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Bureau of architecture and building.

A. M. Burtt-Supervising architect, chief of bureau.

P. O. Wright, jr.-Assistant supervising architect, in charge of office.
J. H. Barbour-Chief clerk.

Bureau of meteorology and river hydraulics.

R. Arango-Resident engineer, chief of bureau.

Bureau of map making, lithographing, and printing.

C. F. Bertoncini-Chief of bureau.

Bureau of communication.

C. F. Annett-Chief of bureau.

EXHIBIT 24.

PANAMA, June 13, 1905.

Mr. H. G. PRESCOTT,

Superintendent Panama Railroad, Colon.

Mr. W. E. DAUCHY,

Division Engineer, Isthmian Canal Commission.

GENTLEMEN: The close inter-relations existing between the Isthmian Canal work and the Panama Railroad are such that prior to my leaving for the States it is necessary that you should be jointly advised as to your authority in relation thereto.

(1) The primary and fundamental function of the Panama Railroad is to assist in the expeditious and economical construction of the Panama Canal. This must never be lost sight of.

(2) A duty in equity is of course due to the commercial interests, for which the Panama Railroad acts as a common carrier. It is therefore incumbent upon the Panama Railroad to exercise due diligence in the prompt handling of all commercial traffic across the Isthmus. While this latter obligation can not be disregarded, on the other hand it is not the duty of the railroad company to serve the public to the detriment and delay of canal construction work.

(3) The superintendent of the railroad will carry out all orders issued by the acting chief engineer, in the chief engineer's absence, of every nature whatever.

If any requirement is made which the superintendent of the railroad thinks is not for the interest of the railroad, he is of course at liberty to discuss the matter and lay the facts fairly before the acting chief engineer, but after the acting chief engineer finally decides what shall be done he shall then fully and completely carry out the instructions, unless the action of the acting chief engineer should be finally overruled by appeal to the vice-president and general manager of the railroad and the chief engineer.

(4) In all cases where the Panama Railroad can be used to expedite the construction work of the canal the requests for service of any nature made by the acting chief engineer on the superintendent will be complied with promptly. (5) The superintendent, however, will be held responsible for the safe operation of the Panama Railroad, and of course will not be interfered with by the acting chief engineer in regard to the details of operation.

(a) For instance, should the acting chief engineer desire excavated material transported over the tracks of the Panama Railroad, this work should be done subject to the orders and control of the superintendent thereof.

(b) Should the acting chief engineer desire track connections made with the Panama Railroad in any locality or at any time, the superintendent will cause such connections to be made.

(c) Should the acting chief engineer desire any special material given preference in movement, or any machinery or appliances of the canal moved over the tracks of the railroad, the superintendent will see that these movements are made as promptly and safely as possible.

(d) The superintendent of the railroad shall not, either himself or through his servants, put any annoyances, restrictions, or regulations upon the use of the Panama Railroad which will prevent the accomplishment of the purposes desired by the acting chief engineer.

(6) In the use of the new equipment provided for the canal, which in emergencies may be used by the railroad, preference shall at all times be given to the transportation of canal material; and if it is temporarily tied up by commercial uses, other equipment of a similar capacity and efficiency shall be furnished in lieu thereof for the transportation of canal material.

(7) This order does not imply that the railroad equipment shall be used by preference in commercial service to the detriment of the needs of canal work. (a) In the latter case preference shall always be given to the transportation of canal material when, in the opinion of the acting chief engineer, such emergency exists.

(8) Under normal conditions, however, the railroad's available equipment shall be used indiscriminately by the superintendent of the Panama Railroad in the most efficient handling of both commercial and canal business in combination.

(9) It is desired that the acting chief engineer and the superintendent of the railroad shall have frequent personal conferences, keep in close touch, and work as harmoniously as possible with each other; and, while each will be independently responsible for the control of the work under his own charge, each will be held equally responsible for any neglect or failure to properly cooperate with the other.

Yours, truly,

JOHN F. WALLACE,

Chief Engineer Isthmian Canal Commission,
Vice-President and General Manager Panama Railroad.

EXHIBIT 241.

APRIL 18, 1906.

The SECRETARY OF WAR,

Washington, D. C.

