Vol. XV, No. 10 



WASHINGTON 



October, 1904 



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ADDRESS BY COMMANDER ROBERT E. 



PEARY, U. S. N. 



President Eighth International Geographic Congress 



On the Assembling of the Congress in Washington 



September 8, 1904 



Gentlemen, Delegates, and Members of the 

 Eighth International Geographic Congress : 



FOR the first time, America wel- 

 comes you and is honored by 

 your presence. For the first 

 time we have the pride and pleasure of 

 extending a hearty greeting to our dis- 

 tinguished friends and co-workers in 

 the great mother science, gathered from 

 the civilized nations of the world. 



For the eighth time since its incep- 

 tion the International Geographic Con- 

 gress meets to note the progress of dis- 

 covery, to listen to the results of the 

 researches of its Fellows, and to suggest 

 and plan for the future. 



Seven times it has met in the great 

 capitals of Europe; now it meets in the 

 capital of your young but buxom sister 

 of America. 



Numbers of you meet here again com- 

 rades of previous Congresses. Others 

 have attended their last Congress, and 

 survive only in their works. 



Stanley and Nordenskjold, captains 

 of the tropics and the Arctic, have 



passed away in the quiet of their homes, 

 their strenuous work ended years ago. 



Daly and Du Chaillu have died amid 

 the peaceful surroundings of civiliza- 

 tion. 



Andree and Toll have met their fate 

 in the stress of struggle with the icy 

 North. 



There have been numerous ' ' world 

 happenings" since the last Congress, 

 which, while not purely geographical, 

 it may be well perhaps to note here. 



When the last Congress met a strug- 

 gle had been finished in the distant 

 East far-reaching in its effects ; the be- 

 ginning of a new policy, a new line of 

 thought and action, the first step in the 

 inevitable and inexorable destiny of 

 this country. 



At the present time another struggle 

 is going on in the same region, fateful 

 with the greatest possibilities to two of 

 our friends and neighbors. 



Since the last Congress two republics 

 have ceased to exist in Africa and a new 

 one has been born in America. 



