452 



The National Geographic Magazine 



berman, in spite of the precaution he 

 very often takes, until in many places 

 it is thought to be inevitable. These 

 are misfortunes from which the owners 

 of the forest land are the first but not 

 the only losers, for in the aggregate the 

 loss is of immense public concern. It is 



to prevent these public and private losses 

 that the Bureau offers its assistance, real- 

 izing fully that they must continue until 

 the success of some of their number 

 proves to the great mass of timberland 

 owners that improved and conservative 

 methods of lumbering will pay. 



GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



PROBLEMS OF THE FAR EAST 



ONE of the most valuable contribu- 

 tions to the understanding of the 

 world questions of the Far East is a 

 series of four monographs prepared by 

 Hon. O. P. Austin and published by the 

 Bureau of Statistics. The titles of the 

 four are : Commercial Russia in 1904, 

 Commercial Japan in 1904, Commercial 

 China in 1904, Commercial Korea in 

 1904. Each report contains an outline 

 map and includes the most authentic 

 consular reports and other documents 

 bearing on the Far East. As far as a 

 limited edition will permit, the Bureau 

 of Statistics gives the series to applicants. 



OUR CLIMATE HELPS US 



THE United States has an advantage 

 over other countries in its climate. 

 The sweep of the cold wave brings down 

 some of the high potential in the upper 

 air, which acts as a tonic but leaves no 

 reaction. This theory is advanced and 

 explained by Dr Willis L,. Moore, Chief 

 U. S. Weather Bureau, in a bulletin en- 

 titled "Climate." 



' ' Climate is the most potent of any 

 factor in the environment of races. It 

 is climate and soil plus heredity and 

 form of government that produce either 

 vigorous or weak peoples. In this re- 

 spect it is a question if the United States 

 does not possess a constant potential that, 

 all other conditions being equal, places 

 it in a class by itself. 



" The sweep of the cold wave, as it is 

 known in the United States, is quite dis- 



tinctly North American. Nowhere else 

 on fertile plains, unless it be in Russia, 

 does the temperature show such wide 

 oscillation within such short periods of 

 time, nor do the icy blasts sweep over 

 such a broad area. It is probable that 

 much of the physical and the intellectual 

 energies that have caused the United 

 States to excel in agriculture, in manu- 

 facturing, and in commerce were pro- 

 duced by the invigorating effect of the 

 cold, dry, highly electrified air of the 

 North American cold wave. The anti- 

 cyclonic systems of air that constitute 

 cold waves have a marked downward 

 component of motion. This motion 

 brings from a considerable altitude to the 

 surface of the earth some of the high elec- 

 trical potential of the upper air, which is 

 strongly stimulating to man and to other 

 forms of animal life. These cold north 

 winds have a much greater specific grav- 

 ity than warm and humid winds, and this 

 condition, added to the force with which 

 they come, scatter and diffuse the be- 

 fouled air near the surface of the earth. ' ' 



THE LAND OF EARTHQUAKES 



About 1,400 earthquake shocks are 

 recorded yearly in Japan, the land 

 of earthquakes, says Baron Dairoku Ki- 

 kuchi in an exhaustive treatise, "Re- 

 cent Seismological Investigations in 

 Japan," just published for private cir- 

 culation. The number is not as formid- 

 able as it would appear, however, as 

 much less than 50 are sensible. Since 

 1875 15 earthquakes have occurred suffi- 



