The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-20
THEHASKINLETTER
THE LURE OF THE ANTARCTIC
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20.--Now that
the war is over, men of daring are
again turning their eyes toward the
last great UNEMPLOYED wilderness OF the
world, and the most terrible of them all
the Antarctic continent. DR.. John l.
Cope, commander of the British I'M
perial Antarctic expedition, has an
nounCed that one feature OF the nNe-
year expedition which is to start next
June will be dash at the south pole
by airpane.
OF course the south pole has already
been reached. This most inaccessible
of all places on earth was reached tlrst
by Ammundsen, who got there and BACK
in safety, and in the same year by
Scott, who got his goal and then dleu
with his companions of cold ana star
walton on the way back, leaving jour
nal which was afterward recovered ana
is one of the most inspiring accounts OF
Geath Cooly met that was ever written
To the average man, whose chief OBJ
ject in life is to make himself as com
Portable as possible, 1t 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 Antarctic is stu
challenging opportunity. Its eXplora-
hon has really just begun. GeographerS
still differ as to whether 1t Is one great
continent or two of them, or an archi'
pelago composed of number OF Is
lands And despite the many eNpedl-
tons 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, terrestrial magnetism ana me
teOrology remain to be solved, and the
life of the frozen southern seas has not
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 warm summer ana an
abundant animal life in the north at
a latitude which in the south is bitterly
cold all the year around. There IS
practically no animal life on the Ant
actic land mass. Besides this the great
southern blizzard is a more deadly thing
than the north has to show. Every eN-
porer who goes into the, AntarctiG
practically CANDLES on the blizzard
with his life asdhe stake.
Given fairly decent weather and
reasonable luck, am convinced that
we win 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 suf
Tered a fracture Of the skull, from
which he soon died. Another became
i'll 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 little farther and
then, with the blizzard and their luck
stil against Them and their food and
strength gone. sat down calmly to die,
the story of the Antarctic is full oI
,vamnles Of heroism like that, and so Is
The story Of Arctic eXploratiOn-of men
diving ccolly. laying down their lives
fHr each other persiSt'n" in the face of
difficulties that seemed insurmountable.
The stories OF polar explorations are all
stranger than fiction, and yet they are
all fact Vouched for by men of the
most thoroughly established Integrity.
Pioneering in other lands, when you
get down to the facts about it, Is often
found to be a sordd business, The eX-
nloration Of our own West for example
mingled examples Of the greatest cour-
age with manv which show men at
their worst There i more than one
example of man killing and eating a
communion to save his own life. The
rule Of each for himself and devil take
the hindmost prevailed more often than
the higher one that each mans life Is
AT the service Of his fellows.
But there are few stains on the rec
ord Of noiar adventure 1t Is a record
Of which the human race can he proud.
And the reason for this is fairly evil
dent The men who rush into a new
country like our West are men Of all
kinds and mostly Of rather crude and
primitive kinds They are not heroes
They are commonplace mortals driven
into danger by the hope Of wealth But
the men who go on polar expeditions
are the very cream and pick Of civili
cation. Most Of them are scientists OF
high attainment and all Of them are
mon of snlcrdid physique, or they could
never undertake work In word they
are rental and physical superr'on. who
com hine the conscience. sensihilitv and
Intelligence Of civilized beings with the
strength and physical courage Of saw
| ares. They are tho thoroughbreds OF
adventure who would rather die In the
struggle than run away and live u
! fi~Nt rnnthcr la"
To the good citizen who reads about
II I'm his newcomer sitting before a
warm fire with his pine in his mouth
and his dinner digestinr comfortably
there Is something incredible and un-
real about this whole business OF polar
exploration. He thinks 1t makes fine
reading. but at bottom he regards the
ltNxplorers as pack OF fools, He car
Got comprehend their motives, With
al dua respect 10 the glory Of being first