The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-08

l laurelS or VICIOry.
 How the controversy will end is problematical. Scientists say it will finally develop into a court trial. with | the foremost scientists of America and Europe sitting as a. tribunal. Both Peary and Cook will be asked for proof. The whole d1sagreeable con- troversy will be threshed over by the scientists in the weight of the scien- t1ftcal claim each man can bring for ward. The palm will go to the real conqueror of the pole.
 A significant fact in the likening of l the Cook-Peary imbroglio with the Sch1ey- Sampson controversy is the fact that Rear Admiral Schley has i come forward with the assertion that he accepts Cooks claims without re- | Servation.
 The details of Commander Peary's reasons for refusing to accept as true Dr. Cooks statements cannot be se- cured at this time. But the Peary have taken ups the cudgels declare there are numberless incidents to SUD- port Commander Peary's assertions The strongest of these. they say. is the fact that pr. Cook made his trip without a white companion. At the time he claims to have reached the Pole, he was accompanied by two Eski- mos. His astronomical observa tions, Pole, could not .have been confirmed by these ignorant Eskimos the Peary faction claims.
 Then the Cook adherents declared kl1ud Rasmussen. himself half Eski- mo. the foremost Arctic explorer and scientist of Denmark, had seen the two Eskimos and they had vouched for Dr. Cooks claim that he did make the dash for the pole.
 Now the United Press has received from it's Copenhagen staff correspond ent statement that Rasmussen him. self did not see the Eskinos. but that he saw other people who had seen them, and that their confirmation of Cooks story therefore came to him secondhand.
 Peary factionists declare pr. Cooks failure to produce his data of his trip his astronomical observations and n1s diary, brands him as an impostor
 Cook followers point to Cooks state ment that he left these documents in Labrador with Harry Whitney, the New Haven hunter. who went north around Etah to hunt, and that Whit ney will bring the records back to America in October. They also point to the fact that Dr. Cook is preparing kill the sale of that work by publish ing all the details of his trip. in ad- vance,
 Peary men come back with the state ment that no explorer would trust such precious documents, which he would need to substantiate his claim, in other hands.
 The Cook followers declare the fact that Dr. Cook has no white compan- ions with him on the trip was caused by the illness of Rudolph Francke, his companion, and to Cooks unwilling ness to have F'rancke risk his life in the final dash for the Pole. Francke himself, in an interview in New York, declared this was true.
 Commander Peary has evidently seen the two }Eskimos who were with Dr. Cook. In his cable to the United Press. he makes the unuualified de clarat1on that these two Eskimos have said pr. Cook never went out of sight of land and that he made no Polar dash. It is hardly believed Peary would have made such a statement if He likewise declares that other Eski- mos of the same tribe verify the state- nent of Cooks companions that Cook did not reach the Pole.
 r It is evid dent from this message that Commander Peary knew before he left the Polar regions that Dr. Cook had claimed to have reached the Pole. The fact that Commander Peary had look other members of the same tribe in an effort to discredit Dr. Cook, is re- garded as proof that he knew of Cooks claims. and that he set out in advance to disprove them.
 The enmity between Cook and Peary has been of years standing and to the intinates of each of these explorers the controversy they have started did not come as a surprise Dr. Cook went with one Peary expedition to the Polar regions as surgeon. Upon the return of the party to the United States, it is said Dr. Cook made charges that the members of the Peary party had not treated the Eskimos properly.
 When Dr. Cook started north in 1907, the Peary faction was loud in it's pro- testationS that~he was tunsportsman- like" and was stealing a march on Peary. They claimed that Peary was delayed by the contractors failure to turn the Roosevelt over to him in time, and that Cook planned. by going first to Greenland. to make use of natives and dogs that had been gathered for the Peary expedition. Dr. Cook him. self would make no reply to this as- sertion at the time, but his packers enhageN. Dr. Cooks single reply to the charges is the word: "No."
 Peary's statement that Cook should not be taken seriously has had little weight with the Danish scientists. Those who have talked with Dr. Cook declare they are impressed by his claims and believe his story without reservation.
 It should not be imagined that the entire scientific world has disregarded Dr. Cooks statement that he dfscov- credit to Commander Peary The at titude of the National Geographic Society. of Washington( which, be- cause of subscriptions to the Peary ex- petition. is proPeary at heart, cannot