THE XATTOXAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S NOTABLE YEAR 



545 



DEATH REMOVES THREE DISTINGUISHED 

 LEADERS 



Unhappily, The Society's most success- 

 ful year has been saddened by the death 

 of three of its leaders — Brigadier-Gen- 

 eral John M. Wilson, Rear Admiral 

 John E. Pillsbury, and Rear Admiral 

 Robert E. Peary. 



General Wilson, who had been a mem- 

 ber of The Society's Board of Managers 

 for fourteen years, had a distinguished 

 military career. He was at one time 

 Superintendent of the United States 

 Military Academy at West Point, was 

 Chief of Engineers of the Army during 

 the Spanish-American War, and, to quote 

 from the resolutions passed by his col- 

 leagues on The Society's Board, follow- 

 ing his death, "It is a noteworthy co- 

 incidence that the Washington Monu- 

 ment, ideal symbol of the character of 

 the first President of the Republic, was 

 completed under the direction of General 

 Wilson, thus serving as a memorial to an 

 officer and public servant of similar in- 

 tegrity of character and unselfish service 

 to his fellow-men." 



THE LATE PRESIDENT ADMIRAL PILLSBURY 



In the death of Admiral Pillsbury, on 

 December 30, 1919, The Society lost its 

 President and a distinguished contributor 

 to its magazine. As a naval officer he 

 served with distinction during the Span- 

 ish-American War, being in command of 

 the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius at the 

 siege of Santiago, but it is on account 

 of his notable work in studying the Gulf 

 Stream that Admiral Pillsbury's name 

 is written largest in the history of his 

 country. 



As commander of the Coast Survey 

 steamer Blake, he employed a device of 

 his own invention to anchor that vessel 

 in depths of more than two miles, and 

 studied currents there by means of con- 

 trivances also of his own making. Thus, 

 after seven years of study, he established 

 the position of the axis of the Gulf 

 Stream and determined many of the laws 

 by which its flow is governed. 



A digest of his work in this important 

 field of oceanography was written for 

 the National Geographic Magazine 

 and published in August, 191 2. Admiral 



Pillsbury became a member of The So- 

 ciety's Board of Managers in 1909, was 

 elected Vice-President in 191 5, and be- 

 came President April 16, 1919. 



An outline of the career of Rear 

 Admiral Peary, the third member of the 

 Board of Managers to be removed by 

 death within recent months (February 

 19, 1920), is given in the preceding pages 

 of this number of The Geographic. 



THE NEW PRESIDENT 



Upon the death of Admiral Pillsbury, 

 the Board of Managers of The Society 

 elected as his successor to the Presidency 

 Gilbert Grosvenor, for twenty-one years 

 the Editor of The Geographic Maga- 

 zine and the Director of The Society. 

 Under Mr. Grosvenor's direction, the 

 membership of The Society has increased 

 from 900, in 1899, IO mor e than 750,000. 

 Mr. Grosvenor continues as the Editor. 



John Oliver La Gorce, Vice-Director 

 of The Society and Associate Editor of 

 the magazine, was elected to succeed to 

 the place on the Board of Managers left 

 vacant by Admiral Pillsbury's death. 



In the history of civilization, there is 

 no other instance of a vast cooperative 

 educational and scientific association or- 

 ganized and developed like the National 

 Geographic Society and commanding such 

 widespread public support. 



It is not a commercial enterprise but 

 an altruistic institution, and the only 

 dividend which it pays is the geographic 

 knowledge it disburses primarily to all 

 its members and secondarily to the world 

 at large. 



In The Society's constructive service 

 to humanity in a wounded and distrust- 

 ful world, its members have cause for 

 pride and personal satisfaction. As their 

 agency, The Society is one of the most 

 effective forces in bringing about a better 

 understanding among the nations of the 

 world. To millions of Americans. The 

 Society's pictures and descriptive articles 

 have made foreign races and their lands 

 human realities rather than mere dots 

 on maps or political boundary lines. 



The Society has grown because it 

 ministers to the basic desire of intelligent 

 citizens to understand other peoples and 

 to know better the earth whence they 

 derive their livelihood. 



