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Gift ofthe Panama (fadMuseum 99-/- 3I6-(J)

Vol 5, No. 12 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE. JULY 1, 1955 Scents

Contractors Hill

Project Nears End

After Year's Work

The Contractors Hill project on which

work was started a year ago this month

is now in its final phase, with only about

325,000 cubic yards of material still to be rempve'd.

The latest excavation figures show that

l,600,00b\cubic yards of rock and 550,000

cubic yards of the Cucaracha formation

had been removed up to the end of June. These figures included all material above

the 230-foot elevation and the Cucaracha

formation excavated from Project 13 by Tecon Corporation, con- (See page 8)

Latin-American Schools Open Tuesday;

Slight Enrollment Drop Is Expected

Slightly over 3,800 boys and girls, kindergarteners to junior college students,

will start a new school year Tuesday

when the 12 schools of the Latin-American system open for the 1955-56 term. This year's anticipated enrollment,

which school officials approximate on the

basis of past enrollments and population

changes, is expected to be about 100 less than the 3,976 students who were regis- tered in the Latin-American system

during the past school year. The enroll- ment figures cover kindergarten through

junior college. Because of the gradual demolition of New Lieutenant Governor Arrives

A CHANGE in the Canal administration's top command took place last month with the arrival of Col. H. W. Schull, Jr., to become Lieutenant Governor of the Canal Zone and Vice President of the Panama

Canal Company. The new Lieutenant Governor and Mrs. Schull are shown above aboard the Panama Liner Anton when it docked in Cristobal on June 15. Colonel Schull (pronounced "Shool" as in school) had been on duty as District Engineer in Jacksonville, Fla., for three years before his appointment as Lieutenant Governor.

Colonel Schull was born in Philadelphia, Pa., and was graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1927. Among the varied important assignments during his 28 years of service with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers was a three-year tour of duty as advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Peruvian Army in Lima, Peru.

quarters in La Boca and the consequent

decline in that community's population,

registration at the La Boca elementary

and junior high schools will be lowei than

that of last year. On the other hand an

increased enrollment is expected at the

schools in Paraiso and Santa Cruz, the two towns to which a number of La

Boca families have recently been transferred. The school year which begins next Tuesday will end on March 2. Present

plans call for the following school year

to begin about May so that the Canal

Zone's Latin- Ameiican schools will then have the same student year as the public schools in the Republic of Panama.

Spanish In All Grades

The major change in the Latin-American school system for the school year

beginning next week will be the conversion to Spanish-language instruction in grades seven through 12. English will continue to be taught as a supplementary

subject in all grades.

The curriculum of the Latin American

schools is being patterned after that of the Republic of Panama's school system.

This will enable school children to transfer from one system to another

without difficulty. Again this year, Temistocles Cespedes, Chief of the Panama Schools' Technical Service Section, has been retained as a consultant

for the Latin-American schools. Teachers in the Latin- American schools system spent their non-teaching months

perfecting their Spanish in the Summer

Institute, held annually by the Division

of Schools. The teachers were divided

into two groups. Teachers who were

already fluent in Spanish worked out the curriculum and prepared materials for the coming school year. Those less proficient in Spanish spent the period

from April 11 to June 3 improving themselves in this language. Their instructors were teachers who had formerly taught

Spanish in the upper grades, when Spanish was the secondary instead of the primary language, and others who were

in the group considered proficient in Spanish.

Two Institutes Summer Institutes were held on both

sides of the Canal Zone. That at the La Boca High School was under the

direction of Robert Beecher, while Owen

B. Shirley was in charge of the group

which met dailv at the Rainbow City

High School. Text books in Spanish were ordered some time ago and will be available in most subject fields in the s?condary

schools when classes (See page ;s)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

Civil Defense Tests Considered Success

But Average Zonian Needs More Training

New C. Z. Health Director

Arrives Here Next Week

Although the Canal Zone portion of the nation-wide Civil Defense exercise "Operation Alert, 1955" was considered a success on the whole, the average Zonian

I still needs further education if he is to be

prepared to defend himself in case of any

enemy attack in this area. The June 15 exercise halted all Canal Zone civilian operations except ships and

trains en route from one side of the Isthmus to the other, and involved a majority of Canal Zone civilian residents and workers.

In a report prepared last week on the

exercise, W. G. Dolan, Civil Defense

Chief, pointed out a number of deficiencies which were shown up by the exercise. The present location of the warning

sirens will be surveyed, Mr. Dolan said. A number of reports were received that the sirens could not be heard in certain

localities.Recruitment Campaign

Other steps which will be taken to strengthen Canal Zone civil defense will include a recruitment campaign in the Warden Service so that Child Care

Centers can be established in every

block, and the number of first-aid workers

increased. A more extensive training

program on Control Center arrangements

and operations will also be started for the wardens. Mobile amateur radio operations will be incorporated in the Control Point

staff to provide communication facilities. The Main and Alternate Main Control Centers will also begin to use live communications, such as radio and telephone,

in all exercises from now on, and each component of the Civil Defense organi- zation will hold at least one indepandent

exercise before the annual overall test. Zonians should also learn the following, Mr. Dolan added.

Vehicles must be stopped, at the side

of the road or highway, immediately on sounding of the Take Cover signal.

Employees Look Forward

To Fatter Paychecks

Approximately 1,700 classified and

postal employees in the Canal organization last week were looking eagerly for- ward to "extra dividend" checks plus

several dollars more in their biweekly pay. The past several weeks have been a period of suspense for these groups of employees as the long-discussed pay

raise was in the legislative mill in Washington.

checks covering the retroactive pay

raise for postal employees were scheduled

to be delivered next week, at the time

this issue of The Review went to press.

It was expected that the extra pay

checks for classified employees would be

distributed by the middle of this month,

providing the pay bill was signed by the President before the end of June.

It is estimated that the pay increases

for classified employees in the Canal

service will average about $350. At

s rate, the cheeks for the retroactive would average slightly over $100

for the four-month period.

Their occupants must remain in the

vehicles or go to a more protected

shelter if one is readily at hand. During

Operation Alert some vehicles stopped

in the middle of the road and in other

cases, motorists got out of their cars to look around instead of taking shelter. Those who are caught in the open when the siren signals Take Cover should

lie down behind a protective covering, rather than standing next to a building,

under trees, or beneath a roofed-over bus stop as some did June 15. Those who are at home when the Take Cover sounds should go immediately to the structurally strongest part

of their quarters. Parents should drill their children, to ensure that they know

what to do and where to go if they should not be in school when the Take Cover is heard.

Col. Charles O. Bruce, new Canal Zone

Health Director, will arrive here next Wednesday aboard the Panama Liner Ancon to take over his new duties. Colonel Bruce succeeds Brig. Gen. Don

Longfellow who left the Canal Zone

early this week on completion of his tour

of duty here. General Longfellow has been assigned to the Army Review

Council in Washington, D. C.

Prior to his assignment to the Canal

Zone, Colonel Bruce has been Military Assistant to Secretary of the Army

Robert T. Stevens. He was a member

of the Secretary's official party when Mr.

Stevens was here early this year. The new Health Director is a native of Nebraska and received his medical degree

from the University of Nebraska. He

attended the Army Medical School and

is a graduate of the Medical Field Service

School. He holds the degree of Master

of Public Health from Johns Hopkins.

Contractors Hill Work Nears End

CONTRACTORS HILL, less than a year ago a towering mass of rock and earth, is now a series of great

terraces. From Gold Hill, on the opposite side of narrow Gaillard Cut. the hill looks like a staircase

for Paul Bunvan.

(Continued from page I) tractors for the work. According to J. L. Phillips, Project

Manager for Tecon, the work will have

progressed to the point within another month that a curtailment in the volume

of activity will be necessary. By that time the various benches or steps being

cut into the hill will be completed to a point so low and so near the Canal channel that there will be insufficient room

for efficient operation of all the equipment, now in use. When this stage of the work is reached,

sometime early in August, the contracting firm plans to withdraw all surplus

equipment for overhaul, following which

it will be stored in some suitable area at the job site until final disposition or for use as replacement of equipment in use,

if required. Because of the nature of the work and

the limited area of the project, a comparatively small number of employees

has been engaged on the Contractors Hill

job. A top force of about 150 employees

has been engaged by the Tecon Corporation, while nine Panama Canal engineers,

inspectors, and office personnel, have

been assigned to Project 13-A. The head of the Canal force since late April has been Charles McG. Brandl,

Project Engineer. He succeeded Lt. Col. E. B. Jennings when the latter was

transferred to the Electrical Conversion

Project.

Machine Task

As announced at the beginning of the work, the removal of the bulk of Contractors Hill has been primarily a machine

task. The principal heavy equipment

used by the contracting firm has been

three shovels of two-and-a-half cubic yards capacity each; 15 large Euclid

trucks for hauling; four bulldozers; and

three rotary and three wagon drills. When project is completed a total of 1,800,000 cubic yards of rock, and

625,000cubic yards of Cucaracha, or shale,

will have been removed. For this yardage, an estimated 800,000 pounds of ex- plosives will have been used in the 130

miles of holes drilled into the hill. <•
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Annual Registration

Of Canal Zone Dogs

Begins On July 18

The annual vaccination against rabies

of the approximately 2,000 dogs in the Canal Zone and licensing of the animals

for the year which begins August 1 will get under way July 18 when vaccinating teams begin their annual rounds of the various towns. Each team is composed

of a registrar, a veterinarian, and his assistant. As has been done in the past two years

since anti-rabies vaccination and dog

registration became compulsory, the teams will start their rounds on the Atlantic side. Tn3y will set up their stations for one day in each of seven Canal Zone communities. Last year they covered eight

towns, bvit Pedro Miguel has been

dropped', from the list this year. The dates on which the teams will

visit the various communities appears in tabular form on this page. The hours

will again this year be 10 a. m. to 1 p. m., and 3 to 5 p. m., giving dog owners who

are employed an opportunity to take

their pets to the vaccinating stations during the noon hour or after work.

Day-Long Programs Are Planned

For July Fourth Celebration

Atlantic Side

Date Town Location

July 18 Margarita Elementary School

19 Rainbow City Mt. Hope Stadium

20 Gatun Fire Station

Pacific Side

25 Gamboa Old Police Station

26 Paraiso Locks Warehouse

Bldg. No. 336

27 La Boca Pacific Bakery Bldg.

28 Balboa Stadium

JO a. m. to 1 p. ra ; 3 to 5 p. m.)

New License Tags

As in the past two years a fee of $2

will be charged for the registration. The

anti-rabies vaccination is given without

charge.

New license tags, which all Canal Zone

dogs must wear or be impounded, are already on the Isthmus. The tags will be handed to the dog owners at the vari- ous vaccination stations when the regis- tration fee is paid and the dog vaccinated. Each tag is equipped with a metal loop

by which it may be fastened to the dog's

collar. This year's tags differ considerably in shape from those of the year now ending.

They are a fancy butterfly shape—"a

butterfly with wings extended"—they were described at the License Section. Between last July and June 15 of this year, a total of 2,034 dogs were registered

in the Canal Zone. This figure includes

slightly over 700 animals whose homes

are on military posts. All of the dogs,

of course, were inoculated against rabies. Balboa, where 263 dogs were vaccin- ated and registered in one day, drew the

largest attendance during last year's registration-vaccination program.

Established In 1953 The vaccination-registration program was established in the Canal Zone in 1953 on a Zone-wide basis. Canal Zone dogs

had been licensed and registered during

the early construction days but this practice was later abandoned.

FOURTH OF JULY would not be complete without kiddie trains

The last check on plans for a fitting observance of Independence Day is being

made this weekend by committees on

either end of the Canal Zone. As this issue of The Review went to press, programs for the July 4 celebration had

not been printed, but plans were definite enough to report: The major Pacific side celebration will be at Balboa, with the Stadium and its surrounding area as July 4 headquarters.

The Atlantic side will have its major

celebration at Margarita although there

will be boat races off the Cristobal Yacht

Club and swimming races at Gatun pool.

