Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1909-09-08
King, Queen and Other Members of
the Royal Family Present.
MANY DEMANDS FOR EXPLORER
Lecture Bureaus and Publishers
Double Their Offers.
COOK wITHHoLDs THE DETAILS
Says He VIII Give Few More Facts
Until the Publication of His
BOOk-wiII Not Enter
Controversy.

COPENHAGEN, Sept. lone of the
most remarkable results of Commander
Peary's rivalry with DR.. Cook for the dis
covery of the pole is that Or. Cooks prof
its from the enterprise are likely to be
largely increased. He received today offers
for his books and lectures at twice the
figures previously rendered. One Amer
ican Of the highest standing cables terms
almost startling and It is believed, far
beyond any sum hitherto paid for such
work DR.. Cook is likely to accept this
offer.
The controversy is beginning to wage
warmer here Commander Peary's state
ment is unanimously accepted as true, but
there is very large following faithful TO
DR.. Cook. His lecture before the Geo
graphical society tonight, however, added
| little to the information he had given out
with reference to his expedition and he re-
peated the declaration Of his intention to
withhold details until the publication Of
his book.
| The king and queen, Prince and Princess
George of Greece and many OF the mem
bers Of the royal family, together with a
large gathering Of the most prominent
people in Copenhagen this evening wit
messed the presentation to DIR. Cook OF
! gold medal by the crown prince and lis
tened to the travellers lecture afterward.
Lecture by DIR. Cook.
Standing in front of an immense map of
the Arctic regions. DR.. Cook outlined his
progress to the North pole.
| In introducing the explorer the crown
prince said his reception in Greenland and
at Copenhagen showed the way the Danes
III. .f,,I
prince then begged the honor of presenting
to him the medal of the Geographical So
ciety. DR.. Cook told his story coolly and
without hesitation. but most of his state
ments had been given out before.
1T is too early" said the explorer "to
give the general results of the expedition.
Time is required to digest the result OF
| polar effort This northward dash has
occupied the minds of men for more than
| 800 years. Slowly and surely the ladder
OF lattudes has been climbed, with various
degrees of success. Experience was gained
and each expedition profited by the mis-
fortunes of its predecessors. The failure
Of one expedition led to the success of sub
sequent efforts.
Tribute to Sverdrup.
''The art of polar travel has been created
and this art was the nucleus of our equip
ment. We changed tactics to suit our pur-
pose, but 1 am bound to acknowledge at
the outset that success would not have been
possible without the less fortunate fore
runners. All honor to the pioneers, the
pathfinders to the pole, the early explorers
We are particularly indebted to Nansen
and Peary and many Danish explorers for
the last stages of polar progress. In my
case l am especially indebted to Captain
Sverdrup, who is here tonight. His work
gave us a new road, which afforded us
chance to try the ice a little further west
although profiting by other ventures
our expenditions differed in some important
respects. The route we selected 1 had
planned out years ago as a result of read
ing the splendid narrative of Sverdrup
About the middle of 1907, when we started
the pole was no part of the program. which
aimed altogether at study and recreation
with the pole possibly as a future problem"
Preparations for Journey.
Then the explorer went over the prepara-
tions for his departure and the journey,
his recital being similar to that already
published He cleared up the doubts about
the lowest temperature recorded which he
reiterated was SO degrees below zero
Fahrenheit. He said he had no doubt that
the observations made would prove that
he had been on and around the nInetieth
degree.
III / have been within a circle a
kilometer in diameter, where the pole is
situated" exclaimed the explorer, Il am
satisfied that that is quite sufficient for
practical purposes. l will say no more
until my book is published. When shown
the dispatch. which said that Commander
|, Peary claimed to be the first man to reach
the North pole Dr. Cooke said:
! Commander Peary. OF course, can say
whatever he wishes. am not accustomed
to indulge in controversies. All have to
say about Commander Peary, is that IL he
says he reached the North pole, believe
he reached the North pole