Geographical Record

American Geographical Society

Geographical RecordSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Jul., 1959), pp. 419-436Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/211917 .

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GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD

NORTH AMERICA

WATER AND NEWJERSEY'S ECONOMIC GROWTH. The problem of inadequate water supplies is usually associated with the arid or semiarid West, not with the humid East. It is therefore somewhat surprising to find that probably the most important fundamental problem facing NewJersey is how to ensure a supply of water commensurate with the expected growth of the state. This emerges from a report on "The Economy of New Jersey" (prepared under the direction of Salomon J. Flink; New Brunswick, N.J., 195 8) by twenty-six members of the faculty of Rutgers, The State University. The report, prepared for the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development, is a comprehensive study, which ranges over the entire economy; it traces past development, analyzes present trends, and makes some projections into the future. The authors find, after balancing assets and liabilities, that the future can be bright, but dreams of con- tinuous expansion are frustrated by a potential water shortage. Other obstacles, such as the present tax structure, a shortage of housing, inadequate highway capacity, and strained educational facilities (particularly at the college and university level), though important, seem less threatening than the lack of water-storage facilities.

As one of the older and more heavily industrialized states, New Jersey is already at somewhat of a competitive disadvantage with the more recently industrialized areas in attracting new manufacturers. The added handicap of a water shortage may have serious effects on the economy as a whole. Many of NewJersey's chief industries are heavy water users, particularly the manufacture of chemicals-the most important industry in the state. The present water supply available for consumption satisfies the demand, but with only a little to spare. It is believed that this lack of a substantial margin in supply has been the reason for the failure of the chemical industry to grow appreciably during the last decade. The industry expanded within the state at only about half the rate it did nationally. In several well-authenticated cases, chemical manufacturers have located in other states simply because of the threat of a water shortage. Inasmuch as more than 41.5 per cent of New Jersey's labor force is engaged in manufacturing, it is obvious that the total economy is closely tied to the fortunes of industry, and any deterrent to manufacturing growth represents a deterrent to the growth of the state as a whole.

The shortage of water affects all other aspects of the state as well. It is estimated that the population of NewJersey in 1955 was 5.3 million, and that by 1975 it will be more than 7 million. This increased population will require additional potable water equivalent to about 70 per cent of 1955 demand. The failure to provide the water will naturally check population growth. The close margin of supply has made it impossible for farmers to draw on the water for supplemental irrigation during periods of low rainfall and caused an estimated loss of 40 million dollars in crops in the 1957 drought.

It is ridiculous for NewJersey to have a water-shortage problem; there is no fundamental physical reason for it. NewJersey has an average annual rainfall of about 45 inches, distributed rather evenly throughout the year. However, not one major reservoir has been constructed in the state since 1930. On the other hand, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut-states that are bidding for industry against NewJersey-have gone forward with extensive water-supply programs and now have ample margins. As early as 1907,



420 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

it was suggested that New Jersey embark upon a water-development program, but not until 1958 did the voters approve, in a referendum, the authority of the state to issue bonds in order to build a reservoir and to finance further study of the water problem.

One other obstacle to NewJersey's growth, and one on which the cure of many of the other ills rests, is its archaic tax structure. New Jersey frequently advertises itself as a "low-tax state." This is entirely misleading; it is true that there are few state taxes, but local property taxes are high. These taxes are frequently inequitable and are deterrents to prospective manufacturers. When both state and local taxes are added together, New Jersey is not one of the lowest-tax states, but one of the top ten. The lack of an adequate, broad-based source of revenue makes it almost impossible for NewJersey to finance highway improvements or to expand the system of higher education, both of which are needed for future growth. Since all the impediments to that growth noted in the report are es- sentially man-made, they are not insurmountable, but any delay means that New Jersey will invite an acceleration of its already apparent decreasing rate of growth.-WILLIAM GOODWIN

SOUTH AMERICA

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN CHILE. The past century has seen the evolution of a remote Chilean frontier fort on the Strait of Magellan into the heart of a major world sheep-producing region. A recent monograph by Dr. Gilbert Butland, "The Human Geography of Southern Chile" (Inst. of British Geogrs. Ptubl. No. 24, London, 1957), is a concise summary of the setting, development, and problems of this region.

Southern Chile consists of two provinces, Aysen and Magallanes. It is occupied largely by the single range of the southernmost Andes, which descends precipitously to the water along most of the west coast and to the plains on the east, of which only relatively small pieces lie on the Chilean side of the international frontier. The climate is cool all year, even at low elevations, and is excessively wet on the western slopes; the plains to leeward are fairly dry. At the higher elevations, especially in Aysen, lie small continental-type ice fields. At lower elevations on the wet western slopes are dense evergreen forests, primarily of beech; in the rain shadow, vegetation quickly grades through deciduous forests into pampa.

Indians occupied Aysen and Magallanes for two to eight thousand years. As recently as a century ago they numbered more than 15,ooo; now there are perhaps 200. Most of the survivors are the more primitive "canoe" Indians of the mountainous, embayed, and isolated west coast; the more advanced and longer-established "foot" Indians of the pampa are almost extinct.

Although Magellan sailed through his strait in 1520, the first permanent settlement by people of western European background was not established until 1843, and even this colony was soon shifted to a new site and renamed Punta Arenas. For four decades the colonists sought some sound basis for economic development, trying agriculture, gold and coal mining, and sealskin collecting without any continuing success. Then in the 1880's came awareness that sheep raising on the natural grasslands could be profitable. By 1906 the present economic form of Magallanes had been shaped; sheep raising had spread over the suitable areas, and Punta Arenas had become the dominant city, with 75 per cent of the province's cosmopolitan population. Since then, changes have been primarily in

the tendency to intensify land use and to subdivide landholdings. At the same time,



GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD 421

colonization of Aysen Province has established a new frontier of settlement, where the economy is a more primitive parallel of that of Magallanes.

Sheep are concentrated on grasslands that receive less than 20 inches of rainfall a year. They number about 3.3 million; a third are in Tierra del Fuego, almost a third are on the mainland south of 520 S., a fifth are in Aysen, and a seventh are in the UIltima Esperanza region around Puerto Natales. The number of sheep is limited primarily by the availa- bility of winter pasture.

