COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL 267 



EVENING OP APRIL 6TH 



Dr. Paul Ritter, Minister of Switzerland: Hassler, the organizer of 

 the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



The Minister of Switzerland said that he owed his presence at the 

 banquet to the circumstance that the first Superintendent of the Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey was the Swiss engineer, Ferdinand R. Hassler. 

 He sketched the life and career of Mr. Hassler in Switzerland, his native 

 land, and also in the United States, to which country he migrated in 

 order to satisfy his desire for wider fields of activity. In 1807 Hassler 

 submitted a plan to Congress for the survey of the coasts, which was 

 adopted. In 1816 he was appointed Superintendent of the Coast 

 Survey, and in that year field work was begun. 



Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy: The cooperation 

 of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey with the Navy. 



The Secretary of the Navy spoke of the cooperation between the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Navy and called particular atten- 

 tion to the fact that for a number of years naval officers were detailed 

 for duty in the Survey, where they had charge of the vessels engaged 

 upon the hydrographic work. When the Spanish war began, the naval 

 officers returned to the regular naval duties on the fleets. Since that 

 time all of the work of the Survey has been done by civilians. 



Hon. William C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce: The scope and 

 needs of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



The address of the Secretary of Commerce was a tribute to the mem- 

 bers of the Survey and a plea for support for the Survey by the public 

 and by Congress, in order that it might be able to render still greater 

 usefulness to the nation in the safeguarding of ships and lives on the 

 oceans and in assisting in the development of the country. 



Dr. T. C. Mendenhall, former Superintendent of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey: The superintendents of the United States Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. 



Dr. Mendenhall took as his theme the salient features of the careers 

 of the various superintendents of the Survey, starting with Hassler. 

 He sketched the development and progress of the Survey during its 

 one hundred years of existence and expressed the hope that its work 

 during the next century might compare in character Avith that of the 

 first one. 



The President of the United States: The scientific spirit of the 

 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



During the course of his address, in referring to the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, the President said: 



"This is one of the few branches of the public service in which the 

 motives of those who are engaged cannot be questioned. There is 

 something very intensely appealing to the imagination in the intellec- 

 tual ardor which men bestow upon scientific inquiry. No social ad- 

 vantage can be gained by it. No pecuniary advantage can be gained 

 by it. In most cases no personal distinction can be gained by it. It is 



