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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



SECRETARY BRYAN 



It might be expected that all Amer- 

 icans 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 conjunc- 

 tion, 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 out- 

 side 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 fortu- 

 nate in having as the spokesman of that 

 nation one who can speak so sympathet- 

 ically to our people, while with such 

 fidelity he represents his own. 



The National Geographic Society has 

 asked me to present a certificate of hon- 

 orary membership to the gentleman 

 whom I am about to call upon. It is pre- 

 sented 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 pre- 

 sent 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 ERENCH 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 mem- 

 bers 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- 

 servedncss. 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 ex- 

 plorers : to ride, swim, jump, climb, and 

 even walk. Thus, when small boys, carry- 

 ing 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-of- 

 the-way place in his country, none be- 

 tween us four could remember more than 

 half the word railway. Bisen came to 

 the mind of one of us, and nothing fur- 

 ther. We missed our train, and shall 

 never forget that the whole word is 

 Bisenhahn. 



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 com- 

 mended, 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 Ma- 

 homet, 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 des- 

 erts, and behold, here they come in their 

 true shape and colors ! 



In my undeservedness one thing pleases 



