The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-06
"BY vIGoR, NOT BY vAUNTs."

There are a few discordant notes ii
| the praise of the nations over DR.
! Cooks discovery of the north pole
Some of Explorer Nansen's friends are
doubters and few dissenting voices
are heard in England, one or two in
| Germany and still another in Denmark
This was to be expected from countries
that have tried for SO long and so hard
| to fasten their flags to the pole, yet in
| the main the people of all countries of
the earth. and their scientists even,
| have accepted DR.. Cooks claims as au-
| thentic until there is better cause for
| doubt than mere disbelief or malice or
envy.
In this country our old friend, the
University of Chicago. alone has hissei
the exploit of the brave and persever-
ing American doctor. Well, people have
come to expect that the University of
Chicago shall make an ass of itself at
every opportunity. The professors of
this institution are a queer lot of pes
simistic lunatics, anyway. They kick
on everything from the divinity o.
Christ to the color of Abe Lincoln's
beard, and some of them maintain tiat
Lincoln had no beard at all. These
professors attack virtue, laud the vest
at most of the best things In the Amer
lean national character. So it sounded
perfectly natural for one of the ,e
freaks to deny to DR.. Cook the credit
for his achievement.
These eternal doubters are getting on
the public's nerves. This particular
professor, along with the foreign doubt
ers, base their contentious arguments
on the fact that DR.. Cook did not spend
a million on his expedition; that he
made no big fuss in getting ready;
that he did not ''grandstand" and
'fourf1ush" for a few months and send
back a lot of press notices before MALI
ing his dash into the unknown. The
fact that he went quietly and de-
terminedly about his task In the SIM
plest and most practical way does not
appeal to these gentlemen of fuss and
feathers.
The men who do things in this world
generally just go ahead and get results.
They do not hesitate or talk or hover
on the edge preening their feathers
They get ready quietly and the key
they use to unlock the door of success
is the key of action.
DR.. Cook went north couple of years
ago with the determination to discover
the pole or die in the attempt. He
made a winter camp at the edge of the
unknown and left that camp on his
dash for the pole at the first favorable
opportunity. He took along with him
a few Esquimaux and many dogs. He
had no dead weight in his expedition.
He treated the natives kindly and the
gave him the best they had in return
The doctors story is as simple as a
nursery rhyme. 1t sounds practical Il
rings true. He says he left a token
buried in he ice at the pole as prooe
of his first occupation of the spot Wen.
let the University of Chicago send all
its professors up there to disprove the
doctors assertion by digging at the
foot of the pole for this token. If they
go up there and never come back then
some tangible value and real value and
benefit to this country will have re
suited from the discovery of the pole
by DR.. Cook aside from its aid to
science and geography. But it will be
hard on the simple Esquimau and the
polar bear.