14 McGEE MEMORIAL MEETING 



I believe in this novel concept of anthropology which he formu- 

 lated, and for which he strove with never-ceasing ardor, lies his great- 

 est contribution to anthropology. True to the best traditions of 

 productive scientific work, he gave the men who worked with him the 

 greatest possible freedom in carrying out the work in their charge, 

 while he himself was planning to develop the anthropological work 

 of the Government so as to fulfill the larger mission that he had in 

 mind. The task entrusted to the Bureau is the recording of the 

 earliest history of our country as preserved in pre-historic remains, 

 in the bodily appearance of the Indians, in their living tradition, in 

 their languages and customs. He fully recognized the duty that we 

 owe to our descendants, as well as to the whole civilized world, of 

 gathering these data, that are all too rapidlly disappearing; that we 

 must not expose our generation to the reproach of having neglected 

 our duty to posterity by failing in this work an omission that no 

 future regrets can ever make good, for after our generation the very 

 basis of work of this kind will have disappeared. 



However, Me Gee saw further than this. The forces that are ac- 

 tive in the primitive society of America are still at work, and come 

 into play in the absorption of our immigrant population; in the rela- 

 tions between white, negro, Indian, and Mongol; in the economic 

 conflicts of the day; in the biological conditions of modern life; in 

 the deleterious and beneficial effects of changed modes of nutrition 

 and living; in the inheritance of valuable strains; and the elimination 

 or preservation of the weak. The necessity of solving national prob- 

 lems by means of anthropological research, that during the last few 

 years has come to be recognized most clearly in England, stood out 

 before his mind as an end towards which an anthropological bureau 

 supported by the Government should strive. His recognition of the 

 problem was clear. He expressed his idea once in this form: "We 

 try to conserve our natural resources. Anthropology must do its 

 share for the conservation of human energy. It is our duty to find 

 out how this can be done." His thoughts were largely devoted to 

 the question how to build up a scientific bureau that could realize 

 these aims. He was clear in his mind that scientific painstaking re- 

 searches had to be the basis of this work, and it was his desire to 

 have anthropological work organized on this wider basis. 



