Governor RIDLEY. Practically 10%1⁄2 years.

Senator TOWNSEND. As assistant engineer, as engineer, and as Governor?

Governor RIDLEY. Yes, sir.

Senator THOMAS. You may now proceed and state for the record such things as you think will be beneficial for the consideration of the committee.

Governor RIDLEY. Mr. Chairman, I am interested in two items in the bill, one relating to the amendment made on the floor of the House regarding the employees

Senator THOMAS. Is that the labor amendment?

Governor RIDLEY. Yes, sir; and one relating to the so-called third lock bill. I should like to take up, if you will permit, the labor amendment first, and read a prepared statement.

Senator THOMAS. You may proceed in your own way.

TEXT OF HOUSE AMENDMENT RELATIVE TO CITIZENSHIP OF CANAL ZONE EMPLOYEES

Governor RIDLEY. The House of Representatives, by amendment on the floor of the House, has incorporated in the bill making appropriations for the Panama Canal for the fiscal year 1941 a provision reading as follows:

SEC. 2. No part of any appropriation contained in this act shall be used directly or indirectly after January 1, 1941, for the payment of any civilian for services rendered by them on the Canal Zone while occupying a skilled, technical, clerical, administrative, or supervisory position unless such person is a citizen of the United States of America.

It is believed that members of the House were not informed of the full import of this amendment.

DIFFERENCE IN HOUSE ADMENDMENT AND SIMILAR PROVISION IN THIRD LOCK AUTHORIZATION ACT

A similar provision was included last year in the act authorizing the construction of additional locks on the Canal (Public, No. 391, 76th Cong.), and it may have been thought that the conditions and effects of the amendment now proposed to the pending appropriations bill are similar to those relating to the Third Locks Act. This is not a fact, and there are vital differences that cannot be overlooked. The proposal in the locks act affected only work that had not been started and persons not yet employed and was of temporary application, whereas the proposed amendment to the appropriation bill affects work now in progress on the regular maintenance and operation of the Canal and requires the discharge, notwithstanding length of service and competency, of persons who are now employed and who have been employed for years, and the effect will be of permanent application. Senator AUSTIN. Do you state how many such employees there are? Governor RIDLEY. Yes, Senator; I state that later.

Senator TOWNSEND. Do you also go into the question whether they can take out their papers and become citizens?

Governor RIDLEY. That is all gone into.
Senator TOWNSEND. Very well.

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS ADVANCED AGAINST HOUSE AMENDMENT

Governor RIDLEY. This proposed limitation on the use of Panama Canal appropriations for expenditure within the Canal Zone should not be adopted, for the following reasons:

(1) The provision would be in conflict with the commitments of our Government made in connection with the 1936 treaty with the Republic of Panama.

(2) The provision would necessitate the discharge from the regular Panama Canal force of an undetermined number of employees, most of whom have served the United States faithfully for many years and whose peremptory discharge without cause would be inhumane and unjustifiable, particularly in view of the probability that the alien status of these employees is generally due to the fact that the naturalization laws do not permit them to acquire citizenship.

(3) The provision would effect an important change in the employment policy of the Panama Canal which have been in effect successfully for more than 30 years, and such a change in policy should not be made without full hearing in order that Congress may be fully advised of the effects of such a material change.

(4) This change coming at the time prescribed in the bill would have a disturbing and possibly critical effect on the vitally important defensive installations now being made on the Canal.

(5) The relative degree of seriousness of the effect of the proposed amendment on the efficiency of Canal operation, the capital costs, and the increased annual cost of operation is unknown because the number of employees affected is not known. The number affected cannot be determined with even reasonable approximation without a detailed occupational survey and analysis requiring several weeks' time.

EFFECT OF WEATHER ON NUMBER ENGAGED IN CONSTRUCTION WORK

Senator AUSTIN. Will you permit a question at that point?
Governor RIDLEY. Certainly.

Senator AUSTIN. Does that number vary from time to time and in different seasons of the year?

