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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



It reaches thousands of schools and li- 

 braries and is inducing more than one 

 million people each month to read of 

 geographic matters. One month's edi- 

 tion, if the copies were placed one above 

 another, would make fifteen piles as high 

 as the Washington . Monument, or, if 

 placed on a book-shelf, would reach 

 from the White House to the Capitol and 

 back again. The Magazine yields the 

 funds to pay for our exploration ; for, 

 unlike other scientific societies, our Maga- 

 zine supports the Society instead of be- 

 ing a drain upon the organization. 



These figures are given that all here 

 may appreciate that the ambition of the 

 Society to increase and diffuse geo- 

 graphic knowledge and help the cause of 

 international good-will is being realized. 



Through our Magazine we are bring- 

 ing our citizens nearer to other peoples 

 and also bringing other, peoples nearer 

 to us. 



It is now my privilege to present one 

 of the most distinguished members of 

 our Society, Hon. William Jennings 

 Bryan, the Secretary of State, who will 

 direct the proceedings of the evening. 



THE: TOASTMASTER, WILIJAM JENNINGS 

 BRYAN, SECRETARY OE STATE 



The task of a Toastmaster is always 

 the easiest on the program and easier to- 

 night than it usually is, because those 

 who are to speak to you do not require 

 to be presented with an elaborate expla- 

 nation. Especially is that true of those 

 who appear as the first and second. 



A medal given by this Society will be 

 presented to the guest of the evening, 

 and when the greatest Geographic So- 

 ciety of the world is to honor the most 

 illustrious member of his professon on 

 the globe, because of the successful com- 

 pletion of the most gigantic engineering 

 feat in history, there is but one person 

 to present the medal, the President of the 

 United States. 



ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT WOODROW WIESON 



I am now so unaccustomed to public 

 speaking that it was with genuine hesi- 

 tation on my own account that I accepted 

 the invitation of this evening. But I ac- 

 cepted it as a matter of course when the 

 great compliment was paid me of ex- 



tending it to me, because it seemed to me 

 that it was not only a personal privilege 

 which was offered, but a duty encumbent 

 upon me as a representative of the gov- 

 ernment of the United States. It seemed 

 to me that, speaking for that government, 

 as well as for the distinguished Society 

 in whose name I am now presenting this 

 medal, it was my duty as it was my privi- 

 lege to be here. 



I am here to do what I suppose is an 

 unusual thing for a Society of this sort. 

 It generally confers its honors upon 

 those who have disclosed geography 

 rather than upon those who have altered 

 it. It is a sort of advertiser and cus- 

 todian of the globe, and it is now about 

 to honor a gentleman who has had the 

 audacity to change the globe. 



The engineering profession is one of 

 the few creative professions. Those of 

 us who have attempted to be literary 

 men conceive that we have created con- 

 ceptions of the mind, but we never can 

 produce them in court. They are never 

 visibly upon exhibition. But the magic 

 of the engineer is that he can change the 

 face of nature and show the work of his 

 hands, and that it is in some deep sense 

 creative in character. The life of man- 

 kind on the globe is altered, for example, 

 by the cutting and the use of the Panama 

 Canal. 



It fails the imagination to think what 

 this work will accomplish. It will create 

 new neighbors. It will generate new 

 friendships ; it will make a new atmos- 

 phere of rivalry and of generous asso- 

 ciation. The whole tendency of the 

 routes of trade will be changed, and the 

 routes of trade are the routes of enlight- 

 enment. Only when nations touch one 

 another do they cease to be provincial 

 and look out upon the great tasks of hu- 

 manity, instead of confining themselves 

 to the relatively selfish tasks of their own 

 domestic development, and it is only as 

 we export and import ideas that civiliza- 

 tion becomes thoroughly established. 



We have, therefore, to honor tonight 

 the greatest living representative of this 

 extraordinary profession. 



It seems to me natural, if I may say so 

 with apologies to some of our friends 

 present, that the greatest engineer living 

 should come from the United States. 



