CraOSaS W. GOETHALS 219 •held bf ins f dDbw students. Mmut men esoel in one of these dreetkais, but few in all of them, as Goethals did. As to BcdiolarBhqi, Goethals stood number two in a class of Sfty-iaoT men. Meai hi^iest in rank are ehosen for the oorps of fiigrnfiffrB; of Goe&als^s class onhr two were so chosen, and be was one of Ibem. He was not only strong in sdiolaisfaip bnt be was so hi^^ily regarded by tbe taeticaJ dq»aitment tbat be was chosen in Mm last year as one of the f onr captaiTis of the cadet corps. lie first of tbese two honors may come to a man by cEnt of bard woxk, Ibe seeond is the resoH of Ibe defibeiate judgment et Ms saperiors, but the third is based soldy upon the re- spect, aJTertaon, and oonfidenee of his fellow students. And no man in his class stood as hig^ with his fellows as Goethals. A classmate told me that one of the things that chiefly dis- tingniBhed Goetbals at West Point was his feyalty to his dass; be wanted to attain success for himself, but be also wanted the whole dass to make an unexampled record. He was of- ten f mmd coaching or tutoring the less able men to bring tbem up to Ibe standard. It was no aocidait that won for Goethals the big^iest bonor within the gift of his fellow students — elee(i<m, prior to graduation, as presidoit of his dass. It is thus noteworthy that before be left West Pinnt he had already diqdayed those hig^ qna&ties of character, as distinguished from inteDeetnal brilKancy, whidi maik the tme leader. He was soondly req^ected by the men who knew him best After fortber training in the army engineering sdiool at WiDet's Point, Goetbals began the long qmrt service of the army en^neer in time of peace. He says that be got his real start iddle serving under Gcdimd Merrill at GindnnatL The mcMt unfortunate thing about you,^^ Colonel Merrill told him idien he reported, is tbat you are a lieutenant of engineers. If you can subordinate tbat fact you may sue- ceed.*' "I'm here to kam, said Goetbals. So Merrill started him at the bottom as a rodman, under trained eml engineers, and he worked Ids way up to be f ore- man«
