362 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1423 



GEOGRAPHY AS A PROFESSION 



INTEODUCTION 



Modern geography is a yoiing science, and 

 usually college students know little of its eon- 

 tent. If they think of it at all, it is usually as 

 a subject which they were forced to study when 

 young, but sloughed off when they became men. 

 They do not recognize that the causal element 

 now stressed so strongly has given it a content 

 which has placed geography in the university 

 curriculum and added greatly to its practical 

 worth. 



RELATION TO OTHER SCIENCES 



The first point to appreciate is that a liking 

 for geology, physics, biology, mathematics, as- 

 tronomy, history, economics, anthropology, or 

 ethnology, excludes no one from becoming a 

 geographer. Geography is not an isolated 

 science. It is an intensively interlocking com- 

 bination of other sciences directed towards a 

 broad, but specific field of study. The great 

 war, if it has proven anything, has proven that 

 geography and its ramifications present prob- 

 lems worthy of the keenest and best trained in- 

 tellects of the day. The fact that geography is 

 now understood to be of value in settling dis- 

 putes between new states, in understanding the 

 possibilities of commerce open to this nation's 

 newly created merchant marine, and in inter- 

 preting to the advantage of all concerned the 

 prides, prejudices, and virtues of those with 

 whom foreign trade does or may bring close 

 contact, has added greatly to the prestige of 

 the science and those professing it. 



OPPORTUNITIES IN GEOGRAPHY 



Several types of employment are open to the 

 geographer. The following list is not ex- 

 haustive, but suggests the major opportunities 

 offered. 



1. The government now recognizes as never 

 before the value of trained geographers. There 

 can be little doubt but that its need of such 

 men will increase. 



2. Map-publishing houses must employ 

 skilled geographers. 



3. Great corporations, commission houses, 

 and banks, as the United States expands its 

 foreign trade, are recognizing more and more 



the necessity of having trained geographers on 

 their staffs. Certain banks have found it nec- 

 essary to establish their own schools in order 

 to give adequate geographic training to men in 

 whose charge they wish to place their foreign 

 branches. 



4. Although the world is commonly thought 

 of as pretty well explored, the facts are that 

 many large areas even on our own continent 

 are known only very superficially. Skilled 

 geographers are needed to accompany scientific 

 exploring expeditions, and with the increasing 

 need of tropical products, the demand for such 

 men will increase. 



5. Men can not take advantage of the pre- 

 ceding opportunities without adequate training. 

 At this present moment, universities are hand- 

 icapped in giving this because of the lack of 

 trained teachers. The supply by no means 

 meets the demand. The student who prepares 

 himself to teach university geography is taking 

 advantage of one of the best opportunities in 

 the entire pedagogical field and rapid promo- 

 tion is certain for him if he deserves it. 



TTPES OP INVESTIGATION POSSIBLE 



The main types of investigation possible are 

 as numerous as are the sciences allied to geog- 

 raphy, with almost innumerable subordinate 

 lines under each. A study of the table of con- 

 tents of a half dozen leading geographical jour- 

 nals at home and abroad will give some idea of 

 their variety. Within their covers will be 

 found studies of all phases of weather and 

 climate, of the physics of the atmosphere, of 

 map-making and map-interpretation; explana- 

 tions of the distribution of the races and lan- 

 guages of man, and of the relations between 

 man and his natural surroundings; discussion 

 of why some countries are great and others 

 weak; accounts of exploration; reasons for the 

 courses and materials of trade; and the whys 

 and wherefores of the surface of the land and 

 the bottom of the sea. This is just a hint of 

 the variety of interesting, instructive, and 

 profitable studies which come to the geographer. 



COMPENSATION 



Few geographers will become rich. The de- 

 sire for wealth can never be the compelling 



