In the summer of 1932, with savings of about $300, I went on vacation, flying to Panama City and taking a Company ship from Cristobal, via Kingston, 牙买加, where it loaded bananas, to New York. 这艘船上装满了付费乘客，公司唯一的空间就是医疗急救室的铺位,,en,但它达到了目的,,en,生活在波多黎各,,en,乘客,,en,谁曾在纽约登船,,en,暑假期间大多是年轻的女校老师或店员,,en,当然，在船到达克里斯托瓦尔之前，它的官员已经选择了作物，但仍然有不少人要找一个人买他们的饮料,,en,我乘坐纽黑文铁路,,en,猫头鹰,,en,从纽约到波士顿的卧铺快递,,en,午夜到,,en,上午。,,en,和我的家人共度了三个星期，并参观了我年轻冒险的许多场景,,en,地方和人如何,,en,自从我上次在美国度假以来的四年里发生了变化,,en,当时的大萧条真的开始了,,en – but it served the purpose.
***If you missed the previous installments, click here: 1928: Part 1, 1928: Part 2, 1928: Part 3, 1928: Part 4, 1929:Part 5, Move to Puerto: Part 6, Life in Puerto: Part 7
The passengers, who had boarded in New York, were mostly young female school teachers or store clerks on their summer vacation. Of course before the ship got to Cristobal its officers had the pick of the crop but there were still quite a few left looking for a guy to buy them drinks. I rode the New Haven railroad “Owl” sleeper express from New York to Boston, midnight to 7 A.M., and spent three weeks with my family and visiting many of the scenes of my youthful adventures.
How places and people, had changed in just the four years since my last vacation in the States. The great depression was really setting in then, 遍布各州和我,,en,乘船旅行后,,en,但我得到了一个小,,en,预先,,en,从波士顿办公室回到巴拿马,,en,赶上一点公司历史,,en,公司收购了Cuyamel水果有限公司,,en,来自Sam Zemurray的,,en,在公司股票,,en,使Sam成为最大的股东,,en,Cuyamel曾是洪都拉斯的一个小型竞争对手，拥有Tela铁路公司横跨Ulua河的大部分土地。,,en,UFCO,,en,Cuyamel总部位于La Lima及其位于Puerto Cortez的码头,,en,杰斐逊和Coolidges,,en,李,,en,波士顿最负盛名的投资公司的一半,,en,李希金森,,en,和布拉德利韦伯斯特帕尔默,,en,一位领先的波士顿律师,,en,Zemurray对公司的管理不善进行了精辟的审查,,en; after the boat trip up! But I got a small “advance” from the Boston office to get me back to Panama.
Catching up with a little Company history, in 1930 the Company bought out the Cuyamel Fruit Co. from Sam Zemurray for $31,500,000 in Company stock, making Sam the largest stockholder. Cuyamel had been a small ‘competitor in Honduras and owned most of the land across the Ulua river from that of the Tela Railroad Company (UFCO). The Cuyamel headquarters was in La Lima and its wharf in Puerto Cortez. So now the Company had three ports in Honduras.- Cortez, Tela and Castilla. The Standard Fruit Company (a competitor) wharf was at the port of La Ceiba and their banana farms were up the Aguan river valley.
The great depression had taken its toll on the UFCO and the value of its stock declined drastically. Zemurray didn’t like that so he went to Boston in 1932 and confronted the board of directors. I quote from Tom McCann’s book “an American Company – The Tragedy of United Fruit Company”. (I knew Tom very well). “He was greeted, frostily at best, by a board of directors which included Daniel Gould Wing, then chairman of the’ powerful First National Bank of Boston; former Massachusetts governor Channing H. Cox; (both Wing and Cox were direct descendants of American presidential families, the Jeffersons and the Coolidges) the Lee (half of Boston’s most prestigious investment firm, Lee Higginson); and Bradley Webster Palmer, a leading Boston lawyer.
Zemurray presented an incisive review of the Company’s mismanagement, 在一份详细的账单支持下，其中包括United Fruit Company的股票几乎下跌的事实,,en,自从他成为股东以来的百分比,,en,他要求知道董事会打算做什么,,en,Daniel Gould Wing回应了其他董事,,en,他微微一笑，并提到Zemurray的口音,,en,Zemurray,,en,我听不懂你说的一句话,,en,Zemurray只是看着Wing几秒钟，然后看着另一个婆罗门面对着房间,,en,故事说他在离开时嘀咕着什么,,en,他很快就回来了，手上装满了足够的代理人，无需翻译,,en,把它们放在长椭圆形桌子上,,en,联邦街,,en,并且说得非常清楚以避免被误解,,en,Zemurray说,,en 90 percent since he had become a shareholder. He demanded to know what the board intended to do.