Corriedales, producers of fine, long, dense wool, make up about two-thirds of the sheep population. Most of the others are Romney Marshes; a small percentage are Merinos and criollos. Although the sheep here constitute barely half of Chile's total flock, they produce from two-thirds to three-fourths of the national wool clip, and the proportion is steadily rising. The Aysen clip is of rather poor quality, but the Magallanes clip competes with the world's best. Meat freezing and other sheep-based industries are minor when compared with wool.

High on any list of regional problems is the scale and intensity of land use. Most of the grazing land in Magallanes is in the hands of nine large companies, either as owners or as long-term lessees. These companies pioneered much of the rapid economic growth of the region, and they are a major source of tax revenue. They claim to be the most efficient type of sheep-raising organization, each operating hundreds of thousands of acres of land (in one case, more than three million acres). Yet they have developed a rigid caste system among employees, have an abnormal sex ratio among their people, and have great seasonal labor peaks but no alternative jobs for the off season. Popular sentiment favors creation of more small owner-operated ranches that would correct some of the social and economic faults of the large operation. Under government sponsorship, ranches of 6ooo-i.5,000 acres have been created. Some local experts believe that only the largest of these small ranches are large enough to be truly economical. The land is grazed more intensively, in part because there is a smaller proportion of poor land, but so far there is no clear evidence of more accelerated erosion than on the large ranches. There are some smaller farms on which sheep are combined with crop farming. The present tendency seems to be to increase slowly the number of small farms by withholding some lands when the time comes to renew leases for large operators.

Stabilization of employment and diversification of the economy are other important regional problems. Sheep shearing creates a two-month-long acute labor shortage; this is followed by about three months of work in the meat-freezing plants. But for the rest of the year few jobs are available. In addition, there are not always jobs in the sheep industry, since it is subject to the vicissitudes of nature and the economy that may affect a primary industry. Frequently the laborer lives through the off season on credit extended by his seasonal employer, a system resembling sharecropping in the southern United States. Economic diversification is seen as a way to reduce this employment boom-and-bust and to make use of other resources.

Northern Tierra del Fuego produces oil, and the nearby humid mountains have a huge hydroelectric potential. There is coal, but it is poor in quality and expensive to mine. The local market, though not large, could produce more of its own goods, and local raw materials might be more fully processed before exportation. In addition, the regional ports are free ports.

Isolation from central Chile and nearness of the Argentine border are also considered




special regional problems. The Chilean heartland is hundreds of miles away by sea from even northernmost Aysen, and the only overland connections are equally long and run through Argentine territory. At the same time, there is a similarity of interests in neigh- boring parts of Argentina that tends to attract the two areas to each other. However, the histories of settlement differ, and there have been repeated indications of rival economic nationalisms that tend to reduce communication across the frontier. The net effect on Aysen and Magallanes has been to develop the feeling that they are unalterably part of Chile, but a part with unique problems that merit special understanding and treatment from the central government.-ROBERT E. DURLAND

U.S.S.R.

NEW TIME ZONES OF THE SOVIET UNION. Russia, because of its immense east- west distances, has always had a time-zone problem. Before the Revolution of 1917, local time was in use everywhere-except on the railroads, which followed St. Petersburg time, even though there was as much as seven hours' difference between St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.

In March, 1918, a new system was put into effect. The territory of the Soviet Union was divided into eleven time zones, the difference between Moscow and Bering Strait being ten hours. However, zonal boundaries are drawn arbitrarily, and sometimes different sections of the same district were in different time zones. For example, Novosi- birsk, on the east bank of the Ob, was in one time zone, and its western suburbs, on the opposite bank of the river, were in another.

By government decree on March 1, 1957, a new system of time zones was introduced (P. N. Dolgov: Novye granitsy chasovykh poiasov v SSSR [New Boundaries of Time Zones in the U.S.S.R.], Priroda, 1957, No. 1, pp. 57-61). The eleven zones remained in

effect, but the zonal boundaries were redrawn to simplify administrative and economic life. In the four western zones, comprising all the European part of the Soviet Union, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and western Siberia, zonal boundaries now coincide with administrative boundaries. In the seven eastern zones the southern segments of the zonal boundaries follow administrative boundaries as far as the old "Maritime Province," now referred to as the Soviet Far East. The northern segments follow watersheds or meridians.

However, the time-zone arrangement is complicated by two factors. Since 1930,

daylight-saving time has been in effect everywhere throughout the year, each time zone observing the local time of the zone immediately east of it. Also, the old czarist custom of running railroads on St. Petersburg time persists: railroads, airlines, and telegraph offices now follow Moscow, instead of local, time.-GEORGE KISH

THE NEW PATTERN OF SOVIET OIL. Among the many rapid industrial advances in the Soviet Union recently, none is likely to be more significant in the long run than that of petroleum. The 1958 production was 113 million tons, or about three times the 1950 production, and the plan for the next 15 years calls for a steady increase to an amount between 350 and 400 million tons, comparable with the present United States figure. Recent pronouncements leave little doubt that the Soviet planners are pinning their faith chiefly on oil to fill the power needs of the foreseeable future (see for example M. Brenner: Problemy nefti v perspective razvitiia narodnogo khoziaistva S.S.S.R., Voprosy ekonomiki,




1958, No. 2, pp. 16-29; translated in Current Digest of the Soviet Press ["Problems of Oil in the Long Range Development of the National Economy of the U.S.S.R."], July 9, 1958). Although oil (with gas) now generates less than one-third of the Soviet power requirements, it is scheduled to contribute more than two-thirds by 1972, and this in spite of the fact that many grandiose hydroelectric schemes will be in operation by then. Incidentally, this scheduled proportion is also close to the present United States situation and represents a major reversal of Soviet policy. Much is made of the smaller capital outlay required, which is stated to be one-third of that for coal, taking heating capacity into account, and emphasis is also put on the significance of by-products as a base for the projected expansion of the chemical industries, as well as of conversion to diesel-transport equipment.

These developments of the last few years have been associated with rapid and far- reaching changes of emphasis in geographical distribution. The Caucasus fields, which supplied about go per cent of Soviet oil production up to the outbreak of World War II and one-half even in 1950, now supply less than a quarter. The extensive Volga-Ural field dominates the current picture. Its prewar output was insignificant, but by 1950 it was contributing nearly one-third of Soviet oil, and it now contributes more than two-thirds. The whole of Soviet Asia still accounts for less than one-tenth, as it did before the war. Refining capacity is lagging behind crude-oil production in the shift of locational emphasis; nevertheless, about half is located in the Volga-Ural region.

