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Personality of Colonel Goethals 147
plaints were of the use of profane and
abusive language by the gang foremen.
Sometimes this treatment led to small
strikes, the men refusing to work longer
under an offending foreman,
and at other times it was
made the basis for a request
to be transferred to some
other boss. I reported the
matter to the colonel, saying
I thought it desirable that
something be done to remedy
it, since it was a cause of discontent
and, consequently,
of reduced efficiency, as a
dissatisfied and surly force
would not give its best effort,
but just as little as possible.
He replied that he agreed in
that view and added that a
foreman who thought such
treatment the only way by
which to direct his gang
thereby confessed his incompetence;
and a few days later
he issued the following:
The time came when the open, just
treatment of all stood Colonel Goethals in
good stead. In February, 1911, a formidable
effort was made to organize a
CULEBRA, C. Z.,
August 14, 1911.
CIRCULAR NO. 400
The use of profane or abusive
language by foremen or
others in authority, when addressing
subordinates, will
not be tolerated.
GEO. W. GOETHALS,
Chairman and Chief Engineer.
This circular was reproduced
in the newspapers of
the United States and was
headed, in one instance that
came to my notice, " Sundayschool
Methods on the Canal."
It was nothing of the
sort, for it was not an order in the interest
of morals but in the interest of efficiency.
Its effect was instantaneous. Complaints
ceased at once, several foremen were reduced
to an inarticulate condition for a
time, but there was no instance of violation
of the edict. This was one of the
many instances of the colonel's minute attention
to every detail of administration,
the aim always being the same—efficiency.
The colonel joking with a group of friends, but still watching.
This, like the other photographs, shows that his eyes are never off the work.
strike of all the railway employees of the
Canal commission and Panama Railroad
which, if successful, would have paralyzed
all excavation work. A locomotive engineer
on the Panama Railroad, in August,
1910, had allowed his train, in defiance of
signals, to run into the rear end of another
train, and in the collision the conductor
of the latter train was killed. He
was tried on a charge of involuntary manslaughter,
convicted, and sentenced to a