St. Landry democrat., 1884-09-13
Value Of Arctic Exploration.

suits of the explorations do not Justify
the cost in money and life. But the
explorations will not stop, and the gen
tlemen who are demanding that they
shall are taking counsel of their hearts
rather than their head5-th are more
sympathetic than sensible. There has,
indeed, been great sacrifice of life in
the ice region. But has there not also
been great sacrifice of life at home? It
is asked: What sort of return for the
suffering and death in the Greedy party
is the information he obtained? In
reply: What sort Of return for the
death of the one hundred and twenty
men who were shut up in the fiery fur
mace of the Pocahontas mine was all
the coal ever taken out of it? Shall the
life of man and the tears and cries of
widows and orphans be weighed in the
balance with some tons of coal, and
shall no account be made of the dis
plays Of heroism and their value in the
formation of National character? May
men perish by scores digging coal and
the fact be accepted as an incident in
! National progress, and others perish in
efforts to enlighten the human race on
some of the most important problems
of natural science, and the fact be set
down as waste merely? II the fate
of those with Greedy and De Long
was waste of life and limb, what
was the fate of the thousands
who lost life or limbs in mines? 1t is
| important to have exact knowledge of
the world we live in, as well as to have
coal to keep us warm or cook our food.
Those who cry out against Arctic ex-
| plOration do not seem to know that the
| scientific world is looking to the Arctic
regions for solution of difficulties en-
! countered in the study of the laws of
storms, and upon correct knowledge
of those laws depend the life and safety
of all who 90 to sea, to mention only
one part of the multitudes who would
| be benefited by such knowledge. If
the laws Of storms were thoroughly I'M
derstood, does anyone suppose that
charlatan like Virgins could succeed
| in frightening thousands ofmariners by
his prediction of a coming storm on the
ocean? To say nothing about the effect
of that scare upon the character of the
people, the delays to shipping by it
caused directly and Indirectly the loss
Of a greater sum of money than the
Government ever expended in an Arc
tic expedition. Recall the great disas-
tiers at sea, and how many of them
might have been avoided had the laws
of storms been understood? How many
ships have sailed right into the vortex
because no one knew that distant
storm was forming the vortex? Or look
at the matter on the other side. How
many ships have been saved, with all
their crews, in late years, by short
Geographic dispatch announcing
changes of weather, and reporting the
alterations in the thermometer and
barometer? Read the stories of the
storms on the coasts of all civilized
nations now, and an answer to the ques-
ton may be had. In the stormy season
no reports in the papers are much more
common than reports of how fleets of
merchant vessels ran to shelter when |
word was received, from across the |
ocean perhaps, that there was peril in |
being abroad. Is it waste of money |
and life to send brave men to regions
where they can obtain facts to verify |
and amplify such important knowl-
edge? And what has the loss of life |
amounted to? The statistics Of Arctic |
Explorations show that the number of |
deaths in all the expeditions from the
one sent out in search of Sir John |
Franklin down to recent time has |
amounted to only two per cent. of the |
whole number of explorers. These are,
indeed, perilous expeditions. There
are also coal mines known to be spe |
cially perilous-the fire damp mines.
Will not the statistics of these mines /
show as high death rate? Then, to
be consistent, the gentlemen who cry
against Arctic exploration ought to de-
mand the closing of these mines. But
the cry is nonsense, and only to be en-
dured because of the kindness of heart I
which inspires it. For centuries the
most enterprising nations Of the world,
beginning with the Dutch in their he
roic age, have been yieing with each
other in their endeayors to solve the
problems Of the great North. Every
expedition has drawn nearer to the So
luton, and the last one, the nearest of
all. 1t is sheerfolly to suppose that
the problem will be abandoned now.
The suffering of the Greedy party is not
thought of by scores of men who are inn
patientto start on an expedition over the
ground he covered, because they think
that they will be able to go still further
and learn more. When adventures in
Vited death by penetrating the heart of
Africa, there were plenty of persons
who asked what good could come of it.
They do not ask that question now.
The light that has been thrown on the
dark continent shoWS what good these
adventurous men diR in Exposing THO
horrors of the slave trade Ihd. opening
he country to ciyilizatioT7 What good