Gift ofthe Panama Canal Muse

l^i^H)

Vol 6, No. 1 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, AUGUST 5, 1955 5 cents

BIDS FOR CONVERTING ATLANTIC SIDE EQUIPMENT

TO 60 CYCLES WILL BE ADVERTISED DURING AUGUST

Most Younger Zonians

Will Have Salk Shots

Before Polio Season

More than three-quarters of Canal Zone

children from 5 to 9 years old will be immunized against polio by two Salk

vaccine inoculations by the time the

"polio season" normally begins on the Isthmus, according to the estimates of the Health Bureau.

It is in this age group that paralytic

polio strikes hardest and nearly 30 percent

of all cases occur in children of this age. The U. S. Public Health Service will limit vaccination to this age group until the production of vaccine and testing

under the strict new standards make additional vaccine available, according to Col. C. 0. Bruce, Health Director. The estimates on the percentage of children vaccinated during the past few

weeks were prepared following the free inoculation program for first and second

grade pupils on July 26-28. Health

officials expected the same percentage of participation among children in the pay program which was held this week.

Salk vaccine for the first and second

grade pupils was donated by the National

Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The

program was administered by the Health Bureau free of charge as a public health

service. Orders for the purchase of vaccine were placed by the Canal administration soon after the announcement that Salk vaccine had been found to be effective against polio and a sufficient supply was

received for the inoculation of all eligible children under the pay program. More Vaccine Later Governor Seybold has announced that

efforts will be continued to obtain additional supplies as the vaccine is retested and released for use by the United States Public Health Service. As this is re- ceived it will be released for use by other age groups. The charge of $1.50 is made for each

injection given by the Health Bureau to dependents of Company-Government employees and employees of other U. S. Government agencies. A $3.50 charge

is made for each injection of U. S. citizen residents who are not sponsored by the Company-Government or other U. S. Government agencies.

The inoculation of the young children

in the pay group this week was conducted

along the same general lines as the previous

week when the free vaccinations were administered. The process was simplified

by the acceptance of payments when the

Look Who's Here! Contract Will Be

Among The Largest

Of Power Project

DAVY CROCKETT. Canal Zone style., wasn't born on a mountain top in Tennessee, but his daddy. Policeman Frank Tester, was. That makes the coonskin cap legitimate. The real Davy didn't have a pipa to suck on, but he'd have liked it if he'd had one, especially after he'd killed him his ba'r at the age of three. That's what our Davy,

Frank Tester, Jr., thinks, anyway.

vaccinations were given.

It is presently planned to have children

of both groups inoculated at the same

time when the second injections are administered. These schedules will be announced later this month but it is expected that the second injections will be given during the last week in August.

Under this schedule children will have

the maximum immunity possible with two injections by the middle of September. The greatest number of polio cases usually occur on the Isthmus after this time of the year. The anti-polio inoculation program was

conducted in the civilian (See page i)

Specifications are now being prepared

for one of the key contracts in the power

conversion project-the conversion of all domestic, commercial and industrial equipment on the Atlantic side from 25- cycle to 60-cycle frequency.

While exact schedules are not completed, it is expected that the work will be

advertised for bids the latter part of this month, for about 60 days, and bids then

opened. This phase of the project

will be divided into two parts, one

covering Company-Government industrial units and the other covering domestic

equipment and Company-Government

service units. The specifications will provide that

four areas will be available for the contractor or contractors after January 2, and all the remaining areas after next May 15. It is presently expected that

the first actual use of 60 cycle by domestic users will not be until late this fiscal year. The first areas to be made available to the contractor for conversion will be Margarita townsite, Coco Solo Hospital,

Mindi Dairy, and the Industrial Division. Locks, Mount Hope Separate

The contract for the conversion of Canal equipment will cover all frequency

sensitive units on the Atlantic side with

the exception of those at Gatun Locks

and the Filtration and Pumping Plants

at Mount Hope which will be converted under separate contracts. The industrial units to be grouped together under this contract will include the Industrial Division, Oil Handling Plant, Maintenance

Division shops, Motor Transportation

Division shops, Commissary Division equipment at Mount Hope, the Printing

Plant, and Cristobal Piers. The contract or contracts for the equipment conversion on the Atlantic side will be among the largest awarded in the Power Conversion Project. It is esti- mated that the cost will be in the $l-to

$2-million class. The complexity of the task is indicated by the number of pieces of domestic- equipment to be converted. The survey

recently completed on the Atlantic side revealed that there are 8,100 frequency

sensitive units in use in homes. They

include 1,900 refrigerators, 1,200 fans, 2,000 clocks, 715 washing machines,

dryers and mangles, 725 record players, 50 blowers, diffusers and (See page 16)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Employee Turnover, Separation Rate

Lowest Since Start Of World War II

Separations from the service and turnover rates among full time U. S.-rate employees of the Company-Government were the lowest during the past fiscal year of any

since the beginning of World War II. Figures compiled by the Personnel Bureau for the fiscal year ended June 30, showed

that the number of voluntary and involuntary separations from the service and the percentages in both categories were well below comparable statistics since 1950. The turnover rate was high throughout the war years and immediately afterwards because of the great expansion and later reduction in force necessitated by abnormal

conditions. The following tabulation shows the turnover rates for the past five fiscal years:

Fiscal Years FORCE

SEPARATIONS:

Voluntary

Involuntary

Total TURNOVER RATE:

Voluntary

Involuntary

Total

NEW HEALTH OFFICER

1951 1952 1953 1954 I9S5

4,287 4,261 4,233 3,867 3,803

805

239

466

238 520482

437

254 348

1S8

1,044 704 1,002 691 506

18.78

5-57

10.94 5-58

12.28 n-39

11.29 6-57 915

4-15

24-35 16.52 23.67 17.86 13-30 The lowering of the turnover rate during the past two years is attributed principally to a stabilization of the force with relatively few force reductions; wage increases

for various groups; free home leave travel; group insurance; and other fringe benefits which have been provided within the past two years. The highest turnover rates in the Canal organization for the past five years were shown in the fiscal years 1951 and 1953. In 1951 the rate was high because of the

large number of voluntary separations from the service which came after income tax was applied to Government employees in the Canal Zone. Other conditions which

influenced the rate that year included the extensive reorganization. The rate of involuntary separations that year was the lowest of any in the 1950-55 period with

the exception of last year. Both the voluntary and involuntary rates were high in the fiscal year 1953. The

voluntary rate was influenced by the threat to the 25 percent differential, increased

rents, and other unsettling conditions. The rate of involuntary separations was

Comptroller Leaves This Month

Mr. and Mrs. Lindsley Noble at their home at Balboa Heights

The Canal Zone will lose two of its well known and popular residents this month when Mr. and Mis.

Lindsley H. Noble leave for Washington, I). ('. He has accepted a re-ruth created key position in the Post Office Department to which he will report early in September. Mr. Noble submitted his resignation as Comptroller of the Panama Canal Company in June and it was accepted at the July meeting of the Board of Directors. A statement praising Mr. Noble for his work during the difficult reorganization period of the past three years was issued by Governor Seybold upon the acceptance of Mr. Noble's resignation. Both he and Mrs. Noble have taken a prominent part in the community and social life of the Isthmus

since he joined the Canal organization in May 1052. He had many years of tup U. S. Government accounting work before he be-ame Comptroller. He was the first to fill the office of Comptroller after the reorganization in 1951 under Public Law

841. As a general officer of the Company, his successor will be elected by the Board of Directors and a committee was appointed at the July meeting to recommend an appointee.

COL. CHARLES 0. BRUCE, new Health Director, took over his duties early last month. He was

photographed at his desk, but he has spent much of the past four weeks on field trips to the various units

of the Health Bureau. His present post is his first

in

- thi- Canal Zone. He visited the Isthmus last January as a member of the group which accompanied Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens.

abnormally high because of substantial

force reductions made in some units. The

rate of voluntary separations from the Canal service has been increased during

the past 15 years by the employment of married women who leave the service when their husbands resign, retire, or are assigned elsewhere. The wives of a comparatively large number of Armed Forces

personnel have been employed since the

close of the war and these are listed with

other voluntary separations when they

resign because of the reassignment of their husbands.

Push-Button Traffic Light

To Be Installed In Balboa

The Canal Zone's first push-button

type traffic light, or "pedestrian actuated

traffic signal" as it is known officially, is to be installed soon on Balboa Road

between the Housewares Section and the Mens Wear and Shoe Section of the Balboa Commissary Annex. Although this type of traffic light, which

can be operated manually by the pedestrian himself, is well-known in the United

States, this will be the first of its type

to be installed on the Isthmus. Post-mounted signals with the standard

red, yellow, and green lights will be

installed pointing up and down Balboa

Road. A "walk" signal for pedestrians, one on each side of the street, will point

across Balboa Road. In order to stop

traffic and cross the street, a pedestrian must push the automatic button control and wait until the walk signal comes on. Bids for the furnishing and installing

of the two traffic signal lights and other

miscellaneous work are now being advertised. They will be opened the morning

of August 10 in the Balboa Heights

Administration Building.
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REViEW

Intensive Campaign Under Way To Increase

Number, Quality Of Employee Suggestions

NEW STOCKHOLDER

The opening move in an intensified campaign to increase the number and

quality of employee suggestions will be made next week when U. S.-rate employees receive, with their paychecks,

invitations to take a greater part in the Incentive Award Program. Employees

on the local-rate rolls will receive similar

invitations with their paychecks the following week. The invitations are in the form of cartoon-illustrated, red-lettered cards. They show a young woman tripping over

her own ideas and saying: "Can you

change that condition? There must be

a better way. Send in your suggestion."

The paycheck inserts are one of several innovations in the Incentive Award

Program. Other changes include the

selection of 75 employees, strategically located in operating units, as Incentive Awards representatives and a new stand- ardized form which will henceforth be used by all employees making suggestions.

"A suggestion proposes an improvement in our operations by locating a problem and recommending a solution,"

according to a member of the Incentive Awards Committee. "It may change

the way things are done and propose a new method or a new application of an

old idea. Merely pointing out a difficulty or shortcoming, without providing an

answer, is not a suggestion. Neither is a proposal in routine maintenance or everyday functions, such as repairing

linoleum, keeping aisles clear, cleaning

lights, ordering supplies, etc., unless it proposes a change in the operations or

the physical facilities." What To Suggest

The Canal organization, he said, is especially interested in suggestions for: Combining materials, methods, operations, procedures, records, reports; Devising new applications of old ideas, new equipment, new machines, new

methods, new processes, new tools; Eliminating breakage, duplication, fire, health or accident hazards, operations, waste, unnecessary work;

Improving employee morale, methods,

procedures, quality of product, safety, tools and machines, working conditions; and

Saving manpower, material, money,

space, and time. Information such as this and other news of the Incentive Award Program

will be brought to the Canal employees

through the 75 Incentive Awards repreBalboa Heights Board Room

Air Conditioning Started

Shirtsleeve conferees and others who

meet frequently in the Board Room of the Balboa Heights Administration Building

may soon find coats necessary. Air conditioning of the Board Room

was started this week by the Panama

Sheet Metal Works which holds the contract for the project. The work is scheduled for completion by the latter part of this month. It involves installa- tion of a 10-ton, 25-cycle unit and

acoustical treatment of the ceiling. Similar work was completed recently

for the Governor's suite on the second

floor of the Building.

sentatives. They will be kept informed

of any new developments in the awards

plan by means of news-letters, which they

will receive at least once a month from

the committee.

How To Do it The new standardized form will make

submission of suggestions a much easier process than it has been in the past and

also make the task of reviewing and

studying the suggestions considerably

simpler.

Merely by checking printed squares, an employee can indicate whether his idea would simplify work, save material or time, improve methods or safety or otherwise better existing conditions. The new form is perforated; one portion

of it will be torn off and returned to the suggester promptly as an acknowledgment that his suggestion has been received and started on the rounds of those who

will study it. Any employee can ask, in a space set aside for this purpose, that

his name not appear during the review

period, and that the suggestion be numbered until a decision is made as to whether it will be accepted or rejected.

If a Canal employee's suggestion is one which could be used by other Federal

agencies, it will be sent to the Civil Service Commission. A Canal employee

may receive from $10 to $5,000 locally

and additional amounts from any other Federal agency which adopts his idea. The chance for a good-sized monetary

return, therefore, is much greater than it has been in the past. Started In 1946 An Employee Suggestion Program,

today known as an Incentive Award

Program, has been used by the Canal

organization since 1946. Since the enact- ment of the new overall Federal Program

last year, there has been a gradual in- crease in the number of worthwhile

employee suggestions and the intensified program, now getting under way, should

result in a much larger number of suggestions submitted and approved. Between last November and June 30, 72 Canal employees had ideas which they

considered good enough to pass on. Sixteen of these were approved and the men and women behind the ideas given

cash awards which totaled $365. Seventeen other suggestions were still being

studied when the fiscal year ended. Of the 16 men and women who got cash-in-hand for their ideas, eight won

$10, five between $10 and $50, and two, more than $50. The tangible savings to the Canal organization, when suggestions

concerned problems where a monetary

benefit could be figured, amounted to

$5,010.

From All Grades

Like all of those who are reading this story, the employees who submitted suggestions came from all grades in the Canal organization. Twenty-six suggestions were received, and five approved,

from employees in a rating of GS-6 or below; 19 suggestions were received, and

two approved, from employees from

grades 7 through 1 1

; and three suggestions were received, and one approved, from

employees in GS-12 or above. As far as the hourly employees were concerned,

10 suggestions were received, and three

A CHANGE in the top command of the Panama

Canal Company and Canal Zone Government came

late last month when Wilber M. Brucker took office as Secretary of the Army succeeding Robert T. Stevens. A native of Saginaw, Mich., and a former Governor

of his heme state, Secretary Brucker had been serv- ing as General Counsel of the Department of Defense. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law

School and has been prominent in legal work and

politics for many years. He served with the Michigan

National Guard on the Mexican Border and later as an Artillery Lieutenant with the Rainbow Division

in France during the first World War.

approved, from those making $3,800 or

less a year; 11 suggestions were received,

and four approved, from those in the $3,800-$7,000 wage bracket; and four suggestions were received, and one

approved, from employees who earned

over $7,000.

The suggestions varied as widely as the employees who suggested them.

