Evening journal., 1909-09-03
The Pole at Last.

New York Wor d.
a briel deapalch from the S and Is
ands las caught the wo. d b t.naoh as
almost no other news has co.e ia gen.
Grafton From 81 acS eton s expo in the
Autarct C; from The fights OF b brd-mCn
at hhe ms and the L hip's .ou.ney to
serl.n; from the rush to bud mlgntler
fleets; even from honey daily ana rs OF
trade and industry, al eyes are turned to
The north.
a Brooklyn physician, vest 'ay sea ce-
ly known a.ons the more la.Aols Arc c
asp.rants is ha ed as the winner OF tic
5lue-ribbon prize Of all exp o at on, T.. Q
lure that has Lang ed for neratons be-
lore daring mems eyes, discovery Of
The past has ever had sucn dramatic an
aouncen.ent; for the invent on OF gr at
.aechanic improvements has always gone
forward little regarded, one SOW st-p at
a time; and such widening Of The wor d
as the discovery of Amer ca made Dad no
telegraph 10 herald IL, no sreat riad-ng
public TO earn cf quickly. no IN ans OF
.udg ng its immense importance.
The use essness of the (, at may have
been overemphasized. Il is useless IN the
so-cal ed practical Sc. SCI but tie quest be-
.an In the merchant traders desire for a
useful Northwest Passage which men
m ght sail as they 90 the seas about
spitzhergen and Nova zembla.
Not that purposes Of science were need
ed TO keep the goal in v.ew Of ambitious
men. The difficulty ard the danger, and
the certainty that fame would 70 low sue
cess, lured Franklin to his fate, nerved
Nansen TO trust his life to the trans-Arc. G
current in the drifting Fran. a-d sent
Andree sail ng from Spitztergen in his
bal Don TO perish In what manner we shall
never know. Hardsh ps, lonely deatas,
cannibalism, have not deferred a con-
stantiy increasing number OF po'ar ex-
piorers from planning to risk the lives.
The DO g nothing. It is a mega ion. Il
is a geographical paradox and aAsurdity
whether IL be and buried under per-
petuai snow or water covered deep with
never melting ice, II is the one p ace On
earth where there is no north or cast or
west, but all direct. t.ons alike are south
II Is the place where one day year
long and the year Is a day. The fami lar
consultations of the stars OF our hem s.
phere sweep round It in altered guises anc
re ations, never vary ng in he ght abo {
the horizon. Nothing In nature marks The
passage Of time except the slow com rg
ana withdrawal Of the sun. The comps:
needle stin points TO a north. which there
is southto long-ago discovered % Mt Il
our hemisphere which moves westward al
known and predictable pace.
Into the herce storms and awful silence'
OF this pitiless place Cook forced his way
IN the waning nter. The SOW dawn oi
1905 caught him W th his task unfinished
The sun scarcely an hour hieh circ ed
round him when he reached his goal. An.
other polar day. year Of our time. pass.
ed, and no word of his exp'o't reached a
world that seems everywhere alive will
humming wires.
At the pole. as in the conquest OF IL,
air. Il Is at the end American again
American. Until yesterday the fu the
north OF record was Peary's. He Is stil Il
the north. undergoing what hardships
max 'ng what desperate endeavors. no or
knows. Il may be another year or mor'
before he hears OF Cooks achievement
He may never hear OF II. OF we OF h m
Butai the long list OF intrep men VIII,
have pushed the fags OF the great north
ern nations nearer to the poe through 40
years of striving are In a measure vindi
Gated by Cooks triumph.