The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-09
HELGESEN INSISTS
 COOK FOUND POLE
Representative in Congression- al Record Attacks Peary's
 Claims.

Peary controversy over the priority or their claims to the discovery of the north pole has been reopened by Rep resentative Henry T. Helgesen of North Dakota, in a reply to Represen- tative Tess, of Ohio, who took up arms in defense of Admiral Peary. Rep resentative Helgesen'ss statement ap- pears in last Congressional Record, containing large assortment of sIeave to print remarks. Represen- tatiVe Tess statement that drew forth the fire from Representative Helgesen was that American history must not be perverted"
 Representative Tess is a member of the house committee on education, before whom a few witnesses ap- peared in the last days of congress to offer new evidence for Dr. Cook 4 following the introduction of a Cook Peary resolution by Representatives Smith of Buffalo, N. Y.
 After reporting several letters and statements favoring Dr. Cook, Rep resentatfxe HeIgesen pronounces his conviction also in favor of Dr, Cook and speaking of Admiral Peary as a plain mister" he says;
 ''I wish to say most emphatically that I am firmly convinced beyond doubt that Mir. PeAry and his friends have neither the courage nor the evil dence to appear before a final exam ming board of unbiased investigators,
 
 ready and anxious to do.
 Says He Cannot Defend Title.
 ssF-urthermore, the silence of MT. Peary on the charges made against his claims to, discovery and the use Of anonymous material by his friends in attempting to bolster up these claims must be accepted as proof, positive and final. that he cannot de- fend his title as discoverer. Since the polar controversy has assumed the proportions of debate on the floors of congress some speeches on the subject having appeared as far back as December 191 914-why has the gentleman from Ohio, MT. Peary's champions failed to bring forth one argument or utter one word in reply to the plain statements of fact in the remarks by various members 1nc1ud-. ing my own of February 25s 1915, quoting the leading authorities of the world that MT. Peary not only has no right to the title Of discoverer of the north pole, but that all of his other. so-calIed discoveries are but hgments Of his overloaded imagination and. and have no foundation in reality?
 pr. Cooks Indorsers.
 .sDr. Cooks campaign for recognf- Ition has not been conducted with the widespread distribution of anony- 1 nous and untruthfu1 material, but with substantial and scientific facts. His observations determining his po- sition at the north pole April 21, 1908, have been recomputed, and his data shown in diagram. recomputed and plotted by Clark Brown, associate member of the American society of civil engineers and engineer of the. New. York state barge canal. MT | Browns computations and diagrams 1 have been reconnputed and certified by I five engineers and scientists of the 1 highest standing, working indepen- dently of each other and without Dr. Cooks knowledge. not one of the five in his employ, directly or indirectly. IThe names of these men are: I David R. Lee, B. S., C.. IT., 1889, member of American Society Of Civil Engineers
 versity, 1888. I
 'E. C. Raynor. 2; F.. B. &, New York Uniyersitys 1908.
 .'R. L. Holt, c. D.. Rensselaer Poly ltechnic Institute. 1904.
 tsJ. c. Green, Michigan Agricultul- ral College, 1901, associate member | American Society of Civil Engineers,
 Says Cook Did Reach Pole. 1 ssThe reconputations and scientific calculations of pr. Cooks astronomt- cal and nautical observations by these unbiased and Impartial experts place pr. Cook at the north pole beyond | 1908,
 l The first letter reproduced by Rep I resentative Helgesen is one from Dr. I .I1CharIes W. Eliot, president emeritus lof Harvard university. pr. Eliot did not in this letter, declare himself as a CooAite, but merely said he is not I aware of any statement by the gov ernment tsthat Robert B, Peary in the discoverer of the north pole, unless ii be contained incidentally in the act which promoted him in the navy
 Other letters reproduced in favor oi Cook were from F. B Sawyer. district superintendent of schools at Reads boro, vt. R. D. Salisbury of the Uni versity of Chicago; Charles C. Miller ] deputy superintendent of instruction
 Representative Helgesen furtherrnort ], stated that one of the biggest publish ? Iers of maps and aliases in the United States holds that the matter of tht
 discovery of the north pole has no been settled.
 BeHttIes Medals.
 Referring to Representative Tess ? claim that Admiral Peary discovered the pole, Representative Helgese1 3 says:
 3 .'The gentleman from Ohio quotes { ? list of medals which have been award ] led MT. Peary for his discoverdes,' bu n makes no note of the fact that tlnes,
 medals were not awarded for the dis
 covery of the north pole notwithstand c ing MT Pearys statement page 36 . of his book, The North Pole. 3 {" Among the home and foreign hon . ors awarded for the attainment of tn : pole are the following: Tn E Royal Geographical society of London 2 etc
 2 Facing page 365 of that same bool
 is nfe-size reproduction of the meda
 presented to MT. Peary by the Roya
 Geographical society of London, show
 ing plainly that the words discovery
 or north pole do not appear on il F The inscription reads, For Arctic EEK iplorations.' Other medals presente to MT. Peary by other geographica
 societies bear similar evasively worc1e Iincrintions. The gantlanaan frorra Cakai