THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
291 
feel promptings within my heart, when 
I feel my thoughts and sentiments rising 
and asking for a fuller expression in the 
presence of so distinguished and so cos- 
mopolitan a company as this. And then 
we do miss it as a nation. 
A poet of the British Isles, singing of 
the freedom of the Swiss mountain- 
dwellers, has written, 
"Two voices are there : one is of the sea. 
One of the mountains — each a mighty voice." 
Now it is superfluous for me to re- 
mind the members of the National Geo- 
graphic Society that Japan is only sea 
and mountains. Conclusion : that the 
voices of Japan should be doubly audi- 
ble. Yes, I believe that her voice is 
audible, even at a distance separated by 
half the convex world. 
But sometimes, in being carried over 
the wide ocean, it may sound a little 
raucous, as if the speaker had caught 
cold in the dampness ; or sometimes, 
passing through the dry atmosphere of 
this continent, it may sound husky, as 
though it had proceeded from a rasping 
-sore throat. Geographical conditions 
certainly affect the human voice. But 
the worst thing is that, for the want of 
a proper kind of phone, the words which 
the voice tries to convey may too often 
not be clear enough, and this want may 
become serious when our Oriental lan- 
guage, reaching the Pacific Coast, must 
first be translated by patriotic American 
citizens, so called, who somehow do not 
speak English themselves. 
There is a term in our Japanese vo- 
cabulary which is of every-day use. It 
is not a new word, either. A shrill, 
screeching voice is called "ki-iro-no- 
koye/' which, literally translated, means 
yellow-colored voice ; a voice indicative 
of excitement, or lunacy. Self-respect 
demands that we close our ears to it, 
whether it proceeds from that or this 
side of the Pacific Ocean. 
I wish the American people would 
listen to the normal, sane, genuine voice 
of our people ; for. with or without in- 
terpretation, you can easily understand 
that the burden of its message is heart- 
felt greetings to America, expressions 
of unalloyed good will, of traditional 
friendship, of respect for your country, 
of admiration for the name of Wash- 
ington, adoration for Lincoln, and God- 
speed to the arbitration scheme of Presi- 
dent Taft. 
If there is no immediate prospect of 
regaining the lost art of that pentecostal 
day, I must beg the National Geographic 
Society to clarify the atmosphere of the 
Pacific Ocean, so that messages can be 
transmitted unimpaired. I believe geog- 
raphy owes much to language, and it 
ought to do what it can to alleviate the 
imperfections and inconveniences of 
tongues. 
It is written that with the confusion 
of tongues among the builders of the 
Tower of Babel, the settlement of new 
countries — in other words, geographical 
exploration and colonization — began. 
Dr. Wiley has just told us that it was 
in search of food that migration began ; 
but, according to the good old Book, it 
seems that migration began for another 
reason, namely, simply because the peo- 
ple could not understand each other. It 
is not at all impossible that the two 
causes of the dispersion of the race were 
closely related. It often happens that 
hungry people fail to understand each 
other ! 
If history repeats itself, I take it for 
granted that it is the rules and excep- 
tions of English grammar which are 
largely responsible for the expansion of 
the English-speaking race. But I am 
afraid that geography rather delights in 
setting bounds for dialects and lan- 
guages, and therefore I hold geography 
responsible for the present state of lin- 
guistic confusion. 
Pending the invention of the new 
phone or the return of Pentecost, why 
should not geography, national or inter- 
national, put forth an effort to satisfy 
the demands for universal communica- 
tion and communion? And this is my 
message and this is my question: What 
will geography do? What will the Na- 
tional Geographic Society do for the 
promotion of a better understanding of 
peoples and nations that do not exactly 
comprehend each other's language when, 
as we say, jingoes speak in yellow- 
colored voices? 
