Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-07-19
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARY
PROSPECTS OF REACHING THE NORTH


PROSPECTS OF REACHING THE NORTH
POLE.
1t will not be surprising If the North
Pole is reached within the next two
wears. If fortune has smiled on Mr..
Pesry, he may already have planted his
flag there. Ever since Nansen stood as
near the pole as New York Is from Bos-
ton, no Arctic authority has doubted that
the long sought prize is attainable. 1t is
a question merely of masterful leader,
plenty of dogs, and three square meals
day. AS sure as the sun rises, we shall
know what is really at the northern apex
of the world. 1t may be only waste of
ice covered sea but the truth, however
dreary, will be golden treasure compared
with the dross of Symmes' Hole, or the
yarn evolved by Howgate from Eskimo
legings of north-polar denizens living
under a genial sun and making clocks
and other New England knickknacks.
There is a revival of interest in polar
research. Four Arctic expeditions are
are now in the field, or will soon reach
il; one or two more are quite certain 10
follow next season. Inc careIully
planned British and German expeditions
to Antartic waters fitted out at an eX-
nense of about 100000, will soon be on
their way. and will reach their destination
late next fall. when the Antartic summer
beoins. Two more expeditions are pre-
narino RI take part in south polar work,
but If is uncertain if they will be ready
m enter the field this season. 1t Is
doubtful if there was ever more money
invested in polar enterprises at one time,
excent during the search for Sir John
Franklin. than at the present moment
The reason for this is that there are still
nrizes 70 be won worth seeking; and eX-
plorers think the chances OF winning
them have increased MANIFOLD in view or
the great improvements in methods ana
eouipment that have shown brilliant
results in the work of Nansen. Peary and
the Duke of Abruzzi.-Cyrus G. Adams
in Review of Reviews.
5000
FRANCES LITTLE NAVAL WONDER.
There is a disposition to magnify I'M
dulv the importance of the feat OF the
submarine destroyer the Gustave Lede in
reaching and attaching torpedo TO the
hull of the battleship Jaureguibery 1t
was clever accomplishment. a few
wears ago it would have been an astound-
ing one. But to assume that because of
this one act the naval supremacy of Eng
land is transformed into vain boast is,
to say the least, premature.
In these days the progress of Invention
as applied to instruments OF war has
largely been in the line of adapting one
means to offset another. Heavier guns
have called for heavier ship armor, and
vice versa. Smokeless powder has de-
manded new tests for locating an enemy.
Range. finders have sprung up to aid the
gunners who now find targets too far
away for the calculations of the unas-
sisted eye.
England and her plans for an even
greater navy are not undone because a
little mischief maker has found way to
dodge great battleships and attack them
far below the water-line. The meaning
of the new fact is only that invention
must come again into play. Wireless
telegraphy is already scheduled part OF
the equipment of the coming warships.
Adaptations of its principles have been
tried through land and water as well as
air. Nothing is surer than the prompt
forthcoming or the instrument which on
any ship will Immediately reveal the
presence in the neighboring waters of an
unseen enemy like the Gustave Iede.
Established precautions will do the rest.
Cross-invention is the most Interesting
feature of modern preparation for war.
Ii is the force to which the Russian oh
IA DInrl- rppnntlN- aftrihufp1 fDp
growing uselessness of war. It's among
the strongest of the elements now max
ing for universal peace.--New York
World.
THEY DO NOT DIE EARLY.
Charles Dickens has his Joke about the
national instrument of music among the
Yankees, the general catarrh. And
many physician and expert in hygiene
unpacks his soul at intervals in fierce
denunclation of oyerhaste IN eating, and
warns the hurried and impetuous
American that he will be cut of in the
bloom of his youth If he does not take
his meals with calm deliberation.
These excellent counsellers are never
weary of extolling the prudence and
wisdom of those Engishmen who eat
slowly, who spend great deal of time
at table and who take pains to masticate
every morsel as thoroughly as a Mime
apols flour mill grnds the finest quality
of wheat. We are solemnly assured
that the upper and the neither millstones
of the average Briton pulverize food SO
minutely that indigestion is almost i'm