Both sides will start their day's cele- bration with parades, and both have

arranged for band concerts, patriotic- exercises, and the fire engine and kiddie

trains without which July 4 would not be complete for the children. Philip

Dur, United States Consul in Colon, will

be the speaker at the patriotic exercises at Margarita. Lt. Col. E. B. Jennings,

Project Engineer for the Power Conversion Project, will be the Pacific side speaker.

Both sides will conclude their activities with fireworks. At Margarita, the

fireworks will be set off from the rise near the old hospital site. On the

Pacific side, Sosa Hill, as usual, will be

the launching platform for the rockets. Balboa's July 4 celebration actually

gets underway tomorrow night, with a dance at the American Legion Club. Net funds from the sale of tickets for the dance will finance the Independence

Day program. The Atlantic side committee is headed

by Virgil C. Reed, President of the Cristobal-Margarita Civic Council. Emmett Zemer and John A. Everson are co-chairmen for the Pacific side committee.

Contractor Begins Preliminary Work For Conversion

Of Gatun Hydroelectric Plant In 60-Cycle Program

Preliminary work in the conversion of the Gatun Hydroelectric station from 25

cycles to 60 cycles has been started by

the Sachse Electrical Company of Lake

Charles, La. The company holds the $490,332 contract for this portion of the

electric conversion project.

The Sachse Company was given notice

to proceed with its contract on May 17.

Its first personnel, Edwin Duhom, Project Superintendent, and Asa P. Dartez,

Project Engineer, arrived in the Canal Zone May 24. Late in June two skilled craftsmen and some equipment, such as trucks and electrical tools, were brought

to the Isthmus. Only a few more comThe Canal Zone program, which was

established under an Executive Regulation issued by Gov. J. S. Seybold, is designed to control rabies and buttress

the quarantine regulations which require that all animals brought into the Canal Zone from any areas where there are

rabies must be isolated for a specified

period of time.

pany employees will be sent here. They

will be supplemented by locally available

technicians. The first construction undertaken by

the Sachse Company was erection of a combined field office and material and

tool storage shed on the apron outside

the hydroelectric plant. Toward the end of June the company had begun to break concrete for a duct line into the plant proper. The contract, which is in seven parts

and which is to be completed by September 21, 1956, calls for the Sachse Company to furnish and install transformers

in the hydroelectric station, to convert

the station's service equipment, and to provide new switch gear and make the

alterations necessary for its installations. The Panama Canal Company contracting

officer's field representative is Earl O.

Dailey.

Quarters have been provided for the Sachse employees in New Cristobal. Mr. Dartez was accompanied here by his wife and daughter. Mr. Duhom's wife and 10 children remained in Louisiana.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

Across-The-Border Conferences Precede

Closing Of Colon, Panama Health Offices

Heads from both sides of the invisible border which divides the Canal Zone

from the Republic of Panama are meeting these days over conference tables in the Panama Health Office on the second

floor of the Panama Railroad Station and in the Colon Health Office at the comer of 2d and Melendez Streets. The heads belong to sanitation experts

from the Canal Zone Government and

from the Republic of Panama's Public- Health Department. The subjects they

are discussing have to do with what is known, officially, as the "phaseout" by

the Canal agency of the health and

sanitary work which the United States has performed in the terminal cities for over 50 years. Actually, the phaseout of the United

States and the phasein of Panama has

be?n going on for some time. Over

three years ago Panama took over the

registration of all births and deaths in Panama City and Colon. Two years ago this month the Republic began its own garbage collection, street cleaning,

and water management.

On March 1 of this year sanitary

patrolmen from the Panama City Alcalde's

office began the routine inspection of restaurants, markets, and bars, a function which previously had been performed

by inspectors working out of the two

Health Offices. The Panamanian patrol- men had been trained for over three years by inspectors in the Health Office in Panama City, HOP to those who have

worked there.

All sanitary operations which have

been performed by the Canal organizaDr. ERIC R. OSTERBERG has been in charge of the Panama and Colon Health Offices since February

1954

tion in the terminal cities of Panama and

Colon will be transferred to the Republic

of Panama not later than July 31; at that time HOP and HOC will be closed. Although the two offices will be dis- continued, the Canal Zone Government

will continue some sanitary inspection

in the Republic. All food-processing

plants—such as dairies, seafood suppliers, bottling plants, and bakeries in Panama - with which the Canal organization may have or will make contracts

for food supply will be inspected by

CZG inspectors. Dairies which have

permits to distribute milk in the Canal

LITTLE MISS BIG EYES, of Colon, isn't at all sure that she is going to enjoy being vaccinated, even if the vaccinating needle is being wielded by Miss Agnes E. Sugrue. Public Health Xurse at the Colon

Health Office. In the past nine years Miss Sugrue has vaccinated against smallpox every newborn baby

in Colon—in one year, 1954, there were 6,674 of them—and has given smallpox and yellow fever inoculations to any traveller leaving the Atlantic side who needed such vaccinations.

Zone will also be inspected by representatives of the Company-Government. Veterinary inspection of the abattoir and

food-processing plants at the Commissary Division's units at Mount Hope and

Balboa will, of course, be continued.

In the June issue of The Panama

Canal Review, readers were given an

overall picture of the United States

activities in health and sanitation in the Republic of Panama over a 50-year

period. For a more detailed look at some Health Office activities let's follow part of a day with R. H. Masters. He is a Sanitation Inspector and has been with

HOP for 10 years. With the closing of the Panama Office, he will be transferred

to the Division of Zone Sanitation.

Thousand Buildings

The area of Panama City for which he and his two sanitary patrolmen have

been responsible straddles Central Avenue

in the heart of the city. There are about

a thousand buildings— stores, restaurants, tenements, houses- in this section.

It has been up to him to see that these

buildings were kept in a sanitary condition, that their plumbing was operating, that their drains were open, that their sidewalks were clean, and that any

repairs which would help attain these conditions were made. Anything which

had to do with the physical safety of a building—such as rotten floor boards, unstable balconies or rickety staircases

has been the responsibility of Panama's

Security Office. The other day, he began his rounds in the big cemetery just off B Street. He

was looking for mosquitoes and for breeding spots for other pests. A quick

stir of his finger showed mosquito larvae

wriggling on top of the stagnant water in several unemptied flower vases. He

made a note to have the vases sprayed

with DDT, if they were fastened in place

and immovable; those which could be emptied he did, and turned upside down.

Tenement Troubles

From the cemetery he drove several blocks to inspect some tenement houses

about which HOP had received complaints. In one, the toilets which serve many families were not working. In another, garbage cans were uncovered

and an adjacent lot littered with trash. In a third, a woman tenant complained

that water was dripping from an upper

floor into the corner she used as a kitchen. In a fourth house, he found rat trails near

the ceilings. Next stop was a huge old tenement,

built around a court between Central Avenue and Avenue B. In this warren

of old two-story wooden houses and a few one-story masonry row-type apart- ments live almost a thousand men, women and children, sometimes as many

as 17 persons dwelling in one room.

Part of the buildings around the court have been condemned but the remainder

must be kept in as sanitary a condition

as possible until they can be torn down.

Fairly close by, he dropped in at a

building on which there had been earlier complaints. It was a marked contrast

to the teeming warren. It had been

newly painted, repaired and free of
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

rats. Its garbage cans were covered and

its bathrooms working.

An open ditch between the railroad tracks and nearby buildings was the next project on his day's list. The drain, bordered with grass and deeply sunk, must be kept open and running freely.

If it clogs up, if water stands any length

of time, mosquitoes will appear.

After he had made sure that the

ditch needed no attention that day, he stopped to look over his notebook. Here

he had jotted down the complaints of tenants and his own recommendations as

to what would have to be done in each

case. Before the day was over he would

have to talk to the owners or agents of each building which needed repairs to make them decent, from a sanitation point of view.

Nurses At Work

While he and the other sanitation inspectors were making their daily rounds,

the HOP's four public health nurses were on their jobs. Jilma Castro and

Ester Carranza were visiting clinics, homes, and hospitals, vaccinating newborn babies against smallpox and checking any communicable diseases, In one

year, the nurses made over 8,000 visits. At the office in the Railroad station, the two other nurses, Elena Busta- mente and Mrs. Digna Anderson were busy with a group of young babies and

with adults who had dropped in for vaccinations or yellow fever inoculations. The babies were vaccinated and, if they

had not already received them, were given

the triple inoculations against diphtheria,

whooping cough, and tetanus. In. the

course of a year the nurses gave over

5,000 immunizations. At the HOC, Miss Agnes Sugrue has been the lady behind the vaccinating

needle and the inoculation syringe. This

office has been designated as Official Vaccinating Station No. 34, by the World

Health Organization, for yellow fever

inoculations. Most western hemisphere

countries have established yellow fever inoculations as an. entry requirement.

One year she inoculated 516 travellers. Once a month, the 28 midwives who

work in the capital come into the HOP

for a brush-up on their technique and the

five licensed midwives in Colon go through

a similar procedure at HOC. Their

supply of medicines to be put into the eyes of newborn infants is refilled, and

their bags and equipment checked. They

are also given help in filling out birth

certificates and are given a chance to discuss any problems they may have. One of the most important of the

functions of the two health offices has been rodent control— or, putting it more

simply —keeping the terminal cities' rat population as low as possible. On the

Pacific side, this work has been under the

direction of Paul Brooks; Ray Bush has

held a similar job at the Colon Office. When a tenant reports that there are

rats in the building where he lives, or when an inspector finds the unmistakable

traces of rats in a building, the rodent

control men go to work. One year

recently, in Panama City alone, 10,139

wooden spring-type traps were s jt out. One recent large-scale rough-on-rats

performance took place in Panama City

when, in a two-wesk p?riod, six men set out 17,467 Warfarin baits in 309 manholes. Of these baits, the rats ate

14,355. After the rains began, Warfarin

bait was set out inside buildings. In six

ALL THESE employees of the Colon Health Office have served under three Colon Health Officers, Dr.

Jessie L. Byrd, Dr. Wayne Gilder, and Dr. Eric Osterberg.

In the usual order they are: Eladio J. Vega, a Sanitation Patrolman; M. de J. Carrasco, a National

( iuardsman who is on duty with the Health Office half days, delivering complaint slips to Colon residents; Jose I. Villalobos, Sanitation Patrolman; Cyril J. W. Grant, also a Sanitation Patrolman; Leopoldo A.

Cantoral, who, with 24 years service, is dean of the Sanitation Patrolmen; Miss Agnes E. Sugrue, Public Health N'urse; Roy F. Burr, Clerical Assistant; and Raymond G. Bush, Supervisory Sanitation Inspector. Absent at the time this photograph was taken was Burt W. Watson, also a Sanitation Inspector.

weeks, 1,971 dead rats were found on the baited premises. Pools And Restaurants Swimming pools in Panama City and

Colon must be inspected regularly by

personnel from the two health offices. Water samples are taken periodically

and sent to the laboratory for analysis. Until March 1, when Panama took over

inspection of bars, restaurants and markets, inspectors from the health officer visited several hundred such establish- ments every month. Here, as in tene- ments and dwelling houses, the word

"Sanidad" has been an Open Sesame.

Veterinarians attached to the two

offices were responsible for the cleanli- ness, sanitarially speaking, of dairies and

pasteurization plants in both terminal

cities. In addition they issued health

SWIMMING POOLS are tested regularly by in spectors from the Panama and Colon Health Office?. Wielding the long dip-stick is senior sanitation inspector Ray E, Forbes.

certificates for animals which were to be shipped out of the country and supervised the tuberculin testing of thousands

of head of cattle each year. Most of the personnel in HOP and

HOC worked outside, inspecting, making

house calls in the terminal cities. But

their anchors to the home port were

always the clerks in the two offices, Mrs. Marione Campbell in Panama and Roy

Burr in Colon. They heard the complaints -- which the inspectors later looked into— and they made the reports of what

the office force had done. It was their

job, also, to issue the burial permits

without which no one could be buried

in Panama City and Colon. They also ordered the supplies, not as

dull a job as in some offices. Sometimes,

Mrs. Campbell says, her supply order has sounded like a shopping list for a buffet dinner. It has included such items as

salad oil, salami, cheese, and cornmeal.

