THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND, MAT 30, 1915.
. . "
ie Building of the Panama Canal
$y Major- General George W Goethals
Governor-of the Panama .CanAjU
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(Editorial Note. In' last week's in
talmcnt of bis story of the buildins
of the Panama Canal, General Goethals
described, under what form of organ!-,
sation the force for the buildins of tne
Canal worked prior to the promulga
tion of President Roosevelt's one-man
control.! of the -Canal, concentrating,
authority In .his hands and holding: him
alone responsible for. the work. Under
the power conferred on him by this
executive . order,, Colonel , Goethals, in
today's instalment, tells how ne reor
ganized the. force; and It'was vith this
reorganized ' force that he , built the
the plan was very materially assisted
by a change in the personnel of the
Commission which was made in 190S.
A CliiBKe in the Commlsntoii.
Secretary Taft arrived on the Isth
mus on May 6, 1908, and informed me
that one purpose 'of his visit was to
relieve Jackson Smith, who had been
made a member of the. Commission in.
Canal jn, less than the time that had 190J in recognition of the work that he
been estimated
the work.) '
necessary to complete
THE organisation for the construc
tion of the Canal, adopted in 1907,
did pot work satisfactorily'.
There - was' an overlapping of work
between the departments which result
ed not1 only in friction but in placing
subordinate officials under two heads,
making It-difficult at times to fix re
sponsibility. 'The - departments which
had done previously.
There was no question of Mr. Smith's
ability. To him probably more than to
any other orie man was due the system
of collecting both .skilled and unskilled
laborers and of housing and feeding the
force. I doubt if anyone could have
secured better results In a tropical
country
was so far removed from the United
States, our only reliable market. He
had begun his task under great disad
more definitely the responsibility in
any particular case; enforcing a more
uniform wage scale, the lack of which
was a source of much complaint; and consequence,
closely in touch with the work than
formerly.
Col. Gorthal'i Right and Left Bonrn.
The oflice of the chief engineer was
divided into three divisions. Colonel
Hodges, after his arrival on the Isth
mus, was assigned to duty as assistant
chief engineer and put in charge of the
first division, under which was placed
the design of the locks. including
valves, look gates and protection de
vices, operating machinery, movablo
dams, and spillways. Later he had
charge of the inspection and erection
of the lock-gates and the installation
of the operating machinery.
Mr. Kouhseuu, the remaining engi
neer member of the Commission, as as
sistant to the chief engineer was placed
at the head of the second division, and
had charge of all mechanical matters,
preparation of estimates, some of the
civil engineering matters that rose, and
later the drydocks and coaling-stations,
both design and construction.
Colonel Hodges and Mr. Rousseau were
my advisers, and I have always referred
to them as my right and left bowers.
To the faithful and loyal support of
these two men is attributed in large
measure the satisfactory progress of the
work.
The third division was put under Mr.
Caleb M. Saville, in charge of meteor
ology, hydrography, surveys and special
investigations, the most important of
which was the examination of the ma
terial underlj-ing Gatun dam. The re
location and construction of the new
Panama Railroad was placed under the
chief engineer of the Panama Katlroad
Company, Mr. Ralph Budd, acting
through the general manager, Mr.
Hiram J. Slifer, until the latter re
signed, when the head of the work re
ported directly to the chief engineer of
the commission. Lieutenant Frederick
Mears succeeded Mr. Budd and com
pleted the road.
This, in brief, was the organization
of the construction forces that result
ed from the changes made in 190S, and
which was continued, with minor
changes to suit new conditions as they
arose, until the water was admitted into
Culebra Cut on October 10, 1913. In
addition to definitely fixing the. work
in charge of each subordinate, an effort
was made to give him full authority
and hold him responsible, thus secur
ing the best that was in him. As a
each individual took a
them at various places along the line
of the Canal at the times of his in
spection. While a reading of a state
ment or report that he prepared tended
to create a rather unfavorable impres-
pointment of Colonel H. F. Hodges.
General MacKenzie would be retired
from service s chief of engineers by
the time Mr. Smith's leave of absence
exDired. and the reasons which lnter-
reducing the cost of administration.
Dividing the Zone.
The plan was to divide the Zone into
thre construction divisions, one ex
tending from deep water in Limon Bay
to Tabernilla, but later reduced so
that it did not extend beyond Gatun
Sit'tVS ln SrrCat measure was Pam- fered with Colonel Hodges1 selection in lQcka caUed thj AUantlc Di-
formed part of the department of con- vantages, for not until the Summer of
structlon and.' engineering" were under
taking work' and Issuing instructions
of which the chief engineer had no pre
vious knowledge, ' and ' the latter was
not In' as close touch with the work as
bis position, warranted and required.
