HONORS TO COLONEL GOETHALS 



687 



SECRETARY BRYAN 



To build this canal it was not only nec- 

 essary 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 

 purse. 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 Na- 

 tional 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 al- 

 ready 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 neces- 

 sary for the construction and the opera- 

 tion 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 Representa- 

 tives on the committee having jurisdic- 

 tion 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 under- 

 taking of this government by the govern- 

 ment 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 



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 under- 

 taking. 



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 sin- 

 gle 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 em- 

 ployee 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 enter- 

 prise, upon the American people, upon 

 humanity, upon our own government, be- 

 cause 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. 



