30 McGEE MEMORIAL MEETING 



utilization of the rivers in the United States for many years to come. 

 The appointment of the Inland Waterways Commission led to the 

 voyages of two Presidents down the Mississippi River under the 

 auspices of this Association and as its guests. The wide and benef- 

 icent increase of public interest in navigation which these journeys 

 produced was molded largely through the wise guidance of Doctor 

 McGee into a national policy of waterway development. Without 

 Doctor McGee's participation these achievements would have been 

 impossible. 



The same is true of the great meeting of Governors in the White 

 House which awakened the nation to the impending exhaustion of 

 its natural resources. This meeting, doubtless the most remarkable 

 ever held in the White House, and one of the most influential in 

 American history, was in its conception and plan, largely the work of 

 Doctor McGee. 



Courteous, modest, eager for the success and recognition of others 

 rather than himself, Doctor McGee was generous beyond measure 

 in giving help to every good cause, and in opening the resources of 

 his marvelous knowledge and his powerfully creative mind to every 

 fellow worker. 



We mourn his loss both personally, and because he was the bene- 

 factor of his country and the friend of every effort to uplift man- 

 kind. 



We rejoice at the result of his labors, which will survive to benefit 

 the people of America and of the world for uncounted generations. 



From the Mississippi Valley Historical Association: 



The Mississippi Valley Historical Association desires to express its 

 high appreciation of the services of the late Doctor W J McGee. 

 His work as a geologist, and especially his extensive geological survey 

 of northeastern Iowa, was of a high order of excellence and of his- 

 torical as well as scientific value. As an anthropologist and eth- 

 nologist he contributed largely to knowledge concerning the Indian 

 tribes of the Mississippi Valley, a field in which this Association has 

 always taken a great interest. Finally, his services in the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and on the Inland Waterways Commission can 



