090 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



me — that which has made up for my lack 

 of merit — namely, your friendly disposi- 

 tion 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 explor- 

 ing spirit of the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries. 



France has produced new Eaudonieres, 

 new Carriers, new Ea Salles, new Cham- 

 plains. 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, arche- 

 ologists, 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 machin- 

 ery, 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 yel- 

 low 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 regula- 

 tions 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 com- 

 pletion or the strength of character in 

 one man's breast, which set in motion 

 and regulated the forces used in the per- 

 fecting 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 com- 

 pleted, we are not quite through. No 

 one will be called upon for a speech, al- 

 though there is one subject that has not 

 yet been presented — the happy coinci- 

 dence 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 Presi- 

 dent has spoken for all the people of the 

 United States in presenting this medal of 

 honor. I am sure that you desire to ex- 

 press yourselves, each one for himself or 

 herself, and I am sure that you will wel- 

 come 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 ap- 

 propriate occasion, I ask you to rise and 

 drink to the life, health, and prosperity 

 of Colonel and Mrs. Goethals. 



