138 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



No one has more reason than the geologist to beUeve that wise 

 utilization of nature is essential, now that man the engineer has 

 become so effective a geologic agent ; nor can the geologist overlook 

 the need of a social organization that will adequately serve the 

 larger and higher demands of humanity, now that man himself 

 controls in large part the adaptation of this earth to man in his 

 further evolution. We believe that the Golden Age is in the future, 

 but it will be of man's own making. 



This tribute was paid a year ago to the work of the geologist and 

 engineer by one in high official position who has a vision of things 

 as they are and are to be — Secretary Lane : '' This is a glorious 

 battle in which you are fighting — the geologist who reads the 

 hieroglyphs that nature has written, the miner who is the Columbus 

 of the world underground, the engineer, the chemist, and the 

 inventor who out of curiosity plus courage plus imagination fashion 

 the swords of a triumphing civilization. Indeed, it is hardly too 

 much to say that the extent of man's domain and his tenure of the 

 earth rest with you." 



Keeping in mind these thoughts of the larger things of time and 

 space, I desire to mention what may be termed the professional 

 obligations of geologists. As scientists, working in a practical world 

 on problems that have come to have very practical bearings, we may 

 need to take special care that our scientific ideals be not lowered. 

 As an associate in a large group of geologists I have been proud to 

 see the science of geology win this larger recognition in the market 

 place, for I hope to see our science cooperate in the further raising 

 of business ideals. There can, however, be no double standard for 

 geologists — one for guidance in research work in pure science, 

 the other for purposes of professional exigency. As geology enters 

 into the larger sphere of usefulness, there naturally come to the 

 geologist opportunities somewhat different from those of the labora- 

 tory or lecture room. The profession in its newxr activities 

 encounters stresses for which new factors of safety must be figured. 

 As I look at the demands now made upon geologists, the temptation 

 to lower our ideals comes not so much when our task is to find some- 

 thing as when we may be called upon to prove something. 



The geologist sent to South America to determine the extent of 

 an ore body or to Oklahoma to discover an oil pool must needs 

 bring into play every resource of a trained mind in order to wrest 

 the truth from secretive nature. This is a contest which calls for 

 geologic science at its best and in which scientific ideals are in no 

 danger. A demand of another kind, however, is made upon the 