Governor RIDLEY. Ordinarily the number would not vary very much. At the present time we are doing a great deal of special construction work, which has changed the conditions very greatly now from the ordinary time.

Senator THOMAS. Does the weather get too warm in the summer and does it get too wet in the winter, so as to interfere with your work; or does the warm weather, the rainy season, interfere with the work there?

Governor RIDLEY. The rainy season interferes with the construction work, but does not stop it.

Senator THOMAS. How about the summer heat?

Governor RIDLEY. Do you refer to the dry season?

Senator THOMAS. Yes.

Governor RIDLEY. It is carried on during the dry season at the maximum rate.

SUMMARY CONTINUED OF REASONS ADVANCED AGAINST HOUSE AMENDMENT

(6) The adoption of a rigid requirement that a large part of our regular operating force may be obtained only in the United States, 2,000 or more miles from the Canal Zone, would be serious. There is no certainty whatever that qualified Americans in the required numbers can be induced to come to the Canal for temporary emergencies on short notice. Emergencies arise where work must be done at once and a delay of several weeks to secure the required Americans may be vital. It appears very unwise to jeopardize in this way the Panama Canal, which is so important to world shipping and is so vital to our defense.

(7) The adoption of the provision would involve costly capital expenditures and would materially increase the annual cost of operating the Canal without any compensating advantage to the Canal or to our Government.

(8) If, as claimed by the proponents of this amendment, the legislation would require the replacement of several thousand native workers with Americans, the effect of the legislation would be at least to double the American civilian population ordinarily residing in the Canal Zone. It would be practically impossible, within the limited time stated in the bill, to recruit qualified men, to develop new townsites, erect additional quarters, and to provide other essential services to care for such a large increment to the American population residing on the Isthmus.

TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Senator TOWNSEND. What is your total number of employees? Governor RIDLEY. We have now about 22,000; just on the Panama Railroad and the Panama Canal.

Senator HAYDEN. How many of those are on the so-called "gold roll" and how many are on the so-called "silver roll"?

Governor RIDLEY. Eighteen thousand employees are on the so-called "silver roll".

Senator TOWNSEND. What do you mean by the "silver roll"?

Senator HAYDEN. The natives of Panama and of Jamaica have always been paid at a less rate than the American citizens who come down there, and the pay of the Americans is in American money called the "gold roll". The "silver roll" I suppose originally came from the Panamanian coins they were paid in. Is that correct?

Governor RIDLEY. Yes. During the construction of the Canal the Americans were paid in gold and the native workers were paid in silver. That is the origin of it. At the present time those who get over 40 cents an hour, or $80 a month, are on the "gold roll."

Senator TOWNSEND. But not being paid in gold as they used to be? Governor RIDLEY. No, sir; now we pay them all in ordinary money.

PREVIOUS EFFORTS TO REQUIRE AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP FOR CANAL ZONE EMPLOYMENT

For a number of years a few persons have entertained the firm but misguided conviction that there are attractive opportunities for the employment of American citizens to supplant native tropical workers employed in the Canal Zone in the work for which the latter are

suited by conditioning, temperament, and training. These views have been presented to congressional committees from time to time with the best arguments that could be made for them, and a Senate committee of three members came to the Canal Zone in 1936 and held open hearings on the subject. None of the measures proposed has been adopted, and it is believed that none would be adopted if deliberate study and consideration were given by Congress to all of the aspects and consequences of these proposals.

A DVISABILITY OF PREVAILING DIVISION OF WORK BETWEEN AMERICANS AND TROPICAL NATIVES IN CANAL ZONE

The Canal administration, which is as favorably disposed toward the employment of Americans as any responsible governmental agency could be, is of the opinion after long experience that the prevailing division of work between Americans and tropical natives in the Canal Zone serves the interests of the Panama Canal and of the American people as a whole better than any other that is likely to be devised, and certainly much better than any to be imposed by summary legislation removing all possibility of the exercise of practical judgment in applying new policies adopted before complete exposition of their results.

