., Robin L. Erixson, from Pilot-in-
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Training to Probationary Pilot, Navigation

Division. Howard B. Harrison, From Machinist,

Industrial Bureau, to Fleet Machinist,

I Iredging I >i\ ision. Edward J. Shepherd, from Security Guard to Guard Supervisor, Pacific Locks. Frederick E. Knox, from Carpenter Foreman, Railroad Division, to Carpenter Foreman, I tredging I >i\ ision. Walter W. Carlson, from Drill Runner

to Drill Barge Blaster, Dredging Division. Nils W. Jonson, from Lock Operator Wireman to Lock Operator Wireman

Leader, Pacific Locks. Slaughter H. Sharpensteen, from

Drill Barge Blaster to Drill Barge Male,

Dredging Division. Charles J. Connor, from Drill Barge Mate to Drill Barge Master, Dredging

Division. Charles D. Wood, from Traffic Clerk, Terminals Division, to Security Guard,

Pacific Locks. Niekolai L. Olson, from Security Guard

to Guard Supervisor, Atlantic Locks. Charles G. Morency, from Mate to Operator, Pipeline Suction Dredge, Dredging I )ivision. Luther G. Bradshaw, from Towboat

Master, Ferry Service, to Pilot-in-Training, Navigation Division. Grant O. Jeakins, Jr., from Wireman,

Electrical Division, to Lock Operator Wire- man, Pacific Locks. PERSONNEL BUREAU

Mrs. Charlotte S. Cagley, from ClerkTypist, Community Services Bureau, to Clerk-Typist, Employment and Utilization Division. RAILROAD AND TERMINALS BUREAU

Augustus C. Medinger, from Deputy

Director, Marine Bureau, to Director, Kail- road and Terminals Bureau. Edward N. Stokes, from Director, Rail- road and Terminals Bureau, to Superintendent, Railroad Division. Donald C. Parker, from Cribtender Foreman to Steam Engineer and Crib- tender Foreman, Terminals Division. Francis E. Reardon, from File Clerk, Administrative Branch, to Time and Leave

Supervisor, Terminals Division. Mrs. Patricia A. Appel, from Clerk- Typist to Accounting Clerk, Terminals

Division. SUPPLY AND SERVICE BUREAU

Mrs. Mary E. Evans, from Accounting

Clerk to Clerk, Commissary Division.

Mount Hope Printing Plant Ends

Era Of Commissary Books

RETIREMENTS

IN OCTOBER

Employees who retired at the end of October, their birthplaces, titles, length of service at retirement, and their future addresses are: Frederick C. Atkinson, Louisiana; Shop

Superintendent, Dredging Division; 24

years and 10 months; Hot Springs, Ark. Fred J. Bauman, New York; Supervisor, Roofing and Sheetmetal Shop, Maintenance

Division; 34 years, 6 months, 13 days;

Seacliff Acres. Panama. George G. Boynton, Kentucky; Conductor, Railroad Division; 22 years, 10 months and 15 days; Florida. Mary Clark, Georgia; Nurse, Gorgas

Hospital; 27 years, 3 months, 20 days; San

Luis Obispo. Calif. Mrs. Eula J. Ewing, West Virginia; Cash Accounting Clerk, Tivoli Commissary;

15 years and 18 days; Clarksburg, W. Va. William H. Keller, Pennsylvania; Operation and Maintenance Superintendent,

Pacific Locks; 29 years, 3 months, 6 days; Arkansas. John L. Kelly, Pennsylvania; Supervisor, Motor Transportation Division, Cris- tobal; 32 years. 1 month; Philadelphia, Pa. Captain James S. Munden, North

Carolina; Pilot, Navigation Division; 26

years, and 4 months; address uncertain. William K. Newland, Illinois; Executive

Assistant, Office of Director, Railroad and

Terminals Bureau; 24 years, 9 months, 28

days; Hotel Washington, Colon, for present. Paul F. Renz, Germany; Chief Towboat

Engineer, Dredging Division; 20 years, 2 months, 7 days; Alabama. John E. Ridge, Pennsylvania; Boiler- maker, Industrial Bureau; 40 years, 9 months, 27 days; Trenton, N. J.

An imaginary pair of scissors last Fri- day slashed an equally imaginary 54 ribbons of papers, each two-and-three

quarter-inches wide, which stretched between Cristobal and New York. The paper ribbons represent the total length of all of the commissary coupons

which have been printed at the Printing Plant at Mount Hope since .January L920. They were snipped off neatly on October

31 when the Plant went out of the coupon

printing business. The ribbons are the figments of the imagination of E. C. Cotton, Printer, and

one of the senior employees in the Canal

organization from point of service. As

he watched his coupon printing business draw to a close with the gradual conversion of commissary retail stores to the cash system of buying, Mr. Cotton compiled as fascinating a set of statistics as ever is likely to be produced here. Since January 1920, when a big rotary

press, especially built in Boston for The Panama Canal, began to turn out commissary coupons, the Plant printed 53,680,000 commissary books, worth a

total of $382,100,000." Would Stretch 106,938 Miles

Placed end to end the coupons in these books would stretch 106,938 miles and

have 126 feet of coupons left over. That

is equivalent to the 54 ribbons of paper

stretching between Cristobal and New

York.

