The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-30
DR. RUSK|N CALLS ESKIMO D|RT|EST
 OF HUMAN RACE Explorer Gives Some Im- pressiOns of First Trip
 Into Arctic Regions DOUBTS THAT PEARY EVER REACHED POLE Says Arctic Maps Are Now Being Revised Because Peary's Green
 land Claims Are Not |, Substantiated

ceStorS were lovers of nature as was my father, and at the age of 12 he took me into British East Africa. Since that time
 my life's ambition was to travel into the most inaccessible places.
 "The opportunity came for my first real venture when l was invited by Mr.
 Harry Whitney to accompany him into
 the arctic regions. This was in 1907. I shall never forget that first trip going up through Davis straits and Baffn bay as our vessel, the Neptune, lodged in, round and about hundreds of immense masses of floating ice, some of the bergs
 more than a quarter of mile in length,
 and 200 feet out of the water.
 FIRST GLIMPSE OF ESKIMO My first glimpse of the Eskimo sent cold shudders down my sJine They were the dirtiest looking natives that [
 had ever seen but it was not long after
 belng on the ice that I began to realize
 why they were dirty. We landed at An natok in June, the latter part. After
 trading with the Eskimo, and getting 1000
 per cent the best of the bargain, I was astounded to see a group of them sitting on the ice, eating candles, as white
 man would eat candy. Two-pound cans containing cOFneQ peer uISdppedTeQ III
 quick succession, for it was the Eskimo 8
 feat day, the arrival of the white man.
 Until you get used to the terrible glare caused by sun on the ice and
 snow, a 'tenderfoot' is practically blind
 This lasts about 20 days, and then your
 curiosity gets the best of you.
 Not more than 24 hours have passed
 before you begin to scratch. The Eskimo
 has willed you something more ferocious
 4l S-I
 oe, is miserable After that you
 take you. living companions as a matter
 of course''
 'Why don't you wash in the arctic?" was asked.
 .Wash?'' said the doctor, "That would
 be foolish for one would freeze any part of his body that was touched by water, even in the summertime. The only wash we get is a little snow with which we clean our hands
 "The Eskimo of the far north I con- sider the most wonderful of all half wild
 people for it is a constant battle with them for existence, and yet you could not get one to come to civilization with you, for he tells you plainly that he con- siders white man foolish that does not live where there is eternal ice and snow.
 My work, as you know was not to search for the north pole, but to make
 motion pictures of the wild life and strange people. This work, together with administering to the ills of my fellow travellers, has afforded many wonderful opportunities to study human nature. POVERTY IS UNKNOWN Poverty is unknown among the Es- kimo. They are socialists without know ing 1t and work it out to a very fine degree.
 For instance should a mar become disabled while hunting. he does not have to beg for existence. Every male mem Der of the tribe to which he belongs contributes at certain intervals a piece of fur for clothing or a portion of seal
 or walrus meat for food. The boy at
 the age of is taught how to procure his food and the girls education con- sists of making the fur clothes, dress ing the animal and tending to the moss
 wick lamp, and starts at about the same |age
 When an Eskimo takes a wife in the
 far north, if there are no children early
 in married life the girl is sent back
 to her mother. But she does no. become social outcast Out of a common fund the male members of that tribe con-
 tribute to her support
 Many men go into the Arctic regions for scientific work so that books can
 be written, maps made for ..ur boys and girls that they may know just what
 really does exist in those regions, And
 for the benefit of the boys and girls of Birmingham I want to correct some
 glaring errors now shown on the maps of the arctic regions
 "As you know. Dr. Tanquary was a member of the McMillan expedition sent out by the American Museum of Nat
 ural History to explore Crocker Land
 which Peary said he found in 19OS that ttroc
 polar seas. At Annoatok Dr. Tanquarry
 left the McMillan expedition and pro
 ceeded to Banks Land and since 1918
 has not been heard of. The expedition sent up to re-explore Crocker Land has returned to the United States and has reported to this government that Crocker Land does not exist and never did, un- fortunately for Peary
 TAKES RAP AT PEARY AS time goes on, and investigations are being made by scientists of Europe and this country, I am satisfied that Peary never discovered the pole. The fact is. that his claim to the discovery in question is backed by his word only and nothing else. Peary claims that he discovered channel on the northern boundary of Greenland, thus proclaiming the fact that Greenland was an island. This, he says, he discovered in 1901 and 1902. Five years later a Danish explorer by [. ..e name of Erichsen. looked for Peary's channel for two years, but no such channel existed. In 1912, Rasmussen made another search for the Peary chan mel and reported, there was no water at all. but that it was great upland coun- try with much game. roaming its hills This Peary channel was supposed to open at one end into a great body of
 water, which Peary promptly called or named, East Greenland sea. If this
 East Greenland sea had existed it would
 have been most important geographical discovery. This sea was mapped by Peary as extending from S2 degrees. 10 minutes north latitude and 2r degrees west longi- tude to somewhere near P degrees west longitude.
 For years our boys and girls have
 been taught in our schools that Peary channel and East Greenland sea were in existence and so shown on their maps neither ever existed and Peary's Green land sea has turned out to be nothing
 but high dry land
 T am glad to state that Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels has ordered
 the Photographic department of the navy
 to make new maps of the Arctic regions
 and in four instances. the discoveries.