Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-16
GAIN IN POLAR TRIPS
Amm,dsen Defends Expendi-
ture of Life and Money.
Benefit TO ALL. MANKIND
Life and Power Come Out of the
Frozen Businesses, He
Declares.


polar regions in the household economy
Of nature is little realized Roald
Anundsen, discoverer OF the south
pole. answers the question Are Polar
Expeditions Worth While" in an article
in the current American Scandinavian
Review. the official organ Of the Amer
Observation-Disclosures Foundation.
Capt Amundsen tells his plans for his
coming expedition to the north pole, and
his remarks are said by scientists to
be particularly pertinent at this time
because Of the tragedy Of Capt. Scott's
death and the question raised in the
public mind as to the utility or futility
of polar expeditions
Steam Boilers of Earth.
In his article Capt. AInundsen says, in
part:
THE north pole and the south pole
have been aptly called the two steam
boilers of the earth. If the power they
generate were suddenly to cease. all &C
tivity on the earth would come to an
end.
1t is q new thought to most Of us
frozen Businesses of the poles, and yet 1t
is true We have all learned in our
school days how the heavier water of
the arctic regions presses In on the
lighter. because heated, water of the
equatorial regions, and SO causes ocean
currents, just as the same process In
the air causes the trade winds, but 1t
is only recently that the science Of
oceanography has revealed to us the
stimulating, rejuvenating effect of these
frfgid currents on the plant and yegeta-
BILE life in the ocean.
Food Of Ocean Fish.
THE teeming fish life in the Atlantic
ocean depends for its existence on the
food brought it on the currents from the
virgin ice fields Of the north. With the
mixture Of the Notwithstanding warm
current and the southward-howing cold
waters from the polar basin fish life is
walked to activity; the fishes begin to
spawn and become, as it were, resus-
citated.
If my polar expedition brought no
other result beyond an exact study of the
polar currents in question. their course.
velocity and direction, as well as the ami
ma, and vegetable life they contain, then
the expedition would richly have paid for
itself.
is 1t worth while? is the question I am
often asked. Are the results such as to
justify the enormous expenditure of HUI
man energy and wealth consumed in po-
lar expeditions? Your researches may IN
terest few learned scientists, but of
what practical benefit can they be to the
men who plOd In the common ways of
life? No doubt this old question will lift
it's head again, now that my companions
and 1 are preparing to start on our long
projected voyage to the arctic regions.
Although the north pole has been reached
since l formulated my plans, l expect to
carry them out precisely as 1 first stated
them before the Norwegian Geographic
Society in October, 1905
Face New Conditions.
The experience We have gained on the
antarctic continent can be Of little or no
service to U.s. as the conditions We ex-
poet to encounter are entirely different.
and we face now an expedition compared
to which our trip to the south pole was
a mere pleasure jaunt We shall probably
be gone five years. but are prepared to
spend seven years In the arctic regions
! If necessary to complete our plan, which
includes a drifting across the polar basin
from the Boring sea, across the vicinity
OF the north pole. and out again on the
Atlantic side of the continent We know
well that the undertaking is hazardous
and that much suffering awaits us. Is 1t
worth while?
MY answer is that to extend human
| knowledge Is always worth while. The
time has surely come when we human be-
ings can no longer be content without
knowing even the little planet on which
We live. We must realize that all that
we have and are we owe to the scien-
lists. the patient searchers after knowl-
edge. Without them we should probably
| still be killing our meat with stone knives
and crunching 1t raw. knowledge must
| first come to the scientist before it can
be applied to the practical, everyday con-
| Germs of the world and become Of benefit
| to all humanity