There were too many heads, with the
usual- accompaniment, under such, sit
uations 'of ' unnecessary expense. ' The
designs for the locks and their appur
tenances " were not keeping pace with'
the work, for it was difficult to get
anything definitely decided or adopted.
While In: Washington in January,
190S. I divorced the loc,k-gate design
ing -force from the authorities on the
Isthmus and placed it under Colonel H.
F. Hodges the had received his promo
tion to Lieutenant-Colonel Corps of
Kngineers on August- 27, 1907), for I
found that the distance from the Isth
mus 'prevented proper supervision of
the work and also was causing dl.iys.
Furthermore. Colonel Hodges was pe
culiarly, fitted for the work through hia
previous experience' and training.
' When. in 1907; the Chagres River
division was created to excavate the
channel between Gatun and Culebra
Cut, Mr. - L. K. Rourke. at that time -cial from the Civic Federation had been
assistant division engineer. Culebra di
vision, suggested putting all the' exca
vation work between the Atlantic end
Pacific locks tinder "one head. ' From
this suggestion came the thouiht ft
reorganizing the department of von-
structlon and' engineering, ' for. '-3 the management of the department of
proposition' of Mr. Rourke seemed fea
sible, by-dividing the work along the
lines of territorial subdivision a. con-,
soltdation could be made which would
eliminate several of the existing divi
sions of the work. The, recent execu-
tya, ,or,der . (giving .Colonel - Goethals and food supplies, and I suggested that
full one-man authority over, all-Canal h take them up with Mr.. Smith,-which
matters) would enable me to do it, and he did, reporting conditions as he found
which produced notning ana ated. if not removed, by the closing
paragraphs, in which he complimented
Mr. Smith, on what he had accomplished
with the means at his disposal.
Consequently I was not prepared for
a cable message from Washington, fol
lowed by. a letter from the President,
in which were suggested the relief of
Mr. Smith and the creation of a new
department combining the subsistence
features with the commissary depart
ment of the Panama Railroad. ThU
was one of the details of - the reor
ganization that I had ln mind, but could
not carry out until J was In a posi
tion to divorce the subsistence from
the department of labor, quarters, and
subsistence, having relieved Mr. Smith
in 1907. from charge of the commissary
because he said he could not carry on
the business except by a method of
-accounting which I could not approve.
I never learned just what report was
made to the President and tne Secre
tary of War. but it was serious enough
to make them both fear that unless a
change was made, and at once, a scan
dal might result.
After making a thorough inquiry in
regard to Mr. Smith, the Secretary of
War decided to allow him to resign,
which he did, his resignation taking
effect at the expiration of his annual
leave of absence. September 15. 1908.
The New Member of the Commission.
- The question of a successor was then
taken up. Mr. Taft decided to appoint
Major C. A. Devol. of the Quartermas
ter's Department of the Army. - This
was agreeable to me. I had : served
with Major Devol on the general staff
for a short time and w'as very favor
ably impressed with him. He had
handled work in many respects sim
ilar to that required on the isthmus,
both in the Philippines and at San
Francisco aftjCr the fire, in each in
stance with much credit to himself.
-So -far as the vacancy, on the Com
mission was concerned, I urged the ap-
1907 no longer ooiameo. ,.(,. t,mhi from Gatun to
He was pre-eminently fitted to take Pedro Miguel, called the Central Divi
sion; and the third extending from
it.
1907 had an adequate cold-storage
plant been established and ample re
frigeration on the Panama Railroad
Company's Bhlps for transporting
meat, fruit' and vegetables been Installed-
. I did not believe that there was any
dishonesty ln Mr. Smith's management,
but I did not feel that I had his confi
dence and support. To him was attrib
uted a published attack on the new or
third Commission in the Spring of 1907.
which predicted failure, and because of
this and other Indications I was 'not
sure of his loyalty. These views I ex
pressed to Mr. Taft, who catechised
separately each member of the Com
mission in regard to Mr. Smith. Ap
parently two members straddled the
fence had no opinion or views, pro or
con, though there seemed to be little
doubt in the minds of the others about
his disloyalty.
'One, if not the chief, cause of Mr.
Taft's visit was the receipt at Wash
ington of numerous complaints about
general conditions on the Isthmus, es
pecially in regard to quarters, food
supplies and hours of labor. An offi-
down, and had made an Investigation
of foodstuffs. hotels. messes- and
kitchens, quarters and their furnish
ings, amusements for the men, and gen
eral treatment of - employes, and had
made a report severely criticising the
labor, quarters and subsistence.
