1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Chapter GrandLt. General Edgar B. Jadwin,Lafayette^ '88The country at large was shockedby word of the death of LieutenantGeneral Edgar B. Jadwin, Lafayette,'88, which occurred in Panama City,March 2, 1931. One of the most distinguishedof present-day Phis, GeneralJadwin had brought great honorto the fraternity as he was creditedwith being one of the ablest engineersin the world.The Associated Press account of hispassing follows:Panama City,March 2.—LieutenantGeneral EdgarB. Jadwin, U.S.A.,retired, formerchief of engineersof the Army diedunexpectedly of acerebral hemorrhagein GorgasHospital here atfive o'clock this afternoon.General JadwinLT. GENERAL E. B. came here February25 in connec­JADWINtion with a meeting to determine whethera Nicaraguan canal shall be built to relieveinteroceanic commerce or whetherthe Panama Canal shall be fitted out witha new set of locks.The body will be sent to the UnitedStates on the transport St. Mihicl tomorrow.The body of Major GeneralGeorge Leroy Irwin, who died recently,will be on the same vessel.The name of Edgar B. Jadwin is connectedwith some of the most importantengineering enterprises and projects ofthis country. He is credited with housingthe American Expeditionary Forces;it was his plan for flood control on theMississippi which was adopted by Congressafter the 1927 flood; as consultingengineer of the Meadows ReclamationCommission he was author of the recentlyannounced plan for creating a newport city on the Hackensack Meadows; itwas he who built the Galveston sea wall.In July, 1930, President Hoover pickedhim as chairman of the Federal PowerCommission. He was a member of theSt. Lawrence Power Commission andproponent of the plan for a dam betweenMassena, New York, and Cornwall, Ontario.As chairman of the Inter-OceanicCanal Board he sailed for Panama February17 and was to advise Congress asto whether a new canal through Nicaraguashould be undertaken or the PanamaCanal enlarged. Three members ofthe board are said to have reported aNicaraguan canal feasible from an engineeringpoint of view.General Jadwin was called from retirementby President Hoover to becomechairman of the newly created FederalPower Commission in July, 1930. Thisbody was one of the pet projects of theengineer-President and superseded anagency consisting of the Secretaries ofWar, Agriculture, and Interior, who, exofficio,had been trying for ten years tosupervise the granting of power developmentpermits on navigable streams andpublic lands of the United States.President Hoover believed that the secretarieshad too many other duties toperform to permit them to give powerproblems the close attention that theseprojects merited. Since the army engineershad been used as the field force ofthe secretaries, he turned to a formerchief of that branch of the military servicefor the chairmanship of the new commission.In picking General Jadwin he selectedan officer of proved skill and energy.His record included work on the PanamaCanal and on many river and harborprojects, reaching its height when the"Jadwin plan" was applied to the ^^fississippi.This was one of the largest singleprojects ever undertaken by the Americangovernment. It called for expenditureof $325,000,000 and was broughtbefore Congress after a series of disastrousinundations had focused national[ 405]attention on the flood problem alongthe country's greatest waterway. It provokedmonths of bitter controversy,