The Volga-Ural field has virtually succeeded to the dominant position held by the Caucasus fields for more than half a century. These fields, especially Baku, have been stagnating or even declining since 1939 and have obviously had their day, though offshore drilling has staved off collapse and the high quality of the oil still gives it advantages. (Fortunately the emotive term "Second Baku" now seems to be disappearing in favor of "Volga-Ural" in both Soviet and foreign usage; it would, in fact, be as technically appropriate to call the United States Mid-Continent field the "Second Los Angeles.")

The recent "thaw" in the release of statistics and other forms of information in the U.S.S.R. has enabled a clearer picture of this remarkable field to emerge (A. A. Trofimuk: Conditions That Led to the Formation of Oil-Fields in the Ural-Volga Oil-Bearing Region [a translation of a report to the Fourth International Petroleum Congress, Rome] [Mos- cow, 1955]; idem: Uralo-povolzh'e novaia neftianaia baza S.S.S.R. [The New Oil Base of the Ural-Volga] [Moscow, 19571; "Promyshlennost S.S.S.R.: Statisticheskii sbornik [Industry of the U.S.S.R.: Statistical Summary]" [Moscow, 1957]; D. Fraser: Volga Oil, Petroleum Times, May 24, Sept. 13, and Dec. 6, 1957, and Feb. 28 and May 23, 1958). In area it is comparable with the United States Mid-Continent field, straddling the Volga and stretching in a general northeasterly direction toward the Urals. It coincides closely with the area of Paleozoic sedimentary formations, of which the Devonian is the most prolific, and the wells are unusually deep. This field now contains 81 per cent of the measured reserves of the U.S.S.R., which happens to be the exact proportion credited to the Tertiary formations (Caucasus-Caspian and Sakhalin) in 1939. The crude oil is in general of lower quality than that of the Caucasus, with a relatively low gasoline fraction and a very high sulphur content, which creates refining difficulties. On the other hand, the gas fraction is high, and until very recently a large amount was flared off. The return on capital investment is increasing rapidly, owing to recent and long-overdue improvements




in techniques. The use of turbine drilling and improved surveying practices have greatly reduced initial costs, and contour flooding and gas piping and repressuring are ensuring more thorough and effective exploitation. Cracking still seems to be a relatively weak link in the industry, in spite of a fivefold increase in capacity since 1956.

Within the Volga-Ural field certain concentrations of oil production stand out. By 1956 the Tatar A.S.S.R. and the Bashkir A.S.S.R. had each surpassed Azerbaijan (Baku) in production, and by now Kuybyshev Oblast has probably achieved the same distinction. The Tatar fields, which have shown the fastest production growth in the U.S.S.R. in the nineteen-fifties, are most prolific around Almetevsk, adjacent to the most productive Bashkir fields around Oktyabrskiy. A highly productive group of wells exists about the great bend of the Volga near Kuybyshev and Syzran.

It seems safe to estimate that more than half the Soviet crude oil is now obtained within about 150 miles of Almetevsk or Oktyabrskiy. The outlying parts of the Volga- Ural field, such as the area northeast of Perm, where the first strike was made in 1929, or Saratov and Stalingrad Oblasts, are still of marginal importance as compared with the core. However, both these latter oblasts have large reserves of natural gas, much of it very recently discovered, which is piped to Moscow, as in the case of the equally important western Ukrainian and northern Caucasian deposits.

One can hardly exaggerate the importance to the whole Soviet economy of the new geography of oil, in which the chief producing center almost coincides with the center of gravity of the population. Communications with the industrial areas of European Russia and the Urals are established, and the strategic situation is also transformed. It has been calculated on the basis of the area of suitable sedimentary formations that the U.S.S.R. "should" eventually prove to have 68 per cent more oil than the United States. Prospecting in western Siberia and the Lena basin, though still in its infancy, has so far drawn blanks, and a 2000-mile pipeline, already half completed, is being laid from the Volga field to Irkutsk. However, in Central Asia production has risen by more than the national rate since 1940, relieving the overloaded transport system; and the maintenance of output on Sakhalin has a similar significance for the Far East. That the Soviet oil position is at least fairly comfortable is indicated by the export in 1957 of 13.7 million tons of petroleum products, nearly half to non-Communist countries. Moreover, the growth rate of the last few years, the picture that has emerged of the new fields, and the advanced techniques now being used make the achievement of the fourfold increase of production over the next i5 years by no means unlikely.-DAVID J. M. HoOSON

AFRICA

MIGRANT LABOR IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN FEDERATION. Two studies by Peter Scott in an earlier volume of the Geographical Review examined the role of migrant labor in Southern and Northern Rhodesia, two of the three states in the Central African Federation (Migrant Labor in Southern Rhodesia, Geogr. Rev., Vol. 44, 1954, pp. 29-48; The Role of Northern Rhodesia in African Labor Migration, ibid., pp. 432-434). A recent "Report on the Census of Africans in Employment, 1956" (Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, 1958) includes data on Nyasaland for the first time. This makes it possible to present the complete federal pattern of labor movements and to see how recent events have borne out the conclusions of the earlier studies.




Figure 1 shows the origin of Africans employed in the three states. The largest number are employed in Southern Rhodesia, which is also the most dependent on migrant labor. Only 49 per cent of the 609,ooo Africans employed in Southern Rhodesia are indigenous; the remainder are drawn mainly from Nyasaland (22 per cent), Mozambique (20 per cent), and Northern Rhodesia (7 per cent). Although fewest Africans (164,000) are employed in Nyasaland, 94 per cent are indigenes; the remainder enter mainly from Mo- zambique. Further, Nyasas constitute the largest proportion of Africans employed in the Federation, 31 per cent, as against 29 per cent of Southern Rhodesian Africans and 26 per cent of Northern Rhodesian. Northern Rhodesia occupies an intermediate position

Southern Rhodesia 30 35.

