176 GROVE KARL GILBERT— DAVIS IM ' M0,B "& A ™xt 



If he had cared less for the scientific contents of the pile of tracts he might have made a 

 better beggar; but his preference for science was so pronounced that even while the survey disaster 

 was approaching he gave such time as he could take from his administrative duties to the prosecu- 

 tion of his own studies, not to the persuasion of the Congressmen. 



It was indeed during the very period when the political attack upon the survey in Congress 

 was at its height that Gilbert calmly spent many evenings at the Naval Observatory in 

 Washington, studying our nearest neighbor. These evenings were about as far from congres- 

 sional lobbying as can be imagined, although even there Gilbert might, had such been his dis- 

 position and habit, have deftly put in a good word for the survey when he met "obstructive" 

 Congressmen, who apparently ranked above a mere geologist when it came to a seat at the great 

 telescope for a sight of celestial scenery. Some of the Congressmen, however, seem to have been 

 better tacticians than he was; for, as he afterwards wrote in high glee to an intimate corre- 

 spondent, one of the national legislators, waxing eloquent in the course of his denunciations of 

 geological depravity during a congressional debate, said : 



So useless has the survey become that one of its most distinguished members has no better way to employ 

 his time than to sit up all night gaping at the moon. 



It had been of course Powell's duty as director of the survey to meet congressional com- 

 mittees, and he had for years been extraordinarily successful in securing their support for 

 appropriations sufficient to carry on all the work that he wished to undertake. But in the 

 summer of 1892 his arm, partly amputated 30 years before after a wound received in the Civil 

 War, gave him much pain, and the suffering thus caused made it difficult for him to present 

 his case as effectively as before. He failed that year to overcome the opposition excited by the 

 selfish interests of men who were rapidly growing rich by the unrestricted use of the public 

 domain and the material resources of the West ; and although the amount of money assigned for 

 topographic surveys was not seriously cut down, the share of the appropriation available for 

 geology was greatly reduced. 



The reduction was all the more calamitous because congressional action regarding it was 

 unduly delayed. Although the probability of reduction was foreseen late in July, the appro- 

 priation bill was not finally enacted till August 5, when field work, authorized some time before 

 on the expectation that the usual amount of money would be available, was in active progress 

 by a number of divisions of the geologic branch in all parts of the country. It therefore fell to 

 Gilbert's lot immediately to countermand by telegrams and letters the orders that had previously 

 been given. Field parties were directed to stop work at once and to prepare for record or publica- 

 tion such results as had been gathered. Indeed the manner in which the reduced appropriation 

 was allotted by Congress to specified purposes apparently made it necessary to dispense with the 

 services of a number of highly valued members of the survey, who must have been shocked 

 indeed to receive communications, dated August 6, from the chief geologist, couched in the 

 following terms: 



Letters have been to-day prepared notifying a large number of geologists and assistants that their resigna- 

 tions will be requested after an allowance of time to put their field material in shape for permanent record. 

 I write unofficially to say for your information that such a request will be made of you, but at present the matter 

 is undecided. Sincerely regretting that there should be any question of the ability of the Geological Survey to 

 continue its agreeable and profitable relations with you, I remain ... 



Little wonder that the late summer of 1892 is recalled by the survey members of that period 

 as a time of trouble and distress, even though the reduction of their numbers was not after- 

 wards carried out in so drastic a manner as at first seemed necessary. Those who were in the 

 field at the time suffered the pangs of uncertainty as to 'their future occupation and livelihood ; 

 the mental anxiety of the few in Washington was made the harder to bear by a canicular spell 

 of excessive heat such as gives that city an unenviable reputation in the late summer. One 

 of Gilbert's personal letters tells the story briefly: 



We are just through the hottest week the Weather Bureau has ever recorded for Washington. We are in 

 mourning because Congress has voted so little money for geology that half our corps must be discharged before 

 the year is through. The planning for readjustment is tiring in more senses than one. 