They included, among other things; an

idea for having house plans available in the commissaries where rugs and furni- ture were sold; new safety devices for the

locks; a new form for time slips in the Commissary Division; mechanical im- provements such as a guard on saws and

the invention of a tool to remove lead sheath from cables. Committee In Charge

The Canal's Incentive Awards Program

is in charge of a committee headed by

Henry L. Donovan, Civil Affairs Director. Other members are John Hollen,

Chief of the Executive Planning Staff; Edward A. Doolan, Personnel Director; and J. Bartley Smith, head of the Electrical Division. Leonard M. Brockman

of the Personnel Bureau is its Executive

Secretary. Acceleration of the local Incentive Awards Program is in line with President Eisenhower's strong support of the overall Federal program, which was strengthened

by the law *passed last year. This in- creased both the scope of the program and the monetary rewards which the

idea man or woman could receive. So, if any employee has an idea for combining, devising, eliminating, improving, and saving any of the things mentioned earlier in this story, he or she

should: Run, not walk, to the nearest supply of suggestion blanks, put his ideas down on paper and send the form to: Chairman, Incentive Awards Committee, Balboa Heights.

Anything from $10 up to many thou- sands might be his reward.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

BETTER LEARN THESE

RIGHT! LEFT! STOP!

Most Younger Zonians

Will Have Salk Shols

(Contlnueifrom page l) communities by

personnel of the Health Bureau, while

the Army, Navy, and Air Force handled

the vaccinations of their dependents.

Most Children Inoculated

Approximately 1,000 vaccinations were

administered in the free vaccination program which was limited to children between 5 and 9 years of age who were in the first or second grades prior to June

30. The Canal Zone school census during the past term shows 2,587 first and

second grade pupils. In addition to those inoculated on

July 26-28, more than 2,000 had been

vaccinated during the summer vacation

period since all children in this age group

going to the States on vacation were

eligible for inoculations. The percentage for the eligible children

in the pay group was expected to be about the same as in the free program. The number of eligibles in the second group had been estimated at 2,100 prior to the inoculations this week.

Those children eligible for Salk vaccine

injections who failed to be vaccinated

during the times scheduled may receive

their injections at the Outpatient Clinics

of Gorgas and Coco Solo Hospitals, or at the dispensaries of the Armed Services,

upon application. The same rules of

eligibility will be required for them and

no charge will be made for those eligible for free vaccinations.

BRAVE as a lion was Phyllis Ruth Warner, six-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Warner of Balboa when she got her Salk polio vaccine shot at the Balboa gymansium last week. The inoculation

is being given by Miss Jeriline Patrick of Gorgas Hospital with the assistance of Miss Frances Thompson

and Miss Frances Brandl, student volunteers.

Gatun Locks Overhaul

To Begin January 9,

Continue Five Months

A plan adopted about two years ago

for increasing the Canal capacity during

lock-overhaul periods will be used for the

first time during the coming dry season when work begins on the five-month

overhaul of Gatun Locks. Following a plan adopted by the Board

of Directors in March 1953, alterations have been made in the locks so that the

wall culverts and cylindrical valves can now be overhauled without emptying

either of the lock chambers.

This will permit double culvert operations when one set of lock chambers is unwatered and will speed up the time for

filling and emptying the lock chambers

which are in use. Materials are already on order and the

first employees have been recruited for the overhaul, which will begin soon after the first of the year. The tentative start- ing date is January 9. The overhaul period

will last until about the middle of May.

During the overhaul, eight of the mitre

gate leaves will be unhinged and repaired

and rehabilitation work will be done on

all underwater parts. During the last overhaul at Gatun, in the dry season of 1951, four mitre gate leaves were un- hinged and lifted from their pickle-steel

pintles by hydraulic jacks. Each gate

leaf weighs about 700 tons. The eight leaves to be ovei hauled this year are

divided, four and four, between the two

sides of the locks. An additional force of 678 temporary

employees will be needed during the coming overhaul. Of these, 128 will be U. S.-rate employees, primarily skilled craftsmen and towing locomotive operators. Some of the latter have already

been employed and are in training. In addition to the 128 temporary U. S.-rate workers, the Locks Division will borrow

the services of a few engineers, nurses, and

similar personnel from other Canal units. The remaining 550 employees to be

hired for the locks overhaul will be local- rate personnel.
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Check Totaling $8,588 Sent To 619

Canal Employees As Uniform Allowances

Police Chief Retires

A total of $8,588 was paid last month

by the Panama Canal Company-Canal

Zone Government organization in uniform

allowances to cover the first quarter of the present fiscal year. In all, 619 employees who are required to wear uni- forms in the course of their official duties received the allowances. Payment of the uniform allowance was

in accordance with the so-called Fringe

Benefits Act passed by the United States Congress last May.

As uniform allowances are to be paid

at the beginning of each quarter, the estimated cost to the Canal organization

of these benefits will total somewhat over

$30,000. Similar quarterly payments

will be made in October, January, and

April.

Panama Line Maximum

The largest uniform allowance, on. an

annual basis, is that paid to officers on

the Panama Line ships. They are the only group required to have uniforms for two seasons; their annual allowance is $100 a year, the maximum permissible. Next highest amount is the $65 allowed

annually for the ladies in white—nurses,

dieticians, and physical therapists employed by the Health Bureau.

Policemen, motorcyle officers and other

officers of the Police Division, together

with the guards at the Gamboa penitentiary are close behind the nurses in the amount of their annual uniform allow- ances. They will receive $62 a year. Lock

guards, with their distinctive khaki uni- forms, with the black stripe down the

trouser leg, receive $61 a year. Guards at the Canal Zone police stations and jails are allowed $48 a year

as a uniform allowance. Their female

counterparts, the matrons at the Canal Zone Prison for Women and Juveniles,

will receive $30 for their khakis. Based on Current Price

Firemen and firemen driver operators

have been allowed $35 a year; the officers

of the Fire Division receive $1 more,

bringing their total to $36.

The women who are employed as stewards in the Service Center Division

Coffee Prices Will Drop

In Commissaries Soon

Retail prices of roasted and ground

coffee will be reduced by the Commissary

Division sometime this month. The price

drop is the result of lower prices to be

paid for the latest purchase of bulk green

coffees and will be made after the new

lower-priced green coffees are available

for use in blending.

The exact amount of the price reduction is not known; it will be announced as soon as possible.

Commissary prices fluctuate with world

prices but are frequently reflected here

several months late.

and who wear white uniforms are allowed $30 annually as a uniform allowance. Guards who are on duty at the Commissary Division's Mount Hope plant and

who wear khaki uniforms with sun helmets

receive $26 a year as a uniform allowance. Customs guards and railroad conductors are allowed $9 a year—their distinctive uniforms are caps—and terminals guards have a $7 annual allowance. Temporary or substitute employees

are also entitled to uniform allowances; in

their cases the allowances for each quarter will be paid immediately after the

first day of each quarter in which they occupy a position for which a uniform

allowance is authorized. The amounts of the allowances in each

case listed above are based on the esti- mated annual uniform requirements and

the current price of the uniform required.

MAJ. GEORGE HERMAN, Chief of the Police

Division, retired the end of July after 42 years with

the Zone force. A large number of his frends

honored him last Saturday night at a farewell party

at the Army-Navy Club. He and Mrs. Herman are

sailing August 13 on the Panama Line. They will

visit their daughter in Ran Antonio, Tex., but have

not yet decided where they will make their home. Paraiso Safety Field Day

SAFETY AT HOME, at work, and at play was the keynote of the big Safety Field Day held all day

Saturday, July 23, at Paraiso. The novel idea in emphasizing safety on a community basis was devel- oped under the sponsorship of the Safety Committee of the Paraiso Civic Council. Active participation by all the major Canal organization units aided in making the demonstration an outstanding success. The program opened at 9 o'clock in the morning with exercises at the ballpark. The big storehouse

building used by the Locks Division was used for displays which were thronged much of the day. Upper left: Fire Division personnel demonstrate to a group of interested spectators the proper

resuscitation methods. Cpper right: Use of a fresh-air mask was demonstrated as a part of the Maintenance Division's

display. The mask is used when working near toxic fumes. Lower: Capt. Frank A. Munroe, Jr., Marine Director, is at the microphone addressing the large audience in and near the ballpark grandstand. Civic Council officials, representatives from various Canal bureaus and divisions, and others who participated are seated on the speaker's platform.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

FOR YOUR INTERESTED GUIDANCE IN^AjCCIDENT PREVENTION

SAFETY FIELD DAY

Early last dry season the Balboa Store- house Safety Committee suggested that they would like to put on a safety

demonstration at the La Boca Ball Park

and invite all other safety committees

from other divisions to participate.

However at that time they had just

appointed new committeemen which

delayed things somewhat until the beginning of the rainy season put a damper on

proceedings.

Such was the situation when Cleveland

B. Stevens, safety committee chairman

of the Paraiso Civic Council, called the Safety Branch and asked if it would be

possible to get some safety films to show

at one of their meetings. The next time we had a talk the idea had grown into showing some safe-driving films and putting on a safe-driving demonstration for

the people living in Paraiso. It was only

a step to get these two ideas of the Balboa

Storehouse safety committee and the Paraiso Civic Council together. The

HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

JUNE

COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU

HEALTH BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Supply 3 Community Services * Engineering and Construction 2 Health 2

Civil Affairs Transportation and Terminals... 1 Marine "

Division Award For NO DISABLING INJURIES

JUNE

LOCKS DIVISION

HOSPITALIZATION AND CLINICS

MAINTENANCE DIVISION

SERVICE CENTER DIVISION

INDUSTRIAL DIVISION

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE DIVISION

MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

RAILROAD DIVISION

STOREHOUSES DIVISION

HOUSING DIVISION

AIDS TO NAVIGATION

SANITATION DIVISION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Aids to Navigation. 5 Housing 5 Main tenance * 5 Sanitation — 5 Electrical 4 Industrial 4 Motor Transportation 4 Railroad 4 Storehouses 4 Dredging 3 Grounds Maintenance 3 Service Center -... 3 Commissary 2 Hospitalization and Clinics 2 Locks 1 Terminals 1 Navigation

Paraiso Civic Council then came up with

the idea that they would sponsor a big

safety field day at Paraiso to be held on

July 23, at Paraiso Ball Park. Thus

good things are born. Elsewhere in this issue you will find pictures of the grand event which, if one overlooked the weather usual at this time

of the year, proved to be a great success. A number of dignitaries were present and

the program contained many items and

exhibits of unusual interest to people both

in and out of the Canal Zone Govern- ment-Panama Canal Company.

Since out of the 355 disabling injuries

experienced by the Canal Zone Govern- ment-Panama Canal Company during

1954, approximately 70 percent were to

local-rate employees; it is very gratifying

to the safety people to find these employees taking such a personal interest

in their welfare and, what's more, doing

something about it like their "Safety

Field Day." There is no question that with such safety consciousness and active

interest as was displayed on Saturday,

July 23, the frequency rate for 1955 is going to be a lot less than it was in 1954. Many people, in addition to those

safety committees from various divisions, are thanked for helping the Paraiso Civic Council and giving their active suppoit

in making this Safety Field Day a success. Difficulties always arise in trying

to get the proper people lined up to put on a program. Such a difficulty arose when the Safety Field Day Committee

found that it could not get a school band

or a local fife-and-drum corps. Someone

suggested that the Army might help if asked. They were, and the 23d Infantry

Division Band put on an impressive flag raising ceremony, and, of course, no

parade would ever be a success without

a band. The Armed Forces Radio Station at Fort Clayton did a splendid job

of putting on a 15-minute interview with

Harold W. Williams and Mrs. Ellis Fawcett telling all about the program. Of course the International Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were present selling soft drinks, taking part in the Bicycle Safety

Demonstration, and doing other jobs to help put it over. Charles Bradley was

good enough to let the Aids to Navigation

have his snakes as a background for their

"first aid for snake bite" demonstration.

Since the day as a whole proved to be such a success, it is hoped the Paraiso

Civic Council can see their way to have

another "Safety Field Day" next year.

HIGHWAY ZOO

The JACKASS

This is the showolf who risks his own neck and everybody else* by

speeding and weaving. O' he may

turn up as the stupid oaf who jus/

doesn't savvy modern driving. In Ico

he is most any driver on thv highway

except you and me! NATIONAL SAHIY CO'/NCfl

Disabling Injuries per 1,000,000 Man-Hours Worked JUNE (Frequency Rate! 1955

Community Services Bureau

Health Bureau

Supply Bureau

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

Marine Bureau

Engineering and Construction Bureau

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

Transportation and Terminals Bureau

Civil Affairs Bureau

20 30 40 50

Number of Disabling Injuries . 16 Man-Hours Worked 2,251,554 LEGEND

I I Am lunt Better Than Canal Zone Government—Panama Canal Company Last 3-Year Average

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

F:

: ::::v^ Accumulative Frequency Rate This Y'ear
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

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.

APPOINTED TO HEAD

COROZAL HOSPITAL

LT. COL. CHARLES H. WIGGINS, above, will become superintendent of Corozal Hospital next week

following the departure of Lt. Col. Richard F. Mulholland. Lt. Col. Mulholland has been assigned to duty at the U. S. Army Hospital at Camp Gordon, Ga.

Lt. Col. Wiggins arrived in the Canal Zone last month from Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. He

is a native of Mississippi and a graduate of the University of Mississippi. He took his medical work

at Tulane University. He is now on duty at Gorgas Hospital and will continue as psychiatrist there, in addition to his duties at Corozal.

Shirtsleeve Conference

REPRESENTATIVES of the Local Rate Civic Councils meet regularly with Governor Seybold in tl e Board Room of the Administration Building to discuss community problems. At a recent meeting the Council representatives were introduced to the new Lieutenant Governor, Col. H. W. Schull, Jr. Left to right around the table are: Beresford Gittens, Rainbow City General Committee; J. J. Joseph, Rainbow City; H. A. Josephs, Rainbow City; C. D. Atherly, Paraiso; Eric Oakley, Paraiso General Committee; E. L. Fawcett, Paraiso; Edward A. Doolan, Personnel Director; Governor Seybold; Leo B. Harrington, stenotypist; Lieutenant Governor Schull; Norman Johnson, Employee and Labor

Relations Officer; G. L. A. Davis. Rupert Wilson, and Cleveland Roberts. La Boca.

Also attending this meeting but not shown in the photograph were Leon Headley and R. T. Burns

of Santa Cruz, and Rexford Innis of the Santa Cruz General Committee.

A. B. Hendricks, a Rates Analyst in the

Office of the Comptroller, returned to the Canal Zone last month after five months of advance training in Washington. D. C,

as one of three local participants in the Fourth Senior Management Intern Program.

