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

THE SCROLLPHI DELTA THETA March, 1931struggling for approval with a counterplan urged by the Mississippi RiverCommission and involving a cost of$775,000,000.Administration support was given tothe Jadwin scheme and it went throughCongress. It passed the Senate, in fact,without a dissenting vote, although minusa proposal by President Coolidge that thestates and communities directly benefitedshould bear a fifth of the cost.When the plan was formulated GeneralJadwin was chief of army engineerswith the rank of Major General, a posthe had filled since June 27, 1926. Hisplan approved and the groundwork laidfor actual construction, he retired August7, 1929, with the rank of LieutenantGeneral and took up residence at Sewickley,Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.Mississippi River flood control was notthe only major project with which GeneralJadwin was concerned. Canalizationof the Ohio River, acclaimed as aproject likely to revivify river transportationin the great manufacturing andagricultural territory tributary to thatstream, was finished under his administration.He also had credited to his recordthe building of the massive sea wallat Galveston, Texas; construction of thebreakwater at Colon protecting the Atlanticentrance to the Panama Canal, andexcavation of the sea-level stretch of thecanal from the Atlantic to Gatun. Hewas responsible, too, for providing thethousands of tons of rock and sand inconstruction of the locks and spillway atGatun.His war experience was confined to engineeringwork rather than with combattroops. He commanded the battalion of"Matanzas mule" fame in Cuba afterthe American bombardment of that townand was responsible for the sanitationwork there after the close of the Spanish-AmericanWar.In the World War he organized andcommanded the I5th Engineers, a railwayunit and the first American contingentto pass through England underarms. In France he first was director oflight railways and roads for the A.E.F.and later was director of constructionand forestry. At one time he commanded160,000 men engaged in building railways,roads, bridges, barracks, warehouses,and hospitals.General Jadwin was born at Honesdale,Pennsylvania, August 7, 1865. Heput in two years at Lafayette College,Easton, Pennsylvania, then went to WestPoint, where he graduated at the head ofhis class in 1890.He was a first lieutenant when theSpanish-American War broke out andhe emerged from the conflict as lieutenant-colonelof volunteers. By 1913he had attained that rank in the regulararmy, was a temporary brigadier generalin the World War and achieved his major-generalshipwhen made chief of theEngineer Corps.He was awarded the DistinguishedService Medal by the United States,made a Companion of the Bath by GreatBritain and a commander of the Legionof Honor by France.General Jadwin was married October6, 1896, to Miss Jean Laubach whom hemet while he was a student at LafayetteCollege.Death Shocks WashingtonWashington, March 2.—Official Washingtonwas shocked tonight to learn ofthe unexpected death in Panama City ofLieutenant General Edgar B. Jadwin,former chief of Army Engineers. Thefeeling was particularly keen in view ofthe necessary termination of GeneralJadwin's important mission in CentralAmerica to survey the Panama Canallooking to important changes. He wasconsidered unusually well fitted for thework and the expectation was that somedifficulty would be encountered in securinganother man to carry on this farreachingwork.Major General Lytel Brown, the presentchief of engineers, paid tribute tohis predecessor's ability tonight, expressinga deep feeling of regret at his passing.He was firm in his belief that, morethan any other person in the nation, GeneralJadwin was fitted for the work whichlay before him with canal surveys. Hespoke feelingly of General Jadwin'syears of work with the Army, addingthat he personally would feel the loss tono small extent.• • •Franklin G. Tingley, Purdue, '93Franklin G. Tingley, Purdue, '93,died of pneumonia on January 26,1931, after an illness of six days. Hewas born in Marion, Indiana, on Octo-[406]