STEAM SHOVEL, STROKE FINISHED, LOADED WITH SOIL.
I should like in this place to add a word of tribute to the great courtesy and kindness which they show towards ladies, a circumstance which did much to render pleasant the excursions which my wife took on the Isthmus, sometimes in my company and sometimes alone.
The number of Americans on the Gold Roll in January, 1908, was about 6,000, the total number of employees on the rolls of the Commission and of the Panama Railroad being then approximately 43,000. The total number of employees actually at work on January 29, 1908, was
| On the Canal works | 25,367 |
| On the Panama Railroad | 6,557 |
| Total | 31,924 |
The Responsible Officials and the Scheme of their Organisation.
The responsibility for Canal construction under the conditions laid down by Acts of Congress is vested in the President of the United States, within the limits of the money which has so far been voted. The President appointed a Commission in 1905 to carry out the work. The first chief engineer appointed was Mr. John F. Wallace, who arrived on the Zone June 28, 1904, accompanied by Colonel Gorgas, U.S.A., head of the Sanitation Department. Mr. Wallace was in favour of a tide-level canal. In April, 1905, the President appointed a second Commission in place of the first, with a changed personnel,[24] but Mr. Wallace was retained as chief engineer, and, moreover, became a member of the second Commission.
[24] Colonel Gorgas, head of the Department of Sanitation, has remained, however, through all changes. See post, Chapter V.
He, however, resigned, June 26, 1905, and his place was taken by Mr. John F. Stephens, who arrived on the Zone July 27th. At this time there was panic throughout the Isthmus[25] owing to the prevalent sickness, and resignations were so numerous that it was difficult to carry on work at all, and engineering operations were partly suspended for a time. When the sanitary conditions improved, however, work was resumed with vigour. This second Commission proposed that the work should be put out to contract, and bids were invited. It was under this Commission that the 85-foot-level canal became law. Mr. Stephens was in favour of this form. He resigned early in 1907, his resignation taking effect on April 1st, and at the same time the President for the second time reorganised the Commission.
[25] See Report of the Governor of the Canal Zone, 1905, p. 30, and "Sanitation in the Canal Zone," by W.C. Gorgas, M.B., Colonel, Journ. Am. Med. Assoc., July 6, 1907, vol. xlix.