SECRETARY BRYAN

To build this canal it was not only necessary that some should dream of it, but it was necessary that some one should finance it, and whenever in this country the government needs money it must go to Congress, which controls the nation's

urse. We have gone to Congress and Congress has supplied us liberally. All bills have been paid thus far. But it is appropriate that as we are not quite through we should keep on good terms with those who must furnish the balance. And so tonight, with the wisdom that has characterized it in so many ways, the National Geographic Society has taken care to provide that a representative of the House of Representatives should be here to receive your thanks for the money already given and your supplication for that which is needed. I have the honor of introducing to you Congressman Mann, of Illinois.

ADDRESS BY HON. JAMES R. MANN

I can assure the Toastmaster and those who are here that there never has been and that there never will be any difficulty in obtaining all the money that is necessary for the construction and the operation of the Panama Canal, and that is especially true while the Committee on Appropriations is presided over by the genial and handsome gentleman from New York, Mr. Fitzgerald.

I served in the House of Representatives on the committee having jurisdiction in regard to the Isthmian Canal when it was first proposed by Col. William P. Hepburn, of Iowa, the chairman of that committee, that the Isthmian Canal should be constructed not by a private corporation, not by a private enterprise, but should be constructed and owned by the United States itself. We owe a debt of gratitude to him for that proposition, the result of which was the negotiation of a new treaty between the United States and England and the final undertaking of this government by the government itself to construct the greatest civil engineering enterprise which the world. has ever known.

The dream of ages was about to come true, the longing of the centuries was to

687

be realized, the hope of the navigators for those years in the past was soon to become a reality, and the two oceans were to be united. There stood the work in contemplation; it only needed the man. Others retired; others despaired. This man retained his confidence; others quit. He kept his commission; others failed; he succeeded. The man and the work came together when Colonel Goethals was placed in charge of this great undertaking.

No one who has visited the Canal Zone and watched the operations of the force there will be surprised to know that that force idolizes the Chief Engineer. He spoke a moment ago of how each man in the work performed his duty with a single eye to true devotion; but you would not know from that that all along the line of the canal, from ocean to ocean, as the Chief Engineer passes by every employee there speaks lovingly, "There goes. the old man.' And "the old man, as they lovingly call him, tips his hat to every employee, from switchman to his chief lieutenant. He has made them love him; he has made them devoted to the cause. He, with those under him, has made this great undertaking reflect credit upon government, upon national enterprise, upon the American people, upon humanity, upon our own government, because he has succeeded in doing that which no one dared to really hope could be done; that the government in this manner would be able to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of the great work by direct employment. of government officials and employees without serious scandal. It never has been done before on such an enterprise. on such a scale, and I hope that our country will recognize that peace may have its victories as well as war.

The heroes of the past have been made in war. Here is a hero whom we ought to put upon a pedestal as an inspiration to our children and those who live now and who come after, that those who do their full duty in time of peace may enjoy the same lofty ideals as those who win in war; and I hope that the title "Colonel" Goethals will soon be gone, and that we will salute him as "General" Goethals.

688

SECRETARY BRYAN

It might be expected that all Americans sharing in the honor which Colonel Goethals has brought to the nation would be glad to pay tribute to him. It is to be expected that when there is the conjunction, the preparedness and opportunity which constitute success, that we should all rejoice. It is to be expected that we shall all behold with joy and admire the flower that springs from the place where great preparedness and great work meet. But I am glad that on this occasion we can have as a representative of the outside world one whose people began the work which our people completed. This meeting tonight would not be what it ought to be if we did not hear from one of that great nation which first called the world's attention to the fact that it was possible for man to unite these two oceans in perpetual wedlock, and we are fortunate in having as the spokesman of that nation one who can speak so sympathetically to our people, while with such fidelity he represents his own.

The National Geographic Society has asked me to present a certificate of honorary membership to the gentleman whom I am about to call upon. It is presented to him for the double reason that his nation deserves a part in this great undertaking and because of the personal interest that he has always manifested in the work of this Society. Therefore it is my pleasure as it is my honor to present this certificate of membership to His Excellency, J. J. Jusserand, the French Ambassador, and to ask him to represent the nation that gave the initiative to the canal to which we give the completion.

ADDRESS BY THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR, J. J. JUSSERAND

I lack appropriate words to express my gratitude for the signal honor that has just been bestowed on me, especially when I think that it comes from this great National Geographic Society, whose members are as numerous as the sands of the sea-or nearly so, and in which American science is represented by a man like Dr. Graham Bell, the American Army by such an explorer, a pioneer, an early discoverer as General Greely; the American Navy by

the man who reached the goal at which so many had aimed and planted the flag of the United States at the North Pole, Admiral Peary.