Daniel Gould Wing responded for the other directors. He smiled thinly and in a reference to Zemurray’s accent said “Unfortunately, Mr. Zemurray, I can’t understand a word you say”. Zemurray just looked at Wing for a few seconds and then at the other Brahmin faces around the room. The story goes that he muttered something under his breath as he left. He returned shortly with his hands full of enough proxies to make translation unnecessary.
Slapping them down on the long oval table at 1 Federal Street; and speaking very clearly to avoid being misunderstood, Zemurray said “你们先生们已经这么做了很久,,en,我要把它整理出来,,en,永和他的集团从董事会被抛弃，Zemurray又回到了香蕉。,,en,他有效地解决了下一个问题,,en,他多次回到热带地区，在那里他可以看到真正的男人和大砍刀，机械和大型种植园的联合果实近在咫尺,,en,他从来没有把波士顿的United Fruit与公司混为一谈,,en,纸和代理人的联合果实,,en,会议和数字,,en,高层管理人员的重大转变,,en,以及抑郁症对整体运作的不利影响,,en,在所有热带地区带来了一些重大变化,,en,所有工资都减少了,,en. I’m going to straighten it out”. Wing and his clique were dumped from the board and Zemurray was back in bananas.”
He dealt effectively with all problems for the next 20 years.
He repeatedly returned to the tropics where he could see the real United Fruit of men and machetes and machinery and vast plantations close at hand. He never confused that United Fruit with the Company in Boston, the United Fruit of paper and proxies, meetings and numbers.
That major shift in top management, together with the adverse effect the depression had on overall operations, brought about some drastic changes in all tropical divisions late in 1932. All salaries were reduced 10%. Chiriqui部门的生产停止了几个月，许多员工被释放,,en,不仅在农场，而且在所有部门,,en,我的一些朋友已经出局，但仍有一些人作为看护人,,en,在农场,,en,Bob Cover继续担任助理区主管,,en,以降低的工资率,,en,绝对受益于这一变化的人是Doc Dunlap,,en,Zemurray了解他并使他成为热带研究总监并将他转移到公司位于La Lima的新热带总部,,en,山姆命名为沃尔特E.,,en,特恩布尔,,en,他是Cuyamel公司的前任高级人物,,en,担任所有热带部门的总经理,,en,自然,,en,所有Cuyamel军官都被分配到不同热带部门的重要工作岗位,,en,被部分关闭,,en, not only on the farms but in all departments. Some of my oId pals were out but a few remained as caretakers” on the farms. Bob Cover kept his position as assistant district superintendent, at the reduced salary rate. One who definitely benefited by the change was Doc Dunlap.
Zemurray knew about him and made him Director of Tropical Research and transferred him to the Company’s new tropical headquarters in La Lima, Honduras. Sam named Walter E. Turnbull, his former top man in the Cuyamel Company, as General Manager of all tropical divisions. Naturally, all of the Cuyamel officers were assigned to important jobs in the different tropical divisions.
Armuelles, being partially closed down, 多年来，这些重大人事变动并没有太大影响,,en,自行政办公室工作以来,,en,大大减少了,,en,由于我对农场经营的了解,,en,Block于10月任命我为农场检查员,,en,ARMUELLES的生命 - 主要地震,,en,我仍然住在Puerto Armuelles，并被分配了一辆汽车，每天去农场,,en,我会骑在哪里,,en,管理人,,en,每个农场,,en,主要是检查广阔的排水系统和运河,,en,英亩的项目,,en,由于洪水或高水位会迅速杀死所有香蕉植物，因此必须不惜一切代价维持排水,,en,到了中间,,en,行动几乎恢复正常,,en,我是7月21日,,en,一场大地震震撼了整个地区,,en,这非常接近圣安德烈亚斯断层。,,en. Since administrative office work had been·greatly reduced, and due to my knowledge of farm operations, Mr. Block appointed me as Farm Inspector in October 1933.
LIFE IN ARMUELLES – MAJOR EARTHQUAKE.
I still lived in Puerto Armuelles and was assigned a motorcar to make daily trips to the farms, where I would ride with the “caretaker” of each farm, mainly to check on the vast system of drains and canals over the 50,000 acre project. Drainage had to be maintained at all costs since floodings or high water table would quickly kill out all banana plants. By the middle of 1934 operations were almost back to normal.
When, at 5 am on July 21st, 1934 a major earthquake rocked the whole area which was very close to the San Andreas fault.(***) 三分之二的码头和三个大型架空动力龙门香蕉输送机都不见了,,en,该处的凸起建筑物下面只有最小的交叉支撑，因此很多侧面滑行高跷,,en,掉到地上,,en,幸运的是没有严重的伤害,,en,没有火灾,,en,因为几乎每个人都还在床上，劳教所里的煤油灶也没有点燃,,en,巴拿马地震破坏的例子,,en,会计师,,en,没有看,,en,冲出他的前面,,en,门廊,,en,但房子已经从台阶上滑了十英尺，所以他倒在地上大约八英尺,,en,但没有骨折,,en,我在单身房的房间下降了大约四英尺，而建筑物滑到了一边,,en,房间里的一切,,en,床,,en,我,,en,洗脸盆,,en,梳妆台,,en,椅子和桌子都堆在一个角落里,,en! The raised buildings in the division had only minimum cross bracing underneath so many slid sideways off the stilts, dropping to the ground. Fortunately there were no serious injuries, and no fires, since almost everyone was still in bed and the kerosene stoves in the labor camps had not been lit.
