Evening star., 1939-07-30

Admiral Byrd, who spent a year in the
Antarctic in 1929 and again in 1884,
and Lincoln Ellsworth, who flew over
thousands of square miles of unexplored
wastes in 1885, have added more to
mans knowledge of the south polar re-
gions than all the explorers before them.
Both made unofficial claims of territory
for the United States, Ellsworth claim
ing some 100000 square miles.
Rivr.l Claims Overlap.
Many overlapping claims to the Ant
arctic, none of which the State Depart
ment recognizes as official, have been
made by various nations.
These claims are based mostly on
what is called the sector theory"-a
theory which the State Department does
not recognize-rather than on the his
toric basis of discovery and occupation
In brief, the sector theory"-first laid
down by the Canadian Parliament in
l907-is this: The eastern and western
extremities of a national domain are
laid down as the base of triangle and
projected to zero degree at the Poles.
All the land embraced by the two sides
of the triangle is claimed by the nation
projecting it.
Although the Canadian act applied to
the North Pole, the theory established by
it has been taken up by other nations in
making their territorial claims in the
Antarctic. AS would be expected, the
theory has been adopted by those ma
tions which would benefit most from it.
Thus Great Britain, by an order in
council in 1908, established the Falkland
Island dependency by projecting tri-
angle from the Falkland Islands, off the
coast of South America. to the South
Pole. Amusingly enough. the original
order included a part of Argentina and
Chile; so it was later modified to omit
these territories.
France Enters Bid.
BY projecting triangle to the South
Pole from New Zealand, the British
claimed the so-called Ross Dependency
a full quarter of the Antarctic region
France last year projected a similar
triangle from Madagascar to the Pole,
despite the fact that no Frenchman had
ever set foot in the area claimed.
The nations which have adopted this
so-called sector theory are Russia
Great Britain, Australia, France and
New Zealand. Those who do not accept
it are the United States, Norway and
Germany.
Contrarily. the State Department holds
that territorial claims in the Antarctic.
as in other parts of the world, must be
based upon discovery, use and perma-
nent occupation. Carried to its limits.
this theory would exclude any nation
from making a claim to Antarctic ter
ritory until it had established perma-
nent colony in the south polar regions.
From pragmatic point of view, how
ever, the State department recognizes
that climatic conditions in the Antarctic
inevitably oppose full application of
this theory. AS a result, it is inclined to
look to the future rather than the past
for the establishment of national inter-
ests in this region.
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Antarctic worth? That, naturally. is the
question whose answer will determine
whether Congress will authorize a pro-
longation of the present expedition.
Raw Material for Future.
Thus far the only commercial returns
from Antarctic explorations have been
from whaling. But scientists have found
reason to believe that there are vast
deposits of coal and other minerals in
the region. Perhaps they are not worth
exploiting now when there is an adequate
supply of similar minerals in the Tenn
perate Zone, but century from now the
country with sizable stake in the Ant
arctic may find itself better endowed
with the earths resources than those
who have not looked to the future.
Moreover, it has been established that
weather conditions in the South Atlantic
and South Pacific depend upon cyclonic
movements originating in the Antarctic.
Great Britain is sufficiently interested
in the purely scientific data to be gath
cred in the Antarctic to maintain two
ships-the Discovery II and the William
Scoresby-which constantly make studies
in this area.
The administrators interest in the
Antarctic was reawakened about a yeal
ago, when it was realized that the State
Department had never established con-
else policy for the future in this region.
Secretary Cordell Hull then assigned
Hugh Cummings, a career diplomat, to
devote his time to a study of the Ant
arctic, with respect to national claims
there. After Mr.. Cummings made his
study Secretary Hull reported to Presi-
dent Roosevelt that further research
should be made in the south polar re-
CONS. AS result, the President rec
commended to Congress the financing of
Government expedition there-the only
one since the days of Admiral Wilkes.
There has been established what is
known as the United States Antarctic
Service, a permanent organization to
carry out research work in Antarctica.
Contributing ideas and personnel to the
service are the Interior Department, the
State Department. the War Department,
the Navy Department, the United States
Coast Guard and number of private
scientific organizations. The executive
or steering" committee-of the group
is composed of Ernest Gruening, director
of the Division of Territories and Island
Possessions of the Interior Department;