During this period, he studied methods

used by the General Accounting Office and

worked out a project with the National Park Service. He also studied public administration and Federal Government

accounting problems in night classes at the American University, and worked with the

District of Columbia on personnel problems.

In addition he took part in weekly

seminars held by prominent Government

officials on such subjects as management,

organization and method, human factors and employees, training problems, personnel practices and management accounting

systems. The first U. S.-rate salary checks pre- pared with the new machinery which makes

payroll procedures and bookkeeping largely automatic were issued July 25. Stubs of the new checks contain information on

hours worked, basic pay and additional compensation, deductions, net pay, and

earnings for the fiscal year to the date of the check.

Local-rate biweekly employees have been

receiving their pay checks prepared under

the new procedure since May. The newtype checks have been used for employees

paid weekly and to disability relief annuit- ants since the first part of February.

Checks which are sent, at the employee's

request, directly to Canal Zone banks are forwarded with the stubs attached; the bank then forwards the stub to the employee along with the usual deposit notice.

Employees of the Canal Zone Govern-

•ment and Panama Canal Company who

waived their rights last year to coverage under the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program, will have the rest of

this month to reconsider their decisions and

take out insurance. The Civil Service Commission is giving

employees who now want the insurance a second chance, since it appears that they

had insufficient information about the program and its benefits when they decided

against accepting the insurance last year.

No revocations will be accepted after August 31, the Commission emphasized.

After that date normal regulations will again be in effect. These provide that an employee who waives the insurance must

wait one year before he can request coverage. At that time he must be under 50

years of age and pass a physical examination.

Occupants of Canal Zone quarters were

advised last month that all quarters under

the custody of the Housing Division will henceforth be serviced by preventive maintenance teams. Teams of this sort have been working in Diablo Heights and Margarita for some time; the plan is now being extended to all quarters. Teams will inspect the interior and

exterior of each quarters unit at least twice each year. The inspection will be per- formed by a U. S.-rate employee of the Maintenance Division. Necessary repairs

will be made without the necessity of a request from the quarters occupant.

In a memorandum to residents of Canal Zone quarters, the Chief of the Housing

Division asked cooperation in reporting the need for any repairs and in making then- quarters accessible to the inspector and

repair crew.

If residents discover a situation which

needs correction between inspection visits

termite activity, especially —they are asked

to call the housing managers, either at Balboa or Cristobal. Electrical or plumbing emergencies are to be reported directly

to the Maintenance and Electrical Divisions. The mechanical tabulation of statistical data of the Canal organization was centralized last month in a new unit: The Statistical Tabulating Section of the Administrative Branch. The new section will prepare

personnel statistics and reports, figures on

shipping and cargo, statistics on postal money orders and postal savings certificates; and will maintain the stock records and

accounting statistics of the storehouses. The new unit, which has seven U. S.-rate and 10 local-rate employees, is under the

supervision of Louis C. Caldwell. He has been in charge of the stock record and

accounting tabulation work of the Store- house Division. Headquarters for the unit

is on the second floor of the Storehouse

Division headquarters.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Leaving The Zone? Packing And Crating

Services Make Moving Almost Painless

PLANS for packing and moving are discussed by Joseph N. Rinker, Packing and Crating Foreman, with Mr. and Mrs. Michael I. Crooks of Balboa. The Crooks are leaving the Canal Zone this month.

Death and taxes, they say, are inevitable. In the Canal Zone, add Packing

and Crating, for about 99 percent of the Canal's U. S.-rate employees. Sooner or later in the life of almost

every Canal employee comes the time

when he d?cides, or age and circumstances decide for him, to go back to the United States to live. That this uprooting is as painless as it is is due largely

to the efforts of Joseph N. Rinker and the Packing and Crating Shop of the Maintenance Division. Until Public Law 60'J became effective

in August 1946 and until the job of packing up a departing Zonian's belongings was taken over by the Packing and

Crating Shop soon thereafter, an employee who was leaving had to scurry around and make his own arrangements.

Pie had to scrounge boxes and crates, borrow a china packer from the nearest

large commissary, arrange for a customs

inspector to came to his quarters while

the packing was going on, fill out the multitude of forms needed for ocean

freight, sometimes hire a freight broker

at a port of entry and, finally, pay the

freight charges on his household effects from the Canal Zone to his new front door. As a result, few Zonians possessed more

than their silver, china, linens and a few

pieces of furniture. When they were

reestablished in the United States, they

had to start again almost from scratch. Different Today

Today, things are different. An employee's belongings are packed at his Zone quarters, shipped to his new home

in the United States, and uncrated and

unpacked for him (within a certain period of time). He is soon settled again, with almost no cost to himself,

surrounded by his familiar things deliv- ered in as good condition as when he

last saw them. Let's follow one well- known Zonian through this process. Michael I. Crooks, of the Transportation Division's Ancjn Corral, is retiring

the end of this month after over 33

years in the Canal Zone. He and Mrs. Crooks already own a three-bedroom

ranch-type home in Whittier, Calif. They

do not plan to leave here until August

20, the day after Mr. Crooks' last working day, but they want their furniture shipped ahead of them so they will be

ready to settle down when they reach

California early next month.

After Mr. Crooks discussed retirement

details with Robert J. Kelley, in the Personnel Bureau, and transportation

arrangements with James M. Thompson,

in the Transportation Section of the Administrative Branch, he was ready to

talk with Mr. Rinker, whose official title

is Foreman Crater and Packer and who

lives, eats, and breathes packing and

crating. In the Transportation Section, Mr.

SHREDDED PAPER for packing is produced by

this machine at the Packing and ( 'rating Shop. Eric Small in on the platform and Jeff Danvers at the bin

into which the ribboned paper Sows. At the left, U. Rios is weighing a package of the shreds.

Crooks had been given a pamphlet outlining the provisions of Public Law 690 and he knew before he talked with Mr.

Rinker that he was limited to 8,750

pounds of household goods, that he could

take only such possessions as were needed for a household— had the Crooks

had four dozen rocking chairs, which

they didn't, the chairs would not be packed or shipped at Company expense

and that shipment of his automobile

would be his own responsibility.

Packing Parley Because a Review reporter was tag- ging along to get this story, Mr. Rinker

cDmbined two sessions with the Crooks

into one arc! met them at their house to discuss the packing and crating and shipping of their possessions. Ordinarily Mr. ard Mrs. Crooks would first have come to his office in the Maintenance

Division shop area. One wall of the

office is hung with copies of the papers which Zonians who are leaving will need. Along another wall hangs a series of clipboards, each containing the papers

of some States-bound Zonian, his packing and departure dates and his destination. The other day these clipboards

showed that shipments were in the works

for such widely separated States as

Virginia, Michigan, Texas, and Washington.

Surrounded by these exhibits Mr.

Rinker would have explained to them

what he and his crew would do about the packing, would make a "packing date,"

and would answer any questions they

had. Later he would have gone to the Crooks' quarters on Akee Street in Balboa. There he would make a rough

estimate as to whether their belongings

would be within their weight allowance and see if they had any furniture which

would be a special packing problem.

Instead, for The Review's benefit, he

sat down with them at home and went

over the procedure with them there. At

the same time he estimated the number

of crates and barrels his men would need

and decided on a packing date, which in their case would be August 1. One-day Process On that day, the Crooks were tcld, a packing crew of about five local-rate men, together with a U. S.-rate packing

supervisor who is a deputy customs

inspector, would be ready to go to woik

about 7:30 a. ro. Unless some unfore- seen problem developed, the packers

would be finished in the quarters that

afternoon. Not all Canal families want their packing done as far ahead of their departure

as the Crooks do, Mr. Rinker said. Families with small children usually

prefer to stay in their Zone homes until the last possible minute. They figute that they can stay with relatives in the United States until they have a place of their own and do not want the children's routine upset any earlier than necessaiy.

The Crooks, however, preferred to do

their camping out on this end, with

furniture borrowed from the Housing

Division. As he went through the Crooks' house, Mr. Rinker told Mrs. Crooks that she might pack drawers of dressers and chests
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

with household goods, if she cared to. Pillows and blankets are satisfactory

items for this interior packing but sheets and linens are too much dead weight, he

said, for the light construction of the ordinary drawer. Mrs. Crooks was to keep an itemized list of what went into each drawer and these would later be checked by one of the two inspectors,

Frank Tuiman or James Van Dyke.

No Pre-packing Needed

Actually though, Mr. Rinker said, there was nothing which Mrs. Crooks

needed to do ahead of packing time. The

packers, like Gabriel Cordoba and Andres Diaz, whose specialty is packing

china and glassware, work more easily

if such items are left in cupboards or on

shelves. They look the situation over

before they begin, see how much and

what is to be packed, and begin with the

larger and heavier items which go into one barrel; the lighter and more fragile

things such as crystal and figurines are packed together in other barrels. Other

packers, like Kenneth Harris and Ashton

Russell, know from years of experience

how many towels, pillow cases, or bed- spreads fit into standard cartons.

All of the breakable things, Mr. Rinker

said, would be wrapped in newspapers and packed in shredded paper in the

barrels. Each barrel would be itemized

as to its contents and a copy of the

listing would be given to the Crooks. Nonbreakable items would be packed in cardboard cartons which would each have its separate itemized list. Mothballs, brought by the packers, would be

sprinkled into each carton. These car- tons would later be packed inside big

wooden vans.Safe Handling

None of the furniture and the larger

pieces such as lamps and radioes would

be packed at the Crooks' house, they

learned. Such furniture would be tag- ged in duplicate, swaddled in blankets,

and taken to the Packing and Crating

shop. Each item would be listed, to- gether with a value given by either Mr.

or Mrs. Crooks. Mrs. Crooks was concerned over the

safe handling of several large oil paintings but Mr. Rinker assured her that he and

his men were equally concerned that they

CHINA and glassware are wrapped in newspaper and packed into metal barrels, with shredded paper as wadding. Gabriel Cordoba and Andres Diaz, who have been packers for seven years, are doing the packing while Joseph N. Rinker, Packing and Crating foreman, looks over some of the things still to be wrapped.

made their long journey in good condition. Special celotex boxes are available

at the shop for paintings, he said; the boxed pictures would then be packed into the large vans. As each piece of furniture was taken

from the truck at the shop, Mr. Rinker

explained, it would be checked off by one

of the inspectors who would remove, and

put aside, one of the duplicate tags for further listing on the shipping manifest

and the itemized list, a copy of which

would later accompany the Crooks to

their new home. After all of the Crooks' household belongings had been assembled

in the shop, Mr. Rinker said, the actual packing for shipment would begin. After he left the Akee Street house, Mr.

Rinker, Review reporter still tagging

along, returned to the shop in an airy

long building at the very back of the Maintenance's Division's fenced enclosure. There the shop gang had been busy

turning salvaged materials into the crates— vans, they are officially called

in which household goods are eventually

VANS like this one measure only six by four by eight feet but one of them will hold furniture for a bed- room. Oscar Roberts is putting the top on the van. Top and van alike are made from salvaged material; new sides are made from a plywood specially-manufactured in Panama for the vans.

packed. Vans like these would be used

later for the Crooks' household goods. In days gone by some Zonians, with an eye to later do-it-yourself projects, used to have their furniture crated in mahogany boards. Today's packing and

crating people are as thrifty as Dutch

housewives. The vans into which most

departing furniture is eventually packed

are made from lumber which originally

had encased incoming goods; crates in which electric ranges had been shipped to the Canal Zone have been remodeled into vans and other cases, for instance. No Termites

Termite-eaten old lumber from demolished quarters is never used in the Packing and Crating Shop. Special plywood,

made in Panama for the Canal Company,

makes sides for the vans. The shredded

paper with which the barrels and boxes

are packed is cut into ribbons by the Shop's own shredding machine. The paper

is old newspapers and magazines or clean waste paper; reams of it comes from the Administration Building. The metal drums into which the dishes and glassware

are packed were originally filled with

alcohol or turpentine. They are cleaned,

fitted with new wooden tops and lined with new paper. Once a family's furniture is assembled

at the shop and listed, the packers go to work. Each piece of furniture is wrapped

individually in a heavy fibrous paper

before it is stowed into the vans. Like

items are packed together and the crevasses filled with small items and the smaller boxes and cartons. The van is than packed with as much shredded paper as necessary to fill empty spaces and provide

cushioning. This compact packing is important, Mr. Rinker says, because ocean

freight rates can be as high as 70 cents a cubic foot.Much In Little Space

Each van, which measures six by four by eight feet, holds an amazing amount

of furniture, when properly packed as Wilford Jones and Pastor Marcelino do

the job. They have been storing fur- niture away for a good many years and

have no difficulty at all in fitting an aver- age bedroom suite— twin beds, springs, mattresses, chests and (See page n)
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Stars And Stripes Fly From 112 Staffs

When Canal Zone Celebrates A Holiday

Whenever a presidential proclamation

or an order from the Governor directs that flags be displayed, or on national holidays like the Fourth of July, 112 United States flags flutter from poles on Canal buildings or fly from the staffs on

the Canal's tugs and launches and dredges

and barges.

There are other United States flags in the Canal Zone, of course—on military

posts and naval stations, and in churches and courtrooms—but the 112 are those which fly over Company-Government

buildings or from marine equipment.

Tropical weather with its brilliant sun and heavy rain takes its toll of the flags; the average life of one here is not over

nine months when it is flown from a staff and considerably less than that on the marine equipment. Each year the Division of Storehouses orders about 900

flags from the General Services Administration, the U. S. Army Quartermaster

Depot in Philadelphia or from a flag manufacturer.

$3,000 A Year They range in size from those which

are a little over a foot long and are used on the launches to the five-footers which

fly from most of the flagstaff's. The total cost of U. S. flags for local use amounts to something over $3,000 a year. Most of the flags in the Canal Zone are made of cotton bunting, but the smaller

flags are a mixture of nylon and wool

which lasts longer here and retains its colors better than the bunting.

Not all of the 112 flags fly every day.

Generally, most Canal Zone buildings

fly their flags on workdays, school days,

holidays, or special days required by law

or designated by the President or the Governor. The flag at the Governor's

residence is flown only when he is present on the Isthmus. Wherever a flag is attended by a police- man or a caretaker, as at the Administration Building, it is flown daily. Hours for displaying the flag are 7 a. m. to 5 p. m.

Regardless of the day, the flag of the United States is always flown on the Canal's marine equipment whenever the launches and tugs etc. aie underway in Canal waters.

