50 
TEA NS ACTION'S OF THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
and every advantage was taken of it for self-improvement. Her bright- 
est young men were sent into the universities of the world — to Germany 
for the study of science, and especially military science; to England for 
law; to America for engineering, and to nearly every leading country 
of the world for some 'special scientific branch of study. Not only this, 
but the government established a royal university, and called to its 
important chairs able teachers from the best technical schools of the 
world. It was my pleasure and profit to work with one of the foremost 
bridge engineers in America a few years ago, who was one of the original 
professors called to this university. For a quarter of a century Japan 
trained her men in the best scientific schools of the world, and not only 
trained them thus, but maintained the royal university of her own just 
alluded to, and this very appreciation of the .scientific basis of a country’s 
greatness changed Japan from an indefinite and unknown little power 
of the Eastern barnyard into the game cock of the Orient. Her expe- 
rience is so recent and emphatic, against odds of eight to one in popula- 
tion, that it points with no uncertainty to the deep meaning of the 
success of Japan and the failure of China. 
Material wealth is the thinking unit for measuring the advancement 
in all lines of human thought and human activity. National glory, 
empire, the flag itself, are all typical of that one factor. To advance 
this the nation can and must for -self-preservation, take the producing 
forces of nature under its own protection and fostering care or assume a 
position in the rear ranks. The armchair and cigarette philosopher may 
rail against the ultimate result to which all of this may lead; but I 
again reply that it is a condition and not a theory that controls our 
destiny. 
As a nation we have been charitably complimented on the attention 
we have paid to science, its encouragement and development. As before 
remarked, our coast and geodetic survey and public land system were 
established early in the century, and since then our geological survey, 
the national observatory, the army school at West Point, the naval 
academy, our fish commission, several biological stations, the Hatch pro- 
vision for experimental work in agriculture, and many smaller bureaus 
for special investigation have been established. Even a national uni- 
versity seems among the possibilities of the future. All this has been 
maintained, notwithstanding many discouragements, and the patience 
and forbearance of our lawmakers can only be explained by the fact that 
there arq always broad-gauged men ready to serve the nation when 
needed. For we must be frank and acknowledge that funds have been 
recklessty spent, even squandered; junketing tours in the name of sci- 
ence has been taken; but the sober sense of the American people has gen- 
erally brought to court-martial the individual and not the scientific de- 