It is a very great and important thing to hold a record, and on the present occa

sion, among your honorary members, I certainly hold one-the record of unde- · servedness. I have no doubt-and in saying so I am acting as a well-wisher of your Society-that I shall hold it long.

I feel in a way guilty in not having better titles, when I think of my youthful preparation and of having been early taught many of the arts useful to explorers: to ride, swim, jump, climb, and even walk. Thus, when small boys, carrying all our luggage on our backs, we did a good deal of exploring in, it is true, not very remote countries; some, however, with whose language we became familiar only in after-life. We were very proud to be able to address at need a priest in Latin and get from him directions as to our way. But I shall blushingly confess, in the presence of my German colleague, that we were once confronted with the terrible fact that, being in a small out-ofthe-way place in his country, none between us four could remember more than half the word railway. Eisen came to the mind of one of us, and nothing further. We missed our train, and shall never forget that the whole word is Eisenhahn.

Of real explorations, I have none to my credit. I set foot on four of the five parts of the world, but from the Nile to Seattle, or Petersburg to Panama, I saw nothing but what others had seen. My chief journeys to far-off lands have been through a medium greatly to be commended, and which consists neither in railroad, steamer, horse, nor camel, but in the National Geographic Society's Magazine. Through it you can visit all the world and know the secrets of the most remote places. Happier than Mahomet, who ordered the mountain to come, but it would not, so that he had to go to the mountain, we beckon to lake and peak, ruins, icebergs, cities, and deserts, and behold, here they come in their true shape and colors!

In my undeservedness one thing pleases

690

me-that which has made up for my lack of merit-namely, your friendly disposition toward me, and, I feel confident, your consideration for my country. If I have done little, my country has done much. Since our republic has been established a renewal has been apparent of the exploring spirit of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

France has produced new Laudonières, new Cartiers, new La Salles, new Champlains. We have built in Asia and Africa the largest colonial empire France ever possessed, and we have done so more by discovery than by war. The French are "harborous to strangers," said Sir Thomas Overbury. That characteristic has been a great help.

The first thing we did wherever we got was to build a road. then a school, and in that school we had the natives taught not only, nor even chiefly, our language, but theirs, and even in many places their own theology. Our officers have acted at need, in large numbers, under various skies, as instructors, builders, agriculturists, archeologists, artesian-well drillers, trying not to destroy, but to improve; to which many American travelers have borne a testimony in which we take pride.

The value of the diploma you have bestowed on me is enhanced by the fact that I receive it on an occasion the hero of which is Colonel Goethals. I have long known him, and I may say that it was, on my side, a case of friendship at first sight. It is difficult to meet him and not understand the cause of that great influence he has over his fellow-men; one feels at once that he cannot ask any one to do anything but what is right, proper, wise. Any man in his senses acts as he is bidden by him. I have seen him, so to say, in action on that great canal along whose banks so many of my compatriots have found their last resting place; where I saw, with some pride, the white line, not so very near the summit, where we stopped in the Culebra, and I raised my hat to some of our dredges and machinery, still at work after so many years and still contributing to the mighty task.

I had the honor of visiting the canal in the President of the Commission's yellow car, familiarly called "Goethals' yel

low peril," because people who prowl about the tracks must move rapidly when it comes, if they do not want to change from this world to another. In the Zone one single man was all-powerful, and his chief strength did not lie in the regulations which had defined his office, but in his moral influence and the respect with which he was surrounded.

We left the canal not knowing which to admire most, the Babylonic grandeur of the material work then nearing completion or the strength of character in one man's breast, which set in motion and regulated the forces used in the perfecting of the enterprise.

I am thankful to you for having given me this occasion to add to American good wishes and congratulations for the work and for the man, French good wishes and congratulations.

SECRETARY BRYAN

While the program as printed is completed, we are not quite through. No one will be called upon for a speech, although there is one subject that has not yet been presented the happy coincidence of name and accomplishment. How appropriate that it should have been George Washington Goethals who did this work. Who will say that there is no inspiration in a patriotic name?

But I am not willing that this meeting shall conclude until I have performed a task laid upon me by this Society. We have heard from representatives of our own and other countries, and the President has spoken for all the people of the United States in presenting this medal of honor. I am sure that you desire to express yourselves, each one for himself or herself, and I am sure that you will welcome the opportunity that I am asked to give you. While the name of the man will be inscribed upon all the monuments that are erected at Panama, the name of the wife who has stood by him in his work and shared the dangers and the trials of the task will not be forgotten. As a fitting conclusion of this most appropriate occasion, I ask you to rise and drink to the life, health, and prosperity of Colonel and Mrs. Goethals.