Ripley County democrat., February 15, 1907, MAGAZINE SECTION, Image 5

About Ripley County democrat. (Doniphan, Mo.) 1905-1920

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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Peary has again tried for the pole
and again (ailed.
Wellman, on Spitzbergen, waited, In
vain for a favorable wind in which to
head his airship for the lame glistening
goal
Only few daya ago, at an European
congress of Asctic explorers and de
votees, two men announced their inten
tions of starting soon for that eternally
frozen end of the earth.
Authorities on polar exploration say
that to-day there are scores of small ex
peditions, heard of and followed only
by scientists, distributed about the Arc
tic circle, and nearly all buoyed . "
the hope of ultimately making, o. point
ing the way to, the pole.
For four hundred years, nearly, man
has been lured into the pitiless depths
of the white north by this same hope.
For. the panjfteen or twenty years
there has been jniong. explorers what
may properly be termed Polar mania.
Peary, Wellman, Kansen, Andre, the
Duke of Abruzzi, Captain Sverdrup, Anthony-
Fiala Americans, Englishmen,
i Cmumtol Italians. Scandinavians, Rus
sians, Belgians, Frenchmen, Danes, and
Peary's ;negro, have set their faces
sternly and stoutly toward the pole
and failed to reach it ,, .
' Why ' "
Because, fa brief, nature, m her cruel-
m. most sterile mood, has set an Im
passable barrier between the children of
men and the pole? :r
.'TH noetic answer would be. Yes.
The nroaaic. truthful answer Is, Be
cause no man who has gone for the pole
hat been backed by sufficient money to
enable hiiq to "nail" the flag of his coun
try on h. tnetaonorically speaking.
To out it more bluntly, if man had
not been so atinw with his money these
last four hundred years, the pole, in all
probability, would have been discovered
I. long ago. ,
So declare the leading polar author!
I ties-Peary. Nansen. the Abnizzis and
; all the rest And they have reason on
their side, however strange their bald
'" itAtement mav seem to a layman, taught
front childhood that it baa been the cold
i that has kept man from the pole since
I Tm finninff of hlstorv. ' .' V, :
But suppose .a modern miracle were
to happen a mults-millionaire were to
dedicate bis entire fortune to the discov
ery of the pok. Why, straightway tlie
vole method of polar exploration, as
;j t' -h swal centuries vast, or
Ripley County
.VOL. IX.
m
?s III
the better nart of them, would be
er
changed entirely, "in the twinkling of an
eye.
There would be no more "dashes" for
the pole. "Dashes" what a familiar
word in connertinn with nolar exolora-
.. . - . -
tion! Do you know why explorers have
invariably "dashed" for the pole? Be
cause tnev have never bad enousn
money back of them to enable them to
to for the sole with that slow but sure
nersistence that is all-eonauerintr. The
word "dash" itself suggests limitations.
hi ne explorer is ever conscious 01 me
act that he has just so much, or, more
properly speaking, just so little money
back of him. He knows that it wiH last
just a certain prescribed period. And
so be establishes a base remember, a
base and one day he begins his "dash
for the realization of his life's dream
against yes, against the bitter cold and
the coming of the Arctic' night, but
above and beyond all, against the' van
ishing Of his little hoard of the thing
that ta!Vl mrnlun in this world.
close to the shadow of the icy pole itself.
instead oi the dash there would be
"Blmrffuw" of the moat ftroaiif aort.
With millions bade of him, an explorer
would take an army of men into tne tar
north. He would nrovision and enuin it
after the fashion oi an army of soldiers
sent to the besiegement of a strong cita
del There would be vigilantly kept open
TiCTOaiALCOLOR MID IUGAZINE
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a fine of communication with eivilixa
tion, storehouse for the expedition's
wants. Instead of one base, or two bases
at most; there would 'be a base every
few miles, well garrisoned, well stocked,
excellently provided - with men and
equipment of every conceivable sort to
be bted on a moment's notice. . And
these bases would bold the country, after
DONIPHAN, MISSOURI, FRIDAY....
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the manner of forts and bodies of troops
left behind in conquered country by an
on-sweeping enemy. '
Too, each base would be in commn.
nication with all ,the others; this com
munication would be so organized as
to be uninterrupted, even by the fiercest
of Arctic blasts. And as the main body
erejt further and further north the num
SECTION
Democrat
FEB. 15, 1907.
l3&a
ber of bases would grow in direct pro
portion to the total distance covered,
possibly faster.