SIR: I have the honor to report that the following material, for which requisitions were made prior to April 1, 1905, arrived on the Isthmus during May, June, July, and August, 1905:

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In addition to the foregoing, large quantities of materials for the sanitation department were delivered during the same months in the way of mosquito oil, pyrethrum powder, garbage cans, night-soil cans, etc., as well as hospital equipment and supplies, and during the same months considerable quantities of miscellaneous materials not mentioned above were delivered in the way of small tools and supplies for use in the construction of buildings, furniture and equipment for hotel and other buildings used as quarters for the men, etc. Respectfully,

JOSEPH BUCKLIN BISHOP, Secretary.

EXHIBIT 25.

MARCH 30, 1906.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your request for an official report respecting the condition of the affairs of the Commission on the Isthmus as they were found to be on May 24, 1905, the date Mr. John F. Wallace and I arrived on the Isthmus, he to assume the duties of the head of the department of engineering and construction, and I to assume the duties of the head of the department of government and sanitation of the Canal Zone. In compliance with such request I have the further honor to report as follows:

The affairs of the department of government and sanitation were found to be in such condition that the exigencies of the situation then existing and those which arose immediately thereafter were adequately dealt with by increasing the personnel, removing slight friction so as to secure more perfect coordination, and expanding the work and inducing hearty cooperation among the several departments, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the department in all

branches. The condition of that department resulted, in my opinion, from the fact that its several branches had been confirmed or created by legislative enactment of the Isthmian Canal Commission during the period that the Commission exercised legislative authority, and to the continued residence upon the Isthmus of Governor Davis, who had been on the Isthmus continuously from the preceding May, with the exception of a hurried visit to the States during the summer of 1904, occasioned by the death of his wife.

The laws of the Canal Zone prescribed the duties of the several officers of the department of government and sanitation, conferred the powers, and fixed the jurisdiction by which these duties were to be discharged. The officers of the organization were fully advised thereby, and with the guidance and direction of the governor, who was in constant personal touch with the situation, were able to start the machinery of government and to operate the same with a minimum of friction and disturbance. Questions of doubt and annoying incidents inevitable to the starting of any governmental agency were disposed of as soon as they arose, to the extent of the governor's authority to act in the matter. Such matters as could not be adjusted theretofore by reason of lack of authority in the governor were speedily adjusted upon the arrival on the Isthmus of a quorum of the executive committee of the Commission, during the time a quorum of that committee were on the Isthmus. The principal requirements of the situation in this department were met by an increase of personnel and extension of the work to meet the needs which had grown up during the months of uncertainty which preceded the reorganization of the Commission and the redistribution of the power thereof. This was accomplished by an exercise of power conferred upon the governor at the time of the reorganization and the authority committed to the executive committee.

The condition of affairs in the department of engineering and construction was deplorable, and may be summed up in the word demoralization; the causes leading up to that result may be summed up in the word precipitation. An effort had been made to carry on all branches of the affairs of that department simultaneously. I understand that you do not desire me to attempt to fix the responsibility. I doubt if that task could be performed with justice to the individuals concerned, even with the advantages derived from looking backward, the purpose of this report, as stated by you, being to detail the conditions of fact. This plan of having all branches of this department proceed simultaneously, each keeping abreast with the others in an enterprise of magnitude, would be difficult under favorable conditions. The attempt on the Isthmus was rendered impossible by the conditions there existing. The organization was a mere skeleton, inadequate and ineffective, its inefficiency further lessened by a personnel inadequate in number; and in the positions of foremen, bosses, etc., the efficiency of the personnel was further decreased by incompetency, resulting from ill-advised selection; in numerous instances men well equipped for one service were put in places requiring a different service.

The number of common laborers on the Isthmus was entirely inadequate to the carrying on of the numerous works and branches at one time. The demand for common labor was incessant from all departments and branches thereof, and the efficiency of the employees of this grade was impaired by the fact that if a man was dissatisfied with his work or treatment in one gang, he could quit and secure immediate employment in any other gang where he thought the work and treatment more agreeable; at this time all the bosses of all the gangs were at liberty to employ common laborers who sought employment. Incidents were numerous, and complaints were frequent, that the bosses of one gang were inducing men to leave other gangs and come to them, such course being the natural result of shortage of labor supply. This situation had continued for some time, and Chief Engineer Wallace, during the six weeks he was in the States at the time of the reorganization of the Commission, had been at work actively securing men for the organization, especially foremen and bosses; he had also, prior to his coming to the States, and acting under authority conferred by the old Commission, sent labor agents to Jamaica, Barbados, and other West India Islands, for the purpose of working up a movement of common laborers from those islands to the Isthmus. Chief Engineer Wallace completed his plan of organization after arrival on the Isthmus in May, 1905, and it was put into effect by his order, approved by the executive committee on June 14, 1905. The movement inaugurated by the labor agents in the West India Islands was successful, and in April and May, and continuously thereafter, large numbers of common laborers arrived on the Isthmus and entered the employ of the Panama Railroad and the Isthmian Canal Commission.