Extra For Holidays

According to regulations for the display

and care of the flag which were issued last November by Governor J. S. Seybold, the

flag should be flown from at least one

public building in each community on

holidays and days required by law or designated by the President or Governor.

If there are facilities for flying more than one flag from the building, extra flags should be flown on such days.

If a holiday falls on Sunday and the

following day is observed as a holiday, as July 4 was in 1954, the flag is flown both Sunday and Monday.

Canal Zone regulations for the treat- ment of the flag are, of course, those in effect everywhere. No flag or pennant

or any other object or emblem is ever

placed above it or at its right if two

flags are flown at the same level. The

flag must never touch the ground' nor must it be allowed to trail in water. When United States flags in the Canal Zone are no longer in fit condition for

CANAL ZONE POLICEMEN raise and tower the

flags at the Administration Building and in other

public spots like the Balboa circle where this photo- graph of Policeman Stewart Jaddis was taken.

display they are destroyed privately, as

is done elsewhere. The usual method is by burning; each agency handles the

disposal of its own outworn flags. When the flags in the Canal Zone are to be half-staffed—a term in flag parlance

preferred to half-masting—or are to be

displayed on some special occasion, the Chief of the Administrative Branch notifies each Bureau of the Canal organization. A Bureau representative in turn

passes on the word to the units which fly

flags. The Marine Bureau, with its floating equipment, has the largest number of flags, 49, and the Civil Affairs Bureau, which includes post offices, schools, police and fire stations, has 28

flags. The flags at the Administration

Building and in the circle opposite the Balboa clubhouse are under the control of the Civil Affairs Bureau whose police

officers raise and lower them daily

When a flag is flown upside down, it is a signal of distress. Once or twice in the Canal's history a flag has been accidently

raised in the upside down position, a record which can be considered excellent

in view of the number of flags and flag

staffs in the Canal Zone. A flag which is to be half-staffed is

first hoisted to the peak of the staff and

then lowered slowly to half staff. Before

a half-staffed flag is lowered at the end of

One historic flag is known to few

Canal Zonians. A United States

flag which once flew from the Su-

.

preme Court Building in Washington, now hangs in a frame in the

office of the Superintendent of the Terminals Division in Cristohal. The flag was awarded in 1945 to Panama Railroad employees for their outstanding purchase of U. S. War Bonds during the Fourth War

Loan Drive.

the day it is first raised to the top of its staff. Flags are half-staffed from 7 a. m.

to noon on Memorial Day, May 30; at noon they are raised to the top of their standards where they remain until the end of the day.

Flags in the Canal Zone are flown at

half-staff whenever the President or the Governor directs; the periods during

which flags are half-staffed were pre- scribed in a Presidential Proclamation in 1954. When a President or Former

President of the United States dies, the

flag is half-staffed for 30 days. For a Vice President, Chief Justice, retired Chief Justice, or Speaker of the House,

the period of half-staffing is 10 days. Lesser periods are in order for other

officials. Half-Staff For Zonians

In the Canal Zone flags have been

flown at half-staff when local officials have

died. Among those so honored were Roy R. Watson, then Chief Quartermaster, A. W. Goulet, General Manager

of the Commissary Division, and George

W. Green, Municipal Engineer.

In December 1947, Canal Zone flags were half-staffed between 7:30 and 10

a. m. when the bodies of 15 servicemen

who had been buried here during World

War II were placed aboard ship for return

to their homelands.

The United States flag flew for the

first time over an Isthmian Canal Commission building in May 1904, when the United States took over the rights and

properties of the French Canal Company.

The building was the ICC headquarters

in Panama City now the Panama

Central Post Office. When the Canal Zone was delineated United States flags were supplied to the

alcaldes of the little towns in the Zone. One early letter, dated June 30, 1904, instructed the Alcaldes of Gatun and

Gorgona to fly the flag "over the Alcaldia

of your district during office hours of each day except in bad or storm weather."

Flags for the school building would be

furnished them later, the letter said. On Holidays Only

Early Zonians apparently were not as

careful of their flags as their present day

successors. In February 1907, Chief

Engineer John F. Stevens complained to

his Executive Secretary, H. D. Reed, that

flags were frequently left flying all night

and were not properly cared for. Col. George W. Goethals encountered a similar situation and in August 1907 ordered that

flags would not be flown "on Commission

buildings except on public holidays or when authorized by proper officials on

special occasions." Canal files indicate that it was not until 1917 that the United States flag was dis- played daily in the Canal Zone. In June of that year Governor Chester Harding laid out regulations for displaying the flag and authorized that it "may properly be

flown daily, if desired, from buildings in the Canal Zone." Today the raising and lowering of the

flag begins or ends the day for several Canal Zone schools. At Balboa and

Cristobal High Schools, cadets from the Junior ROTC units perform this duty

and at other schools a formal flag raising

is a daily event.
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL RZVIEW 11

Visiting Oldtimer Finds Zone

Unfamiliar After Long Absence CANAL ZONE CLERGY

GEORGE T. KENLY; after 50 years, he came back.

After an absence of nearly 50 years, George T. Kenly, who at 87 is probably

the Canal's oldest "oldtimer," found very

little to remind him of the old days when

he visited the Canal Zone briefly last month.

Accompanied by Edwin Green, a sprightly youth of 73, he visited the Hotel Washington, which was new to him,

and the Tivoli Guest House, which was

one old landmark he remembered. He

r. de on the Panama Railroad for the

first time since 1906 and made a transit

thr. ugh the Carnl which was not much

beyond the planning stage when he last saw it. As an engineer with the Isthmian Canal

Commission from 1904 to 1906, Mr.

Kenly helped build the Brazos Brook

Reservoir which supplied water to the

Atlantic side communities until the per- manent reservoir and water system was

constructed. During the time he worked here, most

of the streets were unpaved and the quart rs were left over from the French

construction period. Balboa was a marsh

and the only road from the Ancon-Balboa

district ran around the side of Ancon

Hill. Like most oldtimers, however, Mr.

Kenl; recalled that the early days were

rugged but that most people had lots of fun when they weren't busy building the Panama Canal. The only real problem

in those days, he said, was what to do

with all that diit. A native of West Virginia, Mr. Kenly

worked with the LTnited States govern- ment for many years before coming to the Isthmus in 1904 to help with the Panama Canal. After leaving here in 1906 he went to California and arrived in San Francisco just four days before the

historic earthquake and fire which des- troyed the city and put an end to his business plans.

He returned to the East Coast and up

to the time of his tetirement several years

ago, he was connected with a private

engineering firm in Baltimore, where he now makes his home.

Packing And Craling Services Make Moving Almost Painless

(Continue! from page 9) all into one van. For the average Canal household the packers use four of the vans and three or four metal drums; if there is a piano or some other large object the number of vans or their size may be increased. Fortunately, Mr. Rinker says, the vogue

for nine-foot couches has not yet reached

the Canal Zone. As soon as the packers have finished with each van, Eric George takes over

the banding and stenciling. Then Cecil Callender, head clerk in the shop who has been following the process from the beginning, begins the lengthy and necessary documentation.

He gives each head of the house, like Mr. Crooks, a complete list of everything

packed, fills out the customs declarations and helps Mr. Rinker explain how a family which is returning by one port

while the furniture is being shipped to another—as is the case of Mr. and Mrs. Crooks—list their household goods on

the customs declaration they will make

when they enter the United States. Unless a family's goods exceed the weight

allowance, in which case they pay freight on the extra weight, the only fee charged

is $1 for certification of the customs

declaration. Few Claims

Mr. Rinker and his crew are justifiably

proud of the job they have done. Their

efficiency is amply attested by the scores

of letters they receive each year from

"satisfied customers" and by the small amount paid annually in claims for breakage or damage.

In one 12-month period, for instance, the belongings of 466 Canal Zonians were packed and crated by the Maintenance

Division; these household goods were

valued at $1,166,044.95. Only 25 claims,

all of them small, were made during this period with a total dollar-wise claim of $522 or .045 percent of the total value. Until recently Packing and Crating

had two shops, one in Balboa and the other in Cristobal. Now all of the preparation for shipment and the shipment

itself is done from Balboa; one reason for

this, Mr. Rinker says, is that the trans- ports which carry the goods routed via New Orleans load in Balboa and the

freight rate via the Panama Line, on which shipments are made to the East

Coast, is the same from Balboa or Cristobal. Other Customers

In addition to packing and crating for Canal employees, Mr. Rinker's crew of two U. S.-rate and 32 local-rate employees

does similar work for the United States Embassy and for the Canal Zone "or- phans" - - Civil Aeronautics, Internal Revenue, etc. They also run a storage service where

household goods may remain until the by-then ex-Zonian has his new address

no storage is charged for two months and

shipment is free up to two years from the time of his departure—and an unpacking

and uncrating service for new arrivals. But none of them, from Mr. Rinker

The Rev. Carl D. Christensen has

spent a quarter of a century in missionary

work, the last five and a half years of it on the Isthmus of Panama.

As president of the Panama Conference

of Seventh Day Adventist Churches, he

is in charge of the work of the approximately 40 Adventist congregations in the Canal Zone and Panama. His headquarters, recently moved from Cristobal, are on Gavilan Road in Balboa, near the

office of the All-America Cables Company.

Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, he at- tended college in Minnesota and holds a Master's Degree in School AdministraTHE REV. t'ARL D. CHRISTEXSEX

tion from the University of Nebraska

He has been in church work almost all o. his adult life. He is thoroughly familiar with the problems of the Latin-American world

and equally at home in English or Spanish; the problems and the language he

learned in the 20 years he spent as a missionary in Argentine, Chile, and Peru. About 10 years ago he returned to the United States and for four years, just before his assignment to the Isthmus, he taught in an Adventist college in Walla

Walla, Wash.

The Panama Conference is one of the 364 local Conferences and missions of the Adventist Church. Its president, cur- rently Mr. Christensen, is elected by the member churches every two years. He

is serving his third term in this office. Mr. Christensen is married; his wife has worked with him throughout his mission- ary career. Their only son is a mission- ary in Bolivia. Two daughters live in the LTnited States; one is a graduate nurse

in Washington, D. C, and the other is married and lives in Los Angeles. Mr. Christensen has little time for hobbies, he told The Review. When he has a spare moment or two he enjoys

working with carpenter tools but time

is so scarce that all of his projects are necessarily small ones.

down, feel that these services bring them

in as close touch with people as does their primary purpose in life. "After all," Joe Rinker says, "It's pretty hard for people like the Crooks to leave when they've been here a good

many years. Anything we can do to

heli) them is little enough."
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Zone* s Historic Rio Grande

Does Sudden Disappearing Act

The historic Rio Grande has gone und srground. This Rio Grande isn't hallow river bordering the southern

part of Texas; it is the Rio Grande

explored 400 years ago by the Spanish in

their search for an overland communication between Atlantic and Pacific across

the Isthmus of Panama.

The disappearance of the Isthmian Rio

Grande is connected with the work on

Contractors Hill, only a short distance from the old Rio Grande reservoir which

once supplied water for the entire Pacific

side district between Culebra and Panama

City.

During the Contractors Hill project the main stream of the river, which drops

precipitously from the old dam to the

spillway near the Cucaracha Signal Station, has been partially filled with rock from Contractors Hill. The river fill is designed to stabilize the slopes of adja- cent fills behind Contractors Hill, and has

raised the grade of the river 20 feet or more for a distance of several hundred feet. The Rio Grande, however, has not taken calmly to this man-made innovation and appears to prefer its original bed.

Instead of flowing quietly along in its new raised channel, it follows the winding

course of its old channel for a few feet out onto the new fill, then disappears completely. It goes into no large hole or cavern but simply disappears into the ground to re-emerge at the bottom of the

fill through innumerable small crevices in the rocks. The Rio Grande of the Isthmus has been tied in closely with local progress

since the beginning of recorded history.

If the Spaniards had found it more suit- able for water-borne traffic when they

explored its course in 1527, it would

undoubtedly have been the link between

the Chagres and the Pacific coast, rather than the Cruces trail. Three hundred and twenty years later, surveyors of the Panama Railroad be- came convinced that construction of a

railroad was possible when they found the Rio Grande valley stretching from the continental divide down the Pacific watershed. The first tracks of the rail- road followed the river vallev to Panama

City. Later the French Canal Company laid out their canal along the route of the Rio Grande. Their plans for a lock-type

canal called for the Rio Grande to be dammed near the Pacific end of the Canal.

Later, during the early construction

period, the Rio Grande was dammed into a great reservoir, with a capacity of 362

million gallons of water, to supply the

entire Pacific side of the Canal Zone and

Panama City. Before the Canal was

completed, the reservoir's capacity had

been increased by a third. The Rio Grande has not always been a well-behaved river. In November 1909, flood waters on the river ate away sections

of the Canal banks near Corozal where

the Rio Grande crossed the Canal prism.

A disappearing river, according to

QUIET POOL in a wooded glade? Not at all. This

is the spot where the Rio Grande disappears under- ground beneath a newly-constructed rock fill.

engineers, is not unusual in limestone

country but a man-made disappearing

river, especially one created unintentionally, isn't commonplace.

Conversion Project Engineer

Gets Full Colonel's Eagles

Edward B. Jennings, Project Engineer

or the Power Conversion Project, has a

pair of silver eagles these days, and very

little opportunity to wear them. Like

other military men on duty with the Canal organization, he spends 99 percent

of his time in civilian clothes. Consequently, the eagles to which he became entitled on his promotion July 15

to full colonel in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers stay in their box. Born in Westport, Conn., Colonel Jennings is a graduate of Carson-Lorg

Institute in Pennsylvania, Syracuse Lniversity and the Command and General

Staff School. Ke holds his master's degree

from the State University of Iowa. During World War II he served as an

engineer battalion commander in the New Hebrides, Okinawa and Japan. He

came to the Canal Zone in June 1954, from Nashville, Tenn., where he was

Assistant District Engineer of the Nashville Engineer District. His first Canal

appointment was as Project Engineer for the work on Contractors Hill. He was named Project Engineer for the Power

Conversion Project last April.

Latin American School Enrollment

Increases After Start Of Classes

Enrollment in the Canal Zone's Latin American schools, which was lower by 54

students at the beginning of the present

school year than on the first day of school a year ago, took a sharp swing upward as the month progressed.

On July 15, 11 days after the present

school session began, a total of 4,006 students were enrolled in the Latin American schools, in the grades from kinder- garten through high school. This figure was an increase of 72 in the ten-day

period and brought the total enrollment

higher by 60 students than the enrollment

in the schools on the similar day of the preceding school term. The two largest of the Latin American

elementary schools are Rainbow City and

Paraiso; the former has over 975 students and the latter approximately 525.

