Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-19
Considered Logical Step.

Friends of the society. as well as a
number of the directors. are of the opin-
ion that the building Of an auditorium
on the land about to be acquired is. or
would be. logical step in the remarkable
development Of the organization. Such
an auditorium would give the society a
group of three handsome buildings on
the Avenue of the Presidents near NJ
and If the architecture of the proposed
auditorium. as has been suggested, should
be made to conform with that of the
two buildings already erected there, the
completed group. it is said. would make
a handsome addition to the buildings OF
the National Capital.
The society now rents New Masonic
Temple for the lectures. delivered before
it's members. There are SO many thou
sands of members Of the organization in
Washington and in nearby cities who
come here for these lectures that New
Masonic Temple will not hold all of them
and it is always necessary to have lee
ture in the afternoon and repeated at
night. Even then the society is not
always able to accommodate all of the
members who want to hear the lectures
In the case of the lecture by Col.
Roosevelt recently on the River of
Doubt explored by him in Brazil. it was
necessary for the society to rent Conven-
ton Hail. Many of the most famous
persons IN the WOflu come 10 " dSHlNS-
ton to lecture before the organization,
and many notable discoveries of recent
years, including Peary's story of the
north pole and Amundsen's story Of the
south pole. have been told by the per-
sonages principally concerned for the first
time before the members of the society.
John Joy Edison. treasurer of the So
ciety. said today that nothing has been
settled as to the auditorium part of the
plan under which the land ia being
have eventually on the site one of the
best audtoriums in the world. 1t will
be designed especially with relation to
acoustic properties, comfort and beauty,
he said. The chairs to be used would
be twice the size of an ordinary chair
in theaters, adding that preliminary
sketches have already been drawn by
architects.
Models of Architecture.
The two buildings on the Avenue Of
the Presidents near NJ street already oc-
cupied by the society are built with the
solidity of government buildings. They
combine every feature that modern archi-
lecture and sanitary engineering could
suggest toward making them the archi-
tectural representation of the ideals of
the organization.
The National Geographic Society was
founded in 1855 by a small band of ex-
plorers and scientists. for the increase
and diffusion of geographic knowledge"
Until 1902 it was without a home of its
own, when the heirs of Gardiner Greene
Hubbard built Hubbard Memorial Hall
at the corner of the Avenue of the Presi-
dents and NJ street to give it a suitable
residence. In ten years Hubbard Memo
rial Hall was full to overflowing with
the activities Of the organization. and
two branch offices were established in
rented quarters. Then the land adjoining
Hubbard Memorial Hall was purchased.
a plot 80 by 100 feet. and second hand
some building was completed there last
fall
The organization now has 2S1 $50 mem
bers. They are located In every state
and territory as we'll as in Alaska, Guam,
Hawaii. Panama Canal Zone, Philippine
Islands. Porto Rico and Samoa. The So
ciety encourages exploration and geo
eraphic research by means of such f1nan-
cial grants as its resources permit. 1t
has recently maintained a large expedi-
tion in Peru. in cooperation with Yale
University; has had an expedition in
Alaska Investigating the recent eruption
Of Mount Katmai, and has just con-
cluded a series Of Investigations, extend
ing over three years, of the glaciers of
Alaska.
In 1902 the organization sent an expedi-
ton to Mount Pelee and La Saufriere
to study the eruptions of those vol
| canoes. Various arctic expeditions have