The plan of simultaneous progress of the several branches of the work was further hindered by the nonarrival of machinery, building material, and other supplies which had been contracted for by the old Commission during the year 1904. Much of the delay in delivering material and supplies was unavoidable, occasioned by the necessity of manufacturing. Some of it was occasioned by the neglect of the contractors, accidents, inability to secure means of transportation, etc., but the delay worked great hardship and produced inevitable confusion. Deliveries of these purchases began to be made in April and May, 1905, and it became necessary to discharge cargoes and distribute along the line great quantities of heavy machinery, material, and supplies, which came all together, instead of being distributed over the period of time contemplated at the time the orders were placed. The delays in delivery intensified the situation produced by the arrival of these supplies, for the new docks had not been built, nor were the old docks supplied with the proper appliances for handling heavy individual pieces or large quantities of goods. The same was true of the Panama Railroad. The road itself and its transportation facilities when purchased from the French company were inadequate to the work demanded by the arrival of these supplies, for the rails were light, the engines, cars, and rolling stock small, old, and of obsolete pattern. The material for the reconstruction and modernizing of the road and the heavy, large engines and cars arrived at the same time as did the other supplies, which required heavy modern transportation facilities for distribution along the line of the canal.

Another matter which had added to the demoralization in the work of construction was that the rains, which began in the latter part of April, had done much damage to the work which had been going on in the Culebra cut and elsewhere along the line-in fact, wherever excavation had been going on. The new tracks at Culebra had been washed out and the work of the steam shovels seriously interfered with. The rains had made the work of excavation more difficult and disagreeable and further impaired the efficiency of the working force and impeded the performance of the work itself.

The new men arriving in large numbers from the West Indies and elsewhere were, in a large measure, ignorant of the work which they were employed to do, it being something entirely outside of their experience at home, and this intensified the inability to secure the desired results resulting from the want of intelligent foremen, bosses, etc., to exercise supervision and give direction to the laborers of this class. The labor situation was further complicated by the fact that adequate provision for housing and feeding the men had not been made in advance of their coming. In the absence of lumber and building material it was impossible to make provision for housing the men. Of the 2,145 structures taken over from the French company, only 357 (including hospital structures, administrative offices, etc.) had been renovated and repaired, and these were distributed at various locations along the entire line of the canal. The only provision made for feeding the men was to secure the services of some private contractors, who were required to look to the men for their pay. This arrange

ment was unsatisfactory to both the boarding-house keepers and the men, and was finally abandoned. The hotels for clerks and superior officials at Corozal and Culebra were in process of erection, but were not completed at the time of our arrival in May, and when completed were turned over to private contractors, with results as unsatisfactory as in the case of the gang boarding contractors. The dissatisfaction resulting from inadequate sleeping and eating accommodations affected all departments alike. Shortly before our arrival on May 24 a gang of Jamaicans, at work digging trenches for the Panama waterworks, refused to go to work one morning, alleging that they had not had sufficient food. The man in charge of the gang called upon the Panama police to compel the workmen to go to work. The police undertook to comply with his request, and a riot occurred, in which a number of Jamaicans were seriously injured. This incident occasioned much ill will among the other Jamaicans at work in the city of Panama and elsewhere, and for a time bid fair to produce serious consequences.

Another and very serious complication affecting the common laborers in all branches of both departments was the failure to pay the men promptly. The Commission had agreed to pay the men every two weeks, but delays in payment not infrequently extended three or four weeks beyond a pay period. This was a very serious matter to the men who were obliged to feed themselves. Their credit at the stores where they purchased their food supplies enabled them to subsist for one week only, and if their pay was delayed beyond that period they had no means of securing food, to which was added the natural fear that

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