The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-02-28
acted" will be apparent even to the
dullest financial intellect.
PEARY'S SELF-LAUDATION.

Commander Peary is giving an in
teresting account of his discovery of
the north pole, in installmcnts, IN Hamp-
toms Magazine. There is no mistake
III the human interest of this nara
tive. 1t must be confessed, however,
chat it is marrcd by the self -assertive
ness, and self laudation of the nara.
tor In the installmcnt that appears in
Hampton s Magazine for March (page
334), Peary says; "It was my detailed
knowledge of every foot of Ellcsmcre
Land and Grant Land. combined with
Bartlett IS wide ice experience that en-
abled us TO pass four times between
this Arctic Scylla and Charybdis. -
Again he tells of taking charge of
the ship and giving orders to the chief
engineer to keep her moving until
give you word, no matter what nap
pens And further. ~ would climb
up into the rigging, Iust below the
crows nest, where ] could sec ahead
and talk to Bartlett, backing up his
opinion with my own, when necessary
to relieve him in the more dangerous
places of too great a weight of re"
sponsibility."
And so 1t goes all through. 1t is
Peary who is the man who knows it
all, who does everything important, and
he must be credited with not only the
main achievement, but with the sue
cessful getting out of every tight
place
At the same time, he takes occasion
TO give a bacl,handed slap at Greedy
(page 335). where he unstintedly con-
demns Greedy for allowing SO many Of
his party to starvc TO death ut Cape
Sabine, only seven survivors being res
OF this camp, and of the event itself,
Peary says
The ruins OF the rude stone hut built
by these men for shelter during the last
year OF their lives can still be seen on
the bleak northern shore Of Cape Sabine,
only two or three miles from the extreme
point II Is doubtful II q more dcsolatc
and unshcltered location for camp
could be found anywhere in the Arctic
regions, fully exposed TO the biting winds
from the north, cut OFF by the rocks back
or ii from the rays Of the southern sun,
and heSlegcd By the Ice packs Surglns
down from Kane Basin In the north.
] first saw the place In August. 1896
in a binding snow storm. so thick that
1t was impossible 10 sec more than n few
yards in any direction. | shall never for
get the impressions Of that day-thc pity
and the slckeninE sense of horror The
saGdest part OF the whole story for me
was the knowledge that the catastrophe
was unnecessary, that IL might have been
avoided. / and my men have been cold
and have been near TO starvation in the
Arctic, when cold aud hunger were inev-
liable; but the horrors of Cape Sabine
were not Inevitable. They are a blot
upon the record OF American Arctic eX-
ploration,
II will be remembered that Lieu
tenant Greedy admitted the possibility
of DR.. Cook having reached the north
pole ahead of Peary, and while per
haps nobody can prove that Greely's
of Cook IS claim promoted
this severe rasp upon Greely, there will
be plenty of people who will give that
as the cause of it, Commander Peary
is undoubtedly the champion Arctic
explorer. but quite as undoubtedly he
is a person of most selfcentered dis
position, touchy mind, and unpleasant
propense.