This investigation instigated another,
which was made by a reputed expert in
food supplies and their preparation for
consumption. He made various criti
cisms concerning the quarters, hotels.
up the designing worn ana puu
I had more confidence in Colonel
Hodges' ability to act in my place dur
ing absences or in case I should be re
lieved than in that of either of the
two Army members of the Commis
sion. In the latter contingency, though
I regarded Mr. Rosseau as the one, of
those available, best fitted tempera
mentally and professionally to be the
chairman and chief engineer, there was
no possibility of his advancement to
the post if the existing policy of hav
ing an Army engineer in charge was
to continue. I therefore urged the se
lection of Colonel Hodges on these
grounds. He ranked the two Army
engineer members, and his appoint
ment -would permit the reorganization
of the work along the lines I had laid
down in a way more satisfactory than
any other that could be devised.
Mr. Taft would have preferred to re
lieve one of the Army engineers and
appoint Major Devol in his place, but
such a course would have discredited
the officer suggested for relief by the
Secretary, and this I wished to avoid.
A cable message along these lines was
sent to the President, and Colonel
Hodges was selected, for a place on
the Commission, vice Jackson Smith.
Colonel Hodges was to report for
duty on July 15, 1908, in advance of
his appointment on the Commission;
and ln the meantime, with the assist
ance of Benjamin L. Jacobson. the de
tails of the reorganization were "worked
out, to be made effective In such a way
that the changes could be accomplished
gradually, thus avoiding -onfusion and
consequent delay to tho work. The ob
jects sought by the reorganization,
and which wero accomplished by it,
were: Concentrating authority; expedit
ing the transaction of business; secur
ing co-operation -and co-ordination of
the. various Prt of the force; fixing
Pedro Miguel to deep water ln the
Pacific, called the Pacific Division.
Each division was placed in charge
of a division engineer, and to him was
assigned all work of construction with
in the territorial limits, including
building construction and municipal en
gineering work, to which was adCed
at a later date sanitary engineering
work. To each division was also as
signed an assistant division engineer,
who shared the . work with the division
engineer in such a way that one of
these officials was in charge of the
field work of the division, the other
in charge of the office vork and such
designing as was assigned to the di
vision. The-.work in the divisions was sub
divided and placed in charge of resi
dent engineers, superintendents, gen
eral foremen and foremen in such a
way that responsibility cou'3 be def
initely fixed. Major Gaillard was as
signed to duty as division engineer of
the Central Division, Mayor Sibert to
the Atlantic Division and S. B. William
son to the Pacific Division.
The publication of steam-shovel rec
ords in the Canal Record had stirred
up a rivalry in Culebra Cut to the ad
vantage of the work; and by placing
the Army engineers in charge of the
work in the Atlantic division and civil
ian engineers in charge of the work in
the Pacific division, the construction in
both divisions being similar ln char
acter, I hoped, to arouse a wholesome
rivalry between these two divisions
and secur.e better results both ln time
and money in building the locks and
dams. The three resulting construc
tion divisions were formed by the con
solidation of nine divisions that had
previously existed, and the division en
gineers reported, directly to the chief
engineer, who consequently was more
personal interest and pride in the work,
feeling that the particular work on
which ho was engaged was the impor
tant piece; It therefore became our
canal and we were doing it.
Too Small for Separate Organisations.
When, in 1910, it was decided to
fortify the canal, involving the con
struction of gun and mortar batteries
for its defense against naval attack.
I took the position that the Isthmus
was too small for two separate and in
dependent construction organizations
and that all work of this character on
the Isthmus should be under one head.
This policy was adopted so that the
canal forces and plant were utilized for
the purpose. In the same way the con
struction of quarters for the army is
now in charge of the canal authorities
with resulting economy In both in
stances. The additional work was
taken care of by the creation of units
reporting to the chief engineer.
The department of labor, quarters
and subsistence was subdivided into the
quartermaster's department, under
Major C. A. Devol. and the subsistence
department, under Major Eugene T.
