The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-09-20
CLAIMS TO POLE
ARE ANALYZED
Question Whether Discovery Has Ex-
tended U S. Possessions OF Added
to Holdings Of Some Other
Nation Discussed,

it man 10 discover tic north pole when
he can neither own it, nor sell it, nor
give it awayY
And yet that is precisely Che situationH
no matter what may be determined in
the present deplorable controversy
whether Cook OF pcary saw it FIRST
one Of the interesting questions which
have arisen ont Of efforts On these q
I plorers Is as 20 the jurisdiction which
may now extend to the pole by right
OF discovery. Have they extended the
possessions 81 the United states or have
they merely added 70 the holdings Of
some other nationl
Already two countries have put ~
their claims 10 whatever may have been
found at the top Of che world Denmark
insists that n belongs 70 her A. q part
81 Greenland Canada claims Il as 4
part OF her northery possessions, And
American citizens found i'll Under these
circumstances did Peary have a rlgat
TO offer the north pole to President Taft
as though it we're something be owned
and could give to the American nation
II Is question which has puzzled many
eminent geographers and statesmen.
Light upon the subject Is shed By a
high official 81 the state department,
according TO whose argument no one ma
tion can claim special jurisdiction there,
but the finding Of the pole is gift %
the whole world.
There are three ways by which this
question Of right Of discovery are set
tied One. which has been recognized for
many years. applies 20 such matters as
the finding Of an isolated islet ia the
Pacific. for instance In such q case
the diseoverer. by planting the Gag Of
his country and making formal deqlara.
ton, annexes the new land,
Another way applies more particularly
10 arctic exploration Ii new lands are
discovered and they prove to be q cons
tinuati0n Of. and part Of, land already
known. those new lands belong to the
same sovereignty that owns the old land.
Thus. II Cooks and Pearys discoveries
should have developed 70 be merely con-
limitations Of Greeland, Denmark's claim
would be pre-eminent
But this Il utterly disproved, because
il has been demonstrated that Greenland
Il an island, Amundsen, IN his explora-
tions. proved this by circumnavigating
it, Thus the Danish claim falls to the
ground
The third WAY, which applies to The
Canadian contention. Is the claim Of ma
tions 10 the HhinterlandR which stretches
back from their acknowledge possessions.
There are several familiar instances Of
this in Africa. The hintsrland8 extends
until il meets the Acknowledged lurisdic-
ton 81 another power
But in the case Of The north pole.
1t Is situated at a point where all the
meridians converge and where an the
"hinterlands" 81 al the northern ma
tions meet For that reason no one Of
them can set up claim TO the pole
without meeting the counter claims Of
Others. Therefore, il is Che worlds pos.
session and not that Of any one coun-
try
As Tor the possession Of any islands
Of lands which maY have been discovered
ly either Cook or Peafy above the sIth
parallel in their iashcs e the pole. this
same state department authority is Of
tie opinion that they would be IN the
same category as spiizbergen, which,
although discovered over 200 years ago,
has never been claimed BY any civilized
government and is still No mans
Land
But. although. from the argument Of
this learned authority. neither Cook nor
Peary can own, sell nor give away the
north pole. there are profits that come
to such explorers in another way. So
long as the controversy exists as %
which got there 6rst, and so long as tile
whole civilized world "a divided into two
partisan camps. one believing in Cook
and the other IN Peary, the two men
are certain 20 be in great demand for
their writings and lectures 1t X cal.
cIlated that both Of them viii be worth
at least a half million dollars within the
next year Or two as result Of their
enterprise That IS the golden reward
to come to them for their efforts and sac
rifices, and bravery In facing the untold
dangers OF The North
Hardly bad Dr. Cook had time 70 get
shave and 4 new suit Of clothes before
he was approached with an offer Of
Sl25. 600 for the exclusive rights for the
publication Of his book. It was a big
price. but IL was not accepted just so
soon as Peary came forward with his
claim, and his knocking" Of Cooks
achievements, instead Of depreeiatng the
market for Cooks writings. It SCARED
upward An American firm Of book pub
fishers promptly came forward with an
offer to Cook of $250000 just doubls
the original amount bid for his work.
Following this came proposition from
a representative of lecture bureau. who
suggested a Willingness to pay S250.O00
to Cook for a series of 100 lectures An
American theatrical concern invited him
to name his own figures and consider the
deal closed IN addition, magazine OF
fered him $4,000 for single article
dealing with his trip To the pole pearv
has been bombarded with equally lucra
tive propositions from the book makers
and the lecture managers
Both Of them will be great drawing
cards for some years 10 come. both here
and in Europe, and from present indioa
TONS The incomes that each viii receive
viii make the salary Of the president of
the United States look puny IN compan.
son
So it does profit man to find the
north pole, even though he is not able
to sell ii.
Upon the well thumbed log books"
which contain the day-todav obserya-
lions 81 Dr Cook and Commander Peary,
viii depend the acceptance by scientists
Of their respective claims Of discovery
Of the north pole,
Nearly all authorities here agree that
il would Be easier to discover the pole
than TO fake" these records neverthe.
less Their IS a possibility that II might