The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1927-07-01
TheCherry
/" Where with our
roo Little Hatchet
we tell the truth
about many things, sometimes pro-
fOundly, sometimes flippantl-.
sometimes recklessly. -. !.

sometimes reckiessly.
1t has been decreed that DR.. Fred
erick A. Cook must stay in jail. There
is to be no parole for HIM
Not much is said about this case in
the daily newspapers of the land, for
DR.. Cook, not belonging to any 1--WE
boys" clique, was long since thrown
out of our "best circles" such as the
Ohio gang, and the Massachusetts and
Vermont crowds. He was too simple
a soul and too guileless to "belong," "
and that's that.
A parole was granted, contested in
the courts, and on appeal denied. The
poor old chap must finish his bit in
Leavenworth.
1t may be an unkind thing to say,
but there is likely to be more than a
grain of truth in the assertion made
by more than one, to-wit, that if DIR.
Cook had been a naval man and had
for that good reason had the navy
propaganda mill behind him he would
be sporting medals and olive wreaths
instead of uniform of stripes in a
prison cell.
There has been much said about
Earl Carroll, who was sent to prison
for perjury, and who, his friends per-
sist in saying, will probably die
there, or emerge a wreck for the re-
mainder of ruined life.
Perhaps there is as much justice in
the one case as in the other-and not
whale of lot in either, our courts
being too often courts, not even of
law, much less of justice, but courts
of precedent, quibble and technical
ity. And that is not to say by any
means that there is no justice in our
courts. There is plenty of it, but not
enough Too often justice is the last
thing expected and the last thing Sc
cured
The case of DR.. Cook did not beget
justice to the simple explorer who
ventured into the world of oil ex-
ploitation, there to be trimmed by as
fine a bunch of sharks as ever disport-
ed themselves in seas of lurid adver-
tising and glittering promises.
The sincerity of Cook in all this ad-
venture was shown by the fact that
he dumped in his own money and lost
it. He knew no more than a child
what was being done to his good name
nor how he himself was being played
for valuable sucker and as a prize
lure for other suckers. Finally he was
left to be the goat because it was de-
cided that there had to be goat.
The surprising thing about Cook
was his utter lack of bitterness, his
resignation to prison life. 1t requires
a steady philosophy of life to bring q
man who has known the plaudits OF
the multitude and the homage of kings
to a point where he can accept with
dignified thanks a pack of cigarettes
he is too broke to buy for himself
while he passes his time in a cell tc
which those that got him there re.
main strangers.
1t looks very much as if DR.. Cook
was broken on the wheel by as crue
an unearned fate as ever whipped g
man whose moral courage was finer
than his judgment, whose own candol
of mind and soul was unequal to the
intrigue demanded by an uncompro.
missing opposition and rivalry.
1t is worth recalling that maga
zine of considerable Importance anc
of much conservatism not more thar
year ago published its own strong
convictions, based upon research, that
Cook really did just what he claimed
to have done-to have reached as near
the pole as he could on the basis OF
his calculations. sfN
1t will be fine joke on certain poll
ticians of national note and upon
great many men of alleged learning
if, with the passing of time, proofs
come to light, as Cook believes they
will, proving his story and proving
by the same token the injustice ane
the partisan character of the prosecu.
tion, and the calumny, to which this
now aged man has been subjected.
The Cook case doesn't bring any
laurels to the brow of the lady whose