HONORS TO COLONEL GOETHALS 



679 



recognition of his services to his country 

 and the world. 



President Wilson's presentation speech 

 conveyed to the great engineer the thanks 

 of the nation, and when he said that the 

 name of Goethals was now written where 

 only the wiping out of our present civili- 

 zation could cause it to be forgotten, and 

 called upon him to rise and receive the 

 highest honor in the gift of the National 

 Geographic Society, the outburst of ap- 

 plause which swept over the vast audi- 

 ence almost drowned the voice of Colonel 

 Goethals as he tried to find words in 

 which to voice his appreciation of the 

 honor done him. 



It was plain that he felt more at home 

 "dividing the land and uniting the world" 

 at Panama than he did in receiving a 

 medal in recognition of his work. 



Every speaker of the evening lauded 

 the work of the Americans at Panama 

 and praised the men to whom the world 

 owes the canal. 



Before presenting the French Ambas- 

 sador, Mr. J. J. Jusserand, the Toast- 

 master, Secretary Bryan, announced his 

 election as an Honorary Member of the 

 National Geographic Society, "for the 

 double reason that his nation deserves a 

 part in this great undertaking, and be- 

 cause of the personal interest that he has 

 always manifested in the work of this 

 Society." 



At the end of the speaking Secretary 

 Bryan, the Toastmaster, proposed a toast 

 to the wife who had stood by her hus- 

 band so loyally during the long and try- 

 ing siege of work that had been his lot at 

 Panama. 



The special medal of the Society is 

 made of heavy Roman gold and bears the 

 following inscription : 



"This special medal of the National 

 Geographic Society is awarded to George 

 Washington Goethals, to whose ability 

 and patriotism the world owes the con- 

 struction of the Panama Canal, March 3, 



1914." 



A special medal of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society has been awarded only 

 twice before — to Robert E. Peary, De- 

 cember 15, 1909, "for the discovery of 

 the North Pole, April 6, 1909," and to 

 Roald Amundsen, January 11, 1913, "for 



his Antarctic achievements, resulting in 

 the attainment of the South Pole, De- 

 cember 14, 191 1." 



ADDRESS BY DIRECTOR GROSVKNOR 



Mr. President, Members of the National 

 Geographic Society: 



Owing to the sudden, but not serious, 

 illness of our learned and loved Presi- 

 dent, Dr. Henry Gannett, and also to the 

 illness of our Vice-President, Dr. Titt- 

 mann, the duty of welcoming you here 

 this evening has unexpectedly come to 

 me at the last moment. 



On behalf of the Society, I express 

 our very deep appreciation of the fact 

 that the President of the United States, 

 Hon. Woodrow Wilson, whom we all 

 most devotedly serve, has by his pres- 

 ence honored the tribute which we are 

 giving to the man whose genius built the 

 Panama Canal. 



Before introducing the Toastmaster of 

 the evening, I ask your indulgence for a 

 few moments while I read a few statis- 

 tics about the work of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society. The 12 months since 

 we last met in this hall have made the 

 most successful year in the history of the 

 National Geographic Society. Seventy- 

 four thousand new members have been 

 added to the enrollment, making the total 

 present membership of the society two 

 hundred and sixty-one thousand. * 



These are distributed in sixteen thou- 

 sand towns, villages, and hamlets in the 

 United States and in two thousand cities 

 in foreign countries. California in pro- 

 portion to its population is our banner 

 State, with a membership of twenty-five 

 thousand. New York City leads our 

 cities, with an enrollment of nineteen 

 thousand. There is not a community of 

 one hundred white people in the United 

 States where a member of our Society 

 cannot be found. 



The explorations and educational work 

 of the Society during the past year have 

 kept pace with the increase in member- 

 ship. We have been continuing our re- 

 searches in Alaska, in Peru, and else- 

 where. 



Our Magazine has become perhaps the 

 greatest educational journal in the world. 



*The membership on June 15, 1914, is 289,000. 