Or, if you prefer, Mr. Cotton says, it could be one piece of paper, 11 feet and

3 inches wide, between New York and

Cristobal. He even went so far as to break the number of commissary books down by

denominations, so: 5,736,000 bcoks of the $2.50 local-rate type, worth $14,340,000 and with their coupons stretching 4,526 miles and 3,198

feet;17,456,000 books of the $5 local-rate denomination, worth $87,280,000 and

with coupons stretching 14,514 miles and

2,133 feet; 5,473,000 books of the $7.50 local-rate denomination, worth $41,040,000, with coupons stretching 12,954 miles and

2,880 feet; 4,432,000 books of the $10 local-rate denomination, worth $44,320,000, with coupons stretching 15,989 miles and

1,782 feet; 11,464,000 books of the $5 U. S.-rate denomination, worth $58,320,000, with coupons stretching 18,131 miles and

1,635 feet; and

9,120,000 books of the $15 U. S.-rate denomination, worth $156,800,000, with coupons stretching 43,181 miles and

4,320 feet. Into these 53,680,000 books went 1,085 tons of paper. Just about the only

thing Mr. Cotton did not figure was how many copies of Gone With the Wind could have been printed from this tonage. Twenty-Three Employed At Peak The years between 1944 and 1947 were

the peak for the commissary coupon

printing. At this time there were 16 U. S.-rate and 7 local-rate workers employed in this operation alone. The few remaining books will be mechanically masticated and the scraps

will be burned, according to Mr. Cotton. Commissary books were a good deal

more common back in 1905 when the Isthmian Canal Commission decided to use them in local stores than they were

last Friday when the last book paid for someone's groceries. In 190", tiny were common currency in many lumber camps

or in railroad and mining company towns. Started In 1905 Their use was authorized in the Canal

Zone, according to the report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the year ending December 1, 1905, after a confer- ence held by the I. C. C. Chairman, the Chief Engineer and the Clovernor. When

they decided to open retail commissaries

"along the line," they also agreed that "among other things the sale of goods

for cash was prohibited and a system of coupons devised which can be secured only from the timekeepers and in limited amounts." The first books were printed by the Tower Manufacturing and Novelty Company of New York and by Byron S. Adams of Washington, D. C. From 1908

until 1915 the Allison Coupon Company

of Indianapolis was the printer, with the exception of 1910, when the order went

to the National Ticket Company.

Early Books Different Early commissary books were far dif- ferent from those which have just gone

out of local fashion. They were good for only 60 days; they contained blocks of coupons of various denominations (in various colors); the coupons were not

perforated but had to be cut off by hand. To further complicate matters, there were I. C. C. and Panama Railroad books and a third kind, good only in the hotels.

It was not until 1912 that a uniform book was adopted and it was three years later, after considerable argument pro and con, that books of the "mileage" type were

ordered. These were revolutionary; they

not only contained a running strip of paper but each coupon was perforated for easy tearing off. This same year, 1915, A. P. E. Doyle,

then the Canal Printer, suggested that

his press could print the coupons, but he was overruled by H. A. A. Smith, Auditor, who wrote: "In view of the circumstances surrounding the use of commissary books,

I could not consent to having them

printed on the Isthmus." By late 1917, however, using what he

described as "inadequate and crude facilities," Mr. Doyle was printing commissary coupon books. On January 7, 1918, he reported that the press had finished and delivered to the auditor 410,000 commissary books of the total value of $1,990,000, by working the press 7 days

a week, around the clcck, and with only Christmas and New Year as holidays. The next year negotiations started for the specially built rotary press. Roy R. Watson, at the time Acting Chief Quartermaster, wrote the Governor that it had been "proven by actual experience

to be a more practicable and economical

proposition to manufacture commissary

books on the Isthmus than to purchase them in the United States." In June 1919, Mr. Doyle suggested that

T. A. Aanstoos, then operator-machinist, and later Printer, go to Boston where the

special press was being manufactured so that he could learn its details.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952

OFFICERS AND PAST OFFICERS of the Canal Zone Pacific Squadron of the United States Power Squadrons get together to check up on their commander, Francis F. Hargy, who is instructing a class of 82 on the art of piloting small craft. Left

to right are: Brodie Burnham, Past Squadron

Commander; Charles R. Bowen, Lieutenant Com- mander of the local Squadron; B. J. Brown,

Secretary; Harry H. Corn, Treasurer; William H.

Clark, the local Squadron's only qualified Junior

Navigator, who is teaching a class in Advanced Piloting, and Mr. Hargy.