Rainbow City Junior High School has

the largest enrollment of the junior high

schools but La Boca is the larger of the two Latin American high schools. According to officials of the schools, students in the upper grades are adapting

easily to the new system of all-Spanish

instruction. All classes in the Latin

American schools are being taught in Spanish this year for the first time; Spanish-language instruction last year ex- tended only through grade six. English

is taught as a separate subject. Walter

H. Oliver is in charge of the conversion

into all-Spanish instruction. $ New courses in Spanish language are being constructed for the school curricu- lum under the supervision of Alfred E. Osborne for the elementary schools and

Russell H. Johns for the secondary

schools.

TWO WELL-KNOWN Canal Zone teachers were promoted this year to the principalships of the two

high schools in the Latin American Schools system.

Owen J. Shirley, left, is principal of the Rainbow

City High School and Robert H. Beecher is principal

of the high school at La Boca.
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

Gigantic Stairsteps

On Contractors Hill

Now Nearly Finished

The finishing touches are being given

to tie gigantic stairsteps which have

been carved into Contractors Hill during

the past year. During that time the face

of the hill has completely changed appear- ance and the danger of a rock fall into the Canal channel has been removed.

Shovels, trucks, and bulldozers are presently working on 150-foot level, lowest of the berms or steps which is just 65

feet above the Canal water 1 svel. Under

the working schedule, the last of the hard

rock formation will be drilled, blasted, and removed before the end of this month.

The work remaining after the last of the rock is removed will include the removal of the shale access road down

the slope of Project 13, and the break-up

and removal of a relatively small amount

of rock along the Canal banks which fell during the blasting operations. This work

is expected to take only a few days for completion.

Cascadas At Work

While the Tecon Corporation is completing the work under its contract, the Dredging Division's dipper dredge Cascadas will be busy removing the last of Cucaracha formation in Project 13 im- mediately north of Contractors Hill. Approximately 250,000 cubic yards of this project was removed by dry excavation

by the Tecon Corporation under a supplemental agreement.

The removal of the knuckle which juts into the Canal channel at that point will increase the channel width by 150 feet and will greatly improve navigation conditions through Gaillard Cut The channel turns sharply as it prsse? Gold and

Contractors Hill and much of the useful- ness of work already done on Project 13 has been nullified by the remaining tip of Cucaracha formation which juts into the channel. Project 13 has been in progress on a low priority basis by the Dredging Division for many yesrs. It provides for the widening of the entire channel section known as Culebra Reach to 500 feet. Approximately one and a half miles of the channel has been widened with only the small ssction remaining.

By Contract And Canal

The dipper dredge Cascadas was moved

to the site early in July and will continue

the work until the project is completed.

The work on Project 13 was suspended

soon after the big crack across the face of Contractors Hill was found to be endangering the Canal because of the possibility

of inducing a rockfall. The contract with Tecon was extended

to include the dry excavation of the remaining material in Project 13 since the additional work could be done as a part of the main contract more advantageously and economically than as a separate projact. In addition to the 250,000

cubic yards removed under the contract amendment, about 187,000 cubic yards

of material will be removed by wet

excavation to complete the project and

widen the Canal channel to the required

depth.

WITH school days just around the corner, the younger fry are learning already that it will be

smart to be smart when taking a geography

lesson from their well groomed teacher. These two young men, with an eye to durability as

well as style, have chosen genuine Levis from

t'le regular commissary stock. Their shirts are two of the smart new sports styles being placed on sale this month. The young ladies are wearing Cinderella

frocks which are as washable as they are

pretty. Any school girl's wardrobe should

contain several of these as they will be on sale

for about $3.50. The boys are wearing brown leather loafers made by Roberts, Johnson and Rand, and the girls have on one-strap

slippers made by Trimfoot. Teacher, not to be

outdone by her pupils, is wearing a dress

cliosen from the large stock of misses' styles now carried by the Commissary stores. Left to right, Sandy Holliday, Gwyneth

Richard, Mrs. M. W. Foscue, Glenn Rhyne,

and Roger Hutchinson.

HIGH marks in fashion will be given these two teencgers when they wear clothes chosen

from the back-to-school collection being

pieced on sale this month by the Commissary

Division. The junior miss has a pastel cotton

dress with a crisp white collar and a fitted midriff. It buttons up the back and has a

full skirt. The high school student on the left chose a

bright yellow short-sleeved sport shirt made

by Campus Spoit Shirts,- it is one of a number

of handsome styles being stocked by the Commissary Division for high school and col- lege students. His trousers are ncvy gar- bcrdine which has been specially treated for spot and crease resistance. He also wears a pair of brown leather locfeis which have become so populcr with students in all the grades from one to twelve. The models are: Barry Davison and Jean Chambers.

WHAT teacher wouldn't be proud of this group of students who will soon return to classes with their back-to-school clothes problems solved by the Commissary Division? All of the

clothes, including the shoes worn by both the grade-school and high-school student models, were selected from the new shipment to go on sale this month ct Balboa and Cristobal. The young miss on the right is wearing a candy striped polished cotton frock which washes

like a dream and has a special dirt resistant quality which should go over big with the mothers of the grade-school set. The other 1 0-year-old has a sun dress which comes with a separate jacket. Models for this picture are: Mrs. M. W. Foscue, Roger Hutchinson, Sandy Halliday,

Barry Davison, Jean Chambers, Gwyneth Richard.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS JULY RETIREMENTS

June 15 through July 15

Empl ' were promoted or transen June 15 and July 15 are

low. Within-grade promotions are

not listed.ADMINISTRATIVE BRANCH

Louis C. Caldwell, Tabulating Equipment

Operation Supervisor, from Division of Sto, ,- Statistii al Tabulating Section. Alfredo Lombana, Mrs. Helen M. Cicero, from Tabulating Machine Operator, Payroll Branch, to Tabulating Equipment

Operator, Statistical Tabulating Section. Mrs. Mercedes A. Borrell, from Tabulating Machine Operator. Division of Storehouses, to Tabulating Equipment Operator,

Statistical Tabulating Section. George A. Black, Jr., from Tabulation

Planner, Division of Storehouses, to Tabulation Project Planner, Statistical Planning

Sex tion. Preston G. Gau, from Tabulating Machine Operation Supervisor, Payroll Branch,

to Tabulating Equipment Operation Super-

\ isor, Statistical Tabulating Section. Jacob Plicet, Jr., from Tabulating Machine Operator Supervisor, Payroll Branch,

to Tabulating Equipment Operator, Statistical Tabulating Section. CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Paul F. Karst, Jr., from Recreation

Supervisor to Physical Education Teacher.

Division of Schools. Mrs. Thelma N. Scott, from Clerk-Typist

to Recreation Assistant, Division of Schools. Mrs. Marcella G. Green, from Clerk- Stenographer to Clerical Assistant, Division

ol Schools. Thomas L. Sellers, from Relief Postmaster

to Postmaster, Margarita. Lealand A. Larrison, from Postmaster,

Margarita, to Relief Postmaster.

Earl F. Unruh, from Chief, Postal Division, to Director of Posts. COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU

Mrs. Susan H. Boles, from Clerk-Typi-t

to Clerk (Typing), Service Center Division- Paul J. Laing, from Steward, Service tenter Division, to Supervisory Administrative Assistant, Tivoli Guest House. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Norbert A. Jones, from Supervisory

Accounting Clerk, Methods and Relief Assignment Staff, to Transportation Rate

Auditing Clerk, Agents Accounts Branch. Stephen A. Bissell, from Transportation Kate Auditing Clerk, Agents Accounts

Branch, to Supervisory Accounting Clerk, Methods and Relief Assignment Staff. Mrs. Florence M. Pierson, from Accounting Clerk to Supervisory Accounting Clerk, Accounting Division. Helen N. Minor, from Time, Leave, and

Payroll Clerk, to Time, Leave, and Payroll

Supervisor, Payroll Branch.

Stuart Wallace, from Claims Examiner,

Fiscal Division, to Budget Analyst, Budget

Branch. Gregory G. Cartotto, from Supervisory Accountant, Accounting Division, to Claims

Examiner, Fiscal Division. Walter B. Wolberg, from Time, Leave. and Payroll Supervisor, Payroll Branch, to Supervisory Accountant, Accounting Division.Mrs. Eva M. Grassau, from Accountant

in rime. Leave, and Payroll Clerk, Payroll Branch. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

William R. Carlin, Jr., from Apprentice

iblesplicer, Electrical Division. George D. Gregory, from General Fore- man to Chief Foreman, Dredging Division

Sho]James M. Hunter, from Small Tug Operator to Towboal Master, Dredging Division. Henry T. Carpenter, from Hospital

Maintenance Lead Foreman to Building

Maintenance General Foreman, Mainte- nance 1 >i vision. Harvey W. Sauter, from Assistant Supervisor Sheet metal Work to Lead Foreman,

ital Maintenance, Maintenance Division.Mrs. Miriam H. Hawvichorst, from

Supervisory Clerk (Typist) to Supervisors

Clerk (Typing), Communications Branch'

Electrical Division. HEALTH BUREAU

Mrs. Lorna M. Shore, Staff Nurse, from Gorgas Hospital to Coco Solo Hospital.

Nellie T. Morgan, Clerk-Typist, from Gorgas Hospital to Board of Health Laboratory Dr. Roy B. Stewart, Dr. Robert B. White, from Intern to Resident, Gorgas Hospital. Dr. Richard S. Ostenso, Dr. Luis A. Picard-Ami, from Intern, Gorgas Hospital,

to Medical Officer, Pacific Medical Clinics. Dr. Wallace M. Snyder, from Intern.

(.org. is Hospital, to Medical Officer, Coco

Solo Hospital. Mrs. Ida M. McDade, from Staff Nurse

to Communicable Disease Nurse, Atlantic Medical Clinics. Mrs. May B. Dodson, from Staff Nurse

to Head Nurse, Coco Solo Hospital. Dr. John W. Gales, from Medical Officer (Pediatrics) to Medical Officer (Gynecology

and Obstetrics). Coco Solo Hospital. Dr. William E. Prier, from Medical

Officer to Hospital Resident, Gorgas Hospital. Mrs. Katherine H. Hall, Staff Nurse from Coco Solo Hospital to Gorgas Hospital. Mrs. Dora J. Coleman, from Medical

Technician (General) to Medical Technician

(General-Supervisory), Coco Solo Hospital.

MARINE BUREAU

Charles A. Parks, Emerson A. Cottrell, from Guard, Atlantic Locks, to Towing

Locomotive Operator, Locks Division ( Locks

Overhaul).

Carl H. Schmidt, from Towing Locomotive Operator, Pacific Locks, to Guard, Locks Security Branch (Atlantic). SUPPLY BUREAU

Charles P. Shay, from Assistant to Chief, Retail Stores to Commissary Supervisor

(Assistant to Chief, Retail Stores Branch),

Commissary Division. Roy F. Burr, from Clerical Assistant

(Typist), Colon Health Office, to Accounting Clerk, Commissary Division. Thomas G. Relihan, from Supply Officer (Drygoods), to Superintendent, General

Products Branch, Commissary Division. Vincent J. Huber, from Assistant Supply

Officer to Supply Officer (Drygoods), Commissary Division. Robert L. Rankin, from Commissary

Supervisor to Assistant Supply Officer (Drygoods), Commissary Division. Elizabeth A. Allen, lrom Accounting

Clerk to Clerk-Typist, Commissary Division.TRANSPORTATION AND TERMINALS

BUREAU

Richard M. Conover, from Supervisory

Traffic Clerk to Supervisory Freight Traffic Clerk (General), Terminals Division. John W. Manush, Jr., from Supervisor)

Property and Supply Clerk to Supervisory

Cargo Clerk, Terminals Division. Paul P. Desormeau, Victor T. McGarry

James A. Brooks, Sidney Smithson, William

B. Huff, Merlin B. Yocum, from Supervisory

St i irekeeper (Checker) to Supervisory Cargo

Checker, Terminals Division. James H. Munden, from SupervisorsStorekeeper ( Checker) to Supervisory Transportation Assistant, Terminals Division. Gerald D. Stroop, from Guard to Supervisory Cargo Checker, Terminals Division.

Retirement certificates were presented

the end of July to the following employees

who are listed alphabetically, together with

their birthplaces, titles, length of Canal

service and future addresses: Lester F. Bailey, Maine; Governmental

Accountant, Industrial Division; 29 years,

10 months, 6 days; Schnectady, N. V.

Hallie Beavers, North Carolina; Teacher, Balboa High School; 23 years, 10 months; North Carolina. Samuel S. Blackburn, Tennessee; Police- man, Cristobal District; 35 years, 1 month.

17 days; St. Petersburg, Fla. Charles H. Fairbrother, North Dakota;

Layerout Machinist, Industrial Division; 36 vears, 10 months, 17 days; Panama,

R. P. Roger H. Greene, Washington, D. C.j

Claims Examiner, Fiscal Division; 28 years,

8 months, 7 days; Alexandria, Va. George Herman, Illinois; Chief, Police Division; 40 years, 2 months, 23 days; Address uncertain. Ludwig A. Maurer, New York; Control House Operator, Pedro Miguel Locks; 28

years, 2 months, 26 days; Address undecided. Thomas McNeill, Ireland; Carpenter

Foreman, Pacific Locks; 15 years, 3 months,

6 days; Pittsford, Yt. Ralph N. Stewart, Illinois; Supervisory

Accounting Clerk, Commissary Division; 29 years, 1 month, 27 days; Florida. Agnes E. Sugrue, Connecticut; Public Health Nurse, Colon Health Office; 25

vears, 4 months, 13 davs; Brooklyn, N. Y.

AUGUST SAILINGS

From Cristobal

Cristobal August 6

I'n in: ma August 13 Ancon August 20

Cristobal August 27 From New York

l'a uama August 4 Ancon.. . . August 11 Cristobal August 18

I 'a mi ma August 25 (Southbound the Haiti stop is from 7 a. m.

to 4 p. m. Monday; northbound ships are

also in Port-au-Prince Monday, from about

1 to 6 p. m.)

