THE FIRST TRIP THROUGH THE CANAL
On August 18, 1914, the steamship Ancon made the first regular, continuous trip, with a complete cargo, through the canal, the steamer Cristobel making an experimental journey a few days previously.
The Ancon, with Colonel Goethals on the bridge, left Colon on scheduled time, passed through the locks and within ten hours entered the waters of the Pacific at Panama. And twenty-four hours after a small fleet of ships of commerce made the passage of the canal, the opening of which the world is now celebrating on the Pacific Coast.
The commendable spirit displayed by America in the opening of the canal is an indication of what may be expected in the future as far as the United States is concerned in perfecting equitable plans for international co-operation.
The New York World puts it clearly in these words: "Today the canal lies open to all the nations of the world upon equal terms. The United States has acted with entire good faith, and in the observance of its treaties discriminated against none and reserved no exclusive rights to itself. Beyond the collection of tolls, which are uniform to ships of all flags, it has assumed none of the privileges of national ownership at the expense of friends and rivals in trade. It has achieved a moral triumph no less impressive than the material victory won by its engineers over nature in the piercing of the isthmus."
THE ANCON
* * * * *
Looking through the vista
Of this earth-rent canal—a telescope,
Mirroring a city in the western skys—
Clearer, clearer, clearer, becomes the vision
Of the alluring ideal halloed by a glowing sun.
Nearer, nearer, nearer doest thou sail,
Until now behold thou doest glide
Out onto the Pacific, secure in peaceful freedom.
Until the eastern war clouds being dispelled,
On, on, on thou canst sail into the haven of the essential republic of the world.
THE ALTRUISM OF COL. GOETHALS
There is no more beautiful example in history of international altruism than that displayed by Col. G. W. Goethals, who will for all time be remembered as the one who successfully completed the Panama Canal. And if all men were like him in spirit the brotherhood of the nations would begin tomorrow.
For when the National Geographic Society honored Col. Goethals with the presentation of a medal, at its ninth annual banquet held at Washington, D.C., which was attended by the president of the United States, his cabinet and the diplomatic representatives of every great foreign nation, these are the words—entirely free from American provincialism—that the eminent engineer used in responding to the presentation of the medal by President Woodrow Wilson:
"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 National Geographic Society and the distinguished manner in which the presentation of the medal has been made. This medal represents the satisfaction of the National Geographic Society at the practical completion of the canal and its approval 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 English we probably would not have known the means of eradicating malaria; the death rate would have been great. Among individuals we have national representatives in the Spanish and the English in our laboring force.
"The canal has been the work of many, and it has been the pride of Americans who have visited the canal to find the spirit which animated the forces. * * * And so in accepting the medal and thanking the National Geographic Society for it, I accept it and thank them in the name of every member of the canal army."
Goethals is truly a world citizen. And The National Geographic Magazine well defines his spirit in these terse words describing the completion of the canal:
"Atlantic—Goethals—Pacific."
