THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH POLE 



75 



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 wathout 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 

 zvliich is 100 utiles 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 EROM GREAT BRITAIN — 

 HON. JAMES BRYCE 



Mr Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen : 

 If it were not for the honorable duty that 

 brings me to vou tonight I should be very 



