Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-05-16
FACTS ABOUT MAPS.
Germany the Great Source Of Them
Methods OF Manufacture.

Methods OF hanufacturc.
Germany has the largest and most
famous map making establishment
in the world. II was founded by a
poor map maker named Perthes In
the little town OF Gotha more than
40 years ago.
The equipment OF the establish
ment now IS surprising The geo
graphical library of this house con-
tains over 10000 volumes. II is
about twice as large as any similar
library In America. and every book is
so fully indexed by the card system
that all the best information about
every mountain, river, cape or other
geographical feature that has been
described may be obtained in a few
minutes
This establishment has also a coll
lection of over 10000 maps. It has
all the route surveys of explorers
and all the sheets of topographic and
other surveys which the nations have
produced.
This Gotha house Is mentioned
here merely because It heads the list
of the great map houses. There are
number OF others. especially in
Germany, France, Scotland. Austria
and Holland. which approximate. II
they have not entirely attained. the
highest standard of the Gotha house.
If we should inspect any OF these
map plants and see the corps of
geographers compiling data for new
maps and the busy rooms where the
steel and copper engravers, the
photographers, the photographers, the
hand colorists, the bookbinders and
others perform their daily tasks we
should be impressed with the fact
that the production OF first-class
maps requires a large variety of SCI
entfic talent and highly trained tech
nical skill
The wax process of map produc-
tion used in nearly all American map
houses Is not employed in any Of
the leading European establishments
They do not regard IL as a medium
through which they can attain the
best results.
We need not infer that these map
makers ever produce an absolutely
perfect map. A photographic product
without a blemish was never made.
The reason is that q single misspell-
Ing or the slight misdirection Of a
line is a blunder. One sheet may con-
tain the essence of many books and
many maps; and the best that hui
man nature can do is to take every
possible precaution, within the limits
of its frailty, to tell the truth.
There are famous geographers
who study maps more than they do
books. DIR. Wagner, the professor Of
geography in the university of Gott-
ingen, has never been a great travel
Ter but he is celebrated for his
knowledge of regional geography.
A while ago he wrote a very large
book on the geography of the earth,
II which he said that he had derived
the greater part of the material for
the book from his study of maps. He
was able to do this because in the
past half century photographers have
developed to a high degree of per-
lection the art of presenting a clear
and vivid picture of all the geograph-
ical conditions of the regions con-
cerned.
A first rate map is a short road to
geographical knowledge. Suppose
we wish to learn something of the
history of the exploration of Africa
which hundreds of explorers have
gridironed with their routes. How
many scores Of volumes we should
have to examine If we were to seek
this information In booksi
But there is a map of Africa In
eight large sheets which gives the
route of all the explorers who had
contributed to our knowledge oi
Africa up to the time the map was
prepared. We see all the discoveries
they made, and the colors show the
nature of the various regions
through which they passed. Thi:
map gives a bird's-eye view of the
whole great subject of African ex
ploration.
But many maps are very poor, anC
the public would not buy them i
they knew how inaccurate and mis-
leading they are. They are usually
the output of craftsmen who worl
without geographical supervision
There will be less demand for sucl
misinforming products when mor'
school children are taught to distin
guish between good and poo
man