Example of earthquake damage in Panama
The accountant, without looking, dashed out of his front porch door, but the house had slid ten feet away from the steps so he fell about eight feet to the ground – but no broken bones. My room in the bachelor quarters fell about four feet while the building slid to one side. Everything in the room, bed, me, washbowl, dresser, chairs and table were all piled up in one corner, 用一根破裂的水喷出一切水,,en,我挖了一些衣服，匆匆离开，加入镇上的其他人，在震惊的状态下看着被殴打的遗体,,en,幸运的是，一些营地和住宅仍然存在,,en,适于居住的,,en,和一般办公室等大型建筑物,,en,靠近或在地面建造的俱乐部和护士宿舍没有受损,,en,碰巧,,en,改装过的游艇,,en,诺科米斯,,en,分配给美国,,en,地质调查处已在该地区工作了一段时间，并靠近Armuelles附近的Paridas岛,,en,几乎直接在地震的震中,,en,所以记录得很好,,en,之后的几个月，连续发生了一系列不那么暴力的震动,,en.
I dug out some clothes and made a hasty exit to join everyone else in town looking over the battered remains while in a state of shock. Fortunately some of the camps and residences were still “livable” and the large buildings such as the general office, hospital, club and nurses quarters which were built close to or on the ground were not damaged. By coincidence, a converted yacht, the “Nokomis” assigned to the U.S. Geological Survey Service had been working in the area for some time and was anchored close to Paridas island off Armuelles, almost directly over the epicenter of the quake, so it was well-recorded!
There was a continuous series of somewhat less violent shakes for a couple of months afterward, 一些人仍然足够强大，可以打破房子里剩下的一些玻璃和瓷器,en. On the golf course, when one of the minor “temblores“ would occur, the ground would break into a series of closely spaced waves a few inches high, making it impossible for one to stand erect and producing an extremely “queasy” feeling in the stomach!
Late in the afternoon on the day of the quake, KB said that Mr. Blair needed me badly in his office. There was no assistant manager in the division and Blair’s secretary, a young married girl, had quit because she was scared – and pregnant. Again, I was called upon to change jobs on a few hours notice, this time as secretary to the manager, a change that lasted for five years. Mr. Blair, (Hank) was very upset with all the radiograms, many in code, coming in by the hundreds, 所有人都希望立即得到详细的损害回复,en, cancelling fruit cuts, ships’ schedules, etc.
Employees worked day and night to determine extent of damage to buildings, the railroad, bridges, waterlines and towers and to the wharf, and estimates had to be made of materials needed and cost to.repair everything and get back in business. I became a combination manager, secretary, cable clerk, coordinator between departments, and soothsayer to some very worried co-workers. All were afraid the division would close down for good and that they would be released.
The abrupt change from being shaken out of bed by an earthquake in the morning to working for the manager in the afternoon had its rewards however. I got an immediate salary raise to $2400 一年，并被指定为镇上最好的房间之一，在少数几个未损坏的建筑物之一,en, the single girls quarters! A telephone was installed in my room the next day. I had a typewriter in the room and a set of the Company radio code books since I was on call 24 hours a day, handling calls at night by messenger from or to the radio station and different department heads. Between calls at night, I was entertained in the parlor by the females with coffee, cookies and plenty of gossip. They were thrilled having a man living in their midst and I was a regular at the nurses and telephone operators night shift changes.
This hectic existence went on for several months. Engineers from Boston and other divisions came in to draw up plans for a new wharf and conveyors. 来自其他部门的施工人员被带进来监督倒塌的建筑物,en, as a future safeguard, install double cross-bracing under all of them.
Gangs of railroad maintenance men worked at straightening the railroad lines and repairing bridges. Electricians and plumbers were everywhere. Jerry Baron worked up a plan to load bunches of bananas by hand onto lighters and into ships. The lighters (barges) were rented and towed from the Canal Zone and, after a few months, ships were being loaded again, slowly to be sure. Thousands of letters, in addition to radiograms, were received and written in the manager’s office to coordinate all of this reconstruction and, worse, they all had to be filed.
To be continued…
Stay tuned for PART 9 of this story: Life in Puerto Armuelles
NOTES:
*All photos, researched from the era, were added by the editor of Visit Puerto Armuelles.
* Samuel Zemurray became known as “The Banana Man”.
***The Earthquake of 1934 became known as the “Puerto Armuelles地震,en”, with a reading of 7.6 on the Ritcher Scale.
