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The National Geographic Magazinf 



the dignification of man and the empire 

 of justice and the right to work out his 

 own destiny without the tutelage of kings 

 or classes or any other sovereignty than 

 that of citizen and ballot. 



We are thankful and render our tribute 

 of admiration to the history and civiliza- 

 tion of Europe ; we study the books of 

 her thinkers; enjoy the magnificent 

 works of her artists, of her poets, and of 

 all those who have so highly elevated the 

 intellectual level of mankind. We desire 

 and solicit the concourse of her noble 

 races ; but in the political order the whole 

 America is destined to be the throne of 

 liberty and right, where mankind will ad- 

 vance to the highest ideals of his divine 



mission in the world. And when the bar- 

 rier separating this grand Republic from 

 her sisters of the South is removed by 

 the completion of the Panama Canal, the 

 two great oceans made one, it is neces- 

 sary that the bonds of union and of mu- 

 tual interest and respect be already estab- 

 lished on the firm basis of peace and 

 justice. 



The Panama Canal will open a new 

 horizon to commerce, and it might be 

 said that it will be the material consecra- 

 tion of the Monroe Doctrine, which ex- 

 cludes conquest from America, where, 

 under the inspiration of democracy, free- 

 dom, and justice, the Christian brother- 

 hood of mankind will be perpetuated. 



OUR HERALDS OF STORM AND FLOOD* 



Being an Account of the Various Activities of the 



United States Weather Bureau in Saving 



Life and Property 



By Gilbert H. Grosvenor 



WE Americans are always talk- 

 ing about our mountains of 

 gold and coal and iron, of 

 our fat fields of corn and wheat, but few 

 of us ever realize that we have in our 

 climate a great advantage over all other 

 nations. In the cold wave which in 

 summer and winter so often sweeps 

 across the land and sends the thermome- 

 ter tumbling thirty degrees in almost 

 as many minutes, we have a constant, a 

 never-diminishing asset of priceless 

 value. The wave acts as a tonic, but, 

 unlike any tonic made by man, it carries 

 no reaction. No other land has cold 

 waves like ours. To the cold, dry air 



of this periodic cold wave, which brings 

 extraordinary changes of temperature, 

 we owe much of the keen, alert mind, the 

 incessant, unremitting energy of our 

 American race. I had asked the Chief 

 of the United States Weather Bureau, 

 Professor Willis L. Moore, what was the 

 most remarkable feature of our climate, 

 and that was substantially his reply. 



When the amazed European asks us 

 what makes the sluggish mind of the 

 immigrant to stir and waken in the 

 United States, and then to climb, at first 

 hesitatingly, but soon with vigor and con- 

 fidence, to the top round in the ladder of 

 success, we are accustomed to reply, "It's 



* This article is reprinted from The Century Magazine by courtesy of the Century Co., 

 and is here given as one of the series in the National Geographic Magazine describing the 

 work of the scientific departments of the United States government, other articles in the 

 series bemg "Millions for Moisture" (describing the work of the United States Reclamation 

 Service), "Reclaiming the Swamp Lands of the United States," "Our Fish Immigrants," 

 "Savuig the Forests," etc., etc. The article and illustrations are copyrighted by the Century Co. 



