APPENDIX L.

REPORT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR THE CANAL ZONE.

ANCON, CANAL ZONE, July 15, 1915.

SIR: The present district attorney was appointed June 14 and qualified June 19, 1915, the former district attorney, Mr. William K. Jackson, jr., having voluntarily resigned the office, effective upon the qualification of his successor; so that the work of this office during almost the whole of the fiscal year reported upon was under the direction of Mr. Jackson.

The district attorney is required by law "to conduct all business, civil and criminal, for the Government, and to advise the Governor of The Panama Canal on all legal questions touching the operation of the canal and the administration of civil affairs.”

It is not practicable to report in detail upon the work of this office for the fiscal year ended, except in the matter of criminal cases, and appended hereto is a statement in detail of all criminal prosecutions in the district court of the Canal Zone. The district court has two divisions, one sitting at Balboa on the Pacific side, and the other at Cristobal, on the Atlantic side, both presided over by the same judge. There are two magistrates' courts, one at Balboa and the other at Cristobal, presided over by different magistrates. The report is made up so as to show the appeals from each magistrate's court and the cases disposed of in each division of the district court.

There was a total of 391 cases disposed of in the district court, 94 of which were appeals from the magistrates' courts. Of the total number disposed of in the district court, 279 resulted in convictions. Of those convicted, the court suspended sentence in 55 cases, 33 of which were felonies and 22 misdemeanors.

All criminal cases brought before the district court during the year have been disposed of, and at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 1915, not a criminal case was pending in the district court. There was one fugitive from justice from the Dominion of Canada in jail. awaiting extradition.

During the year there have been no appeals in criminal cases to the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit of the United States, which has appellate jurisdiction of all criminal cases wherein the offense charged is punishable as a felony.

Since the close of the fiscal year 1912-1913 there has been a steady falling off of the number of criminal cases in the courts of the Canal Zone, due to the decrease in number of employees of the canal, and the large decrease in population. For the purpose of comparison there is attached a summary of criminal cases for the past three years. The present district attorney is familiar with the result of jury trials upon the Canal Zone, both before and since the Executive order of July 4, 1913, authorizing jury trials in all felony cases.

Before the Executive order referred to jury trials were allowed only in capital cases. Since the Executive order of July 4, 1913, the only defendants demanding a jury trial have been white citizens of the United States. Negroes and foreigners in the Zone prefer trial by the court without a jury. Since the Executive order referred to, 6 white defendants have demanded jury trials; 1 was charged with violation of the white slave act, 1 with murder, 1 with manslaughter, and 3 with assault with a deadly weapon. All were acquitted by juries. The four last cases referred to were for crimes committed against negroes, and juries refuse to convict white defendants in these cases.

The results of jury trial since the Executive order of July 4, 1913, have been very unsatisfactory, and I renew the recommendation made in the last annual report that the law be amended so that there may be a return to the former practice of allowing jury trials in capital cases only.

There are a number of port and harbor regulations and regulations relating to sanitation, quarantine, etc., which must be observed by vessels and masters of vessels using the canal, the violation of any of which is a misdemeanor, and under existing laws and Executive orders they are triable and punishable only in the district court, after being bound over by the magistrate's court.

The courts and their officers make every effort to facilitate and speed the trial of these cases, but there are unavoidable delays; a warrant must be taken out, the master arrested, counsel employed, and in some cases the master and the witnesses brought across the Isthmus for trial, and the expenses of the delay and of the trial are out of proportion to the gravity of the offense. I recommend that our laws and Executive orders be amended so that all misdemeanors committed by vessels and masters of vessels using the canal which are punishable by fine and which are not in violation of and punishable under any act of Congress, may be summarily heard and determined by the captains of the ports of Cristobal and Balboa, and that the fines provided by law shall be imposed and collected by them and accounted for as are fines imposed by the courts.

Respectfully,

CHARLES R. WILLIAMS,

District Attorney.

Maj. Gen. GEORGE W. GOETHALS, United States Army,

There was one application for a writ of habeas corpus, which was denied.

EXHIBIT 2.-Disposition of criminal cases, 1914–15.

27

87

1

2

2

1

7

17

2

3

3

3

2

9

3

1

11

10

2

11

Extradited

to United

EXHIBIT 3.-Appealed cases from magistrates' courts.

Balboa.

Cristo-
bal.

Total.

48

2123

17

65

Nolle pros..

3

15

6

21

1

4

Total...

1

1

EXHIBIT 4.-Summary of criminal prosecutions for the fiscal years, 1913-1915.

APPENDIX M.

REPORT OF THE GENERAL PURCHASING OFFICER AND CHIEF OF THE WASHINGTON OFFICE.

THE PANAMA CANAL, Washington, D. C., July 7, 1915.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on the work of this office during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915:

The general organization of all branches of the office has remained as described in my report of July 20, 1914. Certain individual changes among the senior officials have been made, as follows:

Mr. C. E. Dole, who was chief clerk in the purchasing department from October 9, 1905, resigned on April 9, 1915, to enable him to accept a position as purchasing agent for the Alaskan Engineering Commission. Mr. A. L. Flint, formerly assistant to the chief of the Washington office, was promoted to the vacancy created by Mr. Dole, the vacancy as assistant to the chief of office being filled by the promotion of Mr. Ray L. Smith, formerly the chief of the appointment division of the Washington office. Mr. F. B. Clark, who was, next to the chief clerk, the senior clerk in the purchasing department and who has been with The Panama Canal since January 20, 1905, resigned May 17, 1915, in order to enable him to accept a position in connection with a proposed purchasing office to be established by the Reclamation Service in Denver, Colo. Mr. B. F. Harrah has been relieved from duty as assistant auditor for The Panama Canal and has been assigned to duty as special counsel and examiner of claims, his position as assistant auditor having been filled by the promotion of Mr. A. L. Webb.

The following divisions are now under my charge as general purchasing officer and chief of the Washington office of The Panama Canal: General office, including the appointment division and correspondence and record division; office of the assistant auditor; and the purchasing department.

There has been a decrease in the number of appointments as compared with the previous year. During the year covered by this report, 899 persons within the United States were tendered employment for duty on the Isthmus in grades above that of laborer; 652 accepted and were appointed, covering 59 different positions. Three thousand four hundred and eighty-four persons, including new appointees, those returning from leave of absence, members of employees' families, and employees of contractors and their families, were provided with transportation from the United States to the Isthmus; and in response to inquiries and applications for employment during this period, and in the issuance of appointments, 16,054 letters were written, 1,888 telegrams sent, and 17,519 circulars mailed. The work of the correspondence and record division, comprising all general or administrative correspondence and miscellaneous matters, has continued heavy throughout the year, due partly to questions arising in connection with the opening of the canal.