Northern Rhodesia

L ;:0iNyasal a nd x Mozambiq'ue -10? >- 10?- Other territories

-15- 15~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 10 0

6% X A ~~~~. .. ....... s x

20GEQOR. REV.;, JULY.. 1959 26~ 3Q MILES

Fig. i-Origin of migrant laborers.

in the Federation in numbers employed and degree of dependence on migrant labor. Some 46,000 Africans, 18 per cent of the labor force, are aliens, from Nyasaland and other adjacent territories; of the latter, Tanganyika (7898), Angola (5 840), and the Belgian Congo (4165) are the most important. Thus although countries other than the Federation and Mozambique provide only 2 per cent of the Africans employed in the Federation, these sources are clearly more important to Northern Rhodesia than to the other two states.

Since Scott's studies were made, changes have occurred both in the volume of inter- territorial labor migration and in the pattern of employment of alien labor.




Alien immigration into Northern and Southern Rhodesia has increased by 38 per cent and 20 per cent respectively since 1951. Rising numbers of migratory workers have flowed in from Nyasaland and Mozambique as a result of the copper boom in Northern Rhodesia and the rapid expansion of base-mineral production and secondary industries in Southern Rhodesia. Scott thought it unlikely that labor migration would exceed the

1951 level except in years of drought, but it was then impossible to foresee the scale of the Rhodesian economic boom, which has enabled employers to attract with high wages workers from countries outside the Federation. Despite attempted restrictions on emi- gration by the Nyasaland and Mozambique governments to safeguard their own labor supplies, their manufacturing and construction industries have been unable to offer competitive wages to stem the outward labor flow. In Nyasaland there is a shortage of skilled and semiskilled workers, who can earn much more in Southern and Northern Rhodesia.

The Report also reveals significant changes in the occupation structure of alien labor since 1951. In Southern Rhodesia the proportion of Nyasas engaged in agriculture has risen from one-third to one-half and the proportions engaged in manufacturing and construction have decreased correspondingly. Mining is also absorbing a larger proportion of Nyasas than earlier. In 1951 more than 8o per cent of the workers from Mozambique were engaged in agriculture; in 1956 the percentage was only 49. The decrease was accom- panied by marked increases in manufacturing and domestic service. In 1951 28 per cent of the Northern Rhodesian Africans working in Southern Rhodesia were employed in the mining industry; now, however, the percentage has fallen to 24, and the percentage engaged in agriculture has risen to 29. As the number of Northern Rhodesian immigrants into Southern Rhodesia has decreased by 8ooo, it seems probable that most of this decrease is accounted for by miners who, in view of the copper-belt boom, have now no need to migrate to find high wages. These changes suggest that labor is fluid not only between territories but also between occupations.

In Northern Rhodesia aliens formed one-quarter of mining employees in 1956; they derived largely from Nyasaland and the Belgian Congo, where there is a tradition of

mineworking in the Katanga district. In agriculture, on the other hand, Northern Rho-

desian Africans made up go per cent of the workers; the remainder derived from Nyasaland and Tanganyika.

In Nyasaland there are only gooo employed immigrants, mainly from Mozambique. Of these, 54 per cent are engaged in agriculture and 22 per cent in industry. These workers tend to remain concentrated in the Blantyre and Limbe areas, from which they can easily return to their homes in slack agricultural seasons.

One of Scott's conclusions was that increased productivity would ultimately rest on

improved labor stability, which is here synonymous with the urbanization of the employed African. It is therefore interesting to note that between 1951 and 1956 urban employment in Northern and Southern Rhodesia increased by 44 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. In the same period rural employment in Northern Rhodesia declined by 8 per cent and in

Southern Rhodesia rose by only 11 per cent; 19 per cent of Nyasaland's workers were

urbanized in 1956. The rising volume of labor migration demonstrates the increasing importance of this

element in the boom economy of the Central African Federation and provides a strong economic argument in favor of continued federation. Changes in the alien occupation




pattern, particularly in Southern Rhodesia, suggest hitherto undetected qualities of versatility and adaptability in the mobile labor force. Finally, the small proportion of migrant labor drawn from territories other than the Federation and Mozambique serves to underline the economic affinity between these two territories, which is already apparent in communications (Beira and Lourenso Marques are the Federation's main seaports, and the links between Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland run through northern Mozam- bique).-J. R. V. PRESCOTT

ASIA

DEVELOPMENT IN HOKKAIDO. Since its official beginning almost go years ago, Japanese development of Hokkaido has followed an erratic course. Largely government- directed, it has been guided in the past by military and political, rather than strictly economic and humanitarian, considerations. The initial settlement of the island by soldier- farmers, the work of the Capron mission from the United States and the adoption of many of its recommendations, and subsidies to new settlers were designed by the government largely to counter Russian threats in the north. The small iron and steel industry owes its existence to war preparations in the 1930's. Government financial support, always irregular, dropped sharply with the expansion of the overseas empire and the growth of large industrial areas in "Old Japan." Private enterprise, which has dominated some nonagricultural phases of the Hokkaido economy, has saddled the island with what resi- dents consider a "colonial economy." A wealth of fish and forest products and coal moves southward to the industrial core of Japan instead of being fabricated into marketable products in Hokkaido factories using local labor. Critics assert that the large firms which direct this raw-materials exploitation are interested in the profits they can drain off for investment elsewhere, rather than in building up Hokkaido industry and commerce. Yet, in spite of the small and erratic government financial investment, the lopsided raw- materials economy, and the adverse physical conditions under which the island's inhabit- ants must struggle, Hokkaido today boasts a population of five million, flourishing cities, first-class ports and railways, extensive farming acreage, and a growing number of factories.

In a short but thought-provoking monograph F. C. Jones reviews the evolution of the Hokkaido economy from its beginnings to its present status and raises the question of its potential (Hokkaido: Its Present State of Development and Future Prospects [Oxford University Press, London, New York, Toronto, 1958; issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs]). The time for such an evaluation is ripe: since Japan's defeat and loss of its colonial holdings and their resources, and with Russian pres- sure renewed in the north, the Japanese government has stepped up its participation in Hokkaido's economic development. To this end it has established the Hokkaido Develop- ment Agency within the Prime Minister's Office and has formulated ambitious, long- range plans designed to make Hokkaido a more integral, contributing unit of the national economy. A first five-year plan, begun in 1952, fell far short of its goals, yet it resulted in additional electric power, highway and port construction, river control, agricultural improvement, and detailed regional surveys of underground resources. Among key projects started were industrialization of the Tomakomai area, reclamation of peat bogs along the lower Ishikari River, and expansion of dairying in the Nemuro region. A




second five-year plan, begun in 1957, is dedicated to the further strengthening of agriculture and raw-materials production and to pushing Hokkaido rapidly along the road to industrialization.