All of these were part of the ingredients

which went into the rat baits. The first Panama Health Officer was

Dr. Lewis Balch; his counterpart in Colon was Dr. E. H. Wheeler. During

the following years, a number of well- known men have served in these posts. Some of the best-known of the Panama

Health Officers were Dr. Samuel Goldthwaite, Dr. J. C. Ellington, who is now

with the State of Virginia's Health Department; Dr. Forrest Brown, now

with the Health Department of the State

of Oklahoma; Dr. Kenneth O. Courtney,

who is now with the World Health

Organization, and Dr. Carl Johnson, who

now heads the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Panama City.

On the Atlantic side, Dr. M. E. Connor,

later with the United Fruit Company,

served for years. Another well-known

Colon Health Officer was Dr. Jesse Byrd

who retired several years ago. He was

followed by Dr. Wayne Gilder, who is now

with the United Fruit Company in New Orleans.

In February 1954, the administration

of both offices, HOP and HOC, was

combined and Dr. Eric R. Osterberg was named Health Officer for Panama

and Colon.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION

, urn JUL ti€

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

We have been hearing a lot about

Preventive Medicine lately. Right now

the one getting the head lines is Salk's

anti-polio vaccine. Not long ago it was

penicillin. Years ago vaccination for small pox was compulsory and still is in many places. Old Timers will recall the

bottie of quinine placed on all dining- room tables to be taken like sugar at every meal. It is evident that we take a

lot of preventive medicine in one form or another as the years go by, including

huge amounts of the proverbial "snake

bite" medicine. Those who were in World War I may

still remember the series of shots given

at every opportunity for this and that. Yellow fever shots were added in World War II, and yellow pills were taken

to prevent malaria. Blood plasma was

administered to the wounded by First Aid teams to help prevent shock caused by the loss of blood. Other methods

were instituted, such as spraying around

military camps with DDT to control mosquitoes and thus prevent malaria. News reels showed military teams dusting refugees to kill lice and fleas and thus prevent typhus and plague. It was by

such preventive measures that the mili- tary doctors and nurses reversed the HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

MAY

SUPPLY BUREAU

ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Supply 3 Engineering and Construction 2

Civil Affairs 1 Community Services — 1 Health 1 Transportation and Terminals 1 Marine

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES

MAY

SERVICE CENTER DIVISION

DREDGING DIVISION

INDUSTRIAL DIVISION

ELECTRICAL DIVISION

MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

STOREHOUSE DIVISION

HOUSING DIVISION

AIDS TO NAVIGATION

SANITATION DIVISION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Aids to Navigation 4

Electrical ._ 4

I lousing 4 Maintenance 4 Sanitation 4 Dredging 3

Industrial 3 Motor Transportation 3 Railroad 3 Storehouses 3 Commissary 2 Grounds Maintenance 2 Service Center 2 Hospitalization and Clinics ' 1 Terminals 1 Locks

Navigation

statistics of previous wars with the result that less soldiers died of disease than by

bullets. The National Safety Council reports

that the industrial doctors and nurses are

the first line of defense in cutting down

the severity of injuries occurring on the

job. In a minor way the training, now

being given to our employees in Industrial First Aid, will help to prevent shock

and infection, which, if neglected, could

cause a disabling injury.

This points to another ssrvice now

being given by the industrial doctors to help prevent accidents. They are now

trying to keep the employee in such a

state of good health that he will be fully

awake on his job and can prevent

accidents to himself and others. The

prospective employee is given a thorough

examination to see that he has the necessary health for the job. If not, he is placed where the handicap he may

happen to have in no way endangers

himself and others. The employee then

is examined periodically to see that his standard of health is maintained.

Now the latest trend, as reported by

the National Safety Council, is that some

industrial doctors have made a study of some 30,000 accidents to find out what

they can do to help prevent accidents.

It was found that the following were

prolific accident causes:

1. Irresponsibility of workers who

didn't seem to care about their jobs

2. Maladjustment of workers who

didn't know their jobs or seem to want

to learn.

3. Pre-existing disability of workers

who came to work when they were sick or crippled by some ailment.

4. Alcoholism — workers who came to work under the influence of alcohol or who drank on the job.

This led the Industrial doctors to feel

that they needed to know more about

the employee and what he did with himself when off the job that would have a

bearing on his reaction to stresses on the

job. Certain danger signals were ob- served as indicating that the employee was under some sort of mental stress. When the causes were not found and

corrected, it was noted that the employee's condition gradually worsened

until he caused an accident, injuring himself or others. Since it is difficult for the doctor to interview and follow each and every employee daily, it was suggested that the employee's immediate supervisor get to know each employee and his background,

then watch him for the following danger

signals:

1. Coming to work tired and unhappy.

2. Nervousness or jitters.

3. Pacing and unable to concentrate on the job.

4. Chain smoking.

5. Appears sick or losing weight.

6. A griping attitude.

7. A sudden falling off of the employee's work.

8. Drunk or drinking.

9. An increase in intensity of any of the above. When any of these danger signals were

noticed, the supervisor was to take the employee aside and try to learn his troubles by giving him a chance to talk them over. By this method a remedy

may be. found and the situation relieved before a serious accident occurs.

All this appears to be a good sign that

Preventive Medicine is also getting into the field of Accident Prevention. It is well that this is happening for it brings

to the aid of the Safety Engineer one more

talented group and a new angle of attack in the uphill fight to prevent death and injury on the job.

MAY 1955

Supply Bureau

Engineering and Construction Bureau

Health Bureau

C. Z. Covl.-Panama Canal Co. I This Month

)

Community Services Bureau

Marine Bureau

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

Civil Affairs Bureau

Transportation and Terminals Bureau

Disabling Injuries per 1,000.000 Man-Hours Worked

I Frequency Rale)

Number of Disabling Injuries .21

CO 30 40 50

Man-Hours Worked 2,277,329 LEGEND

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

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

f:

: :-: : :: X»?j Ac-cumulative Frequency Rate This Year
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

fiJ'ati

Official Panama Canal Company Publication

Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

OF CURRENT INTEREST

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

John S. Seybold, Governor-President

H. W. Schull, Jr. Lieutenant-Governor

William G. Arey, Jr. Public Information Officer

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Assistant Editor

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

after publication date.

SINGLE COPIES BY MAIL—10 cents each BACK COPIES—10 cents each

On sale when available, from the Vault

Clerk, Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

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

Canal Review, Balboa Heights, C. Z.

Over $18,000 Donated

For Zone Cancer Fund

A generous response from people of all walks of life resulted in the most successful Cancer Fund crusade last month

since the Canal Zone Cancer Committee

was formed in 1951. The amount of contributions an- nounced at the close of the drive was

$17,717.65, but cbnations received later brought the figure up to over $18,000.

Receipts from employees in the various Company - Government units totaled nearly $8,800.

Heading the two committees of solici- tors in the Canal organization were George A. Tully for the Atlantic side, and Francis J. Moumblow for the Pacific

side. Mr. Tully also headed the benefit shows by the Elks which resulted in substantial aid in the campaign. The

General chairman of the campaign was

L. M. Brockman, Assistant Personnel

Director. Contributions from U. S. Army Carib- bean totaled $4,014,613; Caribbean Air Command, $2,029.27; Fifteenth Naval

District, $862.54; and miscellaneous,

$2,016.17. All of these were consider- ably higher than the amounts received from these sources in previous campaigns.

The work being done by the Canal Zone Cancer Committee was described

in the May issue of The Review.

Men at Work

THE LOOK of surprise on this student's face as he discovers there was an engine under the hood ifter all

is only typical of what is happening these days in the auto mechanics' shop course being given each Satur- day morning in the Balboa High School Shop Building as part of the Canal Zone Junior College summer

session. The course, which is the first of its kind to be offered by the Junior College, was limited to 17 students but on registration day, it proved so popular that a second section was opened. The course is open to men

as well as women and gives students four hours of training each week in auto repairs and related subjects.

Automatic and administrative in-grade

step increases will be made for all Local Rate employees who are eligible, effective with

the pay period beginning July io, it has been announced by the Personnel Director. This is the quarterly automatic and administrative in-grade step increase which

is effective with the beginning of the first pay period immediately following the quarters ending March 31, June 30, September

30, and December 31.

review of rates for several groups of quarters may be required in advance of that

date, it has been announced.

One young man has been accepted as an

apprentice by the Panama Canal Company

and seven others have been reemployed and

are already back at work in the crafts in which they were specializing before they

left the Canal service to serve with the Armed Forces. Domingo David Hinds, a Balboa High

School graduate, who served two years with

the LI. S. Army at Fort Kobbe, is the one new apprentice accepted so far this year by the Panama Canal Company. He will take his training as a machinist with the

Industrial Division. Mr. Hinds was born

in Ancon and is the son of a retired Panama

Canal employee.

Those apprentices, who are returning

after military service, are all within the

electrical trade and are now in the third or fourth year of their apprenticeships. Their names and their specific craft training are

as follows: Richard O. Egger, apprentice wireman,

fourth year, Electrical Division; Kenneth

F. Millard, apprentice wireman, fourth

year, Electrical Division; Gerald L. Dare,

apprentice electronics mechanic, third year,

Electrical Division; John A. DuVall,

apprentice cablesplicer, fourth year, Electrical Division; James R. Nellis, apprentice armature winder, third year, Electrical Division; Robert M. Wilford, Jr., apprentice automatic telephone switchman, third year, Electrical Division, and Thomas M.

Jordan, apprentice cablesplicer, third year,

Electrical Division.

Hundreds of students in the Canal Zone

Latin- American schools took advantage of the summer athletic program sponsored

by the Physical Education and Recreation Branch of the Canal Zone Schools Division during the recent vacation months. The

program was brought to a close June 24

following a swimming meet at the Rainbow

City Swimming Pool, a Field Day, and

table tennis championship match held at the Santa Cruz Gymnasium.

Because dry-season weather prevailed

during the early part of the program, the students were able to participate in more

outdoor sports than they had in other

years when vacation months fell during

the wet season. Among the sports and activities offered during the period were archery, football,

roller skating, baseball, swimming, table

tennis, volleyball, and basketball. The swimming meet, which closed the program, was held the morning of June 22

as were Field Day and the table tennis match in Santa Cruz.

The seven percent discount, which has been in effect on all rents of U. S.-rate quarters in the Canal Zone since January

of this year, will be reduced to three percent

effective this month. As was announced recently, the discount

involves no change in the established rental

rate but is a form of adjustment made semiannually in which economies effected in the housing administration are passed on to employees.

The new rental rates will again be subject to review next January, although a

For the past two weeks a team of three

electrical engineers have been making a house-to-house survey of frequency-sensitive equipment used in Canal Zone quarters

in Gamboa. The survey is in connection

with the five-year project for the conversion

of electrical current from 25-cycle to 60-

cycle and includes an inspection of all domestic equipment such as washing

machines, deep freezers, refrigerators, clocks and other appliances which now

operate on 25-cycle current. Each member of the team, which is composed of T. S. McKibbon, Ralph Otten and Hubert Oken, presents proper credentials when calling at homes. Residents have been requested to cooperate in the survey, which is an important phase of the conversion program. When the survey has been completed, each housaholder will be furnished a duplicate copy of the appliance list made

by the members of the team. It will then be the responsibility of the owner to give notice of any change in the list or change

of address. Emphasis has been made on the importance of supplying supplemental information because of the necessity of ordering conversion parts well in advance of the

actual conversion.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

YOUR W

BALBOA, Pacific terminal town, was still in the early stages of construction when this photograph was

taken De-ember 23, 1914. The first offices in the Administration Building, on Big Tree Hill, had been

occupied a few months earlier.

