The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-05-28
COOK'SLECTURE
A BIG FEATURE
OF CHAUTAUUUA
NOTED ARCTIC EXPLORER HELD
THE CLOSE ATTENTION OF THE
LARGE AUDIENCE THROUGH
OUT HIS ADDRESS. :.
fBY GILFnLAN scoTT.)

DR.. Frederick A Cooks lecture,
MY Conquest of the North Pole" at
tracted a large audience in the eve
ming, which showed the utmost inter-
est both in the personality of the lee
turer and his subject
Any attempt to decide the long dis
puted question of conquest OF no
conquest, of Cook or Peary as the con-
queror, would be out of place here.
Opinions do not alter facts; contro-
versy, argument surmiYe can but leave
matters as before; a thing either is or
Is not; the North Pole has been
reached or it has not been reached;
al d what can the world do about it?
unable to say whether Cook or Peary
Or both of them are liars or mis-
taken or telling the trnth each from
his own point of view; and, SO far as
appears, unless the unforeseen hap
pens, there is no present Likelihood o.
a definite solution.
One can therefore only turn from
the question to the man and his man
ner Of presenting his case.
DR.. Cooks personality is a satisfying
ono right from the start; compactIy
built, with a firmly knit figure of me-
dunn height and the chest of an ath-
lete he is good to look at. His feat
ures are intellectual, his mar ner easy
and quite informal: he speaks clearly
and in plain, simple language, with an
occasional access OF QlgnlNy Wnen 6&-
cited which conveys decided sense
Of the truthfulness of his utterances.
Yes, there is that feeling it cannot be-
denied; the feeling that the man is
telling the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. For three years
DR.. Cook has been stating his case to-
the public; over thirty Arctic explor
ers have handed in their 1erdict that
he Is telling the truth; up to the
present there has been nothing to gain
say his statements but other state
ments without proofs. There is his
position; 1t is a good one; and the
public love fair play. DIR. Cook did not
assail Peary; Peary assailed Cook;
the public verdict is one of mot prov
en-" and they give DIR. Cook credit as
gentleman and a man of honor: they
shake hands with him; they are proud
to shake hands with him, and they
bring their children to shake hands
with him It Is good that it should be
so; the case against DR.. Cook fails
from sheer lack of evidence, and the
great public are his friends and will
continue to be his friends until some
thing more real and substantial than
the evidence so far produced can be
brought against him.
+ DR.. Cooks lecture was illustrated by
a splendid collection of lantern slides
which gra phically showed the horrors
Of the frozen region he fought lis
way through. North Pole or no North
Pole the man has experienced fright
full hardships and privations such as
only one of the highest courage and
pluck and determination could under
go.
His lecture and his pictures of a
Polar hell will long be remembered. At
its conclusion DIR. Cook was imme-
diately surrounded and greeted en-
Enthusiastically, which is after all the
most tisngible way Of exhibiting firm
belief in the man and the truthful
ness OF his story.
Merchants Help chautauqua.
The Pensacola Merchants scheme
for helping the Chautauqua by pre-
senting their customers with free
tickets has developed into something
big. Every cash customer gets a sec
ticket free for each $3.50 of the
amount purchased, and the result has
been a perfect deluge of business.
The stores are crowded with Chau-
tauquaites; a thousand tickets dis
tributed on Monday morning have had
to be supplemented by a rush order for
two thousand more and it looks as if
the drummers will find Pensacola the
easiest place on the map to book or
ders right away.