Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-24
EXPLORER COOK GUEST
AT BRILLIANT BANQUET

of the brute force of the motive power,
be that man or beast.
"Our conquest was only possible with
the accumulated lessons of early ages
of experience. The failures of our
less successful predecessors were step
ping stones to our success. The real
pathfinders of the pole were the early
Danish, the Dutch, the English. the
Morse, italian, and American explor-
ers With these worthy forerunners,
we must therefore share the good
fruits which your chairman has put
into my basket.
"a similar obligation is due to the
wild man. The twin families of wild
folk, the Eskimo and the Indian, were
important factors to us. The use of
pemmican and the snowshoe, which
makes the penetration of the arctic
mystery barely possible, has been
borrowed from the American Indian.
The method Of travel, the motor force
and the native ingenuity, without
which the polar quest would be hope
less task, have been taken from the
Eskimo.
"To savage man, therefore, who has
no flag, we are bound to give a part
of this fruit.
"To John R. Bradley-the man who
paid the bills-belong at least one half
of this fruit.
"Passes the Basket
+"The Canadian government sent its
expedition under Captain Bernier 1000
miles out of it's course to help us to 1t.
I gladly pass the basket. In returning,
shriveled skin and withered muscles
were filled out at the expense of Dam
ish hospitality. And last but not least,
the reception by fellow explorers, to
you and to all, belongs this basket of
good things which the chairman has
placed upon my shoulders.
Nothing would suit me better than
to tell you the complete story of our
quest, but the very first telegram gives
more specific data than I could hope
to tell you In an r-dinner address.
Therefore, I shall devote tho time to
an elucidation OF certain phases of our
adventure.
zone of the most remarkable charges
brought out Is that 1 did not seek a
geographic license to start for the pole.
Now, gentlemen, to the large public
that may be mystery, but you who
know will appreciate that no explorer
can start and say that he Will reach
the pole. Many a good man has tried
before, and all have failed. All who
understand the problem know that sue
cess IS Out DdT0ly pOoolblO N1lOll CNOl y
conceivable circumstance is favorable
"It is only necessary to announce
that an expedition embarks for the
pole to start an undesirable bombast
and flourish of trumpets. This, chose
to escape. Mr.. Bradley furnished the
funds. l shaped the destiny of the eX-
pedition. For the time being the busl-
ness concerned US only. I believed
then, as believe now, that if we sue
ceeded there would be time enough to
fly the banner of victory.
Celebrate the Victory
"You are here tonight, Mr. Bradley is
here. and I am here. We have come
together to celebrate that victory. Now
gentlemen, I appeal to you as explor-
ers and as men. Am I bound to appeal
to anybody, to any man, to any body
of men, for a license to look for the
pole?
"You know we had every possible aid
to success in sledge travelling. A big
ship is no advantage. An army of
white men, who at best are novices, is
a distinct handicap, while cumber-
some luxury of equipment is fatal to
progress.
I'VE chose to live a life as simple as
that of Adam and we forced the
strands of human endurance to scienA
tific limits. If you reach the pole there
is no other way. For our simple needs
Mr.. Bradley furnished sufficient funds
We were not overburdened with the
usual aid to pleasure and comfort. But
I did not start for that purpose.
"Now as to the efforts of the press
to force things of their picking from
important records into print-in reply
to this, 1 have taken the stand that
have already given a tangible account
of our journey. 1t Is as complete as
the preliminary reports of any previous
expedition. The dates, observations,
records are of exactly the same char
acter. Heretofore such evidence has
been taken with faith and the complete
record was not expected to appear for
years, whereas we agree to deliver all
within a few months.
"Now, gentlemen, about the pole. We
arrived April 81, 1908. We discovered
new land along the 1929 meridian be-
tween the S4th and S5th parallel. Be-
yond this there was absolutely no life
and no land. The Ice was in large,
heavy fields with few pressure lines.