GOETHALS, athalz, George Washing ton, American army officer and civil engineer: b. Brooklyn, N. Y., 29 June 1858. He was a student of the College of the City of New York in 1873-76 and in 1880 was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. On 12 June 1880 he was appointed second lieutenant of engineers; was promoted first-lieutenant in 1882; captain in 1891 and lieu tenant-colonel and chief engineer of the volun teer forces in May 1898. In December of the latter year he quitted the volunteer service and in 1900 became major of the engineering corps. In 1905 he was graduated at the Army War College and in 1915 attained the rank of major general. He retired on 15 Nov. 1916. He was for several years until 1888 instructor in civil and military engineering at the United States Military Academy. He was in charge of the Mussel Shoals Canal construction on the Ten nessee River and served on the Board of Forti fications for Coast and Harbor Defenses. His greatest work, however, was performed as chief engineer of the Panama Canal; in which capacity he served ably from the time of his appointment by President Roosevelt in 1907 to the completion of this great waterway in 1914, when President Wilson appointed him the first civil governor of the Canal Zone. His efficient work on the canal is well known; to it he brought an adequate knowledge of engi neering coupled with a complete knowledge of army organization and co-operation. The work
of the several departments was soon co-ordi nated to the common end. The sanitation, hous ing and labor problems 3A ere organized on an equally efficient basis by able deputies and the work went ahead with such efficiency and smoothness that it has come to be a model for other enterprises of magnitude. The canal was completed almost a year ahead of scheduled time and the soundness of the methods em ployed have been amply justified by time. General Goethals, after the completion of the canal, was obliged to decline various adminis trative posts tendered him, but in 1917 he ac cepted the office of State engineer of New Jersey. From April to July 1917 he was general manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. On 18 Dec. 1917 he was appointed acting quar termaster-general of the United States army; became chief of the division of storage and traffic of the General Staff in February 1918 and chief of the division of purchase, storage and traffic in April 1918. He received the de gree of LL.D. from the University of Pennsyl vania in 1913. and from the University of Princeton in 1915.