186 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



PRESENTATION OE THE HUBBARD MEDAL 

 BY PRESIDENT TAFT 



Sir Ernest Shackleton: It is my pleas- 

 ant duty to represent the National Geo- 

 graphic Society in presenting to you the 

 evidence of its high appreciation of the 

 marvelous work that you have done in 

 the cause of science ; and the endurance, 

 courage, and intelligence shov^n in the 

 pursuit of a definite object. I am sure 

 that you will the more appreciate this 

 medal, as it comes from the National 

 Geographic Society, that has among its 

 prominent members that distinguished 

 American, Commander Robert E. Peary, 

 who, while you were working at the 

 South Pole, was himself surrounding 

 the North Pole. 



I do not know that nature had in mmd 

 the variety that was to be added to the 

 lectures by the differences between her 

 at the North Pole and at the South Pole, 

 but certainly the different character of 

 the surroundings of the North Pole and 

 the South Pole make of entrancing in- 

 terest the stories with respect to both. 



You will permit me, therefore, to have 

 the honor of handing you the medal of 

 the Society, which gives its evidence of 

 how highly they appreciate your services 

 to science and to mankind. 



RESPONSE BY SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON. 



Mr. President: It is a very great honor 

 for me to have this medal from the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society, and espe- 

 cially as it is given to me by the hands 

 of the distinguished President of the 

 United States. It could not mean more 

 for me than to have it given in this way in 

 this great hall. But while I am standing 

 I would like to say that Commander 

 Peary will have as warm a welcome over 

 in England as I have received from your 

 great American society tonight. Com- 

 mander Peary's work belongs not only 

 to America, but to the world. 



We are all pleased, and we wish, of 

 course, a good measure of success to 

 any forthcoming American expedition to 

 the South Polar regions, because they 

 have got a very hard job to tackle on the 

 other side. 



And, sir, I thank you. It is a very 

 great honor to me. I thank you very 

 much for having presented this medal. 



THE RACE FOR THE' SOUTH POLE 



During the past month each member 

 of the National Geographic Society has 

 received an invitation to subscribe to the 

 American expedition to the South Pole 

 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic 

 Club and the National Geographic Soci- 

 ety. Such generous responses have been 

 received from a large body of the mem- 

 bers that it is believed the expedition. 

 will be able to leave in September. 



Sufficient funds at this writing have^ 

 however, not been secured, and those 

 members of the Society who are inter- 

 ested in the work and have not yet sent 

 in their subscriptions are earnestly re- 

 quested to do so immediately. The sub- 

 scriptions range from $i.oo to $500. 

 While large subscriptions are welcome^ 

 the Society hopes that all members will 

 be sufficiently interested to subscribe 

 from $1.00 to $5.00. 



The reasons why an expedition should 

 leave this year are as follows : 



1. The expedition can be equipped at 

 approximately one-half the cost neces- 

 sary to equip an expedition any other 

 year, owing to the fact that the Roose- 

 velt and all the material used on Com- 

 mander Peary's last expedition are im- 

 mediately available. 



2. Peary's four lieutenants — Captain 

 Bartlett, George Borup, McMillan, and 

 Doctor Goodsell — and practically the en- 

 tire crew of the last expedition are eager 

 to join the x\merican South Polar Expe- 

 dition, provided it can leave this year. 

 The American party could thus take ad- 

 vantage of men whose experience in 

 polar work is unequalled. 



3. From a scientific point of view,, 

 tidal and magnetic observations obtained 

 at the same time that the English expe- 

 dition are making simultaneous records 

 on the other side of the South Pole wilt 

 be vastly more important than if taken 

 during another year, when there is no- 

 other expedition in the south. Similarly 

 the work of the British expedition will- 

 be benefited by the American. 



4. As Sir Ernest Shackleton has said,. 

 every step taken by the American expe- 

 dition from its proposed base on the 

 shores of Weddell Sea will be an entirely 

 new discovery. No region in the world 

 offers such an opportunity for the acquir- 

 ing of new knowledge. 



