HONORS TO COLONEL GOETHALS 



683 



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 equi- 

 libriums, 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 high- 

 way for all the sea-going ships of the 

 world. 



GAlIXARD, GORGAS, SIBERT, HODGES 



I take it for granted that we do not to- 

 night forget that distinguished group of 

 men who have been associated with Col- 

 onel 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 unin- 

 itiated 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 acknowledg- 

 ing 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 representa- 

 tive of a great government. It is repre- 

 sentative of a great spirit. 



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 serv- 

 ices to mankind shall be commonly 

 shared. 



And so I esteem it a real privilege, 

 acting on behalf of this Society, to pre- 

 sent 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 grati- 

 tude and the admiration of the nation. 



RESPONSE BY COL. GEORGE W. GOETHALS, 

 U. S. ARMY 



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 Na- 

 tional Geographic Society and the dis- 

 tinguished manner in which the presen- 

 tation of the medal has been made. This 

 medal represents the satisfaction of the 

 National Geographic Society at the prac- 

 tical completion of the canal and its ap- 

 proval 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 Eng- 

 lish we probably would not have known 

 the means of eradicating malaria; the 

 death rate would have been great. 

 Among individuals we have national rep- 

 resentatives in the Spanish and the Eng- 

 lish in our laboring force. 



The canal has been the work of many, 

 and it has been the pride of the Amer- 

 icans 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- 



