By virtue of the authority vested in me, I hereby enact the following order, creating a permanent organization for the Panama Canal, under the Act of Congress "To provide for the opening, maintenance, protection and operation of the Panama Canal and the sanitation and government of the Canal Zone," approved August 24, 1912.
. The organization for the completion, maintenance, operation, government and sanitation of the Panama Canal and its adjuncts and the government of the Canal Zone shall consist of the following departments, offices and agencies, and such others as may be established by the Governor of the Panama Canal on the Isthmus or elsewhere with the approval of the President, all to be under the direction of the Governor, subject to the supervision of the Secretary of War.
There shall be a Department of Operation and Maintenance under the immediate supervision and direction of the Governor of the Panama Canal. This Department shall be charged with the construction of the Canal and with its operation and maintenance when completed, including all matters relating to traffic of the Canal and its adjuncts, and the operation and maintenance of beacons, lights and lighthouses; the supervision of ports and waterways, including pilotage; the admeasuring and inspecting of vessels, including hulls and boilers; the operation and maintenance of the Panama Railroad upon the Isthmus, including telephone and telegraph systems; the operation of locks, coaling plants, shops, dry-docks and wharves; office engineering, including meteorology and hydrography; the construction of buildings and sanitary and municipal engineering, including the construction and maintenance of drainage ditches, streets, roads and bridges.
There shall be a Purchasing Department under the supervision and direction of the Governor. This department shall be charged with the purchase of all supplies, machinery or necessary plant.
There shall be a Supply Department, under the supervision and direction of the Chief Quartermaster. This department shall store and distribute all material and supplies for use of the Panama Canal and of its employees; and for other departments of the Government on the Isthmus and their employees; and for vessels of the United States and for other vessels, when required. The Supply Department shall operate commissaries, hotels and messes; shall be in charge of the maintenance of buildings, the assignment of quarters and the care of grounds; shall recruit and distribute unskilled labor; and shall have charge of the necessary animal transportation.
There shall be an Accounting Department under the supervision and direction of the Auditor, with an assistant in the United States. The duties of the department shall include all general bookkeeping, auditing and accounting, both for money and property, costkeeping, the examination of payrolls and vouchers, the inspection of time books and of money and property accounts, the preparation of statistical data, and the administrative examination of such accounts as are required to be submitted to the United States Treasury Department; and the collection, custody and disbursement of funds for the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone. These same duties shall be performed for the Panama Railroad Company on the Isthmus when not inconsistent with the charter and by-laws of that Company. The department shall be charged with the handling of claims for compensation on account of personal injuries and of claims for damages to vessels. Within the limits fixed by law, the duties and financial responsibilities of the officers and employees charged with the receipt, custody, disbursement, auditing and accounting for funds and property shall be prescribed in regulations issued by the Governor, with the approval of the President. The Auditor shall maintain such a system of bookkeeping as will enable him to furnish at any time full, complete and correct information in regard to the status of appropriations made by Congress, the status of all other funds, and the amounts of net profits on all operations, which are to be covered into the Treasury as required by the Panama Canal Act.
There shall be a Health Department under the supervision and direction of the Chief Health Officer. This department shall be charged with all matters relating to maritime sanitation and quarantine in the ports and waters of the Canal Zone and in the harbors of the cities of Panama and Colon, and with land sanitation in the Canal Zone, and sanitary matters in said cities in conformity with the Canal Treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama and existing agreements between the two governments thereunder, and all matters relating to hospitals and charities.