The independent-reporter., 1909-09-30
The Value Of the North Pole
Discovery

Dte&VsCty
A feU years ago when Lieutenant
Peary Vas iecturing In n neighbor-
( ing city. he attempted TO answer an
/ Iofi-repeated question as 10 the real
value. scientific or otherwise. to be
attached 10 the discovery 0: the
North pole When he had given his
answer there was not a person In the
biz audience who could have stated
his conclusions. In truth. Il was
generally remarked at the time that
even Peary himself did not know OF
any great value from such an
achievement
In Portland the other evening
/ Lieut.. Peary made second attempt
to answer a similar question, and
this Is what he said:
Il have been asked what Is the
/ scientific value of the discovery OF
/ the North pole. There are some
| things about it that are great deal
greater than the gathering OF Few
| additional data about the earth. AS
! long as there was a part of the earth
undiscovered 1t was reproach on
| humanity and challenge TO clvlllza-
! ton. Another thing. 1t has accredited
TO the United States another mile
stone In history. The way the pole
has been enveloped in mystery Tor
300 years it surely will be recognized
another mile stone in history.
Another fact is the satisfaction
that at last a man in spite of every
obstacle has made good (Cheers)
In substance, then, the discovery
of the North pole means that "a few
additional data about the earth" are
secured, that the "reproach on hu-
manity" has been removed, and that
Robert E. Peary has made good
That's the answer
AS a matter of fact, we cannot
learn from extensive reading or ire
auent inquiry of those in position to
know, that the few additional data
secured can add much, II any, to the
sum total OF the knowledge of the
human race 1t Is safe to say that
long before Lieut.. Peary or DR.. Cook
reached the goal of their individual
ambitions scientists could well cal
culate what were the conditions at
the pole. In other words, 1t was OF
no great Importance that one should
place his life and that of others In
danger for the sake of sitting down
at the pole and laughing at what
the people around home would say.
In the same way 1t might prove OF
scientific value to measure the dis
tance from the Earth to the Moon
with a foot-rule, but that Is neither
possible nor necessary. Our astro-
nomical laboratories can furnish us
with the figures for such distance.
So, too, 1t might prove scientifically
valuable as we'll as saving to the
poeket-bo on account of the N. K
T. and T. Co., were we blessed with
ears large enough and acute enough
to hear the sweet voices of our dear
friends hundreds OF miles away, but
as long as we have inventive genius
enough to produce such wonderful
instruments as the telephone, we can
easily dispense with any larger per-
sonal adornments.
And as for removing any re
proach" and meeting any challenge
to civilization" that idea strikes one
as rather pueril. 1t is no "reproach"
II, as human beings, we cannot eat
dirt and live; it is no "reproach" II
we must have artificial light by which
to see. No; Lieut.. Peary and Dr.
Cook did not remove any reproach
or meet any challenge. They may
simply thank their lucky stars that
they got back to civilization whole
To say that man who happens to
be sleeping on a good feather-bed
apart by the lightning, has conquered
the lightning, or met any challenge,
Is as absurd as this conquering bust
ness of the Arctic explorers. The
real reason why the man did not get hit
was doubtless because the lightning
did not strike the feather-bed
After all, when one ferrets the
thing through, one will find that the
real value In discovering the pole Is
that Peary made good" That's all
He started out to get there, and he
got there, and now everybody shouts
themselves hoarse because he did.
That's all we'll enough provided we
fully understand just why we are
shouting. It's human-like-charac-
teristic of the race and the age to
which we belong.