Wilson. Tha former had charge of the
recruiting of labor, skilled and un
skilled, care and assignment of quar
ters, together with furnishing them,
distributing fuel, commisslary supplies
and distilled water. On September 1,
1908, the division of material and sup
plies was merged with the quarter
master's department. To the subsls
tance department was aesigned the
operation and care of the hotels,
messes and kitchens, and to secure
the proper and economical manage
ment of the commissaries the com
missary department of the Panama
railroad was transferred from the con
trol of the general manager and placed
under Major Wilson as commissary of
the railroad. Thus he had charge of
the purchasing, of food supplies and
their inspection and ca,re after receipt countable officer,
! on Appropriations which lltl th
!.-t'nm:is in -the Fall of 1907. and acked
nn- to look Into the matter suggesting
that when Ma.lor Devol came down it
night be possible for him to take over
the work In much the same way as
post ouartermasters perform the work
for hospital authorities at military
posts. He expressed the belief that
economies might bo effected, and If so,
a change should be made.
neorgnnlslng Sanitation Methods.
I had paid little attention to sani
tary work other than to attempt to
have grass cut by scythes and mowing
machines Instead of machetes, for the
estimates that had been submitted for
constructing the canal were exclusive
of sanitation and civil administration.
After examining the work being done,
the methods of its doing, and discuss
ing the matter with Major Devol, I felt
that a reduction in the expenditures
could be made and better co-ordination
secured if the grass cutting and
garbage and night soil collection were
turned over to the quartermaster's de
partment and the drainage work turned
over to tho construction divisions.
By this arrangement the sanitary
department would prescribe what
should bu done In the various locali
ties requiring improvement, but the
actual work would be executed by the
forces of other departments, thereby
doing away with the duplication of
supervisory forces tnat existed. The
health statistics were prepared by
Colonel Gorgas. and on looking into
them I felt that there wrre some grains
of truth ln Llndon W. Bates' charges
in his "Kctrloval of Panama"; and T
hesitated about ordering the change,
for, if this course were taken, an un
favorable change ln statistics might
force nie to return to the existing
system, which would have been awk
ward. 1 di.scussed the matter with Colonel
Gorgas. and. though I failed to con
vince him that the work could be done
just as well, - if iiot better, I finally
secured his consent t have the scheme
tried; lie was to prescribe the areas
where grass and brush were to be cut;
and, as he held that, as a rule, engi
neers were not competent to drain
landH for sanitary purposes, I agreed
to haiiC his engineer prepare such
plans and to carry them out If they
conformed to future construction work.
The change was put Into effect Sep
tember 1, 1908. There was considerable
friction for some time, but this was
finally eliminated.
I watched the statistics carefully
for some months, but, finding that tho
percentage of sick continued to drop.
I felt that the new method of doing
the work was producing the results ex
pected, and tlie cost was less, notwith
standing that greater areas of grass
and brush were cut. In 1910 Colonel
Gorgas stated that the work was not
being done so well as formerly and re
quested a return to the old system,
but, os economies had been effected
and the statistics confined to tliow a
constantly decreasing percentage ln
the sick rate, 1 declined to comply. I
laid the facts before President Taft.
who visited the Isthmus shortly after
ward. The organization of the sanitary
department was top-heavy, and this
was overcome by abolishing some of
the existing positions. The general
policy of concentration was made ap
plicable to the hospitals. In 1907 the
health branch of the department con
sisted of seven hospitals, located one
each at various settlements along the
lino of the Canal, in addition to the
main hospitals at A neon and Colon,
while In 1909 the line hospitals bad
been eliminated, with the exception of
the penitentiary located at Culebra;
the sick were carried to the terminal
hospitals on hospital cars attached to
passenger trains.
Changes ln Administrations.
The method of accounting for prop
erty was not satisfactory, and i steps
were taken to change the existing
system, resulting in a corresponding
change In the organization. The
method In use was modeled, it Is be
lieved, after that In common use by the
railroads, the records being prepared
from tho monthly abstracts of receipts
and issued by the division of material
and supplies, which therefore were
duplicates of the record kept by the
thief of that division, yet the latter
was the responsible officer.
The system proposed for substitution
was to have the chief .quartermaster
take up on returns all property as it
arrived or was purchased on tho
Isthmus. The property would then be
transferred to the various divisions or
departments for which ordered, or
turned over to the main storehouse,
which was to be ln charge of an ac-
AH officials having
on the Isthmus.
After explaining to the Secretary of
War. during his visit in 1908, the
changes In the organization that were
under consideration, he called attention-
to the expenses . of sanitation,
which had brought forth considerable
criticism from members of the Commit-
property were to renucr returns for
that in their possession to be checked
against the records.
A change In the personnel of the ac
counting branch of the woili brought
to the Isthmus Mr. W. W. Warwick us
examiner of accounts, whose thorough,
(.Coucluatd OU l'i4. S.