Hokkaido is still considered by some Japanese a great reservoir of potentially usable farmland that can absorb surplus population from the most crowded parts of the country and almost singlehandedly alleviate Japan's food shortages. Appraised realistically, however, Hokkaido's agricultural contribution appears to have reached its peak. Most of the best farmland is already under cultivation, and established farmers face such difficulties as inadequate acreage for economical operations and high costs of crop production. Always a food-deficit area, Hokkaido must still import much of its rice and wheat. Government plans look forward to the reclamation of additional farmland, but the infertile soils, adverse climate, poor drainage, and isolation of many of the areas concerned make them a poor investment. Per acre costs of peat-bog reclamation, which is being stressed cur- rently, are high even by American standards. Now that the pioneer-settlement era is passing, agriculture seems destined for a less important role. Dairying is an exception, since it is one of the few Hokkaido farming activities with bright prospects, provided that the stunting handicaps of limited capital, costly transportation, and the uneconomically small national market for milk and dairy products can be overcome. Present plans call for a big increase in the number of dairy cows.

Jones expresses the opinion, held by most Hokkaido planners, that the island's future, in terms both of its economic salvation and of its contribution to the nation, lies in the fields of industry and commerce. The Hokkaido population is increasing faster than the national rate, is becoming more urbanized, and has now reached a point where it is large enough to support additional and more diversified industrial activity. Besides supplying this growing local market, Hokkaido industry is the logical supplier for northern Honshu (now dominated by Tokyo interests) and can set its sights on expanded exports to foreign countries. As one measure of its industrial potential, it has Japan's largest coal reserves, iron-ore bodies of exploitable size and quality, and a number of secondary industrial-ore deposits. Although Hokkaido is too far from the urban centers and industrial zones of western Japan to become competitive in the broader national market, it has a favored location for trade with North American and Siberian ports. In spite of formidable financial obstacles to putting plans for industrial and commercial expansion into effect, Hokkaido planners are hopeful that they can create a better-balanced economy and better living standards for a population twice the present size.-JOHN D. EYRE

CARTOGRAPHY

NEW MAP SERIES OF TROPICAL AREAS. To provide information on land use in a tropical area in more detail than has yet been attempted, the University of Malaya's Department of Geography surveyed rural Singapore in 1958 and checked the accuracy of the boundaries with aerial photographs (Robert Ho, acting head of the Department of Geography, University of Malaya, in a letter to the American Geographical Society, October 28, 1958). The department plans to publish the results of the field surveys during 1959, jointly with the Singapore Improvement Trust, in a map series of more than go sheets, scale 1:6336 (half the scale of the field sheets). On a sample sheet already received (Singapore Land Use Map, Sample Sheet S/49, 1:6336 [1958]) general categories of land




use are differentiated by color and specific uses by symbols. For example, agricultural land is shown in brown, and this color combined with various symbols denotes flower gardens, kampong horticulture, vegetable crops, and so forth. Users are cautioned that the map "primarily depicts broad land uses and should not be used as a basis for land survey."

The British Directorate of Overseas Surveys has been studying the use of air photography in the high-speed production of land-use maps to aid agricultural development in overseas territories. Some of the results of this research are shown on a map series on the Gambia being issued by the Directorate. The air photographs ofthe Gambia are being used in the compilation of maps of land use and vegetation, scale 1:25,ooo (approxi- mately); the series will consist of 35 sheets, covering more than 2500 square miles. The Royal Air Force took the initial photographs in 1946, and the Aircraft Operating Company (Aerial Surveys) Ltd. completed the photography in 1956. Although the first sheets (1958) give a wide variety of detail, the main purpose is to show rice-growing areas. Areas of cultivated rice in 1956 are grouped into three categories: at least go per cent in rice; 30 to go per cent; and less than 30 per cent. The area of rice cultivated in 1946 is also shown.

The Directorate is also publishing a new map series on the Aden Protectorate, 1: 100,000, which provides a three-dimensional effect of relief produced by the use of halftone printing plates obtained by photographing a controlled mosaic of the aerial photographs through a halftone screen. The use of the mosaics was made possible by the high altitudes at which the air photographs were taken; relief differences were only a small fraction of the flying height, and height distortion was therefore small. An index guide indicates a series of more than 15o sheets.-RHODA L. HEINECKE

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

THE SPACE AGE. The particular and peculiar part geographers and geography may have in the new Space Age is not yet wholly clear. The case may be that by training and fundamental orientation geographers "are 'this-worldly,' whereas most people are getting to be 'other-worldly' " (G. H. T. Kimble: Five Great Mysteries of the Earth, New York Times Magazine, Mar. 15, 1959). It is understandable that there should be some chagrin on the part of those whose interests focus primarily on our planet. Surely, ignorance about it continues to be most profound, and earth investigations are comparatively poorly financed. It would seem that never before in the whole history of exploration has so esoteric a program aroused so much scientific and public as well as official interest; none has been so well financed as the space "crash" program. Here and there a scientific out- sider-a Kimble, or an Admiral C. B. Momsen (who has said that emphasis on space is a bit ridiculous; man's future is on this planet, in and below the ocean [New York Times, Mar. 15, 1959] )-has attempted a refocus of attention. More significant perhaps are the doubts of those intimately associated with the space program. Lee A. DuBridge has cautioned that the program offers no solution to our problems of increasing population and dwindling resources; he has emphasized that the major values pertain to new and generally unexpected information obtained in physics. Louis J. Ridenour, Jr., and A. R. J. Grosch are reported to have been even more cynical: "Our missile program is the swan song of a dying civilization" (New York Times, Mar. 21, 1959).

Be that as it may, we have been faced with a monthly, if not weekly, grist of new




satellites and lunar probes, with fundamental new discoveries such as the Van Allen radiation belt, with the radiation curtains caused by the Argus explosions, and, most recently, with signals bounced back from Venus. Associated therewith have been multiple administrative and legislative developments on the national scene, especially the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Public Law 85-568, July 29, 1958), for which an appropriation of $485,ooo,ooo has been requested for the fiscal year 1960.

