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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



its suburbs. The discovery of phenom- 

 enal bodies of oil at Beaumont in 1901 

 gave wide fame to the little coastal plain 

 settlement. 



Texas is well supplied with railroads, 

 with mileage greater than that of any 

 other State. Today it has a total of 15,- 

 322 miles, comprising transcontinental 

 lines and many local connecting roads. 

 However, there are still some large areas 

 that lack desired railroad facilities. The 

 increase in mileage has been rapid, rising 

 from 711 miles in 1870 to 9,784 miles in 

 1900, 11,775 miles in 1905, 14,000 miles 

 in 191 1, and 15,322 miles in 1913. 



Many millions have already been spent 

 improving rivers and harbors in Texas 

 and a large amount of work of this char- 

 acter is still in progress or projected. 

 Parts of the coastal plain are being 

 dredged and bays and channels deepened 

 (see also pages 1353 and 1355). 



Considerable progress has been made 

 on parts of the intercoastal plain canal, 

 to extend from the mouth of the Rio 

 Grande to the west coast of Florida. 

 This will give a protected course along 

 the Gulf coast, partly in the many long 

 bays and partly in canals through the 

 lowlands. 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 



THE program of the meetings of the So- 

 ciety for 1913-1914 is printed below. 

 All these lectures, with one or two ex- 

 ceptions, will be published in early numbers 

 of the Nationai, Geographic Magazine. 



November 14. — "Personal Observations and 

 Incidents of Travel." By Judge William H. 

 Taft. In this lecture the ex-President dealt 

 with conditions in the Philippines, Japan, and 

 China as he observed them during his term as 

 Governor General of the Philippines and on 

 his two journeys around the world. 



November 21. — "The Grand Canyon." By 

 Emery C. Kolb. Mr. Kolb and his brother 

 made an adventurous trip through the Grand 

 Canyon of the Colorado in a small boat, ac- 

 companied by a moving-picture machine. This 

 trip was difficult and dangerous in the extreme. 



November 28. — "The Panama Canal." By 

 Col. William L. Sibert, U. S. A., member of 

 the Isthmian Canal Commission and Engineer- 

 in-Charge of the Atlantic division of the Pan- 

 ama Canal. 



December 5. — "The Philippines." By Hon. 

 Dean C. Worcester. There is probably no 

 hving American who has as intimate a knowl- 

 edge of the Philippines as Professor Wor- 

 cester. 



December 12. — "Our Islands through a Mo- 

 tion-picture Camera." By O. P. Austin, Sec- 

 retary of the National Geographic Society. 



December 19. — "The No, the Classic Drama 

 of Japan." By Mrs. Elsie Blattner. Mrs. 

 Blattner will be assisted by her daughter. Miss 

 Clara Blattner, who speaks Japanese fluently. 



January 9, 4 p. m. — Annual meeting of the 

 National Geographic Society at the home of 

 the Society, on the Avenue of the Presidents. 



January 9. — "Mexico." By Frederick I. Mon- 

 sen. 



January 16. — The Hon. William J. Bryan, 

 Secretary of State, will deliver an address to 

 the National Geographic Society on some sub- 

 ject to be announced later. 



January 23. — "Alaska-Siberia Big Game 

 Hunting." By Capt. F. E. Kleinschmidt. 



January 30. — "China." By E. T. Williams, 

 Charge d'Affaires in Peking. 



February 6. — "The Phoenician, Roman, and 

 Byzantine Ruins of Africa (Tunisia)." By 

 Frank Edward Johnson. 



February 13. — "Savages and Semi-Savages; 

 Singhalese and Javanese, Malays, Tibetans, and 

 Dyaks." By Dr. C. William Beebe, Curator 

 of Ornithology of the New York Zoological 

 Park. 



February 20. — "Rural England and Scot- 

 land." By E. M. Newman. 



February 25. — Mrs. Harriet Chalmers Adams 

 will deliver a lecture on this date, the subject 

 of her address to be announced later. 



February 27. — "Personal Observations and 

 Incidents of Travel." By Judge William H. 

 Taft. In his second lecture the ex-President 

 will discuss his experiences in Cuba, Siberia, 

 Russia, and his stay in Rome while engaged 

 in settling the question of the Friars' Lands in 

 the Philippines. 



March 6. — Mr. George Kennan Will deliver 

 a lecture on this date, the subject to be an- 

 nounced later. 



March 13. — "Life on a Sub-Antarctic Isle." 

 By Robert Cushman Murphy, Curator, Division 

 of Mammals and Birds, Brooklyn Museum. 



March 20. — "Russia." By Dr. Edwin A. 

 Grosvenor, Professor of Modern Government 

 and International Law in Amherst College, 

 author of "Constantinople," "Contemporary 

 History," etc. 



March 27. — "Geographic Influences in Ja- 

 pan." By Miss Ellen Churchill Semple, author 

 of "Influences of Geographic Environment," 

 "American History and Its Geographic Con- 

 ditions," etc. 



April 3. — "Camps and Cruises of an Orni- 

 thologist." By Frank M. Chapman, Curator 

 of Ornithology of the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York. 



April 10. — "My Wild Animal Guests." By 

 Ernest Harold Baynes. 



April 17. — Col. Theodore Roosevelt will de- 

 liver an address before the members of the 

 National Geographic Society on some topic 

 connected with his explorations in South Amer- 

 ica. This will be Colonel Roosevelt's first 

 address on his return from South America. 



