('188') 
ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN READING AT THE FAREWELL BANQUET 
OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY 
15 SEPTEMBER 1952. 
I do not think it necessary to make any remarks as suggested by Mr. Whit 
more about my part in planning and conducting the Congress. About all I did 
was to turn it over to the Comittees ant then admire their work. 
There are, however, two very inspiring ideas about international photo- 
grammetry which I should like to share with you. We need inspiring ideas in 
such confused times, as the present. 
For over a century the world has been struggling with the Malthusian idea 
that no matter how much food was raised there would never be enough to feed 
the people of the earth. Some of them would always have to die by war, pesi- 
lence, or starvation because of population pressures. 
Most of the people of the world have been through bad inflation, a great 
depression, and two world wars. They have noted the great advance of machin 
ery in these wars and also that in spite of having over a quarter of the men 
out of production in the fighting, they still manage to be fed. They have also 
noted that the soldiers were always fed and usually better clothed then they 
were. 
Moreover, it is evident that when a people become literate and learn the 
thrill of the control of power when they step on an accelerator, they also learn 
to control other things, among them the size of their families. Once they attain 
a standard of living and education which gives them the knowledge and hope 
that they can control much of their lives, they try to make sure that their 
children also have these advantages. The literature indicates that $ 1500 to 
$ 1700 per family annual income is sufficient for this in Puerto Rico. Sweden 
has demonstrated that it is possible for a people to educate themselves into 
controlling the number of children upward as well as downard. Malthus seems 
definitely answered, if we can only educate and develop our resources. 
We enigneers who have been reading our technical journals are aware that 
with no more knowledge then we now have, it is possible to educate people to 
develop agriculture, engineering, and marketing, so as to support from two to 
ten times the present world population. These ideas have penetrated the ideol 
ogy of many people and now all of them have witnessed the performance of 
airplanes and automobiles in their localities. No government in the world will 
exist for very long, which tells its people that a large number must starve or 
allow their living standards to get worse instead of better in these times. 
As you have been hearing during this Congress, photogrammetry can 
greatly assist in the development of the resources and the development of 
power and transportation, as well as in the development of agriculture. We are 
all enthused in the improvements disclosed at this Congress, which give great 
promise of marked improvement and show how efficient photogrammetry can 
raise living standards. We have good reason to congratulate ourselves over the 
disclosures of photogrammetry in this Congress, 
There is another aspect of this Congress which is very encouraging in 
these times. The social sciences have found that, by and large, men act the way