306 AMERICAN GEOGRAPHIC EDUCA TION 



terest of the state in the progress of education is not diminished 

 but only increased by this national policy ; and so the National 

 Capital welcomes the educators of the nation more warmly tban 

 the wise men of any other nation would be welcomed in their 

 capital; and the welcome is only the warmer still because the 

 organization of educators is voluntary and spontaneous. 



The National Capital is not without educational facilities and 

 agencies. As the nation grew, inquiries concerning resources 

 and the conditions of material development became necessary, 

 and offices of inquiry were created. Several of these offices 

 have grown into bureaus and departments, constantly at work 

 not only in increasing but also in diffusing knowledge — i. e., 

 they have become. educational institutions of the highest order. 

 As the offices grew, experts and makers of knowledge were as- 

 sembled until the National Capital became a center of practical 

 learning. In time the experts voluntarily met for mutual ben- 

 efit and grouped themselves in unofficial organizations, which 

 now stand in the front rank of learned societies of the world ; 

 and official bureaus and unofficial societies are one in purpose, 

 and that the highest within human reach— the increase and dif- 

 fusion of knowledge for human weal. 



The unprecedented growth of our national institutions of prac- 

 tical learning has been due to several causes, but especialty to 

 two — the freedom and spontaneity of knowledge under repub- 

 lican conditions, and the vast extent and varied resources of 

 the national domain. Particularly influential has been our na- 

 tional bigness. In the first place geographic ideas are daily de- 

 veloj)ed through that current news which is one of the features 

 of American life ; in the second place engineers and surveyors 

 have found full scope for their talents, and have come to lead 

 the world in railway-lajnng, bridge-building, and the inven- 

 tion of innumerable attendant devices. Then the resources of 

 our rocks have stimulated geologists, and the science has ad- 

 vanced with such giant strides that today the geology of the 

 world is shaped in America. At the same time our broad terri- 

 ton r is so conditioned with respect to continental features and 

 sources of aqueous vapor that our meteorologists have been in- 

 spired to lead the world in weather science. So, too, our eth- 

 nologists and anthropologists have profited by the unequalled 

 opportunities found in the assemblage of peoples and in the 

 range of culture-grades from savagery to enlightenment, which 

 it is theirs alone to survey, and have reconstructed the science 



