Evening star., 1909-09-05
BRITISH envy OF DR., COOK
HALF-PENNY PRESS PoURS OUT
GIBES AND SARCASM.
Funny Stories of Explorers Exploit
2 Told to Readers Who Want Union
Jack at North Pole.

LONDON, September 4.-The storm OF
incredulity and ridicule Of DR.. Cook
story has gone too far In this country.
Scientific skepticism Of the narrative
which has thus Far been vouchsafed, has
been justified, and Is usually expressed In
proper and dignified terms. But the gibes
and sarcasm freely poured out In certain
quarters are merely an outburst Of the
anti-American feeling which prevails
widely In these islands.
A section of the haIf-penny press is
the chief offender. There Is no denying
the sympathy of the half-penny public
with jokes and cartoons at DR.. Cooks ex-
pense.
There is nothing that offends the aver.
age Britisher more than to see it proven
that a whole story is a huge hoax. 1t is
only few weeks since all England was
enjoying the exploits OF an expert bank
thief who operated under the significant
alias of D. 8. Windell. which the rogue
explained when caught were intended to
signify Damn Swindle.''
The editors of the cheap papers find in
the names of Cooks Eskimo compan-
ions. Etukishook and Ahwelsh, similar
evidence of humbug. In the first mans
nns tssy simply ook s 0e hs
while the other mans name surely means
welsher.
The gumdrop feature Is worked for all
1t Is worth In cartoons and sarcastic al
lusions. Thus the Globe says:
Always take gunldrOps II you want
your Eskimos to stick to YOU
Stars Polar Scene.
The Star conceives this scene when the
pole was reached:
while his devoted henchmen sucked
ecstatically at their glutinous sustenance
the intrepid explorer amused himself by
marking out four radii from the big nail
and leapng with unconcealed satisfac-
ton from the new world into the old and
back again.
when this pastime palled on him the
doctor, having divested himself of sew
eral overcoats in Difference to the genial
temperature of 149 degrees below the
freezing point, proceeded to run around
the pole In the direction of the earth's
rotation. picking his way neatly over the
lines Of longitude. which converge with
somewhat bewildering confusion.
After some fifteen minutes of hard 60
ing the doctor sank with asigh Of relief
on a berg. rejecting that as he gained
twenty-four hours for every circuit Of
the pole he must have added more than
a year to his life.
III could only keep 1t up he unused,
'Methuselah's record would soon be q
back number. But I am not the man ]
was
by this time. however. several tenta-
tive efforts at dancing on the part of the
horizon, as well as the intrusion Of some
half dozen mountain mirages In hope.
lessly inverted condition. warned the ex-
plorer that the hour was getting late.
"EtukishOok took his hook and All
welsh had already retired and was sleep
ing with his feet to the pole, wedged
comfortably between longitudes Is and
90
Dear stupid fellows said the doctor
they have gone to sleep on the daytime
side of the pole. and carefully choosing
a set of meridians where 1t was about II
pm on his pillow and IL am. at his
feet, he gave himself over to slumber.
Envy of Stars and Stripes.
The explanation Of all this Is that the
Stars and Stripes and not the Union Jack
are said to be flying at the farthest north.
Among serious criticism too numerous
to mention this may be noted:
Cook would know nothing of Shackle-
tons discovery OF an atmospheric whirl-
pole In the polar region. setting up per-
petual hurricane which always blows out
ward away from the pole. and which was
really what stopped Shackleton's advance
This is probably the only physical condi.
tion that had not been suggested sum
cientIy TO be common knowledge.
'There Is not the slightest reason tc
suppose that the north pole differs from
the south pole as to its girdle OF hurri-
cane. Yet this to him unknown factor Is
the only one to which Cook does not
refer. The omission seems more than
significant"