Small Boat Fans Learn About Piloting In Power Squadron Course

charts and piloting, and manners and

customs on shipboard. "Power" Squadron is something of a misnomer. Its members are not necessarily power boat owners; in fact they need not be owners of any craft, even a rowboat, although 15 of the Squadron members have their own boats. USPS Is 35 Years Old Formed 35 years ago as an association

of yachtsmen and others interested in boating, the United States Power Squadron is a non-profit group incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. The aim of its 15,000 members, divided among some 120 local Squadrons, is to

establish a high standard of skill in the handling and navigation of small boats. Most of the local Squadron members

have limited their small boat cruising to the Atlantic and Pacific waters adjacent

to Panama. The Squadron Commander,

Mr. Hargy, has been to more distant

places. Early this year he was a member

of the crew on a 60-foot auxiliary ketch on a voyage to Tahiti via the Galapagos and Marquesas Islands. The Squadron's Lieutenant Commander, Charles R. Bowen, has also been

to Tahiti and not long ago sailed to Colombia on a schooner. B. J. Brown, Squadron Secretary, is a small boat

aficionado, but does not have his own

boat. He is completing the Junior Navigator's course and sometime in the future has hopes of a seven-seas cruise. Harry H. Corn, Treasurer, has made

several yacht trips, at least one of them up the west coast to California. Past Squadron Commander, L. B. Burnham, sailed his own ketch, Siesta, from Houston to the Zone several years

ago, assisted by Panama Canal pilot Clinton Baverstock, as skipper, and W. E. Pearson, a Power Squadron member and

past Commander of the Balboa Yacht

Club, the Squadron's "home port." Membership Increases Membership in the Canal Zone Pacific Squadron has increased in three years from the original 15 charter members to a

total of 27 at present. Since the local Squadron received its charter in 1(140, there, have been five Piloting classes, two Seamanship classes, one Advanced Piloting class, and one

Junior Navigator class. In addition to the regular instructors, who are members of the USPS, various

specialists from different operational phases of the Canal organization have

attended Squadron meetings to discuss matters of interest to small boat operators. Some of the talks were given by Canal

pilots who discussed their experiences in the Canal. A Locks Supervisor told how

small boats are handled in the lock chambers and the Director of Admeasure- ment talked on admeasurers' rules, with

particular reference to small boats.

All Yacht Club members are entitled to fly the Yacht Club flag but only USPS members may also fly the ensign

of the United States Power Squadrons. One of the slogans of the USPS is: "Fly your ensign proudly," by observing

all of the safety rules and practicing the

etiquette of experienced and capable yachtsmen. As it does in other Squadrons, the USPS ensign flies in the Canal Zone

with pride.

Down at the Canal Zone Junior College

these Wednesday evenings, 82 people who

have been bitten by the "boat bug" are learning formally that boxing a compass

has nothing to do with cardboard cartons

or the Marquis of Queensberry. Although a good many of them knew

something about compasses before, or they wouldn't be attending a class in piloting and small-boat handling, they

are painstakingly "learning the 13 points

of the compass in their order," which is what Webster's big dictionary says to "box the compass" means.

It also means, figuratively and again according to Webster, "to make a complete turn or reversal." That will come later, in actual practice, when the 82 who are enrolled in the United States Power Squadron's course put into practice some of the theory they are learning from Francis F. Hargy, Commander of the Canal Zone Pacific Squadron.

This year's piloting course, which will run about 10 weeks, is the sixth to be

offered by the local Squadron since it was

organized in 1949. Last year about 50

people registered but some found it very

difficult and only about a dozen successfully completed the course. "Small boatmen," according to one of them, are self-conscious people. If one of them, after a day's run into Panama Bay, comes back to the anchorage and misses

his mooring, he is chagrined. He is certain that the eyes of all neighboring boatmen are focused on him. They Want To Learn

If he has taught himself piloting and

navigation, he may be doing well enough

but he is apt to have little of the theory

of skillful boating behind him. He is also apt to want to know just how he is doing in comparison with other "small boatmen" and why. The 65 men and 17 women who are taking the present course are not yet members of the United States Power

Squadron. They become eligible at the end of the course, provided they pass an

examination and are accepted for mem"

bership. Even then, the women will rate only as Women Associates. The Power Squadron apparently has never heard of the Canal Zone's own

Peggy Powell, who is about as much of a small-boat mariner as her husband, Kim. But regardless of this, the women receive only certificates of recognition on completion of the course.' Fifteen local women have received such

certificates from the Canal Zone Power

Squadron since 1949, and have been ad- mitted as Associates. Six of them are

still living on the Isthmus. The highest grade a member of the Power Squadron may have is that of Navigator. The Army accepts this "N"

in lieu of a college degree for its Reserve

Officers Corps. No Canal Zone Pacific Squadron member has received this rating. One Rated "JN"

One member, William H. Clark, who

was instrumental in organizing the local squadron and who had about 10 years

experience with the Stamford, Conn., Squadron before coming to the Canal

Zone, holds the rating of Junior Navigator. He is presently teaching Advanced

Piloting to a class of seven at the Canal Zone Junior College. Five Canal Zone Pacific Squadron members are rated as "AP's," for having

successfully completed courses in Advanced Piloting; seven others have at- tained the grade of "S" for Seamanship, and 14 are entitled to use the "P" to

let people know they have passed the

piloting course. A Power Squadron member does not go

automatically from one grade to another; he must take and pass separate coursi's for each designation.

