Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1909 — COOK WANTS ALL TO SHARE GLORY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COOK WANTS ALL TO SHARE GLORY

Willing Even to Divide Honors With the Wild Folk. MAKES SPEECH AT BANQUET Explorer, In Addressing Men Who Have Faced the Rigors and Dangers of the Arctic Regions, Reiterates His Claim That the Food Problem Is the Main Thing In a Campaign That Has For an Object the Gaining of the Pole. t New York, Sept. 24.—Cheered by a thousand men and women as he entered the Waldorf-Astoria on the arm of Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, United States Navy, (retired), Dr. Frederick A. Cook told his story before

the most brilliant audience that he has addressed since he left the court of Denmark. The banquet was given by the Arctic Club of America, of which Dr. Cook is a member. The banquet was to have been preceded by a reception. The reason for Dr. Cook’s abandonment of the reception was both amusing and at the same time characteristic of the explorer’s simplicity. It became known that he landed in this country without having conventional evening clothes in his wardrobe and the suit ordered since his arrival here was late in being de llvered. Dr. Cook said: He Addresses Fellow Explorers. "Your welcome is the explorer’s guarantee to the world—coming, as it does from fellow workers, from men who know and have gone through the same experience—it is an appreciation and a victory the highest which could fall to the lot of any returning traveler. "The key to frigid endeavor is subsistence. There is nothing in the entire realm of the Arctic which is impossible to man. If the animal fires are supplied with adequate fuel there is no cold too severe and no obstacle too great to surmount. No important expedition has ever returned because of unscalable barriers or impossible weather. The exhausted food supply resulting from a limited means of transportation has turned every aspirant from his goal. “In the ages of the polar quest much has been tried and much has been learned. The most important lesson is that civilized man, if he will succeed, must bend to the savage simplicity necessary. The problem belongs to modern man, but for its execution we must begin with the food and the means of transportation of the wild man. Gives Credit to the Tribes. "Candor compels me to say that the effort of getting to the pole is not one of physical endurance, nor is it fair to call It bravery; but a proper understanding of the needs of .the stomach and a knowledge of the limits of the brute force of the motive power, be that man or beast. “The twin families of wild folk, the Eskimo and the Indian, were imporant factors to us. The use of pemmican and the snow shoe which makes the penetration of the Arctic mystery barely possible has been borrowed from the American Indian. The method of travel, the motor force and the native ingenuity, without which the polar quest would be a hopeless task, have been taken from the Eskimo. To savage man, therefore, who has no flag, we are bound to give a part of this fruit “To John R. Bradley—the man who paid the bills —belongs at least onehalf of this fruit. "The Canadian government sent its expedition, under Captain Bernier, 1,000 miles out of its course to help us to it I gladly pass the basket. In returning, shriveled skin and withered muscles were filled out by Danish hospitality. And last, but not least —the recentlon with onen arms bv fellow

explorers—to you and to all, belongs this basket of good things which the chairman has placed on my shoulder. “Now, gentlemen, about the pole. ■We arrived April 21, 1908. We discovered new land along the 102 d meridian between the 84th and the 85th parallel. Beyond this there was absolutely no life and no land. Clear weather gave good regular observations nearly every day. These observations, combined’ with those at the pole on the 21st and 22d of April, are sufficient to guarantee our claim. When taken in connection with the general record, you do not require this. I can see that, but this and all the other records will come to you in the due course of- events. “The report of this polar success has come with a sudden force, but in the present enthusiasm we must not forget the fathers of the art of polar travel. There is glory enough for all. There is enough to go to the graves of the dead and to the heads of the living. “Special mention for honors must be made to Greely, Schley, Melville, Peary, Fiala, Nansen, Abruzzi, Cagni, Sverdrup, Amundsen, Nordenskjold and a number of English and other explorers.” There were repeated and insistent calls for John R. Bradley. For awhile Bradley was unresponsive bfit finally he arose and said: “Dr. Cook discovered the north pole; I didn't.” Then he sat down again amidst renewed cheering.

DR. AND MRS. COOK.