As a besieging army creeps systemati
ally upon a city, almost imperceptibly
at times, at other times finding it neces
sary to bring up troops from the rear
or to send back for fresh munitions,
at still other times suffering temporary
setbacks, yet militant and confident of
ultimate victory through it aB, because
of strength and that open line of com
munication, and an inexhaustible war
chest, so the expedition would creep
close to the pole. Then, and only then,
somewhat after the fashion of besiegers
at last keyed up to the pitch of storm
ing city's gates because of very prox
imity to them, there would probably be
a real "dash" to not for the pole.
What a short "dash" it would be, and
how pre-eminently successful I It would
simply be a foot race on the part of the
vanguard to see who would be the first
to throw his arms lovingly around the
fearfully frigid thing. ,
In the fame fashion the south pole
would be brought within the domains of
civilization. . ..
Now, when you stop to think of it,
there is nothing preposterous in all this,
is there? Rather, is there not all rea
son and all common tense in this that
the polar people say?
The unreason comes in in the way that
the average polar expedition hat been
equipped and started out since the days
when man first begun to hunt the ends
of the earth. ,' . ' ,
In tH that time Only two expeditions
have sailed for the polar seas in a ship
especially built for polar exploration.
One was Nansen'f expedition; he went
in the Tram." . Tbt other has recently
31
returned from the north Pea ITS : he
went thither in the "Roosevelt
What sheer foolhardiness to start out
in vessels wholly unfit, even when tink
ered with, to withstand the onslaught
of the Ice packs and the angriest of seas I
And yet, what sublimity I Men, know
ing full well the unfitness of their bot
toms, still turn their faces northward
unhesitatingly, putting their lives
jeopardy for possible fulfillment of
dreamt
This is not all. Men have gone pole
ward illy provisioned, because their
money supply was scant Hardly an ex
plorer has left civilization with all the
scientific instruments absolutely needed
to make the expedition a success scien
tifically, though no pole is reached. Un
til recent years no expedition had suf
ficient money to buy the services of
more than a handful of the very helpful
and essential Eskimo. But still the pole
has lured all of them, and with stout
hearts, throbbing high with hope in spite
of every discouragement (greater hope
than the Arctic explorer has no man),
they have tried for the pole, and many,
a very great many, considering the num
ber of possibilities, have reaped the pen
alty of hope more wonderfully glowing
than the Aurora Borealis itself. It is
the same as the wages of sin,
What picayune turns of money .v,
been banded out (that's the right ex
pression, "handed out," as yon would
hand out a slice of bread and cold meat
to a tramp) to the brave darers of the
bitter north. . . r
To Nansen, mostly by the Norwegian
government, $125000, to build and fit
out the Tram for her famous drifting
expedition which landed him "fartherett
north." Suppose be bad had ten times
that sum at hit disposal, would "faith er
est north have been that point h deed
and truth? , ;
The second time the Tram" poked
ber nose into lot packs the leader of
the expedition. Captain Sverdrup, bad
something lest than $60100 at, hit dis
posal ; .' -. V ' "
' The money that Peary had back of
him on each of his expeditions that are
now history was reckoned 1st five figures.
Do you recall the very hard time this
.Indomitable "down-east er experienced
in obtaining enough money to fit Out the
"Roosevelt" when she lay at herdock
'A'
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the harbor of New.
latest expedition wal
of all the hundreds of I
the pole. Yetjootengj
put up to enable Ptarjj
ward all the things that;
ment and wldelfxpef;
should be taken. It'$
short of halfa million
me $500,000, Peary ha)
"and I will reach the
With that sum 01 rsj
posal he would doubfjt
give a guarantee to re(
"But why," yon
Ml Wj
ne' else
ami
Peary, or some one
half a million, or
lions any sum of moi
sure the finding of US)
the good of finding it,
it is found, what it
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with It?"
A great many
these allied questions.
self answer them m th)
to a gathering of Brit
geographers when be
preparation for hit pi
ward:
"My polar creed
It is held by many
myself, from that
typical American
down.
"The north pole sl
As a matter of access!
knowledge, aa a mad
is a prize worth the oi
struggle for it has best
four centuries. ' Its if
the sisr nnsmVAn
glo- ' noo-ttaii
1 both to our
p 5ur alleged abiiii
' "le attainment
culisrly an object 'f
and patriotism.' Tbej
world segment it our j
ultimate destiny Its!
isthmus and the pole,
ing for the isthmus,
mark the sole. , Ha
want the pole be
pole, , and becanse ;
practically all the 1
tjons of the world
for R for nearly M
have not got it yet, s
it will be the crown
turiet of effort and 1
did heroism.' .
. Half a Bullion, ha'.l
00 matter what t e
monied man who
rolling down &e 1.
the man who at L 1
Let the gen'.
select from the r
the man wuh t
coupled for i2 t .