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National Geographic : 1910 Jan
Contents
THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH POLE The fundamental keynote of success in the last expedition of the Peary Arctic Club, which, on the 6th of April, 1909, discovered the North Pole, was experi ence. If the pole could have been won by inexperience, or by a happy combination of fortuitous circumstances, it would have been won long ago. Nor was it to be won by courage and endurance alone; if it were, England would have had the prize years ago, Nor way would have had it in '95 when Nan sen and Johansen cast themselves adrift into the unknown, and Italy would have attained it in 1900, when Abruzzi drove her colors to the front in spite of inde scribable obstacles. Accumulated experience, persistence, profiting by mistakes through a long series of years (the prime factors of success in any great work, whether it be the establishing of an enormous industry, the perfecting of a world-reaching inven tion, or the moulding of a nation)-these were the essentials which permitted the discovery of the pole by the last expedi tion of the Peary Arctic Club, and the essentials without which it cannot be reached again. Let me call to your attention that the last expedition of the Peary Arctic Club had at its command the practical experi ence of twenty-three years of work in one field; that it had at its command a ship specially built for the work, after years of experience, tested in one voyage and then modified as the result of that test; that it had at its command a veteran personnel largely selected from the mem bership of a previous expedition; that it had at its command the pick and flower of the hardiest and most experienced men of an entire Eskimo tribe; that every item of its equipment was an evolution from years of experience and practical work in the same way that the last cup defender-and winner-was an evolution from preceding international yacht races, and that it had at its command the route to the pole that is recognized by all Arctic authorities as the shortest and best. And then let me tell you that every atom of this specialized experience and equipment, every nerve of this veteran personnel, was not only utilized but de manded in the successful negotiation of the 413 miles of icy chaos, along the Cape Columbia route to the pole, the route which is zoo miles shorter EACH WAY than any other route around the entire periphery of the Polar Sea. Here in this magnificent trophy of your *great Society lies the final chapter of the last of the great geographical stories of the Western Hemisphere, beginning with the discovery of the new world, ending with the discovery of the North Pole. Here is the cap and climax, the finish, the closing of the book on 400 years of history. Here in this magnificent trophy of your great Society glitters the splendid frozen jewel of the north for which through centuries men of every nation have struggled and suffered and died won at last and to be worn forever by the Stars and Stripes. THE TOASTMASTER The Board of Managers of the Na tional Geographic Society have voted to Grove Karl Gilbert, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and for many years an officer of the National Geographic Society, a Hubbard medal for his great achievements in geographic research during many years. Professor Gilbert is not here tonight, and his medal will be presented at a future time. I shall introduce the Ambassador from Great Britain, one whom we all love so much and who has been with us before, to present to one of his own countrymen, Captain C. A. Bartlett, the medal for twice commanding the Roosevelt, and for being one of those heroic characters that have done so much to bring honor to our own nation and honor to that great na tion of Great Britain. THE AMBASSADOR FROM GREAT BRITAIN HON. JAMES BRYCE Mr Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen: If it were not for the honorable duty that brings me to you tonight I should be very
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