Cyrus Cornelius Adams

"Map-makng is very old, and has been practised by the most primitive peoples for many ages. Rude scratches on many rocks in South America are now interpreted as maps. East Greenland natives carve maps out of wood; American Indians make map-sketches on birch and other barks; the Marshall Islanders charted the sailing routes along their coasts long before they knew of the white man; the desert nomad sketches maps in the sand to illustrate his wanderings, and nearly every primitive tribe to-day makes maps to show routes to hunting-grounds, animal paths, fisheries, fords, etc. They know as well as we do that maps are practically a human necessity; but we know further that a good map often places before our eyes an amount of accurate geographical information that might take many months to dig out of books."

"Though many of our geographers give most attention to special phases of their study, there is a common ground upon which all should stand. The geographical needs of America are great. Most of our teachers are so deficient in knowledge of the subject that our general educational standards are low. Geography, on the whole, occupies a low plane. We know of no way to improve these conditions in which the efforts and influence of the working geographers shall not be paramount. This is a duty that our geographers owe to their study; and there is nothing that will bring them into closer touch, that will make their united influence in such Associations as ours more effective, than to work together, not as experts in this or that department of the study, but as geographers, pure and simple, who have a common interest in the improvement of geographical conditions and who desire and expect to participate in the promotion of all approved measures designed to bring about better conditions."