Balboa, Pacific terminal town for the Panama Canal, could have been very

different than it is today.

If the original Canal plans had been

followed, there would be a lock about

where the Balboa Terminal Building now

stands and a great dam would link Sosa and Corozal hills; a man-made lake would cover what is now Balboa.

If town planners had had their way

about 1913, the Balboa Commissary,

Post Office, and Service Center would be connected by arcades which, in view of some November rainfalls, might not be

a bad idea.

If studies made during the 1920's and

19.30's had been carried out, the bulk of Balboa's housing would be located where La Boca today is fast disappearing.

And, if suggestions of a 1950 report had

been adopted, Balboa today would be

ringed by Morgan Avenue, which would

start from the sea end of the Gavilan

area, overpass Balboa Road, underpass

the Administration Building's long front

steps, Roosevelt Avenue, and the railroad

tracks, and join eventually with Gaillard Highway.

But none of the "ifs" did happen.

Today Balboa, second largest Canal

town, is a sprawling assortment of housjs,

office buildings, schools, shops, churches,

lodges, business establishments, and docks

scattered over the flats, up and down

hillsides and along the waterfront. Named In 1909 The settlement on the Pacific end of the Canal was not called Balboa until 1909. The name was suggested by the Peruvian Minister to Panama who

advanced the idea that the south?rn

t srminal should honor the discoverer of the Pacific, just as the northern terminal honored the discover?) of the new world. Up to that time, the two Pacific side settlements in the Canal Zone —one

extending from the old Panama Railroad

Pier near what is now Pier 6 to the present

Balboa docks area and the other a group

of quarters and service buildings in the

general area of today's Morgan AvenuePyle Street section—were known as Old

La Boca and New, or East, La Boca

respectively. After 1909 they became

Old Balboa and East Balboa. Old Balboa included a native town,

which had once been known as Cartagenita, the marine shops and docks, a base for dredges working in the harbor,

a few offices, and a restaurant with

bachelor quarters on the upper floors. A few of the buildings dated back to the French days, as did the steel pier which w: as the Pacific terminus, a spur of the Panama Railroad. Conveyor System

A sea of knee-deep, oozy mud fre- quently covered the area between the

railroad tracks and the "hotel" which was

on the side of a hill later removed to make room foi the dry dock. Morris Seelev, of Gamboa, remembers

Sl'PERSALESMEX are these t.vo Balboans: B. S. Chisholm, Manager of the Service Center, left, and

J. F. Evans, Manager of the Commissary.

that this was the situation when he

reported for work there in the fall of 1907. He was standing by the tracks,

his small trunk-lockei beside him, wondering how he could reach the hotel, when

he was approached by a huge Martini- quen laborer who offeted in sign language

to help him. The Maitiniquen put the trunk on his head and indicated to Mr. Seeley that he should climb on top of it. He cauld not

lie persuaded into making two trips, one

with the trunk and the other with the man, so Mr. Seeley followed instructions,

perched on top of the trunk and was

conveyed safely to dry land. East Balboa was on higher ground, and

was, primarily, a residential section for those working on the harbor develop- ment. La Folic Dingier—or Dingler's

Folly stood on the side of Ancon Hill, above East Balboa, looking out over Panama Bay. It was a massive edifice which had been built in 1885 for, but

never occupied by, Jules Dingier, Director General of the French Canal Company. After the Canal Zone was

established, it was used for several years

as a quarantine detention station. It was razed in 1910. Between the two Balboas were several community buildings. A "hotel," construction day term for a restaurant, was

approximately opposite the present day

St. Mary's School. The building was

later used by the YMCA. The commissary, opened in 1909, the post office, which sold its first stamp on May 5, 1909, a lodge hall, still standing but soon to be

demolished, and a one-story office building, housing the Assistant District Quartermaster, were clustered around what is now the Barneby Street-Balboa Road

intersection. Tide Waters

This "civic center" was separated from

East Balboa by a wide ditch through

which tide waters flowed twice a day as

far as the base of the hill on which the Administration Building was later built, The ditch was crossed by an iron bridge.

When the flats were filled with spoil from

Balboa haibor, the bridge was buried;

it was uncovered some years ago when

La Boca Road was built. Railroad tracks skiited the foot of Administration Building hill. One spur

ran from Ancon to the old PRR pier, around the north side of Scsa Hill. Another set of tracks ran to a dump area— now Fort Amador -along present-day

Amador Road and Empire Street. Fred deV. Sill, a gay blade in those

days, recalls that after a dance at the

Tivoli, Isthmian beaux would "borrow"

a railroad handcar and ride their ladies to the end of the line and back, pumping

manfully. Even on a dry-season night, such exertion did a stiff collar no good.

By 1910 it was definite that there would

be a large harbor at Balboa, and that a terminal town would be built near the

Pacific entrance to the Canal. A huge

harbor- -it was first to caver 176 acres and was later enlarged to 246 acreswould provide a haven for ships. Typical

of those happy-prenuclear days was this

c raiment from The Canal Record:

"The harbor as planned will afford an

absolutely safe anchorage. It will be

practically landlocked . . . and merchant

shipping will be secure from all attack as
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

C'APT. B. A. DARDEX

Police District Commander

the harbor will be directly under the lee of the proposed fortifications on Sosa Hill.' Several groups planned layouts for the terminal town, but it was not until 1912

that a final decision was reached. Austin

Lord, the architect who designed the Administration Building, laid out the town around a central avenue, now the Prado, with community buildings grouped

at the Sosa Hill end connected by a con- tinuous arcade. Quarters for the office force of the Administration Building were to be adjacent to and northeast of the Building. Employees of the shops,

docks, and terminal facilities would live

in quarters to be built on the slope of Sosa Hill and on the new fill, later to be known as The Flats. The architect's plan did not meet

universal approval. One dissenter objected on the grounds that there might

be goings-on around a police station not

fit for the sight of women and children and that, furthermore, "a space 74 by

22 feet for the sleeping of 46 prisoners

and containing 26 plumbing fixtures is surely luxurious confinement." In addition he thought that a dormitory, instead

of rooms in the individual quarters, should house the servants. By late 1913, Balboa townsite was

fairly well laid out. When the House of Representatives Appropiiations Committee arrived in November they found

white-painted stakes marking the street pattern. Town Fills Up

Load after load of dirt, from Balboa

harbor and Diablo Hill, were hauled to

fill the flats and hydraulic dredges added

their considerable bit. Meantime, work

began on 10 four-family concrete quarters on the s'ope of Sosa Hill, the first to be

built in Balboa. It was not u^til 1917

that the frame four-family hous?s in The

Flats could be constructed. By the latter part of 1914, Balboa had

begun to fill up. Over 2,0'JO Pacific siders gathered on the piers to watch the SS Ancon complete the first formal Canal

transit. By the following July, Balboa's

residents numbered 893 men, 230 women,

and 250 children. The children attended

school in a building which had been put

together from four frame quarters which

had once housed bachelors. The high

BALBOA school, on the top floor, had a faculty of

five, including its principal, Jessie H.

Daniels. The eight elementary grades were on the first floor where Elise Cage,

as principal, supervised her five teachers- Neither teachers nor pupils suffered any

adverse effects from the police stationjail, directly across the street. Clubhouse Opens

The clubhouse, once the pride of Empire, was moved to Balboa and offi- cially opened on Christmas Eve 1914. Five months later Balboa commissary

admitted its first customers who were

duly impressed by the baskets of flowers which were the opening day gift of the landscape architect's gang. At first, Balboa had nowhere nearly

enough quarters to accommodate the

families to be assigned there. For a while some Balboa families lived in La Boca.

Closing of Corozal as a Canal town in 1915 threw an additional load on the already

overstrained bousing and it was several years before the situation eased. Balboans, like other Zonians, made

their own fun. One early event was a Christmas dance in the Old Balboa hotel, given in 1911 by the Balboa volunteer fire department. In 1915, the town cele- brated its first July Fourth. Fireworks went off as scheduled from Ancon Hill but a heavy storm rained out a street dance. The merry-makers took it in their stride, adjourning to the Balboa

Clubhouse and the Tivoli. Trams And Movies

There were tramcars to ride to Panama,

for women market-bound, and far out on

the Sabanas, for families on a Sunday

outing. After automobiles became more numerous one could drive around "The

Loop," through what is now Albrook

Field, or along Amador Road to inspect the fast-growing new military post, or onto the docks. When the Balboa restaurant, now the

police station, was built about 1917, it became one of Balboa's social centers. Some people even dressed- in the society

'.' :

CAPT. WILLIAM E. JONES

Fire District Commander

meaning of the word— to dine there and

it was the fashionable place to drop in for coffee or hot milk after a dance. Other recreation centers were the Balboa Community House, now St. Mary's School, the Balboa Yacht Club

which today, remodeled, houses the American Legion, the YMCA, and a YWCA which was located on Carr Street and later became the dormitory for many

students at the Junior College.

By 1920 the townspeople were practically busting out of the small movie hall on the second floor of the clubhouse, and

a special "moving picture room was added

to take care of this increased patronage,"

according to the Governor's annual report. Pranks And Pranksters

One grownup Zonian still remembers,

with some delight, how he and his friends used to break up movie performances

regularly by rolling stones down a drain which ran under the building. Which

is probably as good a place (See page ID

THIS TRIO rules school-going Balboa. T. F. Hotz, left, is principal of Balboa High School. Mis. Marie

Xeal is principal of Balboa Elementary School. And Roger D. Michel keeps a firm hand on the subteens in the Junior High School.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

Up And Down The Banks Of The Canal

Civil Affairs Bureau

Mrs. Christine L. Tull, who resigned her

ition as teacher of home economics at the Balboa High School last month, lias accepted an appointment as assistant

professoi ai the University of Hawaii, in the department of teacher training of home

economics. She will reside in Honolulu

but, i" her capacity as supervisor of home

, .mil's, will travel by plane between five

different Hawaiian islands to supervise

classes on each of the islands. Mrs. Tull

plans to take some special work at the

Universit) of Michigan during the summer

months; she will travel to Honolulu in time

lor school opening in September.

• • • Henry /.. Donovan, Civil Affairs Dirt-dor, accompanied by Mrs. Donovan and daughter

Peggy Ann, left June 18 by Panama Line

for a vacation of five weeks in the United

States. The Donovans wilt visit in New

York, New England, and Illinois, and will return on the Panama Line to the Isthmus

the end of July.

During Mr. Donovan's absence, Sigurd E. Ewer, Superintendent of Schools, will act as

Civil Affairs Director, in addition to his other ditties.

• • • Employees of the Civil Affairs Bureau

located for duty on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, from Gamboa to Ancon, reported

during the last two weeks of May to the Chest Clinic of Gorgas Hospital for chest X-rays. The chest survey program for Atlantic side employees will be announced

later by the Health Bureau.

• • • When Mrs. Ruth Miller, of the Canal Zone Library staff, returned last month

from a vacation trip to the United States, she brought news of Miss Hulda Henderson

formerly Reference Librarian with the Canal Zone Library, who left the Isthmus

in May 1954 to make her home in the United States. Miss Henderson is now Librarian at the White Sands Proving Ground in New

Mexico and makes her home at nearby

Alamogordo. She has built a new home

in Alamogordo, which she has decorated

with furnishings acquired in Mexico during her travels.

• • •

/./. John A. Tuber of the Cristobal Fire

Station has been selected to attend the Damage

Control Training Center of the U. S. Navy,

at Philadelphia, Pa., where he will take a course in fire-fighting instruction during

August. The same course was taken last year by I.t. Perc F. Graham of the Balboa

Fire Station.

