RESEHT OF $750 



DUXV'T CHARGE TV. At IlKIfS 

 MITTEE CF.XT; WAS FRIEND 



OF LOUD'S. 



Just how Captain Peary, discoverer 

 of the north pole, came from his coun- 

 try camp in Maine to Bay City for no 

 other purpose than to deliver two lec- 

 tures for not one penny of recompense 

 — for Captain Peary refused to take a 

 penny — is a rather unusual story. In 

 coming to Bay City, the doughty cap- 

 tain paid a debt of gratitude to Con- 

 gressman Loud, and just for good meas- 

 ure he threw off everything in the 

 way of a charge. So far Peary has 

 been receiving from §500 per lecture 

 up, and he had just quit a tour for a 

 rest, when the invitation from Bay City 

 came. 



When the local committee thought of 

 Peary as a star attraction, someone 

 suggested that Congressman Loud, be- 

 ing on the naval committee, and thus 

 one of those who has to do with the 

 navy in congress, might be of some as- 

 sistance in inducing Peary to come. 

 And a letter to the congressman brought 

 a surprise. 



In effect the congressman said that 

 as a member of the naval committee, 

 and concerned in the naval matters af- 

 fecting Captain Peary, the latter had 

 become acquainted with him and that 

 he, the congressman, had done the cap- 

 tain some favors. He'd demand pay- 

 ment by requesting 'that he talk to the 

 teachers of Michigan at Bay City. The 

 congressman wrote and the captain 

 replied at once that he would only be 

 too glad of the chance to show his 

 friendship for Congressman Loud — not 

 only by quitting Lis summer camp — 

 but by asking for nothing more than 

 his bare expenses. 



', It cost the citizens' committee less 

 than $50 to get not only one lecture, 

 but two — one at the armory and the 

 other in Washington theater. 



tain Peary mentioned the fact of 

 his friendship for the congressman 

 while here., and cited his case as an 

 example of where a congressman was 

 worth about $750, which would have 

 been his >r doubling on a 



lecture, as was done here, to the cit- 

 izens' committee. 



o 