International interest and conferences have not been lacking. As geographers and citizens we fortunately have much assistance toward under-

standing the new fourth dimension of our existence. The Army has provided a series of five informative pamphlets ("Missiles, Rockets, and Satellites" [especially Vol. S, "Earth Satellites and Space Exploration"], Department of the Army Headquarters, Washington, 1958). The librarians have contributed an admirable bibliography, with annotation as well as author and subject indexes (Mildred Benton: The Literature of Space Science and Exploration, U. S. Naval Research Laboratory Bibliography No. 13, Washington, 1958). Perhaps most widely useful, in that it covers history, technology, possible applications, and development down to a recent date in other countries, is the "Space Handbook: Astronautics and Its Applications" (86th Congr., 1st Sess., House Doc. No. 86, 1959).

The same highly activated House Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration that prepared the "Space Handbook" has put together two reports covering cooperation in space exploration. One reviews the opportunities for, and impetus to, cooperation ("International Cooperation in the Exploration of Space," 85th Congr., 2nid Sess., House Rept. No. 2709, 1959). The other develops the thesis that scientific progress is a partnership matter, that all the physical sciences are closely interrelated whether in space or earth-bound, and that a substantial reciprocal relation exists between geophysical research and astronautics ("The International Geophysical Year and Space Research," 86th Congr., 1st Sess., House Doc. No. 88, 1959). The General Assembly of the United Nations late in 1958 in plenary session recognized, by resolution, the common interest of mankind in outer space: present national rivalries should not be extended thereto, but it should be used for peaceful purposes only, and its full exploration and exploitation for the benefit of mankind should be energetically promoted. An ad hoc committee "on the peaceful uses of outer space" was established and requested to report on four basic matters, of which one was "the nature of legal problems which may arise in the carrying out of programs to explore outer space" ("Space Law: A Symposium," Special Committee on Space and Astronautics, United States Senate, Eighty-Fifth Congress, Second Session, December 31, 1958 [Committee Print], pp. 569-570).

One may perhaps forecast that a significant contribution of geographers in the new age will relate to boundary problems. Indeed, one paper has already suggested the practical use of the oblique plane with respect to air boundaries over territorial seas (S. B. Cohen: The Oblique Plane Air Boundary, Professional Geographer, Vol. 10, No. 6, 1958, pp. 11- 15). As might be expected, the lawyers are already busy on this so-called "nonscientific" aspect. The American Bar Association has had for more than a year its committee on the law of outer space; the Federal Bar Association has a division on space law and weather control; the International Law Association gave the use of space priority on the agenda for its biennial meeting in New York in 1958; a multination colloquium on the law of outer space was held at The Hague in August, 1958, by the International Astronautical




Federation. Among the problems considered are how and where to differentiate between air space and outer space, the upward reach of national sovereignty, and by what principles sovereignty may be established over natural and artificial celestial bodies. Understandably, the literature is already large and is rapidly increasing. Incidentally, a respected minority of the experts consider the present discussions not very helpful: outer space is not expressly governed by existing international law; only an international agreement can serve. The House Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration has fortunately provided an informative survey covering the need for regulation, indicating some of the significant problems, and providing possibly useful parallels that may be drawn from other fields of law; included is a 22-page bibliography ("Survey of Space Law," 86th Congr., ist Sess., House Doc. No. 89, 1959). Even more useful for some purposes is a Senate symposium of carefully selected articles on space law, articles on Soviet viewpoints, digests of selected foreign sources, and, among the appendixes, texts of United Nations statements and reso- lutions on the peaceful uses of outer space ("Space Law: A Symposium" [op. cit.]).

One may wonder what geography and closely related sciences have gained or learned to date from space developments. For one thing, the Vanguard I satellite is reported to have yielded a first dividend in recalculation of the equatorial bulge and the unexpected finding that the earth is slightly pear-shaped; new theories and explanations about the earth's structure may come later. For another thing, tracking stations have made possible the pinpointing of positions on the earth's surface, and map makers are thus enabled to eliminate some long-suspected errors.-JOHN KERR RoSE

GEOGRAPHICAL NEWS

MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS. The University of Pittsburgh was host, in this the city's bicentennial year, to the Association of American Geographers at its fifty-fifth annual meeting. More than 85o persons attended the sessions, which were held at the Penn-Sheraton Hotel from March 29 through April 2. Three and a half days and two evenings were devoted to the presentation of papers, and three excellent field trips were provided by the Committee on Local Arrangements, Norman Carls, chairman. The first of these trips, on Sunday afternoon, March 29, was an excursion by special train through the heavily industrialized valleys of the Monongahela and the upper Ohio. The second trip, on Wednesday morning, April 1, afforded an opportunity to view from chartered aircraft the physical and cultural features of the Appa- lachian region of western Pennsylvania. On Thursday morning, April 2, a tour of the city by bus enabled participants to examine the remarkable recent developments in urban land use for which Pittsburgh is justly celebrated.

The meeting was unique in three respects: it was the largest Association meeting ever held; the program comprised the largest number of papers so far presented at an Association gathering; and-a natural corollary, perhaps-for the first time no plenary sessions were scheduled, apart from the general welcoming session. The Program Com- mittee, under the chairmanship of E. Willard Miller, scheduled a total of 149 papers in 24 parallel sessions. Of these sessions, five were specially arranged by the presiding chair- men to focus on particular themes: "Geographic Thought in Foreign Countries" (6 papers); "Population of the Caribbean Realm" (6); "Pennsylvania Geography" (6); "Admiral Robert E. Peary Commemorative Program" (5); and "Conservation" (4).




The remaining 122 papers were delivered under 17 regional and topical headings. For those geographers who may now or in the future be interested in trends, a broad cate- gorization of the papers by subject (and admittedly by subjective allocation) comes out as follows: economic geography, 61; cultural geography, 48; physical geography, 25

(this surprisingly good showing undoubtedly reflects the influence of the International Geophysical Year); methodology and theory, 10; and cartography, S* Of the papers classifiable regionally, S4 dealt with Anglo-America, 16 with Latin America and the West Indies, 16 with Europe and the Soviet Union, 15 with Asia, 10 with the Polar Regions, 6 with Africa, and S with Australia and the Pacific Islands. In addition to the prepared papers, 10 panel discussions provided a less formal approach to certain specific problems, and a joint session with the Regional Science Association featured a discussion of "Regional Science Techniques Applicable to Geographic Studies."