It will be the "P" to which successful graduates of the present course will be

entitled when they have completed their study of such subjects as equipment, government regulations governing small

boats, rules of the road at sea, seamanship, safety at sea, aids to navigation,
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 17 STATISTICS ON CANAL TRAFFIC

For the purpose of comparison between pre-war and post-war traffic through the Panama Canal, statistics for the fiscal year 1938 are used in this section, as being more nearly normal for peace time than those for 1939. UNITED FRUIT COMPANY — GOOD CANAL CUSTOMER

A I >ominican Friar, who introduced ba

naiias into the New World 136 years ago and who later became Bishop ol Panama,

undoubtedly had a great deal to » 1«

> w ith the

laci that the United Fruit Companj is one

of the Panama Canal's besl customers The Friar was Fra Tomas <l<- Berlanga who imported banana plants into Santo Domingo in 1516. In his honor the United

Fruit named one ol theii crack ships Fra

Berlanga, a regular visitoi to Canal waters. From January through September ol this year, 588 of the white >hi|» which ll\ the

h. >i i -L- Bag of the United Fruit Companj

transited the Canal; the total commercial

traffic for ships of 300 tons and over during

this same period was 5,136.

In September, the 1 nited Fruit Company's transiting ships totalled 77. 01 these, 37 were northbound. Figuring on an aver- age of 50.000 stems of bananas for each

fruit carrier, this meant that in September

alone some 1,850,000 steins of bananas

were carried from ocean to ocean, enough

to provide a good main- banana splits. Southbound United Fruit Companj ships carry no bananas. Unless they have aboard some company freight they transit in ballast. The bananas which go through the Canal come from the West Coasts of South and Central America—from Fxuador, Pan- ama, and Costa Rica—and consequently are

carried only on northbound ships. United Fruit, Canal Are Contemporaries

The United Fruit Company and the Panama Canal are almost contemporaries and their development was closely inter- woven. In 1899, the year the United Fruit Company was formed, and live years before American forces began work on the Canal,

the Fruit Company put up its first hospital. This was at Nances Bay, a few miles from

Bocas del Toro in eastern Panama, on a banana plantation which had been started by railroad builder Minor Keith.

In 1903, the Fruit Company opened a major division at Almirante, planting 20,000 acres in bananas. According to Charles Morrow Wilson's Empire in Green and Gold: "Banana ships had carried most of the earlier cargoes of

WITH A CAPACITY which will accommodate

78,000 stems of bananas, the SS Foramina is one of the United Fruit Company ships of the Fra Berlanga

class. She is named for a town in the province of

"HILL" ADAMS has been General Agent for the United Fruit Company here since June 1951. He

came to the Isthmus in 1919 as Chief Checker for the

Cristobal office.

Canal supplies. Quite obviously, however,

the advantages were mutual. Fruit ships had always been assured of northbound

cargo from the banana countries. But now

the Big Ditch was providing hundreds of thousands of tons of southbound cargoes of

steel, cement, timber, glass, machinery, and

other construction materials, as well as

food, clothes, drugs, and general merchandise for its thousands of workers."

In its issue of September 11, 1907, The

Panama Canal Record reports: "The

United Fruit Company dispatches a steamer from New Orleans for Colon every Saturday, due to arrive the following Thursday.

Sailings by this line from Colon to New

Orleans every Tuesday."

These vessels were probably the Preston, Harry T. Inge, and the Ellis, for on July 22, 1908, The Canal Record reported that

these three ships would be replaced by three new 5,000 ton craft, Cartago, Parismina, and

Heredia. The Cartago went into service in August, 1908, and was described by The

Canal Record as "the first United Fruit ship of the modern fleet to enter the port

of Colon." Owned Two-Story Building In 1911

R. B. McElroy, now an accountant with

the Chiriqui Land Companj- in Puerto

Armuelles, recalls that when he arrived in Colon on March 23, 1911, the Fruit Companj' owned a two-storj- wooden building, not far from the old Panama Railroad

Freight Station and Colon's Pier 1. Mr. McElroj- was passenger agent and

cashier combined. The other personnel

consisted of an agent, Hugh R. Wilford, who

is now head of the shipping firm of Wilford & McKay, a chief clerk, two freight clerks, and a stenographer. Today some 90 people work in the United Fruit Companj's Cris- tobal office, 80 percent of whom are of Panamanian nationality. At that time, in 1911, the United Fruit Companj- had about three ships a week

arriving at Colon, and the Companj- maintained service to New Orleans and to New

York. On the ships to New Orleans, Canal emplojees had a $40 one-way fare, according

to The Canal Record.

