Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1909-09-28
PEARY HAS QUEERED HIMSELF.

One can easily imagine the feeling
of half disgust that filled the public
mind when it read yesterday Of
Peary's refusal to bring down from
Etah the records and instruments left
there by Dr.. Cook, in charge of Whit
hey.
The whole lot probably could have
been crowded into couple of soap
boxes.
This proce2 ling was in entire keep
ing with the whole of Peary's per-
Torrance. An insane jealousy of DR..
Cook seems to have taken possession
of Peary even before he left New York
for this last trip to the North. He
resented bitterly the fact that DIR.
Cook would probably make an effort
to reach the pole before him and win
the long-coveted honor of being the
first white man to plant the flag
there. From the moment of his re-
turn to the pale of civilization Peary
has been guilty of the most vicious at
tacks on Cook, not supported by the
flimsiest of sustaining evidence. His
whole performance, in contrast with
the gentlemanly and sportsmanlike
bearing of his Brooklyn compel itor,
has largely alienated the public regard
that Peary had won by his previous
Arctic explorations. The additional
resentment that will be engendered
in the public consciousness by
Peary's contemplate course as to
Cooks records will go far toward Gle.
ating in the minds of the masses a
serious doubt as to whether Peary
himself ever got to the Pole
Public sympathy has strongly set in
toward Cook and this latest revela-
ton of the true character of Peary
will do much to lift Cook on a still
higher pedestal. Several days ago
DR., Cook said that the most regretta-
Bile feature of the whole affair was
the exposure of side of Peary's char
acter that had much better been left
undisclosed This view is being sus-
tanned by the later Developments.
Peary has placed himself in a most
unenviable position by his whole
course. Every act since his first an
nouncement until the present time
has been such as to discredit himself
and enhance the chances of Cooks
being everywhere proclaimed as the
true discoVerer of tbs,~et'ole. ,.-.-..----- --.-
The art of self 220Cii1trol seems to be
zone of the cardinal virtues of true
manhood that Peary has not success
fully cultivated. The revelations of
his bona-f1de nature that have been
given to the public recently show a
bad streak in his make ;ip He may
have made the Pole, but he is I'M
doubtedly lacking in some of the in
gradients of the true hero. His repu-
tation as whole has been marred by
the recent unfortunate incidents, and
by none of them so much as by the
almost base refusal to bring back the
few instruments and records left by
Cook with Whitney. 1t must seem to a
critical world that Peary was afraid
of the conclusive evidence that these
might afford that the claims of Cook
were well based and that the honor
he had sought had slipped from his
grasp to an almost unknown explorer.
A man of genuine breadth of charac-
ter, of true nobility of spirit, would
have cheerfuily brought the records
back and allowed the world to pass
judgment as to their merits as conclu-
sive evidence. Only a man with a
mean stratum in his character would
have left them in the ice at Etah.
But on his own account Peary has
done much to substantiate Cooks
claims and to belittle his own per-
formances, great though they may
have been in overcoming obstacles and
achieving the almost impossible.