[Gutenberg 64349] • In Quest of El Dorado

Excerpt from In Quest of El Dorado

Throughout the descriptions and interpretations, endeavor is made to measure the quest for power and the quest of gold in all these countries and territories.' I have not visited the republics south of Panama, but have confined myself to what an American general has called the necklace of the Caribbean - the potential American dominion of the future. The drive of events is making dem ocratic America into an empire. An imperial role is almost unavoidable. I have not, however, thought it necessary either to criticize or approve imperialism. I have made an Odyssey and I tell what I saw, not as Ulysses would have told it, but as one of those who at many points was ready to eat the lotus and not too mindful of Ithaca and home.

My thanks are due to the New York Evening Post, which published many letters from far-ofi places, and to the American Legion Weekly, which, under the title of Panama and pan-america, published my essay on the Canal.