Evening star., 1937-06-20
BY EARL p. HANSON

N MAY % Soviet Russia
startled the world with the
following news: A Russian
~ plane had flown north from
Rudolf Island and had landed some
| IL miles on the other side of the pole
A camp was being prepared on the
ice, as we'll as landing field for
! further planes expected with supplies.
OF the II men in the first plane, four
permanent meteorological station IN
connection with the proposed estab-
lishment Of commercial air service be-
tween Moscow and San Francisco.
On May 25 news dispatches had 1t
that Russia had given up the idea OF
permanent base at the pole because
of the rapidity with which the ice was
drifting. But four men would never
theless occupy the floating base for a
year if possible.
BY May q another plane from
Rudolf Island had landed at the polar
camp and third one had landed
safely within 80 miles of the camp.
At present it is too early for
critical evaluatiop Of the venture as
whole. Plans and achievements
often have an aggravating habit Of
diverging in the course OF any one
program. But obviously the Russians
are not afraid to take a chance.
Obviously and frankly the expedition
Is In part a bid for worldwide
publicity piece Of Soviet propa-
ganda, If you wish. Commenting on
it. 1zvestia points out the political
technique and the program of Soviet
polar exploration demonstrate to the
world the power of state socialism"
But the Russians are taking chance,
in that anything adverse that may
happen to their exploit as sporting
venture in the months to come will
act as h boomerang, will obscure its
value as a scientific venture, as
Mobiles dismal failure as a sportsman
once robbed him Of the credit he Justly
deserved as an explorer.
Schmidt Must Get Credit.
Be that as it may, like 1t or not,
gladly or grudgingly, we must give the
mathematician, Otto J. Schmidt,
credit for having achieved another
first" in the long sporting history Of
arctic adventure. AS the first to land
q plane near enough to 90 degrees
north latitude to be considered "at
the Pole" as the first deliberately to
establish base there by means Of
airplane transport, he ranks high in
a long line of polar heroes. That line
extends from the earliest antiquity
through the Vikings. Barents. Nansen,
Greely and many others to Peary,
who in 1909 definitely put an end to
the sporting quest for "farthest north"
It picks up again with Amundsen,
Byrd and Mobile, as the first to reach
the Pole in special ways. It branches
on now with Schmidt, as the first not
only to do some special thing ut the
Pole, but to do 1t for . clearly ex-
pressed, special and highly important
purpose.
Master dramatists, the Russians
know very well the publicity value Of
camping at the Pole itself. A cynical
friend OF mine said to me recently,
with q great deal Of truth, that "only
two things have real news in the
Arctic, the North Pole and Santa
Claus" Had they established their
base anywhere else in the North they
would have gotten few scattered
paragraphs in the back pages Of the
western press. As it was, they got
acres on the front pages.
Indeed, some of the effectiveness Of
their base as meteorological station
for Moscow-San Francisco airline
seems to have been sacrificed in order
to enhance its publicity value. The
direct airline from Moscow to San
Francisco passes nowhere near the
Pole. 1t passes over northern Green
land, where . permanent observatory
could Be established ON beautiful, low
lying Peary Land, without any incon-