Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-04


Washington. D. C., Feb. 3.-Now.
that the war is over. men Of daring
are again turning their eyes toward
the last great UNEMPLOYED wilder
ness OF the world. and the most
terrible Of them all-the antarctic
continent, DR.. John L. Cope, COM
mander OF the British imperial
Antarctic expedition has an
nounced that one feature Of the FIVE
year expedition which is to start
next June will be . dash at the
south pole by airplane.
OF course the south pole has al
ready been reached. This most in
accessible OF all places on earth
was reached first by Ammundsen
who got there and back in safety,
and in the same year by Scott, who
got his goal and then died with his
companions Of cold and starvation
on the way back, leaving q journal
which was afterward recovered and
is one of the most inspiring ac-
counts of death coolly met that was
ever written.
To the average man whose chief
object in life is to make himself as
comfortable as possible, it might
seem that the explorers would be
satisfied to leave the Antarctic
alone now that the pole has been
reached. But to the hardy and
courageous souls who delight in
explorations the Antartic is still a
challenging opportunity. Its ex-
ploration has really just begun.
Geographers still differ as to
whether it is one great continent or
two of them, or an archipelago
composed of a number of islands.
And despite the many expeditions
which have gone there and the
number of brave men who have
died there, many things about the
south polar region remain to be
studied. Problems not only in
geography, but in geology, terres-
trial magnetism and meteorology
remain to be solved, and the life of
tuS llOLCu SEAS udS AOt
been adequately studied.
The south polar regions present a
much more difficult problem to
human courage and ingenuity than
does the Arctic. Ocean currents
warm the region about the north
pole much more than they do those
about the south pole, So that there
is a warm summer and an abund-
ant animal life in the north at a
latitude which in the south is Bit
terly cold all the year around.
There is practically no animal life
on the Antarctic land mass. Be-
sides this the great southern bliz-
card is more deadly thing than
the north has to show. Every ex-
plorer who goes into the Antarctic
practically CANDLES on the blizzard
with his life as the stake.
"Given fairly decent weather and
reasonable luck l am convinced
that We will safely return to our
base" says DR.. Cope.
That is what Scott said. But he
got neither the decent weather nor
the luck. One of his men fell on
the ice and suffered fracture of
the skull from which he soon died.
Another became ill and soon saw
that he was burden to the party
He walked out of the tent one night
and never came back. The rest
pushed on a little farther and then
with the blizzard and their luck
still against them. and their food
and strength gone, sat down calmly
to die.
The story of the Antarctic is full
Of examples of heroism like that
and SO is the story of Arctic ex-
ploration-of men dying coolly, lay
ing down their lives for each other
persisting in the face of difficulties
that seemed insurmountable. The
stories of polar explorations are all
stranger than fiction, and yet they
are all facts vouched for by men Of
the most thoeoughly established in.
ltegrity. Pioneering in other lands
when you get down to the facts
about it, is often found to be a sor-
did business. The exploration Of
our own west for example, mingled
examples of the greatest courage
with many which show men at theil
worst. There is more than one
Example Of man killing and eat
ing a companion to save his owr
life. The rule Of each for himself
and devil take the hindmost pre-
walled more often than the higher
lone that each mans life is at the
service of his fellows.
| But there are few stains on the
record OF polar adventure. 1t is Z
record of which the human race car
be proud. And the reason for thi!
lis fairly evident. The men wht
rush into a new country like oul
west are men of all kinds and most
ly of rather crude and primitive
kinds. They are not heroes. The,
are commonplace mortals driver
into danger by the hope OF wealth
but the men who 60 on polar ex
lpeditions are the very cream ani
pick of civilization. Most of then
lare scientists of high attainment
and all of them are men Of splendit
physique, or they could never un
Idertake the work. In a word they
are mental and physical supermen
l at