REASONS FOR EMPLOYMENT OF OTHER THAN AMERICANS IN THE CANAL ZONE

The reasons for employment in the Canal Zone of persons who are not citizens of the United States are not generally understood. The employment policy of the Canal with respect to these native tropical workers has been evolved from practical experience to meet the particular needs of the highly specialized organization which has been developed over a long period of years for operating, maintaining, and protecting the Canal in a territory distantly removed from the United States. While there is no adequate reserve of American workmen in the Canal Zone or the Republic of Panama, there is always in normal times a large reserve of Panamanians and West Indians in the nearby cities of Panama and Colon.

During the early days of the construction of the Canal it was found. extremely difficult to secure an adequate number of competent workmen for construction purposes, notwithstanding the special inducements which were offered in the way of liberal salaries, free quarters, and other privileges, and it was not until the latter part of the construction period that the recruitment and retention of skilled personnel ceased to be a problem. It was never possible to secure and retain Americans in the lower-grade occupations and it became necessary early in the construction of the Canal to resort to the use of foreign labor, including Panamanians, in many of the lower paid, semiskilled, and unskilled positions. The employment policy, which was evolved during the construction period from the necessities of the situation, gradually developea into that of employing American citizens in key positions requiring executive, aaministrative, and supervisory ability and in the trades requiring a high degree of skill, and of employing other nationals, principally natives of the Caribbean area, as laborers, helpers, and in other positions requiring little manual dexterity, craft skill, or scholastic knowledge. The policy of employ

ing native workmen in the lower paid positions is that followed generally in the tropics by private employers although in the Canal service the proportion of Americans is considerably higher than in the case of private American employers in the tropics or elsewhere abroad.

COMPARATIVE NUMBER OF JAMAICANS AND PANAMANIANS IN LOWER SALARY GROUP

Senator HAYDEN. Of these people who get less than 40 cents an hour, are there more Jamaicans than of any other nationality?

Governor RIDLEY. After the construction of the Canal that was the case. Of course, in the long period since then there has been a great increase in the number of Panamanians. The sons of the Jamaicans being born in Panama become Panamanian citizens. Two or three years ago we estimated that of the silver employees there were 25 percent Panamanians, but that is a situation which may be changed overnight, because the sons of these Jamaicans who are down there now may become Panamanian citizens simply by applying for citizenship to the Panamanian Government. Senator HAYDEN. Because they were born on the Isthmus? Governor RIDLEY. Because they were born on the Isthmus; yes,

EFFECT OF TROPICAL CLIMATE ON LABORERS

sir.

It must be borne in mind that in the tropical climate of the Canal Zone Americans generally cannot long endure work approximating that required of a common laborer, and also that American citizens of the lower strata who would be attracted to lower-grade positions, could not be expected to resist the degenerative effect of the altogether different social, economic, and climatic conditions which affect life in the tropics, or to remain useful employees for any material length of time. Only American citizens of the higher strata remain long effective under tropical conditions, and the employment of American workmen of a lower grade would undoubtedly result in a high labor turn-over which, in view of the high cost of recruitment and transportation to the Isthmus, would materially increase the cost of the operation of the Canal.

NUMBER OF NATIVE WORKERS AND NUMBER OF LONG-TIME EMPLOYEES

At the present time there are about 18,000 native workers who are employed in the Canal Zone by the Panama Canal and Panama Railroad. However, this large number is only temporary due to emergency work now going on. The average number employed by the Canal and railroad for ordinary operation and maintenance of the Canal is about 10,000. Several thousands of these have worked in the Canal Zone from 15 to 35 years. There is no doubt that many, if not most, of these native employees would have become naturalized citizens of the United States if it had been possible for them to do so while residing here, and those who were born in the Canal Zone-and they constitute an increasingly large proportion of these alien employees-would be citizens of the United States if the naturalization laws applied to the Canal Zone.

Of this regular force of tropical employees about 2,500 to 3,000 are citizens of the Republic of Panama who, as a matter of long-established