• • • The Civil Affairs Bureau is giving employment to more than 20 young people

during the summer months. Eight student

assistants are working in the Schools Division, the Library and the Civil Defense

Section. Six of them are working with the

Physical Education and Recreation Branch

in connection with the summer playground

program. They are Lambert A. Mantovani

ai the Ancon Gymnasium; James W. Reece,

.11 Diablo Gymnasium; James F. Stevens,

at Gamboa Gymnasium; Albert A. Smith,

.11 Cristobal Gymnasium; and Louise M. Edmonson and Luke T. Palumbo, at Margarita Gymnasium. Shirley Million

is working at the Canal Zone Library and

Beverly A. Crawford is employed in the

office (if the Civil Defense Section. hour college students, who are spending

the sii miner on the Isthmus, have also been employed for the Physical Education and

Recreation Branch, as recreation assistants. They are Joseph Oliver, Jr., of the C. Z.

ii .r College, who is on duty at the Pedro

Miguel swimming pool; William McKeown,

also of the C. /. Junior College who is at Diablo Gymnasium; Nancy Kariger ol the

Vlarysville State Teachers College in

niri, employed .a the Balboa swim-

,111; pool and' Diablo gymnasium; and

Join 1). Hayes of Mississippi Southern

University, who is working at the Gatun

gymnasium.

Young people employed as life guards .11 the Zone swimming pool are Adele Meissner

of theC. Z. Junior College, at Pedro Miguel;

Marine Bureau

NEIL H. WILSON, Chief Admeasurer in Cristnhal

since 1951, was promoted last month to Director of Admeasurement. He will, however, continue also

in his former post and will have his headquarters in

Cristobal. He is in charge of 11 men whoso job it

is to measure, for tolls purposes, all ships transiting the Canal for the first time, or refigure the measure- ments on any ships which may have been altered

since their last Canal transit. He is also in charge

of the 7 quarantine and 4 customs-immigration

inspectors.

John S. (Jack) Watson has resigned as Admeasurer in Balboa and will enter business in Florida. He and his family

plan to leave this month for their new home in the States. Mr. Watson was born and raised on the Isthmus. His father, the late Ro\ R, Watson, was formerly Chief Quartermaster

of The Panama Canal. Jack has been employed in the Canal organization for the past 15 years. He was employed in the Dredging Division in July 1°40 and was

transferred to the position of Admeasurer

in 1947.

• • • Comdr. N. R. Fuller swapped one tropical climate for another when he moved from the

island of Guam to the Canal Zone. He is now Assistant Chief of the Industrial Division, succeeding Lt. Comdr. Russell C. Rice who has been transferred to Tampa,

Fla. Prior to his appointment to the

Industrial Division, Commander Fuller was

on duty in Guam as Planning Officer for the U. S. Naval Ship Repair facilities. The Industrial Division's new assistant

chief arrived here late in June. He was accompanied by Mrs. Fuller and their son and daughter.

Brack Hauler, Jr.. of Duke University, a1 Balboa; Jay Clemmons, Dorman Fulton,

and Herbert Ravbourn, all of Balboa High

School, at Balboa pool; S. A. Herring, Bob

Connor, and H. E. Ehrman. of Balboa High

School at Gamboa; and Dan George and

G. E. Rodriguez of Cristobal High Scl I

at Gatun.

• • • The Canal Zone Government's annual

report of insurance business transacted in the Canal Zone during the calendar year

1954 was published in June. The booklet

includes "Laws Concerning Licensing of Insurance Companies, as Compiled by the

Civil Affairs Bureau for the Executive

Secretary."

• • • The Canal Zone Police entertained with

a Familv Barbecue Picnic and Golf Tourna

ment on Saturday, June 11, at the Gamboa

Golf and Country Club. Present were members of the Police Division, their

families, and guests. A turkey shoot was one of the sports enjoyed during the afternoon; 12 fat turkevs were presented as prizes. Sgt. Jack F. Morris of Balboa was 111 charge of arrangements for the da} s entertainment.

Engineering And Construction

Arrangements have been made for Marvin

J. Banton of the Surveys Branch to witness

a demonstration of survey depth recorder equipment during his current visit to the United States. The demonstration will be made by the manufacturers, the FIdo Corporation ol College Point, N. Y. A test of the equip- ment is being arranged to determine if it would be suitable for use in obtaining survey data of Canal waters. If one of the instruments is purchased it could be used

in the annual survey chart work of the Canal channel and waters, and would

eliminate much of the lead-line soundings now required in channel survey work.

• • • A 10-man gang from the Surveys Branch

is presently engaged on clearing the Canal Zone boundary in the Gigante River area. This work is done on an intermittent basis.

It includes the inspection, clearance, and

maintenance of the boundary on the 100-

foot contour around Gatun Lake and 260-

foot contour around Madden Lake.

/. Hartley Smith, Electrical Engineer, am!

his family are presently on vacation in the United .States, and Roy D. Reece is Acting

Electrical Engineer. Mr. Smith and his family drove across country to visit at his mother's home in La Mesa, Calif. They

were joined at Albuquerque by their son Paul,

a student of the University of New Mexico.

• • • A considerable change is being made in the arrangements of desk space in the headquarters of the Electrical Division at Balboa Heights. The change is being

made for better utilization of office space.

• • • The section of Gaillard Highway in the

vicinity of Curundu Culvert was repaired

by Maintenance Division forces last month. The work consisted of placing several hundred tons of asphalt plant mix on the roadway adjacent to the culvert to bring the road up to the level of the culvert. This repair work has been done several times since the highway was constructed.

It is made necessary by the sinking of the roadbed in the old mangrove swamp area which it crosses. The big drainage culvert under the road is built on piling which

prevents the culvert from sinking.

• • • Maintenance Division forces completed

the rebuilding of Morgan Avenue in Balboa

along the slide area which developed after grading in the Balboa Flats area for the new housing. A permanent macadam road

surfacing was installed. The slide had

caused a considerable buckling of the roadbed and extensive damage to the pavement.

• • •

Mrs. Lucille Fulop has been employed as

clerk. stenographer in the office of the Engineering and Construction Director. She takes

the plate of Mrs. Theresa C. Wright who has

been granted 15 mouths leave of absence

(luring which she will complete work for her degree at the Florida State University in Tallahassee. Mrs. I Itlop was employed sev- eral years ago in the Health Director's office.

• • • The Dredging Division's 250-ton floating crane Hercules has been placed on a standby basis. In the future it will l.e kept on a "cold boiler" basis and will he manned

onlv when required for special jobs.

Health Bureau

Mai. William O. Dougherty has been

assigned to the Canal Zone to replace Mai

Charles (',. Kendall in the Dental Clinic at Gorgas Hospital.

Major Kendall has received orders

assigning him to Washington, D. C. He

will lake advanced dentistry courses at the Research and Graduate School of the Army

Medical Department at Walter Reed

Hospital. He and Mrs. Kendall will leave the Canal Zone about the middle ol this month.
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11 YOUR TOWN — BALBOA

tor in the top of a garbage can and then waited for the collector to make his rounds. They still feel the result was

worth the effort. Balboa Grows

Balboa townsite's first major enlargement came in the late 1920's when 163

houses, including those which now line Amador Road, were built in the area between Plank Street and the sea. Some

of these quarters are now in the Naval

reservation. The next large-scale growth

took place just before World War II when 12-family houses mushroomed in Williamson Place, the Gavilan area, and

the section behind the YMCA. The

biggest single recent change in Balboa

has been the construction of 98 apart- ments to replace the old frame four-family houses in The Flats. The last of these new quarters was occupied early this year. Balboa Heights, geographically, is considered part of Balboa, but is still the

capital of the Canal Zone as it was

designed to be. Its Administration BuildAKTHl'R COTTON

Balboa Postmaster HAKR Y C. EGOLF

I lousing Manager

{Continued from page 9) as any to talk about some of the minor outrages

perpetrated by Balboa's younger set. The ringing of the school bell on Hal- loween was traditional for years; the students would go to any lengths to rig up the necessary Rube Goldberg apparatus. Another, more costly, prank in- volved throwing dye into the swimming

pool. For years, Balboa small fry had a running feud with the firemen to see who

could be first to burn the dried grass on

Sosa Hill. For several weeks one year, homewardbound servants were terrified almost out

of their wits by white-sheeted young

Balboans who jumped from behind

bushes at them in the early dusk. Another gang of youngsters, now respectable

citizens, coiled a large dead boa constricCommunity Services Bureau

Wide screens were installed at Gamboa.

Svinta Cruz, and Camp Bierd Theaters

during June. This completes the widescreen program for the Division.

• • • Work was completed on the placing of quarry tile on the floor of the Diablo Service Center kitchen area, and behind the cafeteria counter. Glazed wall tile was also placed on walls in the kitchen area. The

tile not only greatly improves the appear- ance of the areas concerned but will permit

easier cleaning.

• • « Philip Bauman, formerly employed at the Cristobal Service Center and more recently

a member of the Armed Forces stationed in

the United States, has been discharged from

duty with tin- Army. He will be reemployed

at Margarita Service Center.

Office Of The Comptroller

George E. Girard, Chief of the Internal Audit Staff, began a three-month leave June 20. During this time he will be on a

short official detail at the New York Office of the Panama Canal Company.

• • • Robert M. Graham is a new employee in the Internal Audit Staff, He was employed as an auditor on May 27. Mr.

Graham, whose United States residence is Oak/and. Calif., was formerly -with Price. Waterhouse & Company in Panama City.

• • • Another new employee is Mrs. Dorothy

L. Garcia. She was employed as a Bookkeeping Machine Operator in the Accounting Division May 25. Her States residence

is Columbus, Ga.

ROGER C. HACKETT

Dean of the Canal Zone Junior College

ing dominates the Pacific side landscape

just as the two-story, wide-porched house

occupied by the Governor dominates its residential section. This big old house had been occupied by the Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1907 at Culebra and moved to Balboa Heights

in 1914. Balboa Heights' other big, old official houses, all of which had been moved in from towns "along the line," are gradually being torn down. Some of them and some of the smaller frame cottages were

replaced this year with 17 new masonry

houses on Ridge and Quarry Roads.

Wartime Balboa As a town, Balboa was much affected by World War II. A few hours after Pearl Harbor, truckloads of Japanese

internees began to stream along Balboa

Road, headed for the temporary camp

which had gone up overnight at the Quarantine Station on the banks of the Canal. Radio and cable censorship offices were established on Gavilan Road and a three-story frame building hastily put up behind the Balboa Post Office was

headquarters for postal censors. Long rows of tankers lined the Balboa

docks and from time to time Balboans

glimpsed ships from the Pacific fighting, some of them badly damaged, on. their long voyage home. Canteens at docks

and at Albrook field hangars were staffed

by hundreds of Balboa women. War

bond carnivals at Balboa stadium drew

crowds of many thousands and sold bonds

worth many thousands of dollars. Second Largest Town

Today Balboa's population of 2,709-

or 2,876, if you include Balboa Heights -

is exceeded only by that of Paraiso. Its people can attend any one of eight

churches, can bank at two'banks or bor- row or deposit money with the Canal Zone Credit Union, can attend fraternal functions at any one of four handsome

lodge halls, or parties at the two USO

centers. They can pay their income tax

at the Canal Zone headquarters of the

Internal Revenue Service or, if veterans, take their problems to the Veterans

Administration Office at Balboa Service Center. Their children can attend school from kindergarten through Junior College,

without leaving Balboa. Balboa is also one of the two centers of commercial activities in the Canal Zone. At the Balboa Terminal Building, 14

shipping agencies handle the business of a great number of steamship lines. Four

oil companies, at least one of which was

located in Balboa in 1907, have offices and tank farms here. Several shipping

and oil companies have residences for their officials in Balboa. Balboa's New Look

A comparatively new Balboa development, and one which never fails to impress those who have been away for a few years, is the transformation of Balboa

Road between the Service Center and

Gavilan Road. This stretch is rapidly

being lined with handsome commercial,

religious and fraternal buildings. The

newest of these is a Reading Room for the

First Church of Christ Scientist, which

is going up next to the Credit Union

Building.

This section is particularly attractive

at Christmas time when lighted trees, galloping, if unofficial, reindeer, and Nativity scenes bring the holiday spirit to Balboa. Another section which specializes

in the Christmas scene is the street off Gavilan Road known as Santa Claus Land.

