210 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS men or others in authority^ when addressing snb- ordinateSy will not be tolerated. GeOBGB W. GoETHALSy Chairman and Chief Engineer. Another corollary of the new point of view was Goethals *s attitude toward every form of privilege, even the little incon- sequential privileges. For example, certain officials had se- cured the privilege of using a fine quality of bread, especially made for the sick in the hospitals, instead of the bread sup- plied from the commission bakeries. Others had been using the convalescent sanitarium at Taboga Island as a sort of vacation boarding place, paying the low rates charged to in- valids. Some officials had carriages while others had none. All such discriminations Goethals has swept away; no one has any right in public work to enjoy advantages that all can- not have on equal terms. It is a curious thing, the impression one gets on the canal of tense activity, almost of strained activity. The rush and urge of the work strikes every visitor. A writer in the English PaM Mall Magazine says that ** every man who comes to the Canal Zone is tuned beyond any concert pitch,'* and he fears the * * strings will break. * * I happened to arrive in Pan- ama during the annual fiesta of the pleasure-loving native Panamanians. For three or four afternoons all the stores in the native towns were closed and the people gave themselves wholly to play : but though the air was full of confetti and the sounds of music, the work of the great canal roared steadily onward. I watched the workmen on the new Panama depot — they scarcely turned their heads to see the show in the streets! And while many other nations represented at Pan- ama provided floats for the parade, the United States, more concerned in the affairs of the country than any of them, had none. This was felt by the diplomatically minded to be a mistake, and perhaps it was ; but Uncle Sam was so busy dig- ging, he simply forgot I Now if the incentives to energy and enthusiasm which char- acterize a private enterprise are here lacking, why all this
