El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-09

I i1StOn on the evening of January Il
when the National Geographic societ
viii give its eighth annual banquet
Here the intrepid Amundsen and til,
undaUnted Peary, the two men whC
conquered every obstacle that has
thwarted generations of explorers and
discovered the north and south poles
VIII meet In the presence of the mem
/ eerS OF the organization from many
! parts OF the country, one as the guest
| of honor and the other as the toast
! master Of the evening. Never before
! IN the history of dinner giving has
| such a thing taken place, and il is
! only recently that such an event has
/ been possible Norway and the United
| States will jointly celebrate the splen-
/ did achievements of their gallant ex-
/ plOrers whom the perils of eternal
cold, perpetual snow and never dis
! appearing ice could not BATTLE in the
! quest of the poles.
Another Medal for Amundsen.
This is not the first time that Capt.
| ROAD Amundsen has been honOred by
/ the National Geographic society. on
/ December A. 1907, he was awarded
/ the sOciety's gold medaI-one of the
rarest trophies in all geographic
] honOrs-fOr the discovery of the north
! west passage. He will now be awarded
special gold medal for his achieve
! ments in south polar exploration, and
II will be placed in his hands by the
man VINO has stood at the other end
OF the earth, himself a medaliSt Of
this organization. Many hundreds Of
society members, the president of the
United States, the members of the
cabinet the justices Of the supreme
court the diplomatic corps, members
Of the senate and house of representa-
tiTes representing the society's mem
bersnip IN every state and territory
and number OF foreign Seographcrs
viii witness this unique ceremonial.
Membership Totals I65,O0O.
N q,
the most extensive in It's membership
and the richest in its scientific pro-
Jects and resources among all the geo
graphic organizations of the world.
With membership of 165, 600 resid-
ing IN all parts of America and reach
ing TO all parts OF the world, no other
organization anywhere nearly ap-
proacheS it in that respect: and with a
sinking fund of nearly 100000. a fund
InaT does not represent the gift of a
Few rich men, but the contributions
of thousands and tens of thousands Of
American citizens who thus testify
their interest IN geographic matters.
no other orSanlZa ton approaches it
IN the character OF endowment
Next year the society VIII celebrate
the first quarter century OF its exist
ence, and great effort is being made
TO bring the total membership I'D to
100000 by that time. Growing a thou
sand fold IN % years is an achieve
ment of which any organiZa ton might
be proud, whatever its character or its
aims. And. if the National Geo
graphic society reaches its coveted
zoo 600 mark next year il will have
grown thousand fold in 20 years, for
when II was organized IN 1888 il had
about 200 members.
The society was not always the popu-
lar geographic organization that il Is
today. At its beginning it was So
cIety OF technical geograpEers. They
had not come to understand that there
TNr-rar Dc -E IL L.
who have as deep an interest in Eeogra-
ply as they, and that the interest Of
other hundreds of thousands might be
Quickened.
There are so many thousands of peo-
PIE who are interested enough in geo
graphic matters to read a ma gazine
devoted entirely TO the subjects of
travel, the comm ercial sciences and
the worlds people, that only a com
parat1Vely few magazines in America {
have a greater circulation than has
the National Geographic Ma gazine. II
IS magazine, however, whose profits
do not find their way into private /
pockets, they 90 into the treasury Of I
the society, and in fact practically |
support it 1t stands out unique IN /
magazine making and in scientific so /
ciety history. Instead of being sup
ported by a society, the society is I
largely supported by it.
Aids Many Expeditions.
In recent years the society. through /
Its research committee, of which pro-
fCSSOr Henry Gannett is chairman has ]
been contributing substantially to di- !
rect geographic research. It began 4
this line of work first by sending small /
expeditions to study the volcanoes OF !
Mont Pelee and La Soufriere, a trained !
Eeologist to Sicily to study the earth /
quake causes and effects, and later 4
sent representatives into the Arctic /
regions on several expeditions, also (
contributed financially to the Peary /
So
of the north pole More recently it has /
a special expedition en-
gagged in the study Of the glaciers Of
There IS being enacted today
in Alaska where the finest glacial sys-
TEN IN existence IS to be found the
same sort Of natural phenomena that
took place in the glacial epoch, and !
there for three years a special eXpe-
ditlOn under the directions of professor
ttalph y Iarr, OF Cornell, and pro-
lessor Lawrence Martin, of the Uni
versity of Michigan, has been sup
ported by the society. This represents
the most important step yet taken by"
j geographic organization in the di-
rectiOn Of mastering the geography Of !
the geologic past.
During the present year the society ]
had Joined hands with Yale university
in the maintenance of A large exDedi- |
ton in Peru, headed by professor Hi
ram Bingham. for the purpose Of max
Ing geographic, geologic and aTChaeO-
logical Investigations in the Nilcamba |
valley and around Cuzco. The civil
zation of the Incas, contemporary with |
that Of the Aztecs and the Mayas,
the highest development to
which any American people ever
reached before Columbus sailed and
The archaeological work of the expedi-
lion promises to clear up some of the
doubtful points in the history Of these
'emarkable people. Furthermore, the
region around Cuzco has a most re-
narkable geologic history
Last summer the society sent George (
= Martin. geOlogist OF the United
states Geological survey to Alaska to |
study the big volcanoes there, the !
famous katmai in particular. This
work was preliminary to a general
study of the volcanoes of Alaska. /
which the society viii undertake next
-ear. It also assisted ". z. G. Todd,
# the Carnegie museum, OF Pitts /
'urg, in making a biological survey Of
he region east of Hudson bay.
Winter Course of Lectures.
For a number Of years the winter |
curse of addresses delivered before 1
he National Geographic society in
Washington have been a feature OF
he life of the national capital, but {
hose this year are attracting unusual II
lttentiOn. The series was opened by ( I
lilhjalmur StefanssOn, who discovered
he blond eskimo of Coronation gulf. /
there are three or four lectures in the
cries dealing with various phases of /
in fhn Dea- cast = ,7Frr11 her f I