The annual dinner was held on Wednesday evening, April 1, with retiring president Lester E. Klimm presiding. Stephen B. Jones, Honorary President, gave a scholarly and stimulating address on "Boundary Concepts and Zeitgeist," and five awards were con- ferred on behalf of the Association by Raymond E. Murphy, chairman of the Honors Committee. The Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Stephen Sargent Visher "for his long record in geographic teaching; but more especially for a half century of diligent research and prolific publication in Climatology, on Indiana, and for pioneer work in Social Geography." Citations for Meritorious Contributions were presented to William Applebaum, "for leading the way in the application of geography in business"; to Carleton P. Barnes, "for his distinguished work as a co-ordinator of research on land and water resources in the United States Department of Agriculture, and in particular for his role in developing the National Atlas"; to Clarence E. Batschelet, "for his long- continued contributions to the more accurate and meaningful definition, delimitation, and enumeration of distributions, and for promoting the cause of geography in the Bureau of the Census"; and to Norton S. Ginsburg, "for his research and publications on Asia and for his work on the book review section of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers." Announcement was made of the naming ofJohn E. Orchard as Honorary President of the Association for 1960.

The dinner was also the occasion for the presentation of a special award. The Wallace W. Atwood Award (Gold Medal) of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History was presented to Henry Somers Sterling by Clarence F. Jones, chairman of the United States Delegation to the recent Consultation on Geography of the PAIGH in Quito, where the award was originally announced. The citation read as follows:

"The V Consultation on Geography of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History, assembled in Quito, Ecuador, from January 7 to 16, 1959

"In consideration of the many years he has dedicated to the advance of geographical studies in the Americas, and of the noteworthy interpretation he has given through his work to problems in the field of geography;

"In consideration that he with distinct success has carried out studies in different parts of the Americas; and

"In consideration that his contribution to the 'Problemas economicos y sociales de los Andes venezolanos' constitutes a magnificent example of geographic methodology;

"Confers the Wallace W. Atwood Gold Medal upon Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin, Henry S. Sterling."




At the annual business meeting, on Tuesday afternoon, the following officers were announced for the coming year: Paul A. Siple, president;Jan 0. M. Broek, vice-president; Arch Gerlach, secretary; and George F. Deasy, treasurer. Fred B. Kniffen and Alfred H. Meyer were elected to the Council.

The 1960 meeting will be held in Dallas, April 18 to 22, with Southern Methodist University as host.-WILMA B. FAIRCHILD

FIFTH PAN AMERICAN CONSULTATION ON GEOGRAPHY. The Fifth Consul- tation on Geography of the Commission on Geography of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History was held, at the invitation of the Government of Ecuador, in Quito, January 7-16. Official mcetings took place in the new buildings of the Ciudad Universitaria and were arranged by the Ecuadorean Organizing Committee, headed by General Angel Isaac Chiriboga.

Six countries (Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, and Uruguay) were not represented at the Consultation; five others were represented by embassy personnel only or by persons who were not geographers. Only seven member countries sent their National Members. In addition, Canada sent an official representative. Exclusive of Ecua- dor, the largest delegations were those of the United States (7), Brazil (S), and Venezuela (4). These figures give some indication of the need to stimulate greater interest in present- day scientific work in geography in the Americas.

The work of the Consultation was carried out by five committees and two working groups. Only selected aspects of the discussions can be noted here, but a nearly complete set of documents of the Consultation is on file in the American Geographical Society's library.

Committee on Climatology: This group concerned itself primarily with the means (and methods) for bringing together climatic data and exchanging opinions on methods and systems to be employed in making climatological maps. Committee on the Geography of the Americas: Discussions revolved primarily around the difficulty of finding persons to prepare geographical texts of their respective countries according to specifications previ- ously outlined by the Committee and around the lack of funds to publish these geogra- phies. It was suggested that each country prepare its own text to suit its particular requirements rather than attempt to follow a standard procedure. On the proceedings of an additional committee, on teaching and texts, the writer has no information. Committee on Land Classification and Use: Keen interest was exhibited at the sessions, and the papers presented brought forth considerable discussion. The chief function of this group at the next Consultation will be to present appropriate categories of graphical data on the scale of 1: i,ooo,ooo for publication at 1: S,ooo,ooo. Committee on Natural Resources: Attendance was larger than at the sessions of any other committee or working group. Because of the large number of papers offered, they were divided among four subcommittees: renewable natural resources, geology, hydrology, and forestry. It was recommended by the United States that the functions of this committee be transferred to a new and larger "Committee on Area Analysis for the Purpose of Regional Development," but because of the marked interest in what the present committee might do, it was continued. However, it was resolved by the Commission to create a working group for area analysis. The first ob- jectives of this group will be to plan and conduct a two-month seminar in which two geographers from each interested member country, or two students graduated from




CEPERN (Centro Panamericano de Entrenamiento para la Evaluacion de Recursos Naturales) or two other qualified technicians, will complete all the phases of a project in area analysis for regional development.

Working Group on Population Mapping: The discussion focused on techniques used on existing population maps to present population information and to show density and distribution of rural and urban population. The effectiveness of the different types of maps as tools for geographical analysis was considered. The desirability of uniformity among the various countries in mapping the results of the continental census of 1960 was stressed, and it was recommended that an explanatory text be prepared for guidance in the compilation of uniform maps on suitable scales down to 1: 1,000,000. Working Group

on Urban Geography: This group has been active and well organized. Past work was reviewed, statistical requirements for the continental census of 1960 were considered, and types of data required were outlined in detail.

The exhibition of maps and geographical texts was large and well displayed. As would be expected, Ecuador's exhibit was the largest. A catalogue of the displays was made available to the participants early in the sessions.