Balboa, not too long ago, was known

as a "boiler makers' town." Today it is, and rightly, the center of the Pacific side community.
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

COMMUNITY SERVICES EMPLOYEES LEAD

IN PURCHASE OF U. S. SAVINGS BONDS

RAVINGS BOND chairman from Company-Government Bureaus were given letters of commendation

on completion of the recent drive to increase employee participation in the pay-roll savings plan for bond

purchases. The letters were presented at a short meeting in the Governor's Office.

Left to right are: Norman Johnson, Saving Bond Officer; Otto W. Helmerichs. Personnel Bureau; John W. Hare, Community Services Bureau; Miss Kathleen McGuigan, Office of the Comptroller; C. E. Ewing, Transportation and Terminals Bureau—representing Norman E. Demers; Captain B. A. Darden;

Civil Affairs Bureau; and Gov. J. S. Seybold. Max R. Hart, Supply Bureau, was on vacation when

the letters were presented.

More employees of the Community

Services Bureau proportion-wise — are now buying U. S. Savings Bonds through

the payroll deduction plan than of any

other single Company-Government Bureau. Savings Bond chairman for the Community Services Bureau is J. W.

Hare. An organization-wide campaign to

sign up employees for the savings bond

plan and to increase the amount of pur- chases by those who had already been buying was held during May.

When figures on the campaign were

compiled by Norman Johnson, in his capacity as Savings Bond Officer, they

showed that over 35 percent of U. S.-rate employees and slightly over 32 percent of local-rate employees have authorized the purchase of savings bonds through payroll deductions. This was an increase of over 10 percent among U. S.-rate emCommunity Services Bureau:

Chairman, J. W. Hare

Personnel Bureau: Chairman, Otto Helmerichs -

i Iffice "f Comptroller: Chairman, Kathleen McGuigan.

Transportation and Terminals Bureau: Chairman. Y E. Demers . Supply Bureau: Chairman, M. I!. Hart

Civil Affairs Bureau:

<nan, ('apt. B. A. Darden

Administrative Branch and Govern- ment Staff: Chairman, Mrs. B. Finley Engineering and Construction Bureau: rmon, Mrs. F. Minton

Marine Bureau:

irman, < 'harles Jackson

th Bureau:

nan, A. E. Schulei Total: Panama Canal Co.-Canal Zone Government

ployees and over Hi percent among local- rate employees.

The total number of employees now

buying bonds through the payroll deduction plan is 4,762, of whom 3,453 are on

the local-rate rolls. Numerically, the largest number of new U. S.-rate bond buyers was in the

Civil Affairs Bureau where 99 additional employees were signed up. The Supply

Bureau headed the list for the number of new local-rate purchasers, with 381

reported. Several bond-buying plans were avail- able again this year and a number of employees who were already buying bonds

increased the amount of their purchases.

The percentages do not show the

several hundred employees who upped

the amounts of their deductions for bonds. The table below shows the results of the recent Savings Bond Drive.

A umber of ncu subsmlirr:Total now participating

'

i Participating following June

1954 campaign

' oPartici

following 1956 nim

voting May

I'liii/n

u. s. /.. R. C.N. /.. A'. U. S. /.. R. V. s. /.. R.

14 ISO 55 742 43.5 36.4 71. 4 56.6

13 4 45 23 47.1 7(1.0 60.2 si. 5

42 8 159 IS 44.2 43.8 114.4 56.3

III ITS 122 529 20. 'J 24.1 43.4 22 2

31 381 111? 1.(177 26 3 22.4 in 2 53.8

99 71 •236 *m *19.

1

*2I.7 "33.0 •54. s

29 28.6 4.(1 29.6 39.

1

38 134 *193 • 129 23.7 •11.6 "29.6 '2S.II

49 llll 252 298 23.3 6.5 28.6 13.2

20 58 *111 id.) '!'l (1 0.4 •24.0 "19.

S

370 1.13(1 1.309 3.453 25.0 15.9 35. li 32.4

CANAL ZONE CLERGY

Half a century ago the Salvation Army began its operations in the Canal

Zone. Since 1953 its Isthmian organization, which includes churches in La

Boca, Paraiso, Rainbow City, and Pana- ma City, two centers in Colon, and an outpost at Changuinola, has been undet

the direction of Senior-Captain Edward

W. Hodgson, as Sectional Officer. Captain Hodgson represents the second

generation of his family in the Salvation Army. His parents, Lt. Commissioner

and Mrs. H. S. Hodgson, now retired in England, were at one time Territorial Commanders of the Central America and

West Indies Territory.

Captain Hodgson was trained at the Salvation Army's Training College in London and became an officer in 1940. He served in the East End of London

during the World War II blitz. His present Isthmian assignment is his second. He was first stationed here from 1943 to 1947, as Welfare Officer for British merchant marine and troops

transiting the Canal.

CAPT. EDWARD. W. HODGSON

mate based on incomplete report.

His next assignments were in Trinidad,

where he was After-Care Officer and

Chaplain at His Majesty's Prisons, in Great Britain where he took a special course at the Salvation Army's School foi Officers, and in Kingston, Jamaica, where

he was accountant at headquarters for the same territory of which his parents

had been territorial commanders.

One of Captain Hodgson's great inter- ests is a school for the blind which meets

weekly in Panama City. From an original enrollment of six, the school now

has 21 pupils who are taught Braille and

useful handicrafts.

In keeping with Salvation Army policy, Mrs. Hodgson is also an officer. She was

trained in London and supervises the

organization's work among women here. The Hodgsons have three children,

Marjorie Ann, Edward Robin, and

Herbert John. All three were born at Gorgas Hospital. They now attend Balboa elementary school and are ardent Boy or Girl Scouts.
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

Paint, Maintenance

Program Gives Zone

Bright Fresh Look

If the Canal Zone, as a whole, has a

fresher, brighter appearance these days,

it is not due merely to the widespread

do-it-yourself landscaping projects of Zone residents. A great deal of the rejuvenated look is because several hundred thousand dollars have been spent during the fiscal year which ended yesterday for mainte- nance painting of quarters, office buildings, shops, and other Company-Government structures. The painting program

is the largest of its sort ever undertaken

in a 12-month period. In addition a considerable amount of repair work was

done and maintenance, in general, speeded

up.

In many cases, where painting was not

necessary but where buildings needed

freshening up, exteriors were washed by

Maintenance Division forces. Most of the 109 quarters buildings which were

scrubbed this year were in three towns,

Balboa, Gatun, and Margarita. The

first quarters to have their exteriors washed were a group on Amador Road

in Balboa.

$345,000 For Quarters

During the fiscal year slightly over

$345,000 has been spent for painting of quarters; this figure covers both interior and exterior painting. According to the Housing Division the exteriors of 577

quarters were painted and new coats of paint put on 279 roofs. Interior painting was done in 801 apartments, 264 bachelor rooms, and 179 hallways.

The painting of quarters and public- buildings was principally done by contract. Wherever possible, during the

fiscal year, the exterior trim of all concrete buildings of the office, shop, and

commissary type was refinished. At the Administration Building, for instance, all woodwork on the windows has been

repainted, Venetian blinds refinished, and

their tapes renewed.

Public Buildings

The list of buildings which have been

painted, some entirely and some partly,

is too long to be enumerated. These

public buildings include: Gamboa, Rainbow City, and Margarita Commissaries,

the Ancon Laundry, the wholesale platform at the Balboa Commissary, the Balboa gasoline station, woodwork on the Balboa pump station, the Paraiso Theater

the exterior woodwork at the Office of the General Manager of the Commissary

Division at Mount Hope, the Mount

Hope Refrigeration Plant, the Balboa

Service Center, woodwork at the old Balboa Dispensary, now ticket office for the Panama Line, the Diablo Heights

Service Center, the two-story building

formerly used as a fire station and now an

office building at Diablo Heights, the Diablo gymnasium, one of the old SED

buildings at Diablo Heights, several

schools, the Junior College dormitory

for boys, and a number of Electrical Division buildings, including the Gatun

and Cristobal Telephone Exchanges, the Balboa Power Station, and the Miraflores and Agua Clara Diesel Stations.

BALBOA COMMISSARY customers have taken to the new covered step-and-ramp approach from the Clinton Street parking lot with such enthusiasm that the old front entrance is practically neglected. Construction of the side entrance, done by Dillon and Hickman Construction Company, involved some

minor alterations and rearrangements inside the store. Note to the camera fans: This picture was taken about 7:30 p. m. on a recent Thursday, from the porch of quarters 727. The photographer used Royal Pan film at a twenty-fifth of a second at f5.6 and

a four-flash unit equipped with No. 22 bulbs. SUMMER SHOES are coming out in bright colors this year and the Commissary Division has promised that a large shipment of play

shoes in the latest colors and styles will arrive during July and will be placed on sale im- mediately. The styles will include flats, sandals, and the new so-called skimmers

which are as flat as pollera slippers and

probably as comfortable.

ALREADY ARRIVED is a shipment of casual shoes by the well-known Sandler people

of Boston which may be on sale Carefree soon enough for the Fourth of July Casuals holiday week end. Included are white kid flats called "Low Notes,"

with a snap strap and a low leather heel. There are some beige suede numbers called "Bubbles" by the manufacturers. These have

a new sole material said to be of the lightest weight, and greatest flexibility yet known. The shipment also includes a whole selection

of Sandler ballet-type shoes in solid red,

black, and white. All these are certain to be popular with the teenage crowd as well

as their older sisters and they will sell for only $5.95 and $6.95.

Panama Canal quarters have made Canal Zone residents patio-furniture and barbecue- minded. The houseware department reports a steady demand for barbecue grills and

barbecue accessories all of which are being

kept in stock in the Commissary houseware

sections. With this in mind the Commissary Division has ordered a new gadget designed to make

patio meals even less trouble than they are now. It is a junior serving cart called a

"Hotess Serv-a-Teer," with steel fitted legs and swivel casters which make it a simple

task to wheel around the terrace or the living room. It carries two medium-sized painted

trays which can be removed easily for serving. The whole contraption can be folded up with a twist of the wrist and stored in some convenient cubbyhole. By cutting a few corners from the grocery budget any housewife can be the proud owner of one or two of these time savers; they will be put on sale at the commissaries for only $4.95.

THE MEN are not being neglected in the summer shoe orders made by the Commissary

Division either. During July a large selection of men's sport shoes, with crepe soles, and two-tcned loafers are due to appear in

tiie Commissary shoe sections.

PLAY CLOTHES as well as play shoes being on minds of most of the female population of the Canal Zone during the Denim Duds summer vacation months, commissary customers should be

glad to know that another shipment of the popular Caroll Chris from California has been received and will be on sale soon in the dress sections. These include denim

toreador pants, shorts, and pedal pushers witn blouses and the popular Italian jackets

ta match. They come in the blue, charcoal, orange, pink, and aqua and some in stripes with a combination of several colors. As

may be remembered, these sporl clothes are

all under $12 and, being of denim, should wear like iron despite the constant laundering necessary in the tropics.

PATIOS AND BREEZEWAYS of the new

THE SCOTCH KOOLER and its companion

piece, the Scotch Grill, have also proved

popular with the outdoorScotch Plaid conditioned Canal Zoners. Another shipment will be

received soon with the Scotch Kooler in a

convenient two-gallon size which sell at $5.25. The grill, as you know, is about the same size and shape as the Kooler and is the answer to thai old problem of how to build a

fire on a windy beach, or any other picnic spot for that matter; a' $5.95.

