The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-11-29
IDR. COOK is AN IMPOSTER
SAYS WALTER WELLMAN

That which be Claims 10 havo
done. declares Mr Wellman- refer
ring 10 Cook. with his equipment
and organization was physically I'm
possible n T. beyond human mower.
Later in his statement he adds:
The laws OF physics and oi nechon-
ical forces can no moro be dened and
IGNORED Ia tho arctic regions than
elsewhere. save In the Imagination
Time Seems Too Fast.
Taking up in order Dr Cooks rec
ord Of his trip northward. Mr. Well
man points 10 the statement that the
Cook party made 6S miles IN three
DAYS. despite bad weather rough ice
and the necessity Of going twice over
a big lead two miles wide. and this
be adds. al time when the sledge
loads were heaviest. Cook. he says.
thus travelled a distance OF - per
cent greater al speed OF 40 per cent
faster than Peary with his years Of
experience and his superior organiza-
uOn.
Mr. Wellman Is especially causuc In
his criticism Of Or Cook for not turn
ing over records OF his trip immed-
lately 80 some scientific body, cspec-
tally when his story was questioned
by critics This he declares to be
indefensible.
Records, he says. 10 any Arctic trav-
cler need no revision for II they are
honestly Inscribed. they can not be
subject 20 revision. Such records. he
points out. are kept in dirty. greasy.
trurrIpffnpu ~
which have been "penned with frost
bitten fingers by a weary man lying
In the half darkness OF n reindeer
skin bag in a snow hut or tent.
Records Always Ready
Let IL be understood" SAYS Mr..
Wellman. "that such records are al
ways ready" they are complete and
perfect the moment they arc written.
They can be turned over TO a scien-
tlnc committee In two minutes as well
as In two months-and much better.
The man who has done an honest
piece OF work and recorded IL faith
fully hour by hour needs not TO re-
construct that record. The bank
cashier who took his daily ledgers
covering a quarter year home with
him, upon the pretext that they need
ed revision and preparation before be-
ing submitted. and insisted on retain
ing them for some months with no
other eye than his TO see them, would
probably find himself In trouble with
his directors and officers OF the law"
Mr.. Wellman SCOTS at Cooks as
Economical data. especially the oh
servation which be claims to have
taken within AIS feet OF the pole.
He is indeed marvellous travel
er." declares Wellman, who can ave
rage 155 miles per day for more than
a month over sea Ice with heavy
sledges and a marvellous astronomical
observer who can locate his position
within 400 feet-four minutes walk
and then advance for the purpose
OF locating it more closely still. like
the story of the amateur mountain
climber who ascended a peak and re-
turned with a report that he meas
ured its altitude by barometer and
found II to be eight miles. 20 rods. 7
feet and 3 3-S inches"
Could Manufacture Figures.
Wellman fatty declares that such
observations could be manufactured
anywhere. by anybody, and to sup
port this assertion. he includes an
observation" such as might have
been made at the North Pole on April
81. 1908. which | made today In
Washington with a pencil and nau-
tical almanac
Anyone who knows nautical as
tronomy," he adds can sit down In
Annatook, or Brooklyn, or anywhere.
with q nautical almanac by his side
aud construct latitude observations
at will
Cooks is to the trained eye and
ear a story of a counterfeit present
ment, precisely such n story as one
might pen during a journey along the
coasts Of the game lands. using the
incidents thereof to aid the imagina-
tion In a deliberate transfer of the
scene OF action some hundreds Of
miles further north"