The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-15
Home of workers on the canal.
Gen. Goethals Defends System as Bar
to Canal Zone Being a Political
Dumping Ground

The civilians complain and give a.
some of their reasons the rent ques.
ton. the discrimination against them
in favor Of the military. They point
to G.. w. Goethals's official
ments nat he would consider the
force as organized of April /. 1914. as
a construction force and would not
due salaries. Yet the Presidential
decree has been signed II q. W.
Goethals Il carrying out its provisions
that compel employers in the zone
To pay rent. This they consider as a
reduction of salaries.
over in the Administration Building
at Balboa is the man who is being
blamed for it all. To get at his side
of the question | decided to call and
hear what Gen. Cocktails had to say.
a simple request brought forth a fa.
vorahle reply, and .ndnGcd to call
at 10 o'clock in the morning. Gen..
Cocktails is at work early and ofttimes
tolls far into the night.
Rapidly covering the points NJ issue
n on which he had been severely
criticised. | asked him what h : side f
the question was. settling back in his
swing chair he hogan:
1T isn't my fault that the employees
Of the Canal Zone viii have to pay
rent. | have tried my best to avert
the day. Auditing committees from
Washington have been here and they
pointed out in their report to Congress
that the employee PES not only received
better salaries han In the States. but
received free rent. and they ought to
pay for the dwellings, they occupied.
When the urgency deficiency bill
passed Congress II carried a section
wherein it was provided that rent
should he charged to certain classes Of
Canal Zone employees, and 1t is up to
me td see that the provisions of the
law are carried out, | am II good sol-
dicr and obey orders.
The CouEreSsmcn who came To tho
Canal Zone to look over the work
thought that in view of h high
wages paid employees they should bs
willing To pay rnt, thereby assuming
some Of the debts of the HCcommoda.
tions they were receiving at the hands
of the Government. Free rent. free
water. free electric light, free tele-
phone and in many cases free lanitor
service the torgrcssmcn thought WAS
too much. in consideration of other
benefits conferred. | nave c~ndcavored
So to spread the charges as to make
them as light as possible for the em.
ployecs. hut, YOU know and he smiled.
''it is hard to please everybody, espe.
C'tlly when every body has been hav-
ing it as pleasant as things have been
on the zone. From a ~cnininorclal
standpoint the operation of the canal
may not prove "A brilliant success, so
We have To keep our expenses down AZ
much as possible"
'.The civilians complain they ar" be-
ing Disseminated AGAINST In favor ot
the military and naval ol'irorS,' SAID.
"Not So quickly answered Col.
Gocthals. "\ow ! want 10 state light
here that the canal WAS not built by
the army. 1t was hullt 10y civilians
and a right good job they made of ~
!, lust happened that a few army
officers were selected to supervise cer-
tain work. for the reason We just had
to stay on the ioh.
"A civilian Wuuld work on the canal
and establish in a short time a rcpu-
tat.on for solving diiiicu,t engineering
problems, and We met them every day
in the period of construction. The
moment he secured a reputation some
concern IN the States offered him d
salary double What he was getting on
the canal, AMI then We would have a
vacancy. This cana. has been the fin
est schooling IN the world for soma
OF the best engineers IN the States. I
couldn't hold a civilian, and | didn't
blame him for bcncNtlng hAnsclt. Iis
had 10 build his future, whereas an
army or navy officer had a pensiOn Ia
look forward to after retirement.
a army or navy officer when ap-
pointed to tho Canal Zone has to
stay here, He can't send in his resig-
nation when he feels like II. That in
Continued on Fourth Page.