RIGHT OFFHAND we don't know a person who is too happy when he finds that he has

to eat a meal off a paper plate. On the other hand, what hostess 'ooks forward to washing a mess of dirty dishes after an infor- mal evening? We think that this can be solved by a plastic picnic plcte soon to be sold by

the commisscry for 1 5 cents each. They come in bright red, green, and yellow and

are partitioned —to keep the potato salad out

of the hamburger — and have a space for a

cup or glass. Since they are plastic, they

are unbreakable and, since they are cheap

they can be 'mown away without breaking

the annual budget. They are sturdy enough,

however, to be used more than once if they

are washed in lukewarm suds and allowed to dry on a rack.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1,1955

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS

May 15 Through June 15

vh • were promoted or i rans- between May 15 and June IS are

isted below. Within-grade promotions are

not listed.CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Patrick H. Boggs, from Fireman to Fire- man, Driver-Qperator, Fire Division. Robert E. McCullough, from Supervisor

to Junior High School Teacher. Division ol Schools. Sadie E. Springer, from Supervisor to Senior High School Teacher. Division of

Si hools. Jean A. Karch, from Supervisor to Junior High School Teacher, Division of Schools. Owen B. Shirley, from Junior High

School Teacher to Assistant Principal,

Occupational High School, Division of Schools. Josephine A. DiBella, from Ticket Seller, Service Center Division to Student Aid,

Library.

Frank J. Degeer, from Junior High School Teacher to Senior High School Teacher,

Division of Schools. COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU

Marcy H. Carpenter, from Usher, Service Center Division, to Student Assistant, Housing Division. Charles R. Soukup, from Guard, Terminals Division, to Steward, Service Center

I livision. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Mrs. Catherine B. Sigl, from Bookkeeping Machine Operator to Bookkeeping

Machine Supervisor, Machine Accounting

Unit. Mrs. Eldermae A. Duff, Accounting

Clerk, from General Ledger and Processing

Branch to Reports and Reconciliation Branch. Mrs. Jeanne M. Wheeler, from Bookkeeping Machine Supervisor, Machine

Accounting Unit, to Plant Accounting

Assistant, Plant Inventory and Appraisal

Staff. Paul F. Helton, Accountant, from Internal Audit Staff to General Ledger and

Processing Branch.

Florian B. Hopson, from Supervisory Accountant, General Ledger and Processing Branch to Accountant. Reports and Reconciliation Branch. Henri E. Moehrke, from Steam Engineer,

Floating Crane, Dredging Division, to Cost Analyst, Plant Inventory and Appraisal Staff. Mrs. Maria I. Dawson, Clerk-Typist, from Contract and Inspection Division,

to Claims Branch, Fiscal Division. Mrs. Helen T. Bradley, from Time.

I.ea,ve, and Payroll Clerk, to Bookkeeping

Machine Operator, Machine Accounting

Unit

.

ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

Charles McG. Brandl, from Assistant to Project Engineer, Project 13A Division. Nancy A. Ramsey, from Clerk-Typist, Terminals Division, to Clerk (Typist),

Electrical Division. John Clayton, Jr., from Powerhouse

Operator to Senior Powerhouse Operator,

Elect rical Division. Peter S. Legge, from Steam Engineer,

Floating Crane, to Engineer (Pipeline Suction Dredge), Dredging Division. Harry W. Gardner, from Wharfbuilding

foreman to Relief Foreman, Dredging

I livision. HEALTH BUREAU

Dr. Rafael Alvarez, from Resident.

Hospital, to Medical Officer, Atlanl i al < )linics, Eleanor L. Colbert, from Staff Nurse,

Hospital, to Read Nurse, Corozal

MARINE BUREAU

George W. Parker, Denton W. Broad,

from Lock Operator Wireman Leader to

rol House Operator, Pacific Locks. James P. Hayman, Walter M. Hartman,

from Lock Operator Wireman to Lock

Wireman Leader, Pacific Locks. James 3. Rigby, from Truck Driver,

Motor Transportation Division, to Guard,

Locks Security Branch.

Russell C. Meissner, from Control House Operator to Lockmaster, Pacific- Locks. Leonard B. Wilson, from Fireman, Fire

Division, to Towing Locomotive Operator,

Pacific Locks. Roy A. Hall, from Engineer, Pipeline Suction Dredge, Dredging Division, to Chief, Towboat Engineer, Navigation Division. Neil H. Wilson, from Chief Admeasurer,

Navigation Division, to Director of Admeasurement, Office of Marine Director. Charles V. Scheidegg, from Electrical Coordinator, to Lock Operator Wireman

Leader, Atlantic Locks. Andrew Metzgar, from Lock Operator

Wireman Leader to Lock Operator Wire- man, Atlantic Locks.

Christian S. Skeie, from Sanitation

Inspector, Panama Health Office, to Towing Locomotive Operator, Pacific Locks. Mrs. Katherine Foulkes, from Clerk Stenographer to Shorthand Reporter, Office of Cristobal Port Captain.

John D. Love, from Stevedore Foreman,

Terminals Division, to Dock Foreman,

Navigation Division. Mrs. Nellie K. Whitney, from Fiscal Accounting Clerk to Accounting Clerk,

Industrial Division. PERSONNEL BUREAU

William N. Taylor, from Position Classifier to Chief, Local Rate Section, Wage

and Classification Division. SUPPLY BUREAU

Joseph B. Burgoon, from Cost Analyst, Plant Inventory and Appraisal Staff, to General Foreman, Dry Cleaning, Commissary Division. Mrs. Eva M. Harte, from Usher, Service Center Division, to Commissary Assistant,

Commissary Division. Johnny Vaucher, from Accounting Clerk

to Accounting Supervisor, Commissary

Division. Gerald J. Kelley, from Typewriter

Repairman, Industrial Division, to Commissary Assistant, Commissary Division. TRANSPORTATION AND TERMINALS

BUREAU

John H. Allen, from Wood and Steel Carman to Car Inspector, Railroad Division. Theodore A. Albritton, from Assistant Roundhouse Foreman, to Roundhouses

and Equipment Foreman, Railroad Division. William J. Rose, from Diesel Locomotive

Machinist to Assistant Roundhouse Fore- man, Railroad Division. Mrs. Alda L. McLeod, from Typist to Clerk-Typist, Terminals Division. John K. Brayton, from Supervisory

Traffic Clerk to Stevedore Foreman,

Terminals Division. Richard M. Conover, from Supervisory

Storekeeper to Supervisory Traffic Clerk, Terminals Division.

JUNE RETIREMENTS

Retirement certificates were presented

the end of June to the following employees,

listed alphabetically, together with their birthplaces, titles, length of service, and

future addresses:

Captain John M. Fahnestock, Mississippi; Cristobal Police District Commander; 26

years, 5 months, 2 days; Gulfport, Miss. - William H. Metivier, Rhode Island; Mail

Supervisor, Administrative Branch; 30

years, 1 1 months, 16 days; address uncertain. Joe H. Richardson, North Carolina; Policeman, Gamboa Penitentiary; 24 years; Wilmington, N. C.

Capt. Macon A. Turner, North Carolina; Captain of Detectives, Balboa Police District; 26 years, 7 months; address un- decided.

From Cristobal

Cristobal -July 2 Ancon July 9

Cristobal July 16 Panama _. July 23 Ancon July 30 From New York

Cristobal July 7 Panama July 14 Ancon July 21

Cristobal July 28

(Southbound, the Haiti stop is from 7

a. m. to 4 p. m. on Monday; northbound,

the ships are also in Port-au-Prince Mondays, from about 1 to 6 p. m.)

ANNIVERSARIES

John H. Leach, Local Agent, Cristobal

FYeight House and Albert H. Evans, Assistant Chief of the Administrative Branch, both of whom celebrated 35 years of govern- ment service in June, are the senior men on

the anniversary list this month. Mr. Leach, whose service date of June

16, 1920, makes him two days senior to Mr. Evans, is a native of London, Ark. He came to the Isthmus in 1919 with his parents and took his first job with the Canal organization during summer vacations as a messenger. In 1922 he was

employed as a clerk with the Receiving and

Forwarding Agency, now the Terminals

Division, in Cristobal and has been with

that division ever since. He was acting

local freight agent in both Balboa and Cris- tobal on several occasions and was pro- moted to Local Agent in Cristobal in 1953. A native of New York, Mr. Evans served

three years with the V. S. Army before he came to the Isthmus in 1924. His first job

with the Canal organization was with the Administrative Branch at Balboa Heights

and he has remained with the same unit during all his years of service. In 1941

he was made Chief of the Record Section and was promoted to Administrative

Assistant in 1944. Since 1951 he has been Assistant Chief of the Administrative Branch.

25 YEARS

Two of the four employees who passed

the cpaarter-century mark of government

service during the month of June have

unbroken Canal service. Three of them

are mid-westerners and one is a native Canal Zonian. The two with unbroken Canal service are Fred Yaeger, Pumping Plant Operator with

the Maintenance Division and Capt. Horatio A. Lincoln, Captain of the Balboa

Port. Captain Lincoln was born in Grand

F'orks, N. Dak. and has been Port Captain

in Balboa since 1952. Most of I is govern- ment service has been with II. S. Navy on

other assignments. He is scheduled to complete his tour of duty here in July.

The Canal Zonian celebrating his 25th

service anniversary this month is Theodore

C. Henter, who was born in the construc- tion-day tov\ n ot Gorgona. He is now

Assistant Chief Hvdrographer in the Meteorological and Hydrographic Branch

in Balboa Heights.

The fourth man completing 25 years of government service is John F. Greening,

a native of Hamilton, Ohio, who is Lockmaster at the Gatun Locks.

20 YEARS

Six employees passed their 20-year anni- versary in June and three of them have unbroken service with the Canal organization. The three with continuous service are Bland L. Smith, Electrician Leader.

FZlectrical Division, Mount Hope; Eric A. Fagerberg, Machinist, Industrial Division, Cristobal; and Robert J. Helmerichs, born

in Ancon, Detective Sergeant stationed at the Balboa Police Station. The other three with 20 years of Govern- ment service whose Canal service is broken
July 1, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

EXECUTIVE REGULATION 49 Husband -And -Wife Team Vanguard

Of New Gorgas Hospital Interns Editor's Note: The following Executive

Regulation, covering the construction or placing of signs, bills, posters, or other

advertising devices in the Canal Zone, was

issued last month at Balboa Heights.

CANAL ZONE GOVERNMENT

PANAMA CANAL COMPANY

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

Balboa Heights, C. Z., June 10, 1955. Executive Regulation No. 49 OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

Pursuant to the authority vested in the Governor by section 843 of title 5 of the Canal Zone Code, as amended June 13. 1940 (Ch. 358, sec. 3, 54 Stat. 390). the following regulations covering the construction or placing of signs, bills, posters, or other advertising devices on lands, buildings, or other structures

in the Canal Zone, other than within military or naval reservations, are hereby prescribed:

1. No sign, bill, poster, or other advertising device

shall be constructed, placed, or displayed except in conformity with these regulations and shall not be

constructed, placed, or displayed unless the location, design, and type of display have first been approved by the Civil Affairs Director, in whom authority to administer these regulations is hereby vested.

2. Advertising of the following types, or in the following locations, is hereby prohibited, except in cases in which the Civil Affairs Director makes an

exception in writing supported by written findings indicating strong considerations of public interest as warranting such exception:

(a) Signs of billboard size. (b) Any sign over 4 feet high or 20 feet long. * (c) Signs that are indecent or otherwise contrary to the public mores.

(d) Multiple type (Burma Shave) signs.

(e) Any sign: (1) within 10 feet of the edge of a

street or road. (2) on the inside of a curve. (3) within 75 feet of an intersection, or (4) any sign which for any reason would create a hazard to

traffic or interfere with traffic or traffic signs or

signals.

(f) Signs that would mar natural scenic beauty

or the appearance of a community.

3. Signs advertising single events, sponsored by

religious, civic, or employee organizations, or events

of a cultural nature, shall not be fixed or erected more than 4 weeks prior to the event, except as may

be authorized by the Civil Affairs Director on considerations ?>f the public interest, and shall be removed

by the sponsoring organization within 3 days after closing of the event advertised, unless such time is iurther extended by the Civil Affairs Director.

