The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-09
TIE GEOGRAPHIC CONGRESS-.
OPENING SESSION or THE INTER-
NATIONAL SOCIETY.

DR.. wolcott Welcomes the Delegates on
Behalf OF President Rooseveit--Com.
manter Peary Makes Plea for Interna-
tional Cooperation in Polar Exploration
WASHINGTON, Sept. s.-The opening ses-
sion of the Eighth International Geographic
Congress- this morning was devoted TO
| speeches of welcome and replies to the
opening address Of its president, Commander
Peary OF Arctic fame, and to the report OF
the chairman of the executive committee
appointed by the last congress- The dele
gates spent the afternoon in visiting the
various scientific bureaus OF the Govern
ment, and this evening attended recep-
ton at the United States Naval Observa-
tory, when Secretary Of the Navy Morton
and Rear Admiral Chester, superintendent OF
the observatory, received them.
The assembly hall of the George Wash
ington University was filed with delegates
from all over the world when Commander
Peary called the session to order shortly
after 10 o'clock this morning. He intro
duced DR.. Charles D. Wolcott, director of
the United States Geological Survey, repre-
senting President Roosevelt, who is the
honorary president of the congress.
DR.. Wolcott said it had been the hope
of President Roosevelt to attend in person
and open the first session of the congress
and to welcome the delegates in the name
| Of the American people. He greatly re-
GREETED that this was impracticable. In
extending a cordial welcome to the dele =
gates DR.. Wolcott referred to this the fir st
meeting of the congress on the Western
continent as opportune. Recent events
had intensified the interest Of the American
people in geography and expanded the
AL 1~c latr tlal Of hn ri
| The United States had recently been placed
and responsibilities. While other countries
had for generations borne the burden Of
policing the remoter, parts OF the earth,
| the United States had until recently taken
| little part in those labors. Expansion OF
| the country had increased the geographic
| knowledge Of the mass Of the people, for
the countrys welfare held to attention
| Of every citizen,
G. X. Gilbert of this CITY, on behalf of
the National Geographic. Society, also
! welcomed the members Of the congress:
| Appropriate replies were made by Henri
| Cordier Of France, for that Governments
Penck of Vienna, for the delegates Of geo
graphic institutes, and by H. Yule Oldham
| Of Kings College, Cambridge, on behalf of
the geographical societies
Commander Peary then delivered ms an,
referring to the events since the adjourn
ment Of the previous congress, he spoke
feelingly of the passing of the great eS-
plorers Stanley, Nordensk jold, Du Chaillu,
DAILY. Andre and Toll OF the changes. in
Of new republics and the wiping out OF two
in South Africa. The completion of the
trans-Siberian railroad he regarded as a
| world achievement, and the establishment
OF wireless telegraphy meant that the
atmosphere would soon be throbbing with
| its MESA gee.
Finally" he said, -there is that vision
OF the centuries. that envious dream OF
monarchs and ministers: since Gomara
quested for the secret of the strait 400
| years ago, the isthmian canal, the union
| Of the Atlantic and the Pacific the grandest
project, the greatest engineering, financial
and diplomatic problem of the age. A
fearless master hand has at stroke cut the
Gordian tangle that has hitherto defed the
| ablest statesmen and fnanciers OF the
| world, and the nations to-day accept with
| out question the Panama Canal as a fact.
! A few years hence and the commerce OF the
| world viii pass freely from the eastern sea
to the western sea, travelling almost air
line from port to port, at an enormous saw
ing OF time and distance and expense. And
| this great Orient and Occident facing re-
public will rest content with coasts united
from PASSPORT to the Straits of Fuca.
Commander Peary then made a strong
| plea for international cooperation in polar
| exploration. Those regions. comprising
SOME o,UUU,UUU 6IudIc lc 5uioy dch
| by the sternest natural obstruction to be
found upon the face OF the earth, still chal-
lenged and defed conquest. Previous
efforts to reach the poles had been what he
termed spasmodic, by which the work
could never be done in the way modern
science demanded. There must be con-
! tinuous work, he declared, extending over
| series OF years, Ave or ten, or more II
| necessary. 1t must be handled like any
other humdrum business proposition and
| Tod of conventional fan1anpv Tho
| time was now ripe for some broad inter-
national plan of general interest on con-
tinuing basis, instead Of frittering away
| time and money on expeditions of small
| scope and often small value.
After expressing appreciation OF his
selection as president OF the congress
| Commander Peary paid tribute to Presi-
dent Roosevelt the honorary president OF
the congress, referring. to him as "that
| splendid, vigorous, typical American, the
fearless, unhesitating man of magnihcently
| welded thought and action.
The report of the executive committee
| OF the seventh congress was then briefly
presented by Prof. Oberhummer OF Vienna,
Invitations to hold the next congress
| at Geneva and Budapest were presented
| by Prof Arthur de Claparede and DR.. Bella
| Erodi, on behalf Of their respective govern
| ments. The invitations were referred to
| the executive committee.
The congress then adjourned until to-
/ morrow morning, when the reading OF
| papers will begin on the subject of govern
| mental surveys.
At FIVE minutes before midnight the time
signal apparatus of the observatory was
connected by telegraph line and cable with
nearly every nation on the globe, and the
signals continued until ~ o'clock. The
| plan for this signalling has been in prep
aration for several months. By the cooper
| alton of the various telegraph and cable
companies the signals were sent to all Euro
pean nations. to South Africa, Egypt, the
| East Indies and to Australia by through con-
| nections In that direction, and across the
American continent to Honolulu, JAPAN
| China and the Philippines. An exchange
| the officers OF the congress and the OBJ
servatores in Europe and elsewhere.