ANNIVERSARIES

When Emmett Zemer went to work for the Canal organization on July 10, 1913, he had no more idea than most men of that

period that he would still be a Canal Zonian

42 years later. He is one of three employees whose continuous service predates 1914 and one of 13 still working who had construction-day service. He is now Real Property Assistant in the

office of the Director of the Community

Services Bureau. He began his Canal

service at the Gorgona Commissary and

later worked in a number of the retail commissary stores. He had hotel experi- ence at the Washington and the Tivoli, but

his longest assignment was the 26 years he

spent in what used to be known as the

District Quartermaster's Office in Balboa. He has been at Balboa Heights since 1953. With 42 years of continuous Canal

service he heads this month's list of anniversaries.

35 YEARS

Two Canal employees share honors for 35 years of government service completed

last month, although in both cases their Canal service is not that long. They are Arthur L. Endicott, Postmaster at Fort

Clayton, and Warren Pitman, Supervisory Rates Analyst in the Office of the Comptroller. Mr. Endicott, a native of Oregon and a onetime Gunner's Mate in the U. S. Navy.

was working in the San Diego, Calif., post

office when he decided he'd like a change of scene. In an unusual exchange of jobs a Zone post office worker transferred to San

Diego and Mr. Endicott came to the Canal

Zone. He has been assigned to several post offices and has been postmaster at Fort Clayton since 1952. Mr. Pitman was born in San Francisco. Like many Zone employees he first saw the Isthmus as a serviceman, liked it and stayed. His first Canal Zone job had to do with Panama Railroad accounts; he has been in accounting and rates work ever since. Just before he joined the Canal organization he spent almost three months with the Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission in Arica, Chile, when the United States was

mediating a boundary dispute between

Chile and Peru.

30 YEARS

Zonians come from all over the United

States. Look at the birthplaces of this month's 30-year men: Virginia, Roy F. Armistead and Howarth V. Rowe; New

York, George D. Gregory and Walter H.
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Kuhrt; Washington, D. C, Kurt F. Menzel

and Will R. Price; Michigan, Jerome F. Evans; Ohio, Philip S. Thornton; Wisconsin, Herbert F. Paddock.

These nine completed 30 years of Governservice in July. All but two, Mr. Armistead

and Mr. Thornton, have continuous Canal

service. Mr. Evans—Jerry to almost everyone

is manager of the Balboa Commissary; Mr.

Gregory is Chief Foreman of the Dredging Division's shops; Captain Kuhrt and

Captain Rovve are two of the Atlantic side's senior pilots; Mr. Menzel is General

Supervisory Medical Technican at the Board of Health Laboratory; Mr. Paddock

is Chief Dispatcher and also Chief of the

Mirallores Diesel Generation Station; Mr.

Price is head of the bindery section at the

Printing Plant at Mount Hope —his crew worked on this issue of The Panama

Canal Review.

Mr. Armistead is Leader Molder and

Maintenance Mechanic with the Industrial Division and Mr. Thornton, who held his

first Canal job when he was a schoolboy,

is General Manager of the Service Center

Division.

25 YEARS

Five of the eight employees who completed a quarter-century of Government

service in July have had an unbroken

record with the Canal organization. They

are:Richard Conley, a native Zonian, Loco- motive Engineer with the Railroad Division; James A. Fraser, Dredging Supervisor with

the Dredging Division; Stephen C. Lessard, Accounting Clerk with the Industrial Division; C. B. Mcllvaine, Senior Conductor

with the Railroad Division; and Ellen Tiernan, a Staff Nurse at Gorgas Hospital. Other 25-year employees are: Woodford

M. Babbitt, a Rotary Drill Operator with

the Dredging Division —he was born in Alaska but grew up in the Canal Zone; William H. Hele a Contraband Control

Inspector; and Elmer B. Orr, Accounting

Supervisor with the Agents Accounts

Branch. Mr. Hele and Mr. Orr were born

in the Canal Zone.

20 YEARS

The employees who completed 20 years

of Government service in July are split, half and half, between those with continu- ous Canal service and those whose service was broken. Those with unbroken service

are:John C. Dansby, Carpenter Foreman,

Maintenance Division; George C. Dunlap,

Assistant Project Engineer for the Power

Conversion Project; Herman Hessell, Fire- man with the Balboa District; Irvin E. Krapfl, Assistant Relief Marine Bunkering Foreman with the Terminals Division; R. H. Masters, Sanitation Inspector, De- partment of Zone Sanitation; Floyd A. Robinson, Policeman at the Cristobal

Station; Samuel Roe, Jr., also a police

officer in the Balboa District; Luther B. Sartain, Jr., Chief of the Electrical-Mechanical Branch of the Engineering Division; and Herbert H. Tabert, Floating Crane Master with the Dredging Division. Those 20-year employees whose Canal

service is not continuous are: Ross Aldrich, Lineman - Foreman, Electrical Division; Richard R. Brown, Merhanical-Refrigeration Engineer, Commissary Division; Richard W. Coy, Accountant, Internal Audit Staff; Bernard Dorfman, Supervisory

Freight Traffic Officer, Panama Local Agency; Robert H. Miller, Assistant Manager, Cristobal Housing Office; Paul W.

Mohl, General Operator, Maintenance

Division; Henry Perry, Policeman at Bal- boa; Aloys C. Sandusky, Pharmacist,

Pacific Medical Clinics; and Ray W.

Wheeler, Fire Lieutenant at Gatun.

15 YEARS

Twenty-five employees completed 15 years of Government service in July.

Those with continuous Canal service are: Kenneth L. Bailey, Launch Inspector, Marine Bureau; Rayburn L. Brians, Admeasurer, Navigation Division; David L. Brown, Principal Stevedore Foreman, Terminals Division ; Ronald A. Faunce, Wireman,

Electrical Division; Robert T. Geddes,

Filtration Plant Operator and Tractor- Bulldozer Operator, Maintenance Division; Robert W. Lawyer, Policeman. Balboa District; Herbert N. Libbey, Engineering

Draftsman, Engineering Division; Harry J. Linker, Diesel Operator Machinist, Electrical Division; Murray Klipper, Wireman,

EXECUTIVE REGULATION 19

Editor's Note: A revision of Executive

Regulation No. 19, covering travel and

transportation was issued at Balboa Heights

recently. It will be published in install- ments with the index and first installment

carried in this issue for the benefit of those who desire to clip and save the entire regulation. CANAL ZONE GOVERNMENT

PANAMA CANAL COMPANY

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

Revision 1

Balboa Heights, C. Z. June 24, I<J^

Executive Regulation No. 19 TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION OF EMPLOYEES, THEIR FAMILIES, HOUSEHOLD

GOODS AND PERSONAL EFFECTS

CONTENTS

I. General

Sec. 1.1 Scope. Sec. 1.2 Definitions. Sec. 1.3 Travel expense of employees.

Sec. 1.4 Transportation expenses of employees and

their families. Sec. 1.5 Time limits. Sec. 1.6 Employees not affected. Sec. 1.7 Determination of transportation lights.

II. Transportation of Household Goods and

Personal Effects

Sec. 2.1 Maximum allowance for transportation. Sec. 2.2 Allowances for packing, crating, unpacking and uncrating. Sec. 2.3 Allowance for drayage.

Sec. 2.4 Items not allowable and items allowable. Sec. 2.5 Temporary storage. Sec. 2.6 Means of shipment.

Sec. 2.7 Origin and destination of shipment.

Sec. 2.8 Use of Government bill of lading. Sec. 2.9 Use of lift vans. Sec. 2.10 Preparation of vouchers. Sec. 2.11 Valuation.

Sec. 2.12 Shipment by American vessels. Sec. 2.13 Itemization of charges. Sec. 2.14 Procedure for obtaining shipment of goods and effects. Sec. 2.15 Customs inspection on the Isthmus.

Sec. 2.16 Certification of weights, cubic measure- ments and contents. Sec. 2.17 Preparation and disposition of ocean bills of lading. Sec. 2.18 Routing and consignment of shipments.

Sec. 2.19 Customs fees. Sec. 2.20 Reimbursement of expenses not authorized. Sec. 2.21 Billing for expenses.

III. Transfers Between Official Stations

Sec. 3.1 Payment of expenses. Sec. 3.2 Responsibility for costs. Sec. 3.3 Designation of official station.

IV. Travel and Transportation Expenses of New

Appointees

Sec. 4.1 Payment of expenses. Sec. 4.2 Agreement to remain in s?rvice. Sec. 4.3 New appointees; restored veterans not

included. Sec. 4.4 Xew appointees; for employees not included under certain conditions. Sec. 4.5 New appointees; local employments not

included. Sec. 4.6 Exceptions to general policy.

V. Travel and Transportation on Termination

of Employment

Sec. 5.1 Employees and ex-employees entitled to travel and transportation allowances. Sec. 5.2 Employees not entitled to travel and

transportation. Sec. 5.3 Families, household goods and personal

effects, transportation of. Sec. 5.4 Prior return of immediate family and of household goods and personal effects. Sec. 5.5 Creditable service with other United States Government agencies for travel and

transportation allowances. Sec. 5.6 Transportation benefits for ex-employees who terminated prior to August 2, 1946. Sec. 5.7 Application for transportation.

Electrical Division; Joseph H. Kueter,

Shipwright, Industrial Division; Loretta

J. Metivier, Accounting Clerk, Agents, Accounts Branch; Catherine J. Mitchusson, Staff Nurse, Gorgas Hospital; B. M.

Parmentier, Boilermaker, Industrial Division; Louis J. Poletti, Visa Clerk, Administrative Branch; John C. Thompson, Gas

Motor Machinist and Craneman, Aids to Navigation Branch; William H. Ward,

Senior Towboat Master, Dredging Division. Those whose service with the Canal is not continuous are: Ronald M. Brome,

Policeman, Gamboa Penitentiary; Zelda

E. Glassburn, Personnel Clerk (Typist),

Employment and Utilization Division; Hilton F. Hughes, Chief, Cocoli Diesel Generation Station; John W. Litton, Machinist, Industrial Division; Susan M. Magee,

Clerk-Stenographer, Plant Inventory and

Appraisal Staff; William C. Merchant,

Pumping Plant Operator, Maintenance

Division; Harold J. Million, Hydraulic

Engineer, Meteorology and Hydrographie

Branch; Barton P. Scott, Lock Operator

Machinist, Pacific Locks; John R. Thomson,

Clerk, Pa!o Seco Hospital.

VI. Travel and Transportation Expenses of Employees and Their immediate Families In Connection With Leave For Returning to

f Place of Residence Between Tours of Duty

Sec. 6.1 Eligibility. Sec. 6.2 Service period for teachers. Sec. 6.3 Travel allowance. Sec. 6.4 Limitations. Sec. 6.5 Creditable service with other United States Government agencies for leave travel

benefits. Sec. 6.6 Route and mode of travel. Sec. 6.7 Departure of immediate family prior or subsequent to departure of employee.

Sec. 6.8 Liability of employee.

Sec. 6.9 Use of Government Transportation Requests. Sec. 6.10 Submission of voucher.

Sec. 6.11 Liability of employee in instances of noncompliance with terms of new agree- ment.

VII. Prior Regulations Revoked

Sec. 7.1 Prior regulations revoked.

I. GENERAL

1 .1 Scope. The following regulations are prescribed to govern travel of employees and the trans- portation of their families, household goods and

personal effects on appointment, change of official station, termination, and leave. In addition to implementing administrative regulations, these regulations incorporate certain pertinent provisions of the Administrative Expenses Act of August 2, 1946, 60

Stat. 806 ("Public Law 600"), as amended; Executive

orders promulgated under such Act; regulations of the Bureau of the Budget issued under authority

delegated by Executive Order 10530, of May 10, 1954, 19 F. R. 2709; and Executive Order 1888 of February 2. 1914, as amended. Cross Reference

For regulations governing the transp>i i \ tion of the Remains, Families, and Effects of Deceased Employees, see Executive Regulation No. 18 of August 18, 1951.

1.2 Drfiiiitions. As used in these regulations:

(a) "Place of actual residence" means, in the case of appointments made in the United SLates, the place at which such appointee physically

resided at time of appointment. In the case of employees who were appointed while on the Isthmus, actual place of residence shall be deemed to be such appointee's legal residence in the United States at the time of appointment.

In the case of an appointee who was born on the Isthmus or who came to the Canal Zone as a

minor, place of actual residence, in the absence

of subsequent acquisition of a legal residence in the United States, shall be deemed to be the

legal residence of his father in the United States. (Based on Comptroller General's Decision B/62267

of January 15. 1947. 26 Comp. Gen. 488)

(b) "Employee" means a full-time employee

of the Panama Canal Company or Canal Zone

Government.

(c) "Immediate family" means any of the

following named members of the employee's

household: Spouse, children, including step- children and adopted children, unmarried and

under twenty-one years of age or physically or mentally incapable of supporting themselves

regardless of age, or dependent parents of the employee (but not of the spouse). (From section 1 (d) of Executive Order 9805)

(d) "Official station" includes any point within the district in which he normally works,

as defined in section 3.3 of these regulations, from which the employee commutes daily to his

official post of duty. (From section 8 of Executive Order 9805, as amended

by Executive Order 10196)

(e) "Temporary storage" means storage at point of departure, destination, or way station

for nor more than 60 days, except that not more

than 90 days may be allowed where an employee

pursuant to section 6.3 of these regulations, returns for leave prior to serving a new period

of service outside the continental United States

at a different post of duty. (Based on section 1 (c) of Executive Order 9805, as amended by Bureau of the Budget Circular A-4

of May 2. 1955)

(f) "United States" means the continental United States, its territories and possessions, other than the Canal Zone.