4. These regulations shall not be applicable to the display by commercial firms or other organizations

established in the Canal Zone of signs located on

premises owned, leased, or held under license by

them; Provided, however. That the Civil Affairs Director may prohibit, or require the removal of. any such sign that would be contrary to the public mores or otherwise inconsistent with the general purposes of this regulation.

5. Any person who violates any of the regulations

established hereby is punishable, as provided by sec- tion 843 of title 5 of the Canal Zone Code, as amended,

by a fine of not more than $25.00. or by imprison- ment in jail for not more than 10 days, or by both, and every day that any prohibited advertising device remains in violation of these regulations constitutes

a separate offense.

6. These regulations shall become effective 60 days

after the date of issuance thereof.

J. S. Sevbold

Governor of the Canal Zone

President. Panama Canal Company

are John R. Smith, who was born in Culebra, Supervisor of Generation and Transmission of the Power Branch, Electrical Division, Balboa Substation; John A. Dombrowsky, also born on the Isthmus,

Lock Operator, VVireman, Pacific Locks; and Mrs. Doris B. McDonald, Chief

Dietitian at Gorgan Hospital.

15 YEARS

Eight of the 16 employees completing

15 years of service in June have continuous

service with the Canal organization. They

are L. Leroy Barfield, Lock Operator,

Atlantic Locks; Mortimer J. Brennan,

Leader Wireman, Electrical Division; Porter W. Crawford, Foreman Cribtender, Terminals Division; John H. Foster, Leader

Electronics Mechanic, Electrical Division; Robert F. Roche, Accountant, Payroll Bureau; Edwin J. Roddy, Plumber, Maintenance Division; Trendon Vestal, Accountant, Accounting Systems Staff, and Eliza- beth F. Walsh, Accountant, General Manager's Office, Service Center Division. Other employees who completed 15 years

of Government service in June are: Phra

A. Ashby, Maintenance Mechanic, Corozal

Hospital; Louis C. Caldwell, Operation

Supervisor, Storehouse Division; Charles H. Crosby, Lock Operator, Machinist,

Pacific Locks; George V. Daniels, Chief

of the Local Rate Records Branch; Henry

C. Freeman, Stevedore Foreman, Transportation and Terminals Bureau; Albert E. Greene, Customs Inspector, Balboa; John

T. O'Donnell, Jr., Machinist and Diver,

Industrial Division; and Virgil C. Reed,

Maintenance Superintendent, Grounds

Maintenance Division.

NEW INTERNS

Left to right, or right to left, the Drs. Sargent

Dr. Dwayne L. Sargent and his wife, Dr. Barbara Sargent, who arrived here by plane early in June, were the vanguard

of a new crop of interns who will train at Gorgas Hospital this year. The medical

husband-and-wife team were both graduated from Rice Institute in Houston in 1951 and both completed their medical

training at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston this year. Dr. Barbara is a native of Houston,

Latin-American Schools Open Tuesday

(Continued from page 1) begin. Text books

for the lower grades are already on hand. The books are those used in the schools

of such countries as Panama, Cuba,

Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

A number of changes have been made

in the teaching staff of the Latin-Ameri- can schools system this year. Eleven new teachers, have been assigned to the elementary schools. Students returning to school Tuesday

will find several new principals on duty. Mrs. Elouise Small, who had been on the teaching staff of the Rainbow City ele- mentary school is now principal at the elementary school at Chagres. She suc- ceeds Miss Pearline Carter who has been

appointed principal of the La Boca

Elementary and Junior High Schools. Robert Beecher, who has been a high

school teacher, is the new principal of the La Boca High School and Owen B. Shirley has been promoted from vice principal to principal of the Rainbow

City High School. Another change in the schools system

is the assignment of Kenneth V. Griffith as full-time librarian in charge of the Rainbow City High School library.

The library will now serve the entire community as well as the school. Books

in Spanish are available in the school

libraries and others are being ordered. Only a few physical changes have been

made in the schools. Among these is the addition of a small playground area, which is being equipped with swings, for the Chagres school. This will provide

play space for the children in the two- room school, attended by children from

grades one through six.

Tex. and her husband hails from Middlebourne, W. Va. They have been married two years and so far their careers complement each other's perfectly. Their

plans following their internship at Gorgas

are still indefinite, mostly because Dr. Dwayne will probably be called into the Army and Dr. Barbara will tag along if possible.

The Sargents are one of two medical

couples among the 16 new doctors who

will take their internship at Gorgas

Hospital this year. The other couple

is Dr. Edward G. Long and his wife, Dr. Cherie C. Long, both graduates of the Louisiana State College of Medicine.

The Longs, together with most of the

other new interns, arrived the last week

in June. Other new interns and the medical

schools they attended are: Dr. Albert E. Anderson, Tufts Medical School; Dr. John P. Brady, Boston University Medical School; Dr. Robert C. Brandmeyer, Kansas University Medical Center; Dr. Robert A. Chapman, Columbus Medical

School; Dr. Dean T. Collins, University

of Kansas Medical School; Dr. Charles H. Glines, University of Michigan Medical School; Dr. Paul R. Hanson, State University of Iowa Medical School; Dr. Gene E. Johnson, Indiana University School of Medicine; Dr. David E. Livingston, University of Rochester Medical

School; Dr. John C. Loofbourow, University of Minnesota School of Medicine;

Dr. Stephen J. Plank, University of California Medical School; Dr. Richard

Siegler, University of Chicago Medical

School, and Dr. John E. Woods, Western

Reserve University Medical School.

Zone Library Sends Magazines

To Readers In Fiji Islands

It's a long way from the Canal Zone to Nadi in the Fiji Islands, but almost half- way around the world isn't too far for friendly hands from the Canal Zone

Library to reach. Today Fiji Islanders may be browsing through magazines

which, not too long ago, were perused by

Canal Zonians.

It all started this way: Several years ago an issue of UNESCO's Bulletin for

libraries, which is printed in several languages, carried an offer from the Canal Zone Library to supply noncurrent

periodicals, which were no longer needed

here, to other libraries. Soon afterward the Library received

requests from several libraries for old magazines. One of the letters came from

the Ramakrishna Library in Nadi.

Not long ago Mrs. L. B. Burnham,

Canal Zone Librarian, received another

letter from the Islands, thanking her for magazines which had been sent, and

asking her again for assistance. The

Fiji librarian wrote that hospital library

service, on a small scale, had been started

in the Laukota Hospital, second largest

in the colony.

"If you have any duplicate books

which can be spared, we shall feel grateful if they can be presented to this library in a distant isolated island group

in the Southwest Pacific," he wrote. Mrs. Burnham and her staff will do

their best to send some more materials, she told The Panama Canal Review.
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW July 1, 1955

SHIPS .no SHIPPING

Transits By Ocean-Going Vessels

In Maj

1955 1954 Commercial 698 689 U.S. Government 24 30

Total 722 719

Floating Crane To Be Sold m

*Tolls

$3,080,281 $2,929,034

73,345 90,090

$3,153,626 $3,019,124'

Commercial

U. S. Government

Total

* Includes tolls cm all vessels, ocean-going and small.

With commercial traffic through the Canal maintaining a high level during

July, the total number of transits by

ocean-going ships was expected to exceed

8,000 in the fiscal year 1955. This was

the first time in the history of the water- way that transits by ocean-going commercial ships exceeded this mark.

The previous record for commercial

traffic of 7,784 was set in the fiscal year

1954, and this mark had been passed on June 21. The big decline in the number of oceangoing U. S.-Government ships in transit during the 1955 fiscal year more than

offset the increase in commercial traffic with the result that the fiscal year figures

for all traffic were expected to be under

those in the fiscal years 1953 and 1954.

Up to the end of May there had been

265 transits by ocean-going Government

vessels as compared with 760 in a comparable period in the previous fiscal year.

Old-time residents of the Isthmus who

have seen several polar ships transit the Canal may have an opportunity soon to

see the Navy's biggest icebreaker Glacier. The big icebreaker, launched late in May at Pascagoula, Miss., is to be Admiral Richard E. Byrd's flagship on

the Antarctic exploration next winter. No information has been received on

its possible arrival date in Canal waters but it was announced at the time of its launching that it would leave in about

five weeks.

Ships of Admiral Byrd's two previous

Antarctic expeditions transited the Canal

to and from the polar region. The

Glacier is an 8,500-ton ship, 310 feet long,

and is designed to break through ice 15

feet thick. It is said to be the largest icebreaker ever built outside of Russia.

The third of four large new motorships

built for the Westfal-Larsen CompanyLine is expected to make its maiden

voyage through the Canal within another

few weeks. The MS Evanger was recently

launched in Bergen, Norway, and is scheduled to enter service between the

east coast of South America and the

Pacific coast of North America sometime

in August. Two sister ships, the A^orr and Hardanger, have already

entered the service and a fourth is scheduled for the route. Each vessel is 8,600 tons deadweight with an average

speed of 15 knots and accommodations

for 12 first-class passengers.

AJA X, one of the largest floating cranes in service and one of a pair which had been built for the Panama

Canal in 1914, was put up for sale last month. Bids for the crane were advertised the latter part of June; they will be opened September 30. Like its identical twin, Hercules, the Ajaz was built in Germany and towed across the Atlantic. The Ajax's trans-Atlantic crossing took 74 days and was completed just before World War I broke out. During its career the 250-ton floating crane has been used in a number of spectacular jobs. One of

its first assignments was to raise the sunken drill barge Teredo from the Canal channel. Later the Ajaz

hauled up, from the bottom of Cristobal harbor, the USS OS which had been damaged in collision with

a freighter. All members of the crew were saved. Together with the Hercules, the Ajaz later raised a Navy tug which had sunk besides the Balboa

docks and in 1936 raised a derrick barge which went down in Cristobal harbor.

A Swiss flag was among the many in the stream of traffic moving through the

(-anal last month. The vessel was the SS Nyon en route from New Zealand to London with a general cargo. It was the second ship flying the Swiss flag to pass through the Canal this year, the other being the SS Ludendra which transited

last February. There were 11 ships of the Swiss merchant marine which transited the Canal in the fiscal year 1954 but

only five have been listed in the fiscal year which ended in June.

A deckload of bears, lions, and camels

made up part of an unusual cargo listed

in Canal traffic in June. The load of wild animals was aboard the German

vessel SS Rheinstein. The animals were

being shipped from Hamburg, Germany,

to a zoo in Salvador. The Rheinstein

transited early in June with no previous

notice of the cargo and thus the Canal

banks were not lined with small fry for a free view of the travelling zoo.

Two United States cruisers and several destroyers are scheduled to arrive late

this month with some 1,375 midshipmen

taking Naval ROTC training at various

universities throughout the States. This

will be the largest of such groups ever

to visit the Isthmus on a summer cruise. The ships are expected to arrive July 25 and leave July 29. Several Canal Zone

boys are expected to be among the big group of midshipmen.

One of the best-known figures in Canal

shipping circles ended many years of association with local waters recently. He

is Capt. J. J. Jansen, master of the Royal

Netherlands Steamship Company's 7,600-

tor. Bennekom and senior master of the steamship line's fleet. Captain Jansen, who has been with the Dutch line for over 41 years, began his sea career as a sailer and worked up to senior master. He began his association with the Canal about the same time, as

the ships on which he was stationed were

trading here even before the Panama

Canal was opened. He has been master

of the Bennekom since 1952. When the Dutch freighter transited the Canal, Canal pilots learned that it was Captain Jansen's last trip before his retirement. He was accompanied by his wife for this last voyage. When the Ben- nekom reached Cristobal, Canal pilots

had a boquet of flowers waiting for the

wife of their old friend —a kind of thank

you and goodbye.

OUT-PATIENT BILL DEDUCTIBLE

DURING CURRENT PAY PERIODS

Announcement that deductions will be made in current pay periods for outpatient bills of $3 or less for local-rate employees paid biweekly was made late

last month.

This change is to be made effective immediately and the charges will be scheduled for deduction in current pay

periods regardless of whether an in-patient

bill is being liquidated at the same time,

it was announced.