Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-06-23
LIVING AT THE NORTH POLE
Climate Not Bad and Food Quit
Plentiful,

PIentiful.
Marguerite Moorers Marshall in the
New York Evening World.
If you will only go and live near the
North pole you will find the climate
warmer than Northern Montana.
You will have no housing problem
because you can build a comfortable
house in about fifty minutes without
spending anything for materials or
labor.
You will not be troubled by the high
cost of living, since all the food you
can eat is all about you for the shoot
ing.
You need not worry about the coal
strike, since the same shot that gives
you your dinner gives you the fuel
with which to cook it.
costless Clothing.
You will find, without money and
without price, clothing more comfort
able to wear and to adjust than the
garments of so-called civilization.
You will be spared even the s.
hour day, since you can live comfort
ably by performing less than two
hours of interesting work every day.
You will have a vacation every
winter, when you need do nothing
except enjoy yourself with your
friends.
All those promises" are given by.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who holds the
worlds record for five and a half
years OF continuous Polar service,
who took away the adjective "un-
known" from. approximately one hum
dred thousand square miles of Arctic
land and sea.
"The process Of settling the Arctic
region has begun" Mr.. Stefansson
said in New York the other day. 81
admit there has been a temporary
recession Of population due to the fact
that the first settlers wanted grapho-
phones, their wives wanted high heel
slippers, and there seemed no way
to make a living which would pay
for these luxuries.
There are just two big things
and only two-which stand in the way
of the colonization of the far North.
One of these things is a Chinese wall
of ignorance; people have been
brought up with many wrong impress
sions of the country. The other OBJ
stacle is mans inherent conservatism.
He cannot go to the North and live
like Southerner. He capnot live life
just as he has always lived it.
Let me give you an instance of
what 1 mean. The first settlers Of
Southern Illinois came from Louisi-
ana, and they tried to plant Southern
Illinois with cotton. Naturally, 1t was
a failure. And undoubtedly those men,
many of whom left the country, would
have told you that Southern Illinois
was land not fit to live in Yet now
it probably is regarded as one Of the
most fertile sections Of our country.
"If you will go North and live as a
Northerner you will be able to make a
good living. If I were not an eX-
plorer, but just man with my living
to make, l could go to the North and
maintain a most comfortable eXis
tence on less than two hours a day
of work Also, it would be work much
more interesting than factory labor or
many other jobs; in fact, it would be
work which many Americans choose
for play-the task of hunting"
In THE Friendly Arctic" mis- re-
Gently published book, Mr.. Stefansson
has described how he and his party
lived on the country" by killing
seal, caribou, bear and Polar oxen
as they needed food, fuel and clothes.
The blubber in the seal he used for
fuel to cook the seal flesh.
The meat of caribou, he says, is as
good as any food in the world, and
he thinks no one could tell the differ
ence between Polar oxen steak and
the sort we buy in New York. The
skins of these animals, he declares
make better clothing than can be
bought here; clothing waterproof,
cold proof, comfortable to wear and
easy to put on.
And you may doubt his figures, but
he has temperature records which
prove that the climate is colder in
Northern Montana-10 degrees cold
er-than at the North Pole.
Few Frostbites.
Neither 1 nor any member OF my
immediate party ever had a frost
bitten finger or toe" he said, "all the
time we were in the North. Our faces
often were lightly frostbitten, but
that's no worse than sunburn.
The country will be developed,
think, either by a great corporation
with a man of brains in it, or by
individually intelligent persons. In
tclligence' is essential. 1t is country
which will be needed by the worlds
population within a measurably short
period if the present population in
crease continues"
And it does seem to be the one
land left where you can live without
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