1.3 Travel expenses of employees. Travel expenses

of the employees shall be allowed in accordance with

the Travel Expense Act of 1945 (63 Stat. 166). the Standardized Government Travel Regulations.- and Panama Canal Company regulations supplementary

thereto and in accordance with travel orders issued

in each cas?. (Based on section 2 of Executive Order 9805, as amended by Executive Order 10969)

1.4 Transportation expenses of employees and their families. The transportation of the employee and

his immediate family, if any, hereunder shall be

subject to the provisions of the Standardized Govern- ment Travel Regulations which relate to transportation, including mileage, and shall be in accordance

with Sect on 4 of Travel Expense Act of 1949, and Panama Canal Company regulations supplementary

thereto, whether

(a) in the case of transfer, such transportation originates at the employee's last official station or at some other point, or partially at both, and the point of destination is the new

official station or some other point selected by the employee; or

(b) in the case of new appointments, such

transportation originates at the employee's

actual residence in the United States at the time

of his appointment or at some other point, or

partially at both, and whether in the case of terminations the point of destination is such

actual residence of the employee at time of apointment or some other point selected by the employee; provided, however, That the cost to the Government shall not exceed the cost of transportation by a usually traveled route be- tween the last official station and the new official station, or between the Canal Zone or Haiti and

the employee's actual residence in the United

States at the time of appointment, as the case may be. (Based on sections 2 and 3 of Executive Order 9805.

as amended by Executive Orders 10069 and 10196.

respectively)

(c) In the case of leave, such transportation

(See page 16)
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Executive Regulation 19 Makes First Canal Transit

lie pla e eraploj men! < ana] Zone oi em] lence in the

al ion within

tli C couni or possession In which

. m Lted; pro

ti in p it I al i m exp

i d ho& allowed

,-. ele i route bei ween the posl ol dutj

. idence and rel urn

to thi erent p >sl oi dutj "inside

1

i

oi i - & utive Order 9S05, as

, | i,. i bj Bureau ol Uie Budget Cir< ulai \ \ oJ

: Ordinarilj expenses [ncurred prior to the

travel ordei are not reimbursable.

n i - li y fox transp irtal ion ol

hi ius ;hold goods regardle whethei oi not thi employee was issued a travel

foi himself.

1.5 Time limits.

: ei Niii.it e l empli >j a I [i >u able 1 1 in In these regilations shall be onlj mch

travel as is incidental to the termination of the employment, ani shall commence within a reasonable t^me, no( I i exceed six months, after

, n , h termination. If an employee lor voluntary

,,,.»!, ,1 i,- wons doe n il tike advantage of the

repati i ition travel allowable under these regulatvithin such time limit, then none of the

, ,,, :, ol the return of the employee (except

as the provisions oi Section 5.6 of these regula

tions may apply), his family, or his household goods oi pers inal effects, shall be payable under

these regul itions.

i[,i All employment, transfer or termination

travel and transportation of an employee's family, household goods and personal effects, allow-

,M, under these regulations, shall begin within two years from the effective date of the employee's appointment or transfer, or from the time of a terminated employee's repatriation, as the case may be, exclusive of the time spent on

furlough grante 1 for the duration of active

military, naval, or Coast Guard duty, and, in

so far as concerns travel and transportation

cult side the United States, exclusive of any

period which shipping restrictions make the

travel and transportation impossible.

], ,| .,,, ction 5 ol Executive Order 9805 and

i omptrollei General's 1 >ecision B 79912 of November 3, 1948, 28 ( omp. Gen. 285)

1.6 Employees not affected. These regulations shall

n

,. appb to t"'!- »ns whose pay and allowances are ei iblished by the Career Compensation Act of 1949

(61 St Lt. 802) Prom secti >n 11 of Executive Order 9805. as amended

by Executive Order 10196)

1.7 Determination of transportation rights. The

members ol an employee's immediate family and the

old goods and personal effects to be trans- ported at Government expense shall be determined

as of the effective date ol the transfer or leave travel order authorizing such transportation or, in case of

as of the effective date of the termination.

EXECUTIVE REGULATION 51

CANAL ZONE GOVERNMENT

PANAMA CANAL COMPANY

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

Balboa Heights, C. Z. June 30, 1955. Executive Regulation No. 51 REGULATION OF SALE AND USE OF

FIREWORKS

i: virtue ol the authority contained in Section

521 of Title 2, of the Canal Zone Code, as added by

,h, \, i ol tune 28, 1955 (Public Law 105. 84th

i ongress 1st Session), the following regulations are

\, I Foi the s lie and us ol fireworks in the Canal Zone:

-,., i rhe sale oi fireworks in the ( inal Zone is prohibited. . "Sec. 2. The use or tiring ol fireworks in the < anal

prohibited, except as hereinafter provided.

3 The term "firew irks!' shall mean and

include any combustible or explosive compo

o] i >ubst; i combination ol subst mces, oi

,,!,, i prep ired foi the purp is; ol pro lui ing a visible "i audible effect by combustion, explosion

defiigration or detonation, and shall include blank

cartridges, toj pistol . I >\ cannons, toy canes, oi toj guns in whii h expl isive ire used, i he I - pe ol ulii- I inn *- fire underneath to propel imi firecrackers, torpedoes, skyrockets, Roman candle: Daygo I

I sparklers, "r othei fireworks ol like construction and any firea irks containing any

expl oh e oi flamm ible i omp inn I, oi anj tablets oi

ol iei device i ling any expl isit e substam e ex:ept thai the term "fireworks" shall not include

toj sun- or other device's in u hi 1 1 papei i aps conl lining not more ih in an aver- age of twents five hundredths [0.25) ol a grain ol explosive composition per cap. the sale in I u which shall b - permitted at all times

"Sec. 4. The Civil Affairs Directoi may issue permits foi supervised public display; ol fireworks by responsible organizations ol gro u»- of individual-.

Co be held al such times and pla and undei such

condition! as in his opinion shall not _b hazardous

to pers property. Similar public displays on

military reservations shall bs permissible when

properlj authorized by the appropriate military

,nll h iritics. "Sec. 5. Nothing in this regulation slull be

true I to prohibit the use of fireworks by transporlais foi signal pui pos - oi i lumin ition, oi

oi m ink carl Ig or a show or t heatei oi

;n ,1 or ceremonial p trpo3es in athletics oi sports, oi use bj military organizations. "Sec. 6. As provide! in Section 522 of Title 2 of

h< I inal / I !ode, violations of these regul itions

bj i lui' Ol not more than S100 or b\- 30 days imprisonment in iail or both.

Phi regulations prescribed herein shall become effective si\t> d lys from the date of issu im e of this Executive Regulation "

J. S. SfcYBOLD

Governor of the Canal Zo u Panama I <i",i/ Company

THREE Panama Canal pilots were aboard the 28,790-ton SS Orsova when she made her maiden transit

of the Panama Canal last month. The Orsova is 723 feet overall and has a beam of 90.65 feet; this gave

her a clearance of less than 10 feet on each side in the lock chambers. Ten towing locomotives took her through the locks. The Orsova was en route from Sydney, Australia, to London with (192 passengers.

Atlantic Side Equipment Conversion

Contract Among Largest Of Power Projects

(CopJhviel /mm pap- 1) ventilating fans, 450 pieces of hobby-shop equipment, and

260 pieces of miscellaneous equipment.

The cast of converting all equipment

will be met by Power Conversion Project

funds. In the case of household equipment, the owner may choose to have an

individual piece of equipment converted

to 60-cycle frequency or at his option

accept a cash settlement from the Contractor equal to the contract bid-price

for converting the unit in question. This

policy, which has been approved by the Board of Directors of the Canal Company, will govern on all equipment which

is in operating condition and is being

used regularly by the owner. No technical difficulties are foreseen by

Canal engineers planning the project

although a maze of intricate work schedNew Division Chief

DR. ERIC R. OSTERBERG was appointed last week Chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine of the Health Bureau, succeeding the late Dr. Walter

G. Nelson. Dr. Osterberg has been with the Health Bureau sinre 194S and Health Officer for Panama and

Colon since January 1954.

ules must be developed and coordinated

to prevent undue delays. These schedules will be set up by the contractor with

the concurrence of Col. Hugh M. Arnold,

Engineering and Construction Director. The conversion work will be greatly

simplified by the fact that double trans- mission facilities are available to most

areas in the Canal Zone. And, in many

cases, duplicate equipment is available

for Company-Government service units. This equipment can be converted for 60-cycle use in advance and can be placed in operation when 60-cycle cur- rent is available. Domestic Conversion

In the case of domestic equipment, the conversion will proceed in small groups

of quarters fed by the same transformer. The householder will be notified in advance of the date when the change will be made from 25-cycle to 60-cycle current and all frequency sensitive equipment will be disconnected just prior to the switchover. Conversion of such essential equipment as refrigerators will be completed

as rapidly as possible. However, spare

units of such essential equipment will be

available and can be plugged in to the

60-cycle current, if the conversion time

exceeds specified limitations. In this manner, the service interruption will be kept to a minimum and it is not expected that any consumer will be out of power for any appreciable length

of time. Turbines Reconditioned

The conversion of both industrial and

domestic equipment will be done as generating units at the Gatun Hydroelectric Plant become available for 60- cycle power production. Contracts for the replacement of four of the six generators there have been awarded and are now being built in the States. One of the 40-year-old generators at the Gatun station has already been

removed by the Power Branch of the

Electrical Division, and the reconditioning of the turbines and accessories feeding

this unit is being done by the Industrial Division
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 17

For the purpose of the fiscal year 1938

STATISTICS ON CANAL TRAFFIC

comparison between pre-war and post-war traffic through the Panama

are used in this section, as being more nearly normal for peace time

Cana

than

1, statistics for those for 1939.

COMMERCIAL SHIPPING SETS RECORD FOR CANAL;

TOTAL TRANSITS BELOW PREVIOUS YEARS' FIGURES

Commercial shipping lacked only three

transits of reaching the 8,000-mark for ocean-going vessels during the past fiscal year, a new record in the Canal's operating history for this class of traffic.

Traffic last year by U. S. Government

shipping through the Canal was far below

that of the previous years, with the result that transits by ships of all categories fell below the totals of either the two pre- vious years. Transits last year totaled

9,760 for vessels of all classes, while the

totals for each of the fiscal years 1953 and 1954 exceeded 10,000. There were 296 transits by ocean-going

Government ships last year, as compared

with 800 the previous year. The 7,997

transits by ocean-going commercial vessels was over 200 above in the previous

fiscal year, which also was a record. Cargo tonnage last year was at an

all-time high with 40,646,301 tons, approximately 550,000 tons more than the total for the fiscal year 1954 when a new- record was established.

Tolls for the past fiscal year amounted

to $35,136,529 of which $1,217,536 was

for the Government ships in transit. The

tolls declined from the record of $37,191,- 106 in the previous fiscal year, even though tolls on commercial shipping were

slightly higher in 1955 than in 1954. The decline in the amount of Govern- ment shipping began soon after the cessa- tion of hostilities in Korea and continued

throughout the past fiscal year. New Monthly Record

The amount of commercial traffic through the Canal remained high throughout the year, there being only two months

when there were less than 640 transits by

ocean-going vessels. A new monthly

record in number of ocean-going transits was set last March with 709 transits. A

monthly record in amount of tolls was

set in May with $3,072,000, this being

the only time in the Canal's 46 years of operating history that tolls on commercial vessels exceeded three million dollars

in one month.

Increased traffic was reported on five of the eight main trade routes through

the Canal last year over previous year's

figures. Major increases were noted on

the United States Intercoastal route and

on the trade route between the West

Indies and the west coast of the United

States and Canada. Heavy shipments

of oil to the West Indies were largely

responsible for the increased traffic over

the west coast of the United States, Canada, and West Indies route. The

amount of cargo moved over this route more than doubled within the year. There were 5,978,000 tons of cargo shipped on the United States Inter- coastal route last year. This traffic has been well below the pre-war level since the close of World II and has been

exceeded for the past two years by traffic over the routes between the east coast of the United States and South America,

Most Frequent User Of Canal

-MOST FREQUENT Canal visitor during the fiscal year which ended June 30 was the 3,946-ton refrig- erated ship above, the Brazilian Reefer. She made 55 Canal transits in the 12-month period on her run between the United States East Coast and banana ports in Ecuador, carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 tons of bananas on each northbound trip. She is of Danish registry; her master for most of the year has been Captain H. J. Moeller. Continental Shipping Company is her agents. Second most frequent Canal visitor was another banana carrier, the 1,250-ton Honduran ship Vanda. She made 4S Canal transits in fiscal year 1955, carrying an average of 350 tons of fruit on each northbound

trip. The Vanda's master is Captain Harold Rasmussen; her agents, W. Andrews & Co. MONTHLY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC AND TOLLS

Vessels of 300 tons net or over By fiscal years

Month

Transits

Tolls

(In thousands of dollars)

1955 1954 1938 1955 1954 1938

July 640 638 457 $2,646 $2,817 $2,030

652 640 505 2,752 2,778 2,195

660 612 444 2,756 2,591 1,936

683 654 461 2,831 2,755 1,981

636

676

636 435 2,630 2,668

2,963

1,893

December. ... - . - - 690 439 2,853 1 , 845

January 668 626 444 2,832 2,726 1,838

February - ' _•_ . 637 592 436

506

487

2.721 2,491 1,787

March 700 693 3,014

2,938

2,934 2, OK,

\pril 685 654 2,838 1 ,961

May 698

653

7,997

689

660

7.7SJ

465

445

5,524

3,072

2,804

$33,849

2,923

2,764

1,887

1,801

Totals for fiscal year_

.

833,248 $23,170

and east coast of the United States, Canada and the Far East. The amount of shipping from the east coast of the United States and Canada

was under that of the previous year, with

the result that the trade routes to the Far East and South America showed a

decline. The third trade route with less

shipping last year was that between

Australasia and the east coast of the United States and Canada.

The cargo moved through the Canal over

trade routes serving Europe increased last year, with the largest gain being shown

on those to South America and to the west

coast of the United States and Canada.
18 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Italian Line Ship Visits To Isthmus

Predated Construction Of Panama Canal

The Italian Line which has had offices

in the Canal Zone since 1916 for its passenger-freight trade between the Mediterranean and the west coast of South

and North America makes current use of the Panama Canal with three passenger

ships and five freighters which make

some 53 transits a year. The three passenger ships on the South

America-Pacific run bear the names of famous Italian navigators. The three men whose memory the Italian Line has

chosen to honor are Marco Polo, who

traveled in the Orient, Antoniotto Usodimare, who explored the African Area, and Amerigo Vespucci. The latter is probably the best known to Americans

since his name was given to the new

world and he made several exploration voyages in the Western Hemisphere a

few years after Columbus.

The three ships belong to a series of

six built by the Italian Line ("ITALIA"

Societa di Navigazione, Cenca) for its world trade, much of which has used the Panama Canal since the time it was

opened to traffic in 1914. They are attractive ships of modern

design, with comfortable staterooms,

swimming pools, bars, and movie lounges.

Although not comparable with the big

luxury liners operated by the Italian Line on the North- and South-Atlantic

routes, they are nevertheless very popular among travelers on the west coast of South America.

