Apeil 7, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



363 



reason for entering this subject any more than 

 others. There are, however, varied reasons why 

 a young man may well consider it as a life 

 pursuit. 



1. Vigor of body is the rtatural reward of 

 the active geographer. This needs no amplifi- 

 cation. 



2. The geographer is brought into intimate 

 contact with many lines of human interest and 

 endeavor. Soils, crops, commerce, landscapes, 

 weather, all kinds of natural resources, both 

 developed and potential, interest him. And, if 

 he travels, as he must to progress far in his 

 science, he gains an insight into the hearts of 

 men and nations second to none. The geog- 

 rapher becomes in reality a "citizen of the 

 world" with much power to promote interna- 

 tional understanding and good-will. 



3. The modern science is young — younger 

 even than its sister science, geology. Two im- 

 portant results follow : 



(a) The opportunities for employment are 

 numerous. Those who enter the subject now 

 are on the "ground floor" as it were, in a 

 movement which promises to be of much edu- 

 cational and economic importance. 



(&) The opportunities for original discov- 

 eries and contributions are great. With their 

 accomplishment comes the reward which the 

 consciousness of having added to human knowl- 

 edge always brings. The full power of this 

 needs to be experienced to be understood. 

 There is also the additional satisfaction which 

 comes from being a pioneer in the development 

 of new aspects of an important subject. 



These advantages are on the whole quite sim- 

 ilar to those of geology. In this connection, it 

 may be interesting to know that while numer- 

 ous men enter geology from other subjects, few 

 leave it — and of those who do, by far the larger 

 number change into this closely allied science, 

 geography. The application of the broad learn- 

 ing of many years to a study which opens 

 unlimited possibilities for bringing to man- 

 kind material prosperity, mutual good-will and 

 friendly understanding, is intensely fascinat- 

 ing to the maturing man who feels a call to 

 serve humanity, yet desires to labor and in- 

 vestigate in his chosen fields of science. Any 



young man who has seriously thought of scien- 

 tific work as an attractive life profession must 

 find in geography an appeal which merits his 

 careful consideration. 



H. P. Little 

 National Eeseakch Council 



VIENNA 



While in Vienna last summer I was like 

 other visitors deeply impressed with the 

 supreme importance to the world of the prob- 

 lem of relieving this sadly stricken capital. At 

 that time the exchange rate for the Austrian 

 crown was about 600 to the dollar and it has 

 since fallen to a rate of 10,000 to the dollar. 

 The average salary of the professional man 

 even six months ago was only the equivalent 

 of between $100 and $200 a year, and the 

 recent financial panic has brought the intel- 

 lectual worker to straits which are almost 

 beyond belief. 



There are, it seems to me, three reasons why 

 the situation in Vienna makes a unique appeal 

 to the professional men and women of America. 

 In the first place the actual suffering is far 

 greater in Austria than in any other country 

 outside of Russia. In the second place, there 

 is at stake here not only the life and health of 

 individuals but the life of a civilization, one of 

 the most liberal and enlightened in the world. 

 The universities and schools of Vienna have 

 for centuries been the eastern outposts of the 

 intellectual Ufe of western Europe and in 

 music, in medicine, and in many other arts and 

 sciences her contribution has been unrivalled. 

 In the third place, a peculiar responsibility 

 rests upon America in this connection because 

 the recent panic would have been entirely pre- 

 vented if the congress of the United States had 

 not delayed for six months the passage of the 

 foreign debt funding bill which was essential 

 to the carrying out of the Ter Meulen plan for 

 the financial rehabilitation of Austria. 



We can take great pride in what has been 

 done by the American Relief Administration, 

 the American Red Cross and the Friends Relief 

 Mission to mitigate the suffering of the people 

 of Vienna. . With the passage of time, how- 

 ever, it is natural that the enthusiasm of 



