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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



termination by a suitable system of 

 medals to recognize and stimulate efforts 

 for geographic research, whenever such 

 work is original and important. That 

 you will hear of in the future. 



But now I wish to say a word or two 

 of our sister service. We meet to cele- 

 brate the doings of the Navy. I was 

 very glad to hear the Secretary of the 

 Navy speak of the few wretched ships 

 under the indomitable Wilkes which 

 skirted the towering ice-cliffs of the Ant- 

 arctic continent — a trip of most remark- 

 able courage and endurance, which added 

 materially to the sum of human knowl- 

 edge. And it has been my pleasure on 

 several occasions, in speaking of things 

 now definitely accepted, to vindicate the 

 claims of Wilkes to the discovery of that 

 continent. His foreign critics — and there 

 were many — said this and said that, but 

 in an analysis written by me several years 

 since I showed where European geogra- 

 phers had admitted that the case is fully 

 and successfully proven. 



And also the Secretary spoke of that 

 great voyage of Rogers to the North Pa- 

 cific and the icy shores beyond Bering 

 Strait. There are others whom we 

 might speak of in passing: of De Long, 

 with his adventurous spirit, who sought 

 to advance geographic research through 

 the great waters of the Siberian Sea ; Dr 

 Kane, who went north through a spirit 

 of humanity, under the gallant De Haven, 

 to discover and succor the survivors of 

 the Arctic expedition which went out 

 under Sir John Franklin, and who later 

 commanded an expedition of his own. 

 And then there are others whom I will 

 not dwell on further than to say that 

 whenever an officer of the Navy has 

 been sent forth on work of this and of a 

 kindred kind, he has always performed 

 it in such a manner as to elicit not only 

 the praise of his country, but the honor 

 and plaudits of the world. 



But it is not alone the man of iron 

 frame and physical endurance who has 

 made us proud of human efforts to per- 

 fect knowledge of the ends of the earth, 

 nor have such labors been confined to the 

 ice-bound coasts of the polar world. 



I prefer, myself, rather tonight to 

 think of two representative men, of 

 Strain and Maury — heroes of contrast- 

 ing labors and of differing fates — Strain 

 who, half a century since, lost his life in 

 seeking to bring about the beginning of 

 what then was called a dream, but which, 

 through the energy and persistence of 

 America, is soon to become a fact — the 

 Panama Canal. And the work which 

 Strain and the men under him did with 

 great suffering was laying the founda- 

 tions on which that canal will eventually 

 be built. 



And then of Maury, the man crippled 

 in the activity of his life and forced to 

 withdraw from the accomplishment of 

 those results which are dear to every 

 American, whose heart is filled with a 

 desire to uplift the world and whose 

 bosom throbs with a determination to do 

 those things which are for his time and 

 generation. 



Barred from the dangers and toils of 

 the broad ocean, his was a spirit that 

 sought successfully to conquer, by avoid- 

 ance and by adaptation, the twin demons 

 of air and sea. You know the great out- 

 come of his years of office labor and re- 

 search. The storm and current charts of 

 Maury have been of incalculable benefit 

 to all seamen in the past half century and 

 have made safer and surer all voyages. 



All glory to the man, whoever he may 

 be, who is strong enough and wise enough 

 to be the master of his fate. 



In ending I only desire to say that 

 there are among us men able to do work 

 which in the future shall be a credit to 

 the country as there have been in the past. 

 We speak of this as a degenerating age, 

 as a time of materialism. I look on it as 

 merely the development of a century of 

 such resources that it will enable men 

 to do those things which they consider 

 highest and best, and I hope that in the 

 years to come each and every member of 

 this great society will exert his influence 

 to see that these divinely inspired men 

 shall be so aided and encouraged as to 

 bring to fruition the great wishes of the 

 world in making all its resources and 

 products subservient to the improvement 