National reports are presented at meetings of the Consultation to summarize work accomplished within each country since the preceding meeting. These reports afford a useful means of exchanging information on trends and activities. Although some of the reports presented at the Fifth Consultation were in published form available to the dele- gates, many others were presented orally. The usefulness of these national reports, in the opinion of the writer, would be greatly increased if they were all in published form (even mimeographed form would be acceptable) and were distributed to participants in advance. The reports could then be summarized and amplified orally if necessary, and much time would be saved for discussion of programs, projects, techniques, and methodology; for after all one of the chief advantages of these meetings is the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss new problems.-CHARLES B. HITCHCOCK

SECOND COASTAL GEOGRAPHY CONFERENCE. More than 60 specialists in the physical aspects of coastal geography, representing some forty universities and organ- izations and seven countries, gathered at the Coastal Studies Institute of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, to participate in the Second Coastal Geography Conference, April 6-9, 1959. The four days of the conference were divided between field trips and rather informal summary presentations of thirteen papers, with discussion the dominant feature. Five daylong excursions were conducted during the first two days, so arranged that every member of the Conference, regardless of which two trips he took, was given a detailed view of the Mississippi deltaic plain and an understanding of the processes that had created the features of the landscape. Three excursions were by bus and boat, one by airplane, bus, and boat, and one wholly by airplane, but they included similar points of interest, such as the Atchafalaya Basin, new and old bayous, natural and artificial levees, salt domes, cheniers, shore and marsh features, Indian mounds and middens, and current occupance and use. The hazards of living in the region were strikingly revealed during a

visit to the Cameron area, which was struck by Hurricane Audrey two years ago. Most of the participants were for the first time made aware of the size of the natural levees of the Mississippi along both past and present courses, of their great width and gentle back-




slopes, so unlike the usual textbook diagrams that depict levees as little nubbins perched at the edge of channels. Another revelation was the subtlety of most topographic features in this vast deltaic plain, where differences in elevation of a few inches are significant.

The capricious Louisiana weather cooperated fully by providing sunny, breezy days for the field excursions and storing up its rain for the last two days, when the participants moved indoors for the less physically strenuous parts of the Conference. After a greeting by General Troy H. Middleton, president of the university, in which he recalled from his war experiences the uses and values of coastal information, the speakers presented high lights of their more formal papers, contained in a Proceedings volume, and introduced numerous illustrative materials. Two papers concerned the coasts of the whole world. John T. McGill (United States Geological Survey) reviewed the various attempts to apply coastal classifications to maps. Although coastal classifications abound, coastal classification maps, either world or regional, are few. Throughout, Dr. McGill emphasized the advantages and shortcomings of the systems of classification and their applications to maps and the serious handicap of lack of basic information on coasts. The methods and problems of analyzing coastal climates were presented by Harry P. Bailey (University of California, Los Angeles), who reported on results of his efforts to devise a classification system that would incorporate the content of a climatic region and would distinguish regions and establish lateral boundaries that did not violate patterns of coastal vegetation.

Two papers were presented on the Texas Gulf Coast, and seven papers described the results of research on foreign coasts. The physiographic features of the Texas coast were described by Rufus J. Leblanc (Shell Development Company), who presented abundant evidence to explain the origin and development of this compound shore line, consisting of both a gulf and a bay shore line. His contention, supported by Harold N. Fisk (Humble Oil & Refining Company) in his explanation of the form and behavior of Padre Island and Laguna Madre flats, that sea level has remained virtually constant since it rose to its present position about 5000 years ago generated a spirited discussion. Rough similarities between the Louisiana cheniers and the stranded sand ridges that are conspicuous along the coastal plain of the Guianas became evident as John H. Vann, Jr. (Louisiana State University), outlined the dynamic processes responsible for the physiographic features in the coastal zone from the Orinoco to the Amazon, a zone in which morphologic changes are rapid and frequent. A history of change and development of the coast of Dahomey was presented by Andre Guilcher (Sorbonne). He noted that, although swamps, marshes, and beach ridges are common features along the coast of the Bight of Benin, they exhibit local peculiarities of pattern in western Dahomey, probably attributable to the influence of the Mono River, a busy stream that seems largely responsible for filling the lagoon and sealing off an old estuary to form Lake Aheme. The fate of this old drowned valley may be what is in store for Baffin Bay and other bays of west Texas as Laguna Madre fills. Hartmut Valentin (Free University of Berlin) reported on his recent study of the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula, northern Australia, and depicted the evolution of this little-known coast as evidenced by the gradual and regular transition from the completely filled old estuaries in the north to the unfilled drowned valleys in the south. Contrary to existing maps, his work showed that Quaternary alluvium exists along the shore (up to 12 miles wide in the north) and mangrove does not.

To provide an understanding of the modern shore line of The Wash, England,



436 THE GEOGRAPHICAI REVIEW

Graham Evans (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London) traced its development from the Tertiary. The early influence of rivers, glaciation, and changing sea level account only in part for the present conditions. Large-scale accretion in recent centuries seems mainly the result of man's activities, which have abetted the natural processes of salt-marsh growth. A more passive part played by man was described in two papers. J. A. Steers (University of Cambridge) presented examples of the use of archeological data in physiographic studies concerned with coastal submergence, dune activity, and shore prograding in Britain. The value of using Indian remains in unraveling the com- plex history of the Mississippi delta was demonstrated by William G. McIntire (Louisiana State University), whose correlation of shifts in stream courses with the chronology of Indian occupance established a new and more accurate sequence of delta development. Axel Schou (University of Copenhagen) spoke of the concern of modern man in Den- mark in developing and protecting the coasts and pointed out the advantages offered by the Danish coast as a field laboratory for the study of shore-line simplification processes and forms and of marsh-plain development.

Focusing attention on offshore coastal geography, L. M. J. U. van Straaten (Geologi- cal Institute, Groningen) discussed the characteristics of the submarine part of the Rhone delta and the ways in which it records the history of the delta. Other Dutch studies of the shelf and neritic sedimentation processes were noted by P. H. Kuenen (University of Groningen) in telling of the wide variety of coastal studies conducted by Dutch scientists during recent years.

A brief account of the papers can only hint at the stimulating topics, which touched off lively discussions that occupied much of the time. Nor were the exchanges of ideas limited to sessions; they continued during a tour of the Coastal Studies Institute and

throughout the meals at the Faculty Club, where the excellence of specially prepared Louisiana dishes caused conferees to abandon concern over waistlines.

The Conference was sponsored by the Geography Branch of the Office of Naval Research in cooperation with the Division of Earth Sciences of the National Research

Council, but its success was due wholly to the work of Dr. Richard J. Russell and the members of the Coastal Studies Institute who so carefully planned every minute detail

of the excursions and sessions.-EVELYN L. PRUITT



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