Until the United Fruit Company opened

its own offices, its ships were handled by

the firm of W*. Andrews & Companj-; Piers

1, 1, and 3 in Colon were the docks. The Companj's first local General Agent, Mr. Wilford. was succeeded in 1925 by Matthew C. O'Hearn who started as a freight agent and later was in charge ol the

Limon, Costa Rica, and bears the same name as one

of the then-new 5,000-tonners which began to operate

into the Canal Zone in 1908. The modern Paritmina

runs between New York and the U. S. West Coast. Panama City office. He is now United

Fruit's General Agent in Washington. During Mr. O'Hearn's assignment here the Cristobal agency became the Cristobal Division and the loading of Panama ba- nanas for New Orleans and New York

was begun. Succeeding Mr. O'Hearn in 1926 was

Paul E. West, who was transferred to the Colombia Division in 1932. His successor was Fletcher Hatch, who remained here

until Mr. O'Hearn's return to Cristobal in 1933. George S. Bennett took over in 1939. "Bill" Adams Is Local Chief The present General Agent is William K. Adams, who counts Glasgow, Ky., as his home town, although he has lived here for 33 years. He had worked for United Fruit

in New York for about 18 months before he came here in 1919 as a chief checker in the

Cristobal office. He was made General Agent in June 1951, succeeding the late Mr. Bennett. As Assistant General Agent, Anthony F. Raj-mond is Mr. Adams' right hand man. He is almost a native Isthmian—he came

here with his parents in 1906—and has been with United Fruit for 30 j-ears, all on

the Isthmus. Other kej" men in the local organization

are Eugene J. Didier, Administrative Assist- ant, formerlj- of New Orleans, La., who

started in L'nited Fruit's Accounting De- partment there in 1927 and came to the Canal Zone in 1932; Charles F. Will, Brooklj-n-born and a Dodgers' fan, who has

just celebrated his Silver Anniversary with

the Fruit Companj- and has been its local Passenger Agent since 1935; Samuel D.

Puller, Freight Agent, formerly of St. Augustine, Fla., who started as a purser with the Great White Fleet in 1937 and,

with the exception of three j-ears in the Navy during World War II, has been here

since 1939; William B. Middlemas. of New

York Citv, Accountant, who took over from

L. H. Gil'lick in December 1950. United Fruit's representative on the Pacific side, in charge of the Panama City

office and Balboa, is big John T. Conn, "ol Bowling Green, Kentucky, suh," who

joined United Fruit in New Orleans in 1923, came here the same year and has been with

the Fruit Company ever since, except be- tween 1941 and 1945 when he was in the Navy.

Will Add New Service

The United Fruit Companv i- about to start a new service to add {See page 18)
18 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952

United Fruit Co.—Good Canal Customer TRAFFIC MOVEMENT OVER MAIN

The following table shows the number of transits of net tons or over) segregated into eight main trade routes:

TRADE ROUTES

large, commercial vessels (300

JOHN GORIX is almost as well known on the

Pacific side as the United Fruit Company with which

he has been associated for the past 29 years. Kentucky

born, he has just been made an "Ambassador of Good Will" for the State of Louisiana.

(Continued from page 17) to the many- it now operates through the Canal or into

Cristobal. About November 10 the brand- new MY Leon will enter the feeder service between Cristobal and the West Coast of Central America. This will be 21 days,

Cristobal to Cristobal. The 2,800 ton Leon and her sister ship, the MY Lempa. which enters the same ser- vice in December, will have accommodations for six passengers. A third ship, as yet

unselected, will be added to provide weekly

sailings from Cristobal. Here are some of the services which the

I'nited Fruit Company operates, to make

its total a little over 11 percent of the commercial shipping for the first nine months of

this year: New York to Seattle, weekly, with the seven 7,000 gross ton ships of the Fra Berlanga class. Mobile to Los Angeles, weekly, with the nine vessels of the Ulna class, grossing 5,075 tons. New Orleans to Esmeraldas, Ecuador, weekly by the 5,900 ton Musa and her

sister ship, Platano. Baltimore to Guayaquil, weekly, with the

Toliec and the Maya New York to Puerto Armuelles, a 13-day round trip made weekly by the Junior (named in memory of Army Air Force Maj. Sam Zemurrary, Jr., who was killed near Casablanca) and the San Jose of the Fra

Berlanga class. All of these ships in the

transiting services have accommodations

for 12 passengers. Some Ships Don't Transit

Touching at Cristobal, but not transiting, are several other I'nited Fruit Company

vessels. In the first nine months this year

these ships made 145 stops at Cristobal. These include the SS Chiriqui, a 7,000 tonner which carries 95 passengers and operates fortnightly out of New Orleans, and

the Talamanca, Jamaica, and Yeragua, all of the Chinqui class which operate on a weekly service out ol New 'i ork. A regular weekly freight service i- maintained out of New York with the Cape

ships, the Capes Ann, Avinoff, Cod, and

Cumberland, which have space for 12 passengers, ami a fortnightly freight service runs out of New Orleans on the Fiador Knot and the Lever's Bend.

