Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-11
THE GOVERNMENT !! / MAPS
By Fnderic-J.-Hsakin.

The summer vacation; season IL on.
Motorists are planning pleasure trips
across country: TOURISTS. unwelcome in
Europe. are contemplating journeys
through the national parks, and camp
ers are diligently. searching pamphlets
and advertisements in an efortzto ind
the ideal camping site with plenty Of
hsh.' In these. preliminary, @ipvestiaa-
tions the Topographic maps of, the geo
logical survey. are Of great. assistance.
Over 40 per. cent : OF tho area. Of the
United States hass.beA sketched by the
government topographic engineers, lin
Guiding roads. bouses,' streamlets, mos
quito Districts. valleys. Rivers and
mountains. A glance at the selected
camp site on a Topographic map imne-
diately tells the prospective vacationist
the most intimate details Of its physi-
ography, often carefully ignored by the
railroad pamphlet. =
1t is the purpose OF the geological
survey gradually to. map the entire
continental United States, as we'll as
Alaska; Hawaii, Porto Rico and the
Philtppines-work, which, when COM
pleted and the sections Joined together.
will cover-over anSacre of ground. Each
section is sketched on a sheet about
eighteen inches square, the preparation
| OF which costs the government from
three to Ave Thousand dollars On tho
back Of 1t is printed a, complete de-
scription -of the physical features Of
the district, which h4s made the: maps
extreup ely e!popular:s-se,0nese r1ary who
toured the Crater Lake National: Park,
the. Grand Canyon and the Delaware
Water Gap with the aid Of the survey
maps said that. he did mot, see. how he
had ever gotten along without them.
But their value to the Nacationiet is
small comparedato their. economic and
military values In modern war. the
portant factor. and tho nation which
has the best detailed maps has a dis
tfnct advantage. It rs the topographic
map which 10 marked by the ,aeronaut
as ne MES over the enemy on scouting
| outy; IT IS the topographic map which
aids In directing the frins. since, the
mar ksmen cannot see the target, and
1t fs this map. in fact, which consti-
tutes the chessboard on which the mil
It has been said that many battles Of
the civil war would have been left un-
fought II there had been an adequate
topographic map system at that time
As II was. the need-was so apparent
that Congress authorized the first corps
Of Topographic engineers in 1861.
I
One author points out that the ia
cility with which the Japanese took
| .--'' Port Arthur
Maps Aid japanese in. the Rus
in Taking Port Arthur. W "a .
due to the fact that for months before
japanese spies. disguised as coolies.
had been quietly mapping the to-
Biography of the country. When the
night Of attack came. it was an easy
matter for the>Japanese to disable the
giant Russian searchlights illuminat-
ing the port. their guns directed at the
hill marked on the map as. the posi-
ton Of the apparatus; thus throwing
the Russian forces into confusion.
The increasing use of the topngrap hic
map in this country as prepared by tho
geological survey has made the land
swindle an almost extinct practice. 1t
is impossible. for example. to sell a
man a certain grove-o of oranges in Flor
| ida when he has a Topographic map
before him. showing that the alleged
grove ts covered with several feet of
swamp and water Neither Is IT easy