Gcogralyhy in the United States. — Davis. i6i 
its removal depends only on the action of geographers them- 
selves, and not on the action of higher bodies, such as execu- 
tive offices, trustees, and so on, or on the action of lower bod- 
ies, such as students. The absence of a society of mature geo- 
graphical experts is the fault of the experts themselves. No 
greater assistance to the development of mature scientific geog- 
raphy lies within our reach than the establishment of a geo- 
graphical society which shall take rank with the Geological 
Society of America, for example, as a society of experts, in 
which membership shall be open only to those whose interests 
are primarily geographical and whose capacity has been proved 
by published original work in a distinctly geographical field. 
In order to determine whether such a society can now be or- 
ganized, I propose to consider the classes of persons in the 
community from which the members of the society could be 
recruited. 
There are at least four classes of geographical associates, 
as they may be called, from which mature geographical ex- 
perts might be drawn. First and in largest number is the class 
consisting of the teachers of geography in our schools. It is 
true that our school teachers, as a rule, devote themselves to 
immature geography ; that is, to only so much of the whole 
content of the subject as can be understood by minors, indeed 
by children. But, on the other hand, one who is acquainted 
Avith recent educational progress cannot fail to recognize the 
notable advance made in the last ten years alone in the prep- 
aration for and in the performance of geographical teaching. 
There are in the secondary schools today a number of teach- 
ers who are competent to make original, mature geographical 
exploration of their home country, and some of them have ac- 
tually traveled east and west with the object of making geo- 
graphical studies. There are several teachers' geography clubs, 
and the leading members of these clubs are thoughtful workers. 
I am sure that a significant number of acceptable members of 
an expert geographical society would be found in this class. 
The second class of geographical associates includes the 
observers of the national and state weather services, who have 
chiefly to do with that important branch of geography com- 
prehended under climatology; these observers are gathering 
a great crop of facts, not always very accurately determined 