The working days of the I'nited Fruit Company offices are models of organized

Confusion, just as are any other shipping

agencies. But for the Fruit Company there

is a little more urgency. Their ships are

-.( In-du led into banana ports on certain days. The day before an arrival date, the cutting

of the fruit begins and a 24-hour delay in the arrival of the ship may mean a loss of many thousand- ol dollars in over-ripe fruit. But hectic as their days are now. they were more hectic during World Wat II. their fully refrigerated ship- were

taken over for war service as floating grocerj

-lore-, and the banana service was operated on a much reduced scale with a few of tin- older vessel-. Thirty-six I'nited Fruit

First Quarter, Fiscal Year

1953 1952 1938

137 130 349 East Coast of I'. S. and South America . - 399 314 97

East Coast of I'. S. and Central America . ._ _ 94 118 19 237 193 217 50 58 49 Europe and West Coast of L". S. Canada .. 185 178 194

89 88 137

88 89 44 398 301 300

1,677 1,469 1 .400

MONTHLY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC AND TOLLS

Vessels of 300 tons net or over By fiscal years

Month

Transits Tolls

(In thousands of dollars) 1953 1952 1938 1953 1952 1938

July--. 529 463 457 S2.343 SI, 981 S2.030 August -. _ - 533 490 505 2.2SN 2,103 2.195

615 516 444 2.636 2,189 1,936

544 461 2,230 1,981 502 435 2,053 1,893 550 439 2,347 1.845

522 444 2,121 1 . 838

507 436 2,082 1,787 March 613 506 2,512 2.016

April 601 487 2,423 1,961 May 622 465 2,481 1,887 594 445 1,982 1 ,801 Totals for first 3 months of 1.677 1.469 1.406 S7.267 $6,273 S6.161

KEY MEN in the I'nited Fruit Company's

Cri fcobal office take a minute to pose foi a picture. Seated are: Charles V. Will, Passenger Agent since 1935, and Anthony F. Raymond, Assistant General

Agent, who has lived on the Isthmus since 1906.

Standing, left to right, are: S. D. Puller, Freight Agent and former Unifruit purser; Eugene J. Didier, Administrative Assistant and an Isthmian resident

foi the past L'll years; and William B. Middleman,

Accountant, a comparative newcomer to the Zone.
November 7, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 19

Canal commercial traffic by nationality of vesse Is FirM Quarter of Fiscal Years

1953 1952 1938

Nationality Number "i transits Tons

..I cargo

Number nl

i ransits Tons

nl" cargo

Number of transits Tuns

of cargo

320

12

7 40

1 5136

1,972,741 55.860

57,644

11 ,03276 225.155

18,704

286

12

1 22

2 53

39

1,967,618

50,668 8,626

22,081

10.002 239,836 24,498

2<>222

1,667,795

10,096

13,113 Colombian

55 _

i:;i..mi7 Ecuadorian . 2 4,695

1 27

219

11)1

5,480

100.086

1.583 170,236

133,431

32

_'4 17 106

116,133

16,854 150.133

1 16,381

28

91

319

2

146,788

450,641

181,941 Honduran--- 2,926

11,176

1 312

192758

20

425

3 220

97

106

9,700

10.224 128.840

389,491

166,137 9,230

136,287

1.621 770.402 494.078

24,816 38,043

[rish 19

13 29

2 24

85,596

71.345 78,076

17,916

121,681

1375 39,933

522,490

Xetherlands 60 217,168 Norwegian. Panamanian.

17556

17

18

31

1 534

2

676,649

307.063

155

54 855,770155,169

Philippine - 44,043

9,511 43,245

189,436

5,771 3,669,405

3,334

Spanish Swedish

3 45

2 491

10

8,565

182,602

10,139 2,818,831

18,014

2 31 15,280

206,645

United States Venezuelan

495

2

5

2,860,814

1,953 23,151

Total 1,677 8,047,733 1,469 8,057.528 1,406 7,642,111

TOLLS AND TRAFFIC UP IN 1953 FIRST QUARTER

On the basis of net vessel tonnage, tolls for ocean-going commercial traffic foi the

first quarter of the present fiscal year were 17 percent higher than for the cor- responding period in fiscal year 1952, according to statistics compiled by the Management Division. The actual number of transits, 1,677

for the first quarter of this fiscal year, was

1 1 percent higher than the number, 1,469,

for the first quarter of fiscal year 1952, and about 12 percent over the figures for the first quarter of 1938.

Traffic on the trade route between the East Coast of the United States and Asia showed the heaviest tonnage over the main trade channels, with a 27 percent

gain over the first quarter of the past

fiscal year. Intercoastal shipping increased slightly over the previous fiscal year but was still only a little over one-third of the traffic during the first quarter of 1938. Other

increases are recorded in the traffic between Europe and the United States West Coast and Europe to South

America, via the Canal. Two Trade Routes Lose The only losses in the major trade

routes were between the East Coast of the United States and the West Coast of Central America, down 18.7 percent from

a similar period last year, but still considerably higher than in 1938, and that between the East Coast of the United

States and Australasia, off 14 percent from last year, but still slightly higher than in a similar period in 1938. Commercial traffic through the Panama

Canal was featured by new high records

in September for net tonnage—Panama

Canal measurement—and tolls. In September, tolls amounted to $2,635,989.46; the previous record,

$2,512,008.70 was set in March of this year. Net tonnage, Canal measurement, was 3,029,335 in September; the previous

high, 2,872,628, was also set last March.