Pre-War Days

During the years before World War

II, the Italian Line was a steady cus- tomer of the Panama Canal. A trade which grew steadily from 1921 to 1939 brought from 40 to 60 passenger and

freight ships through the Canal each

year from Mediterranean ports en route

to the west coast of South America and

the Pacific coast of the United States and

Canada. In addition there were a number of cruise vessels which visited Canal

waters but did not transit, and several other Italian flag ships which were repre- sented here by the Italian Line. In

fiscal year 1939 for instance, 59 Italian ships used the Canal, and carried 179,468 tons of cargo. That year alone, Italian ships paid $298,816 in tolls. Traffic dropped to 46 ships the year Italy entered the Second World War and then

disappeared entirely following Pearl Harbor.

The Italia Societa di Navigazione,

commonly known as the Italian Line,

belongs to a group of shipping companies

called FINMARE, which includes Italia, Lloyd Triestino, Adriatica, and Tirrenia.

All these companies are represented on

the Isthmus by the Italian Line.

Called At Colon In 1894 The company, through a merger that took place in 1932, absorbed the services previously operated by Navigazione Generale Italiana—which in turn had years

before succeeded its affiliated company

La Veloce—and by Navigazione Libera

Triestina. The Caribbean service was first established in 1894 by La Veloce with sailings

from Genoa on the 1st and the 15th of each month, following two different

DR. R. C. PKHNIGOTTI, Manager of the Italian Line in Cristobal, came to the isthmus in 1920.

routes but both having Colon as their terminal points. Therefore present services of the company from the Mediterranean to Carib- bean area up to and beyond the Panama

Canal go back many years. When the Panama Canal opened for business, the Italian Line began service

to the west coast of South America with

three passenger ships. In 1915 the

line obtained a lot on the water front in Cristobal for the construction of a twostory office building which would also serve as quarters for the manager. The

building was constructed in 1916. The

first manager to move into the building was Manfredo Pincherli, a well-known

resident of Panama who had lived on the Isthmus during the construction days.

His assistant was the late 0. Heilbron,

equally well known.

When Mr. Pincherli took over as manager of the new office, very few

Italian ships were using the Panama

Canal. According to statistics shown

in The Panama Canal Record, only 40

Italian ships made the Canal transit between 1915 and 1921. From that time on, however, business

increased and by the end of 1921 two

Italian shipping companies had established regular service between Genoa and

Valparaiso. They were the Navigazione

Italiara a Vapore (La Veloce), and the Navigazione Generale Italiana. La Veloce Line started its sen ice with

a steamer sailing about every 60 days.

This was an extension through the Canal

of the service which had been operating

for a number of years between Italian and Caribbean ports by way of Marseilles,

Barcelona, and Teneriffe. The second

line put a freight ship over this trade route every 45 days and started a passenger service.

Italian ships began operating from

Europe to the west coast of the United

States and Canada in 1925 with the SS Piave of the Navigazione Libera

Triestina. This company put new 10,- 000-ton motor ships on this service,

among them the MS Leme and MS Fella, which became well-known in Canal

shipping circles. The South American service as well as the west coast service grew in the late 20's and 30's with the addition of the MS Orazio and the MS Virgilio, two pas- senger freight vessels of 11,700 tons which traveled regularly through the Canal to Valparaiso up to 1941.

Pacific Coast Service In 1930 and 1931 several large pas- senger liners were added to the five freighters already on the Pacific west

coast service. They included the former

Cunard liner Albania which was recondi- tioned and renamed California. The

California, a 12,000-ton ship, was the

largest vessel to be placed in service between Europe and the Pacific west

coast up to that time.

In 1932 the South America service and the west coast service were merged

into only one company {See page iv)

THE OFFICES of the Italian Line were built in Cristobal in 19111 The upper floor is used as quarters by the manager and his family.
August 5, 1955 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 19

SHIPS AND SHIPPING

Transits by Ocean-Going Vessels In June

1955 IV54 Commercial 653 660

U. S. Government.. 31 40

Total ~~ 684 700

Tolls* Commercial $2,811,652 $2,769,789

U. S. Government.. 149,631 144,608

Total ... $2,961,283 $2,914,397

'Includes tolls on all vessels, ocean-going and small. Tuna boats, long a familiar sight in Balboa Harbor, have become regular

transit customers of the Canal during

recent months following the opening of a new tuna cannery at Ponce on the south

coast of Puerto Rico. About 2,500 tons

of tuna have been shipped through the Canal to the new cannery since the first of this year. Most of the sleek, white

fishing craft formerly made the long haul

to California with their catch. The run

to Puerto Rico is made in about half the time required for the trip to California.

Italian Line Ship Visits To Isthmus

Predated Construction Of Panama Canal

{Continued from page IS) called the Societa

Italia Flotte Riunite. Almost all the fine fleet of ships was

lost during World War II. The Italian Line offices in Cristobal were closed and

regular shipping business was not resumed

until 1947 when the MS Sebastiana Caboto

arrived from Genoa en route to Valparaiso

with passengers and freight. At present only one of the pre-war

ships, the SS Conte Biancamano, is in the Caribbean service. This vessel is well- known locally since it was held in Cris- tobal harbor for several months at the beginning of the war and was later taken

over as a troop transport by the U. S. Government. At present it operates

between Genoa and La Guayra, Venezuela, during part of the year, and from

Genoa to New York the rest of the time. Three Volcanoes

In addition to the three new ships on

the South American run, there are five other Italian Line ships which transit the Canal on regular runs from Mediterra- nean ports to the Pacific west coast. They are the Vesuvio, Etna, Stromboli,

Tritone, and Nereide. The Andrea Doria, one of a group of new Italian Line ships built since the war for the New York trade, visited Cristobal last year on a cruise. The present manager of the Italian Line in Cristobal is Dr. Rosmino C.

Pernigotti. He served under both Mr.

Pincherli and Dr. Giovanni Bruni who

was Italian Consul and Italian Line agent

in Cristobal from 1932 until 1941 and

who is now Managing Director of the

Adriatica Line in Venice, Italy. Dr. Pernigotti first arrived on the Isthmus in 1926 to work for the Italian Line. Except for the war years and a few

years after the last war, he has been here ever since. He is assisted in Cristobal by a staff of nine, two of whom, Capt.

A Zerega, Freight Traffic Manager, and

L. Ippolito, Passenger Agent, are Italians from the home office in Genoa. S. Ferro of the Accounting Office has been

with the company 14 years and except

for Dr. Pernigotti, has the longest

service in the local office. The Italian Line is represented in Pana- ma by the firm of R. Alfaro Borgianni

wiih offices in the Exposition Grounds.

CANAL TRANSITS

COMMERCIAL AND U. S. GOVERNMENT

Fiscal Year

1955 1954 1938

Atlantic

to

Pacific

4,002

Pacific to Atlantic Total Total Total

Commercial vessels: Ocean-going 3.995 7,997 7,784 5,524

Small 575 574 1,149 1,222 931

Total commercial 4,577 4,569 9,146 9,006 6,455

**U. S. Government vessels, oceangoing. . 168 128 296 800 441 Small 89 229 318 339

Total commercial and U. S. Government . . .... 4,834 4,926 9,760 10,145 6,896

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

ships transited free. TRAFFIC MOVEMENT OVER MAIN TRADE ROUTES

'1 he following table shows the cargo shipments in thousands of long tons segregated

into eight main trade routes:

Fiscal Year

1955 1954 1938 United States Intercoastal. 5,978 5,017 6,395

5,971 6,673 2,652 West Indies and West Coast U. S./Canada 1,186 501 669

East Coast of U. S./Canada and Far East... . 8,393 8,975 4,912

U. S./Canada East Coast and Australasia 1,274 1,306 992 Europe and West Coast of U. S./Canada 5,094 4.379 4,237

Europe and South America . 2,527 2,037 2,974

Europe and Australasia.. _ .. 2,328 2,303 1,251

All other routes 7,895 7,904 3,304

Total Traffic 40,646 39,095 27,386

Canal commercial traffic by nationality of vessels

Fiscal Years

1955 1954 1938

Nationality Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Argentine 1 1510 1,14560

38

198

31

1 10 7,555

Belgian . 8,908 12,733

35,191

6.897,789 ^, 734 289,543

261,249

212,055

Brazilian

British 1,265

78

19 20540

7.726,640

429,245

130,112

240,640

259,137

1,281

9

2

6,417,016

28,787

13,113 Colombian. .. Costa Rican -

2 323 223

57

9

132 375

121 428

1,014,334

79.164

44,750

585,123

1 ,002,372

1,013,875

384,890

275

106

2 136 323

146 347

935,878

92,932

14,828

582,989

708,338

1,246,534

493 , 260

865,235

Ecuadorean

2

1 105 35794

22

5

4,695

4,021

567,288

1.518,593

525,351

8,478

24,411

Honduran

3

5 211 387

8

17,593

43,710

1,159,700

2,481,494

25,125

I srael 3 160 464

4

28,950

907,359

3,103.396

13,551

52 300

153,417

Japanese 1,877,502 Korean (South) _ _ 3 4,900

Liberian.. .. 384

6 2,637,56819,499

224

2

1 130

25

831

611

25

27

1,416,303

2,577

14,401

684,932

26,469

3,484,070

3,666.133

54,907

154,356

Mexican... _ .. Moroccan .. . Netherlands . Nicaraguan..

13950 904

551

18

17

1 M

207

5

4 2,102

2

736,668

60,509

4,162,091

2,712,127

49,702

88,056

3,478

132.264 829,519

37.235 9,250

12,949,146

3,016

285 749, C42

Norwegian

Panamanian

Peruvian.

Philippine.

.

Soviet

667

182

5

3

5

2 119

3,433,571

415,561

7,151

8,441

10,419 15.280 763,049

Spanish

Swedish . Swiss

41 230

11

171.304

818,911 92.845

Turkish

United States Uruguay . 2,056 11,867,848 1,780 9,892,619

Venezuelan 4

14 3.971 Yugoslavian 1 73,413

7,997

9,940

40,646,301

3 31.586

Total 7,784 39,095,067 5,524 27,385,924
20 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 5, 1955

Shipments Of Cargo

Reach Ail-Time High

In Past Fiscal Year

Port Captains-Arriving and Departing a

The amount of cargo shipped through

the Panama Canal during the fiscal year

1955, ended June 30, exceeded by more

than one-and-a-half million tons the record set in the previous year. Heavy shipments of oil through the Canal from the Pacific accounted for the

increase since fluctuations in the amount

of other commodities were generally of

a minor nature. The amount of mineral

oil shipped from the Atlantic to the

Pacific last year was slightly under the previous year's figures, but oil shipped

from the Pacific to the Atlantic increased by approximately 1,650,000 tons. The major increase in the tanker trade from the Pacific to the Atlantic was

attributed to heavy shipments of fuel and

diesel oil on the United States Intercoastal route and from United States ports to the West Indies. These amounted to 1,250,- 000 tons. Coal and coke being moved through

the Canal to Japan continued at a high

level during the past year, although ship- ments were 500,000 tons under the pre- vious year's figures. This trade has been

one of the significant factors in Canal

traffic since the close of the war.

Pacific-Atlantic Up

The increase in commodity shipments

last year was entirely in the Pacific-to- Atlantic movement. The amount of commodities shipped from the Atlantic

to the Pacific, totaling 18,419,000 tons, was slightly under the total of the previous year. The comparative figures

in the Pacific to Atlantic trade were

20,892,000 in 1954, and 22,227,000 tons

last year. In addition to the big increase in oil shipments, gains were shown in the

Pacific-to-Atlantic trade in lumber, ni- trate, bananas, metals, barley, wood

pulp, and copra. Among the principal

commodities, however, these were more

than overbalanced by decreased ship- ments of ore, wheat, sugar, canned food

products, refrigerated food products,

coffee, and raw cotton, although none of these except wheat declined appreciably

in tonnage.

Flags Of 35 Nations

Approximately one-third of the cargo shipped through the Canal last fiscal year was moved in vessels flying the United

States flag. An increase was shown over

the previous year both in the number of U. S. flag vessels and the amount of cargo transported.

Ships flying the British flag and the amount of cargo carried declined slightly

last year from the previous year, although

this group was the second largest composing the Canal traffic. The flags of 35 different nations were

in the stream of Canal traffic last year, with Norwegian being third in number;

Panamanian, fourth; and Japanese, fifth. Other nations with 100 or more ships in transit during the year were: Honduras,

Liberia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden,

Colombia, Italy, Netherlands, France, and Greece. Nations showing considerable increases

this year in ships transits of the Canal

CAPT. ANTHONY ROESSLER (pronounced Ressler), new Balboa Port Captain, started the orientation tour of his new domain in the Marine Traffic Comptroller's Office at Balboa where a magnetic map board shows the location of all transiting ships, ('apt. Horatio Lincoln, outgoing Port Captain, is explaining that the numbered, white tag shows that the ship which was No. 4 on the day's northbound schedule was

then in Miraflores Lake. Captain Roessler arrived July 13 from command of the fleet oil tanker Ashtabula. In addition to his duties at Captain of the Port of Balboa he is a member of the Board of Local Inspectors and a member of the Board of Admeasurement.

Principal commodities shipped through the Canal

(All figures in thousands of long tons)

ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

Commodity

Mineral oils. Coal and coke Manufactures of iron and steel Phosphates.

.

Soybeans and productSugar

Sulphur.

Paper and paper products..

CementAmmonium compounds.

.

Machinery.

.

Automobiles and parts Chemicals, unclassified ... Raw cotton . Wheat

.Ml others

total

Fiscal Year

1955

4,305

3.274

1.792

1 , 043

557 520

463 377 300

295

285

268

233 226 216

1.265

18.419

1954

4,486

3,374

1,843 813

577

497

417 368

283

184 289

242

192 255

138 3.820

18.458

1938

907

137 1.859 328

3 57 297 423

154

71 168 208

109

142

10

3 . 653

9,676

PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC

Commodity

Fiscal Year

1955 1954 1938

1,087 3.747

1 .981 1,387

1,281

1.271 1,221 939

789

551 387

349

280

245 236 3.476

22,227

5,053

3,716

338 2,158

1.404 1.187 1.226

752 663

597

32 235 288

2.U 238 2.432

2,127

2.851 2,875

Wheat 706 1,487

Nitrate 1 ,401 Canned food products 99153 698

Refrigerated food products (except fresh fruit)

_

Barley

335

237 314

Coffee . 175

164

127

All others 3.270

Total 20,892 17,583

were the United States, Denmark, Ger- many, Honduras, Japan, Liberia and

Norway.

A few nations showed decreases in the number of transiting ships in the past

fiscal year. These included Great Britain,

Ecuador, Panama, and Sweden.

Ten Brazilian vessels were Canal cus- tomers during fiscal 1955, the first show

of the flag here for some time.