782 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 490. 



it is cleai'ly within the bounds of pro- 

 priety for the people to determine for 

 themselves what their natural advantages 

 are, for their own enlightenment, for the 

 education of the younger generation and 

 for the development of the industries yet 

 in infancy on a basis made from scientific 

 study. I should make it more emphatic. 

 It is not only within the bounds of pro- 

 priety for the citizens of the state to do 

 this, but it is their duty to promote the 

 knowledge of their own material resources. 

 We need people ; there is no doubt of that. 

 The state can easily support a population 

 of several millions when its soil is under 

 cultivation, when its orchards are bearing, 

 when its new mines are opened up for full 

 work and its other industries have devel- 

 oped. We need people, and we need them 

 badly. We need capital also. This will 

 come as soon as it is demonstrated that in- 

 vestment will be safe. But we are here, 

 a quarter of a million of us. We are here, 

 for the most part, to stay. The state's 

 geological wealth and natural history 

 wealth are the property of the people, and 

 the people know little about it. It is not 

 good business to be possessed of valuable 

 property withoiit making strenuous efforts 

 to know something about the property. 



Professor J. M. Hamilton said recently, 

 in speaking to the students of the Univer- 

 sity of Montana, that the chief aim in our 

 system of education should be to develop 

 our resources and to know them, and that 

 this will require the highest type of brain 

 work. The resources are so varied that 

 wide latitude may be had in the selection 

 of work. The conditions are so varying 

 that the greatest intelligence is necessary 

 to carry on work which in other states re- 

 quires little thought. The farmer must be 

 an intelligent man and a student in order 

 to handle water properly, so as to get the 

 best results. The miner must be more 

 than a laborer. He must know chemistry 



and physics. Every man must know more 

 than is demanded of him by his daily work. 

 He must have a big reserve. 



The best men for developing the indus- 

 tries of the state will come from the youth 

 of the state itself, if they are given the 

 same facilities for carrying on their studies 

 as are given their eastern competitors. 

 These facilities are fast being supplied by 

 the state institutions for higher education, 

 which are now giving strong competition 

 to the older and more widely known insti- 

 tutions. Add to this equipment the knowl- 

 edge that may be had through daily eon- 

 tact with home conditions through the 

 formative period of youth, and the young 

 man will have the best equipment for his 

 work that can be had. 



The drift of my thought you have no 

 doubt long since gathered. I am arguing 

 for a geological and natural history sur- 

 vey by the state, for and by the people 

 of the state and for outsiders if they wish 

 to come into the state. We should have it. 

 I believe we can have it, but we must work 

 for it. 



The history of the surveys of older 

 states, and the reports printed, are ample 

 proof of their utility. The value of a 

 survey is beyond question. Granting that 

 it should be established, the next step is to 

 determine the breadth of the movement, 

 the scope of the work, the policy to be 

 pursued and the expense involved. 



The survey should begin modestly, not 

 attempting too much, developing plans 

 slowly. Its board of directors should be 

 entirely free from polities, and should in- 

 clude representatives from the various 

 state institutions, and should include the 

 governor of the state as chairman or presi- 

 dent of the board. The bill recently 

 drafted for the Wisconsin survey is a good 

 model for use. All the institutions inter- 

 ested and all the scientific bodies should 

 be made to feel that they are to have a 



