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HONORS TO COLONEL GOETHALS

The United States has made the world very uncomfortable, but it has at least done so by the exercise of extraordinary dynamic qualities. It is not one of the statical nations of the world. It is one of the nations which has disturbed equilibriums, which has cut new paths for the thought and action of mankind.

And now there is to be elevated and kept always on high at this new gate, upon which men are to enter the roads of new experience, a name which will not be blotted out until and unless the whole civilization of the world should change, the name of Colonel Goethals.

The government of the United States lent him to the world, and he has done this thing for the world, for it is our proud boast that we have cut this highway for all the sea-going ships of the world.

GAILLARD, GORGAS, SIBERT, HODGES

I take it for granted that we do not tonight forget that distinguished group of men who have been associated with Colonel Goethals; that gallant and devoted soldier, Colonel Gaillard, who gave his very life to see that a great work was done at the Culebra Cut; that man who made so much of this work possible, Surgeon General Gorgas, by knowing how to hold disease off at arm's length while these men were given leave to work; also Colonel Sibert, who built the Gatun Dam and created the Gatun Lake, making it look to the eyes of the uninitiated as if nature had done the work over which he himself presided, and also Colonel Hodges, who made the locks and the machinery by which these great things are administered.

But we are merely tonight acknowledging the presiding character and genius which drew all the elements of this work together, which made it a work done by colaborers, not by rivals; work done as if it were the conception of a single mind; work done in the spirit of service and self-effacement which belongs to a great servant of a great government. There is nothing selfish in the eminence of Colonel Goethals. It is representative of a great profession. It is representative of a great government. It is representative of a great spirit.

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I am glad that this thing was not done by private enterprise, and that there is no thought of private profit anywhere in it, but that a government put itself at the service of the world and used a great man to do a great thing. That is the ideal of the modern world, that the services to mankind shall be commonly shared.

And so I esteem it a real privilege, acting on behalf of this Society, to present to you, Colonel Goethals, this very beautiful medal. It is made of mere gold, and gold is of no consequence in this connection, sir; but it speaks, in the most precious metal we know, the gratitude and the admiration of the nation. RESPONSE BY COL. GEORGE W. GOETHALS, U. S. ARMY

This

Mr. President, it is an easier task to build the Panama Canal than it is for me to find words to express appreciation of the honor conferred upon me by the National Geographic Society and the distinguished manner in which the presentation of the medal has been made. medal represents the satisfaction of the National Geographic Society at the practical completion of the canal and its approval of the services rendered. Those services are not only individual services, but national services. The French were the pioneers in the undertaking. But for the work that they did on the Isthmus we could not today regard the canal as practically completed. But for the English we probably would not have known the means of eradicating malaria; the death rate would have been great. Among individuals we have national representatives in the Spanish and the English in our laboring force.

The canal has been the work of many, and it has been the pride of the Americans who have visited the canal to find the spirit which animated the forces. Every man was doing the particular part of the work that was necessary to make it a success. No chief of any enterprise ever commanded an army that was so loyal, so faithful, that gave its strength and its blood to the successful completion of its task as the canal forces.

And so in accepting the medal and thanking the National Geographic So

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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

ciety for it, I accept it and thank them in the name of every member of the canal army.

SECRETARY BRYAN

The Isthmian Canal is an international work. It connects the oceans that wash the shores of every land, and through it will pass the commerce of all the nations. It is fitting, therefore, that we shall have as participants in the program of this evening those who in an eminent way represent the nations which will take conspicuous advantage of the opportunities which this canal will offer, and at our table tonight we have as one of the speakers the representative of one of the great nations of Europe, one of the nations whose growing fleets are known in all the corners of the earth. I have the honor to call upon His Excellency, the Ambassador from Germany, to give his testimony to the greatness of this undertaking and pay his respects to the genius under whose guidance the work has been accomplished.

ADDRESS BY THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR,

AMBASSADOR VON BERNSTORFF

When I received the kind invitation to attend this splendid banquet, I accepted with the greatest pleasure because it afforded me the occasion to renew my friendly relations with Colonel Goethals, the greatest engineer of these days, who has presented to the world an engineering feat which in ancient days would have been called one of the Seven-I do not know how many wonders of the world we have now.

I had also wished to meet the charming wife of Colonel Goethals, with whom I had formerly spent a very pleasant week on the ocean. I was not disappointed in that, as I had the pleasure of sitting next to her at dinner.

In one way, however, I must confess that I was very much disappointed this evening, because I had been told that I was to have a very good time tonight and a night off from speaking. A quarter of an hour ago, however, I was asked to say a few words to you, and I am very glad to have this opportunity to thank you for the splendid hospitality afforded me.

The presiding officer of your Society

told me before that this Society was carrying on an investigation-one of the many investigations of these dayswhich was to result in finding a way by which people should work only two weeks in the year and live in happiness and plenty all the rest of the time. Now, if your Society manages to achieve this wonderful result I hope it will be applied to the foreign ambassadors to the United States, because that would mean only fourteen speeches a year instead of about one hundred or more.

These diplomats always feel at home in a society of geographers, because we are what I might perhaps call practical geographers. Without knowing where we are going or whence we come, we are sent all over the globe and we regard the whole universe as our home. It is not always so pleasant as it is here, and we are therefore very glad when on this large globe we find such a pleasant and hospitable home as we all find in the United States.

As a German, I would like to remind you of an incident in the life of perhaps the greatest of my compatriots, Goethe, who a hundred years ago, shortly before his death, was sitting among his most intimate friends, and had just received a book written by Alexander von Humboldt, a name which is familiar to geographers all over the world. It gave a description of Mexico and the surrounding countries, and after having read this book Goethe said to his friends, "I am a very old man, and I have only one wish: that is that I could live long enough to see the Panama Canal built.'

He added that he was sure this canal would be built by the people of the United States, because he saw by the energy and enterprise with which they colonized the whole west of this great country that they would surely not miss the opportunity of building this canal. I wish I could evoke his spirit to be among us today. He might find it a queer coincidence that his name is so much like the name of the great man who built this canal.

Before sitting down I wish to thank you once more for your kind hospitality and for the great pleasure you have afforded me tonight.

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Photo and copyright by Underwood & Underwood THE CATHEDRAL-THE GREATEST OF MEXICAN CHURCHES: NORTHWEST FROM THE

NATIONAL PALACE ROOF, CITY OF MEXICO

The cathedral of Mexico City is said to be the largest church in the Western World. It stands on the site of the great temple of the Aztecs, where tens of thousands of prisoners were sacrificed to the sun. Its foundations are composed almost entirely of Aztec images. Its inside dimensions are: length, 387 feet; width, 177 feet, and height, 179 feet. It is estimated that it cost some $2,000,000.

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THE MAGNIFICENT POPOCATEPETL FROM THE LARGEST OF THE ANCIENT AZTEC

PYRAMIDS AT CHOLULA, MEXICO

The landscapes on the great Mexican plateau are always filled with interest. A dozen cities surround each of the great Mexican volcanoes, and whether Popo is viewed from Puebla, Mexico City, Amocameca, Cholula, or Cuautla, it is always the same graceful mountain (see also pages 630 and 641).

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