The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-20

DIR. COOK AND THE PUBLIC.
Convince Before Further Exploit
ing.

There are two circumstances that
make the present timely moment
for taking a look at the situation
presented by DR.. Cooks relation to
the public, as it has developed in the
past six weeks We refer, on the one
hand, to the fact that the board Of
aldermen of the city of New York
are this week to confer on the explor-
er the freedom Of the city, and, on
the other, to the statement just made,
on the part of DR.. Cook, that it will be
three months before he has his data
ready for submission to the Univer-
sity Of Copenhagen. The conjuncture
Is Significant. For, though the board
OF aldermen is not q body tn" in
spires reverence or awe in the l.linds
Of the people here at home. the con-
ferring of the freedom of the great
city of America upon DR.. Cook will
be telegraphed to every country In
the civilized world. and will. doubt
less. be generally looked upon as evil
dence that, after weeks of discussion
and inquiry, American opinion has
settled into acceptance of the doctors
claim while. on the other hand, so
far as proof Of the claim is concerned,
we are not only'no farther advanced
than we were at the beginning, but
are calmly informed that three more
months are to pass before even a be-
ginning can be made of a real in
quiry.
Now, this might be allowed, per-.
haps, to pass without comment, were
1t not for the fact that DR.. Cook has
been utilizing this period of suspend
ed Judgment on the part of compe-
tent critics to transmute into very
handsome profits the uncritical en-
thusiasm Of the multitude, and that
there 's no indication that he means
to do otherwise with any additional
time that may be gained by further
postponement Of q decisive test. That
this is not q situation in which q man
of a delicate sense of personal honor
would be willing to place hinself goes
without saying; but the public, and
the organs Of public opinion, have,
perhaps, no concern with the question
of DR.. Cooks standards OF propriety
In such matter. What they do have
concern with is the possibility that
the public is being exploited-that is
being led into delivering both honors
and dollars without due warrant And
the time seems plainly to have come
In the case, a protest should be made
against a further continuance of it on
Its present footing. DIR. Cook has fin
ished the publication of his serial
newspaper story; he has given a
number of lectures in various parts
Of the country, at high admission
prices, to great audiences; now let
him address himself to the task OF
establishing his case to the satisfac-
tion Of competent and impartial in
quirers.
And by this We mean not only that
he devote himself to the work of pre-
pairing his data for the University Of
Copenhagen. but also that, by the ap-
preparation of a fraction of the time
he has been giving so lavishly to his
profitable newspaper story and lee
ture tours he prepare a brief state
ment, in plain, businesslike language,
covering the main points connected
with his journey. What these main
points are might be left to some COM
mittee Of geographers or scientists to
determine. One point, for instance,
that obviously requires explanation Ia
the question Of how he determined
his longitude. II is somewhat curious
that he should have given determin-
ations of longitude at all when he was
within a few degrees Of the Pole.
anything even approaching an accu-
rate determination OF it is there very
difficult and would involve more time
than man with Cooks task before
him could possibly be supposed to
give; and yet he keeps on giving it to
the minute. Even on the day before
reaching the Pole, with his latitude
~ degrees 45.5 minutes, he tells us
the observation gave his longitude
as - degrees SO minutes. The alb
surdity of attempting to get his longi-
tude by an observation when onlv fif-
teen miles away from the Pole is
such that, if we were to Judge the
whole story by this single fact he
would nave to be put down as either