Cargo carried from Atlantic to Pacific was 6 percent higher during the first quarter of this fiscal year than for the corresponding period last year; the ton- nage this year was 3,700,720, as compared

with 3,444,963 last year. Oil — No. 1 Commodity

Mineral oil continued as the No. 1 commodity carried in the Atlantic-Pacific

trade, although it is in tenth place for

traffic moving from Pacific to Atlantic. Total oil shipments this quarter were

1,338,000 net tons, as compared to 731,000 net tons for the first quarter of

fiscal year 1952. Much of this oil is moving from Venezuela to California where there has been recent heavy import

of crude oil, and oil shipments through

the Canal from the South American East

Coast to the South American West Coast and to the West Coast of Central America

are also substantially higher than last year. Cargo moving from Atlantic to Pacific showed increases in the following: Mineral oil, coal and coke, sugar, wheat, and raw cotton; and decreases in manufac

tures from iron and steel, sulphur, machinery, phosphates (which showed a considerable drop) automobiles and parts, cement, paper, and paper products. The bulk of cargo traffic moved from

Pacific to Atlantic, although (See page 20)

Principal commodities shipped through Canal

(All figures in long tons)

Figures in parentheses in 1938 and 1952 columns indicate

relative positions in those years ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

Commodity

Mineral oils Coal and coke Manufactures of iron and steel--. Sugar

Sulphur Machinery Wheat

Barley Phosphates Automobiles and parts Raw Cotton Soybeans and products Cement

Paper and paper products

Fertilizers, unclassified

All others

TotalFirst Quarter—Fiscal Years

1953 1,163,425 516,854 274.890

164.562 96,727

73.746

72,968 69,427

55,353 54,918

53,342

50,611 50,217 49,057 47,014

907,609

1952 754,261 417,534

408.242

108.161 97,679

78,698

12,286

0)

(2) (3)

(4)

(7)

(8) (36)

3.700.720

212,696 (3) 89,461 (6) 49,841 (10) 52,651 (16) 70,391 (9) 120.818 (5) 23.771 (19) 948,473 3.444.963

1938 178,635 (3) 47,077 (14) 646,493 (1) 3.207 (31) 83,729 (7) 46,081 (10) 343 (-)

153 (-)

111.416 (6) 62,666 (9) 23,877 (13) 900 (—

50,559 (11) 132,018 (5) 8,641 (41) 1.593.214 2.989,009 PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC

Commodity

Lumber

Ores, various Wheat

Canned food products Sugar

Nitrate

Metals, various Bananas

Refrigerated food products (ex- cept fresh fruit) Mineral oils Copra

Dried fruit Coffee

Iron and steel manufactures

Fresh fruit (except bananas)

All others TotalFirst Quarter—Fiscal Years

729.116

664 , 636 469,586

354.023 352,484

245 . 783 200,373

178,182

172,682 93,237

66.006

58.675 58,554 56,316

54,840 592,520

1952 883.244

1 ,013. 723 542,707

203,582 272,828

2 75.531 164,810

136,785 186.782 (9) 121.470 (10) 54.631 (13) 21,195 (17) 49.185 (14) 67.181 (11) 39,336(15)

579,575 4,347,013 4.612.565

1938 877.574 (2) 541,685 (3) 40.873 (7) 306 , 650 (6) 439.129 (4) 222,756 (5) 173,726 (8) 8,670 (29) 45.205 (10) 978,129 (1) 35,092 (18) 52,039 (12) 37,173 (16) 5,966 (—

26.622 (9) 861.813 4.653.102
20 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW November 7, 1952 =—

21-Year-0ld Mutual Benefit Association

(Continued from page 2) into a reserve and $1 is for operating expenses. In addition to the President, Mr.

Medinger, who is serving his second one- year term, the MBA officers are: Roy C. Stockham, Superintendent of the Locks

Division, First Vice President; Thomas

K. Kelley, Administrative Assistant to the Director, Industrial Bureau, Second

Vice President; Mr. Moore, Secretary; and Edward B. Webster, Property and

Supply Assistant, Supply and Fiscal Department at the Naval Station, Rodman, Treasurer.

Tolls And Traffic Up In 1953 First Quarter

(Continued from page 19) cargo for the

first three months of this fiscal year is off 265,552 tons from the first quarter of 1952. Ore Shipments Down

No. 1 commodity in the Pacific- Atlantic flow this past quarter was lumber which was in second place in the first quarter of 1952. Ore shipments dropped into the second place this past quarter, being only

a little over half of the tonnage carried during the first quarter of 1952. This drop was attributed to the steel strike during the summer in the United States. On the Pacific-Atlantic trade increases were shown in canned food products,

sugar, metals, bananas, dried fruit, coffee, and fresh fruit. Decreases, from the corresponding

quarter in 1952 fiscal year, were recorded

in lumber, ores, wheat, nitrate, refriger- ated food products, mineral oils, iron, and

steel manufactures.

