Evening star., 1931-04-12

reoccupation Of the station nc Point Barrow.
Alaska. Fairbanks presents point at all times
accessible by train and boat and has the further
advantage OF being the site Of an aurcral sta
ton established for some time by the Rookie
9eller Foundation. Fairbanks Is also the site
UR meteorological station administered by the
United States Weather Bureau. The second
station OF the United States, ut Fort COnger.
On E1lesmere Island, may also be reoccupded by
y private expedition.
The Federal department chiefly interested in
the forthcoming polar year Is the Department
Uf Commerce under whose administrative juris-
01ction lies the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the
branch Of the Federal Government which will
engage m the nefd work. Other departments
however have vital interest In the research.
notably the Navy Department the War De-
partu1eut, the Department OF Agriculture and
the Post Once Departunent-Quit an imposing
array. One wonders how many departments
OF the Government could be interested IN such
remote things as the aurora borealfs, Billiards
across uninhabitable wastes and weather con-
ditions aloft But the puzzle works Itself out
when one delves into the activities - the
various departments mentioned.
Ter instance. the Navy is interested through
its ratio research work, which includes the
STUDY Of magnetic and auroral effects; the
Army through the Signal lCcrps in the devel-
opnent Of radio and meteorological work in our
peninsular possession TO the northwest; the
Department of Agriculture through the Weather
Bureau, which is interested in all meteoro-
logical effects, and the Post ONCE, through the
Air Mail Service, IN the land of the midnight
sun. oh, yes, We forgot the State Department
It is interested through the bearing such studies
in the world at large have on international
relations
The FIRST definite program FOR an tnterna-
ticnal polar year was brought forward by Lieut.
Karl Weyprecht OF Austria IN the year 1875
Lieut.. Weyprecht held that the small scientific
value of the results Ct previous expeditions into
the Arctic and Antarctic, due to their isolated
character, justified more orderly and thor
ough procedure Of research in these two quar-
terS OF the glcbe. He therefore outlined uni
form plan of simultaneous physical observations
to last full year at number Of high altitude
places.
i EUT. wEYPRECHT died, but hfs paan
lived. Out Of it came the first interna-
ttonal polar year, from August, 1882, to August,
1883, to accomplish which II expeditions set
sail under IL different national flags for the
Arctic and Antarctic. All were fully equipped
with the latest and finest scientific equipment
OF that day for meteorological and magnetic
observations
The itineraries of the expeditions were care
fully planned and as q result comprehensive
data were gathered in both fields of operation.
But 1t was quite natural that more data would
be gathered out of the Arctic region than oue
Of the Antarctic one. The Arctic had long
been assaulted by man, chiefly through his
ambition TO find o passage across the top OF
the world from Europe to Asia. The Antarctic
Et that time Was little more than legend. The
countries representsa in the first polar year
were Austria Denmark, England and Canada
Finland. France Germany, Holland. Norway
Russia, Sweden and the United States
(Ccpvrlghk 1871