The Republican journal., 1877-06-14
The North Pole.

| This is an appropriate season to talk
Of trigid topics, and our readers who are
sweltering under a temperature in the
neighborhood of ninety will be gratified
to learn that Capt. Henry W. Howgate
Of the United States Signal service, is
going right along with his Polar Coloni-
cation Scheme, confident that when Con
gless meets again the bill appropriating
| 500, 900 to equip a national expedition tC
| the Arctic seas will become a law. ~
present lloWgate proposes to send up a
kind Of teelcr or pilot expedition to the
frozen seas, il small vessel under com
mand Of Capt. Tyson Of Polars renown
to collect during the season EsquimauA
dogs, sedges, and clothing, enlist native
guides and establish depot for the eX-
petition which will follow in the season
of 1873. The cost of this preliminary
expedition is figured inside of 1000, a
sum which is to be raised through sub
scriptions, if possible, the Captain him
self heading the paper with $500. How
gates enthusiasm is sustained by the
hearty endorsement Of Prof. Henry, OF
the Smithsonian Institution, Prof Loom
is, Of Yale, President Potter, of Union
Admiral Porter, and other scientists and
geographers, and the chances are that he
will succeed with his project
1t will be recollected that his scheme
involves the establishment of a colony OF
the right sort of men within the polar cir
Gle, its maintenance there until the men
shall have become acclimated, and a final
resolute push for the North Pole, with all
the appliances that experience in the frost
land shall suggest Capt. lIowgate him
self is the right kind Of Il man tolead such
an expedition. He is a hardy Michigan
der, of Scotch descent, and man Of in
domitable energy and activity. During
the late war he served as Signal Officer
with the armies in the West, and Travelled
in that capacity with Generals Slocum
and Sherman on the march to the sea
from Atlanta. He was the first officer i'm
the Signal Service to translate Conteder-
ate signals, and from the time he began
to devote his remarkable analytical pow
ers to that duty, the enemy within his
range of vision found it impossible to
construct a cipher to battle him. Grant,
Sherman and Slocum have borne tcsti-
mony to his almost incstimable services
in that line of duty.
Waving for the present all considera-
ton Of the practical utility Of polar eX-
ploration, or the question whether there
are better facilities at the North Pope than
anywhere else for demonstrating scientific
subjects, Capt. Howgate appears to be the
man to direct such an enterprise, if Con-
gress concludes to authorize it and pay
for it. His energy would push a judi
clously enlisted party through or over
every obstacle, be it ice mountain or belt
of unknown, stormy sea- to the Pole. and,
SO to speak, deck the Cap of Liberty with
another feather by planting the American
flag there. Capt. Howgate proposes to
make his preliminary expedition pay eN-
penses, wholly or in part, by fitting it out
with complete apparatus for whale fish
ing
We publish to-day fuller particulars of
the recent great earthquake on the west
ern coast of South America. 1t was tor
rlbly destructive of life and property
Those who sometimes long for milder eli
mates, should read and reflect that there
is some advantage in living where the
restlessncss of the earth doesn't shake
down our houses, and where the ocean
rests peacefully in its bed, instead of
rushing in sudden and whelming waves
upon the land.
The movement of produce from this
country to Europe is increasing. On Sat
urday seven steamers sailed from New
York with full cargoes. One of them had
400 boxes of butter in a refrigerator
room. This business promises to be of
great advantage to the farmers of the
United States.
Ii two negatives make an affirmative, why
shouldn't two alternatives make negative9 Bath
Commercial
They do. Notice how often agreeing
parents have contrary children.