U. S. Is Leading Shipper With 491 commercial vessels transiting during the first quarter of this fiscal year, the United States held the lead as main

shipper. In second place were Britishflag ships, 320 for the quarter, while Norwegian-registered ships were in third

place, and Honduran in fourth. Unusual transits during the quarter were nine made by Irish-flag vessels, two by vessels of Swiss registry, and one by

an Iran-flag vessel. The Irish ships are running between New York and Buenaventura carrying general cargo under

charter to the Coldemar Line. During the first quarter of the present

fiscal year 4,962 more tons of cargo were handled and transferred at Canal Zone

ports than during the corresponding

period in 1952, although this amount is less by 38,460 tons than the amount

handled in the first quarter of 1938. Local cargo received and transfer cargo forwarded exceeded the figures reported

for the first quarter of fiscal 1952.

Canal Sets New Records In October

(Continued from page 1) over, to bring the

total number of transits to 762. October is the fifth month of this calendar year in which the old record of 597 large commercial ships, set in Jan- uary 1927, has been exceeded. In March

613 large commercial vessels transited the Canal. In April the number of large commercial transits was 601, in May there were 622 large commercial vessels through

the Canal, and in September the figure

for large commercial transits was 615. So far this fiscal year, commercial

transits of large ships have been: July

529; August, 533; September, 615; and

October 674.

CANAL TRANSIT—COMMERCIAL AND U. S. GOVERNMENT

First Quarter—Fiscal Year • 1953 1952 1938

Atlantic

to

Pacific

Pacific to Atlantic Total Total Total

Commercial vessels: 812 865 1.677 1,469 1,406

*C II 163 161 324 301 211

Total commercial- .__-.--_-- 975 1,026 2,001 1,770 1,617

**U. S. Government vessels: 136 70 206 198

*Small 46 60 106 85

Total commercial and U. S. Government- - 1,157 1,156 2,313 2,053

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

ships transited free. CARGO HANDLED OVER PIERS

(In short tons)

First Quarter—Fiscal Year 1953 Average

quarter, 1952

Average

quarter, 1038

Cristobal Balboa Total All piers All piers

Local cargo received. 73,823 35,778 109,601 106,478 87,968

Local cargo forwarded- . 9,689 23,795 33,484 39,721 9,388

Transfer cargo received - 83,822 2,507 86,329 89,973 138,386

Total incoming cargo handled

-

167,334 62,080 229,414 236,172 235 , 742 2,909 193 3,102 3,245 1,584

Transfer cargo forwarded- - 100,085 2,392 102,477 90,612 136,127

Total cargo handled and transferred- 270,328 64,665 334,993 330,029 373,453

Moving Days Starting For Employees Assigned To New Quarters In Ancon, Diablo Heights

United Fruit Co. Good Canal Customer

(Continued from, page 1) houses will be

assigned before they are completed.

In case anyone receiving an assignment

should decline it, the house will be reas- signed to the next senior applicant as of November 17. This will continue until

all assignments in this group have been

accepted. Advised In Advance

Each of the prospective tenants will be advised in advance of the anticipated date of acceptance by the Housing Division of the quarters to which he has been

assigned. He will then be required to occupy the house not later than a

specified date. The remaining apartments in Ancon

will be assigned in a similar system, as they are completed and accepted by the Housing Division, and dates on which

applications for the remaining houses are

to be made will be announced beforehand. Two new types of quarters, not pre- viously available on the Pacific side, are included in the first Ancon group for which applications close on November 17. These are type 334, commonly known

as the Patio House, which has two bed- rooms. The other is type 332, a two-bed- room cottage with an exceptionally large kitchen. Other new types which are being built in Ancon but which are not included in the first group to be assigned are type

335, a duplex version of the Patio House, and type 329, a four-bedroom version of the Breezeway House.

(Continued from page IS) ships and 275 men were lost during the war. At least two

of these ships were well-known to the l>th- mus: The SS Sixaola which was torpedoed by a U-boat only a few hours out of Cristobal, and the Tela, lost the next day in the Yucatan channel. The Telu's survivors were picked up by

another ship which was torpedoed the fol- lowing night. Crews of both of these Fruit Company ships were brought to the Canal Zone and the l'nited Fruit staff had to scurry around to provide them with clothing and other essential items. The war days, of those days, are over

today. With the great surge of post-war

building l'nited Fruit on its way to the most

efficient fleet it has ever had. Witness the steady upsurge of its traffic to and through

the Panama Canal.

Our Out-Of-Doors

(Continued from page 13) freely from the plant does not stain clothing, table linens,

etc., for the stain is difficult to remove.

Bougainvillea {B. glabra), native to Peru, is probably the third most com

monly planted shrub in the Canal Zone. Other names for the various varieties of

this plant are "Yeranera" or "Flor de

Verano," or Summer Flowers, so-called because they bloom in the dry season or "summer" when it is winter in the North. The usual variety has purple-red bracts

(spur-like leaves on the floral axis or stem

below the flower) but there are also finer varieties with red, brick-red, and pink

bracts, and more rarely, salmon and

white. It is these bracts which supply

the color of the Bougainvillea; the flowers themselves are small and inconspicuous.