The morning times., 1896-03-29
If He Finds 1t the Commerce
of the World Will Be Revo-
lutiOnized and Europe, Rus
Sia and North America Be
Brought Together by a New
Route.

with which Nansen has communicated with
his beloved wife during the last few years,
trusting her TO get the news TO the Danish
court, ms hackers i'll this voyage. And so
scattered and variable has il been that Mrs
Nansen herself has at times doubted it.
Nansen' S idea is that the pole is an open
sea. He claims that the vast spot where
there is nothing, where latitude and longi-
tude are one, where the earth stops reyoly-
ing because the pivot Of the globe
is reached, is warm open place. It's
temperature, according TO his theories,
when he started, is no colder than that of
any other country in the north temperate
zone, and it is free from ice the year around
de supports this by showing the great warm
current that flows soutbward between
Greenland and Norway, and claims that
there must be something to supply This cur
rent with water, otherwise the pole would
soon run dry. The current south isso rapid
that boats come out at the rate OF three
knots an hour east of Greenland, drifting
with the current. Where does the water
como from 10 supply this current?
THAT water says Nansen, FLOWS up
| through the Bering Strait, between Russia
! and Alaska. That there Is a strong up
ward tide here every navigator knows.
Even the maps show il. Arctic expeditions
start off the coast of California and strike
! this current because they find it will carry
! into the Arctic Sea.
This current says Nansen, s'if YOU
! can stick TO it, viii carry you across the
! pole and down on the other side OF the
! world 10 Russia and the whole north of
! Europe and ASIA
This current Nansen claims now to
! have found. If he is successful, and has
! succeeded in making chart OF his voyage
4 Tor the use OF nayigators, then there VIII
! be established 3 speedy communicate be-
! tween The countries OF both hemiSphereS
/ such as does not now exist. Besides this
| means or communication the discovery it
! self viii be Of inestimable value TO science
| IN locating land and water. currents and
| iccbergs all over tie upper hemisphere
The practical value OF the discovery will
he that cargoes of goods can be transport
ed by ship from China to England, aud a
! quick cut can be ia ken from Russia acrcss
TO Canada ana thence to the United States
! The practical value OF the cross cut will
be the ease with which it can be accom-
| plished and the saving in time. These are
| things which NanSen alone can answer
! when lie comes home.
The arctic explorers, Greedy and Peary,
| say that Nansen has not found the pole
and that he Will not claim that he has
| His word will have TO be taken for it,
| but ir Nansen says he reached the point
| where there is no longitude, and where
4dA9hNitiC Is az lis Iil5ECSb pOlnb IL VIII DC
safe to believe him. GreeIy and Peary
say it is impossible, and that a trick
OF the course made him slip south pas
| Franz Josef and mistake it for the pole
with open sea and land around. Nansen
must decide that with proofs for every
assertion.
The pole of the earth has been q set
tied fact with explorers for many years.
They have decided it to be a large cap
OF ice at least 1000 feet thick and ex-
tending many miles around. Sightings
taken of TINS cap on all sides report it
the shape OF a tea saucer turned over.
SO well known is this great round cap OF
ice to explorers that Sir George Mares
Of the Royal Navy, named it the Paleo,
crystal Sea, and il is so called in all arc.
tic works. Peary sighted it, or thought
nc did. and all explorers look for it.
Nansen alone. alive, and De Long, dead
say IL isn't there.
Pcary, in one OF his recent lectures, re
minds people that -Nansen is where the
sun has not risen for three months, ant
that he could have made little headway o
late. This suggests the possibilities in cas-
or the finding OF an open passage across tn,
pole.