39° 



The National Geographic Magazine 



the broad statement that there is no 

 longer any great pioneer work of geo- 

 graphical discovery to be accomplished 

 except at the apices of the earth, at the 

 North and South Poles. 



Here alone large areas, guarded by the 

 sternest natural obstacles to be found 

 upon the face of the earth, still challenge 

 and defy conquest. 



It has been somewhat the fashion dur- 

 ing the past few years, in the interest 

 and enthusiasm excited for Antarctic 

 work, to rather decry further Arctic 

 work as not likely to be of value, and to 

 assume that in the Antarctic region 

 alone is there a field for really valuable 

 scientific investigation. 



I do not at all agree with this view. 

 There are no 3,000,000 square miles of 

 the earth's surface that do not contain 

 scientific information of value much 

 greater than the cost of securing it. 



Further than this, I believe in doing 

 the thing that has been begun, and that 

 is worth doing, before shifting to a new 

 object. 



There is no higher, purer field of in- 

 ternational rivalry than the struggle for 

 the North Pole. 



Uninfluenced by prospects of gain, by 

 dreams of colonization, by land lust, or 

 politics, the centuries' long struggle of 

 the best and bravest sons of England, 

 Germany, Norway, Sweden, Holland, 

 France, Russia, Italy, and the United 

 States, whose able delegates are here 

 today, has made this field of effort 

 classic, almost sacred. 



The conquest of the Pole is a man's 

 work as well as a geographical and 

 scientific desideratum, and its attain- 

 ment would move the man and the 

 geographer in every one of you. 



The South Pole, from a practical 

 geographic point of view, is no less a 

 prize (but I do not consider it a greater) 

 than the North Pole, but the North 

 Pole has a place in history, in litera- 

 ture, in sentiment, if you will, which 

 the South Pole will never hold. 



Granted the attainment of the North 

 Pole, or that the attacks upon both can 

 be carried on simultaneously, there is 

 no greater believer or stronger advocate 

 of the value and necessity for South 

 Polar exploration and the desirability 

 of pushing it to the very Pole itself 

 than I. 



I will note here but two other geo- 

 graphical feats of primary magnitude 

 yet to be accomplished by the explorer. 



The culminating peak of Asia re- 

 mains yet to be won. 



The culminating point of North 

 America remains yet untrodden by 

 human foot. 



Large as has been the work done in 

 the last nine years, the three salient 

 resolutions of the Sixth and Seventh 

 Congresses regarding Antarctic explo- 

 ration, map of the world on a uniform 

 scale, and oceanography still hold good, 

 and I hope to see them reaffirmed by 

 this Congress with a fourth in regard 

 to Arctic work. 



It seems to me we ought not to deny 

 the advantages to science of completing 

 the exploration of the Arctic regions, 

 when the secrets of an area almost as 

 large as Australia, an area within which 

 a valuable paper before this Congress 

 will indicate the probability of a new 

 land, remain unknown. 



And I sincerely hope that this Con- 

 gress will not ignore a field of investi- 

 gation which, now that the flood tide 

 of Antarctic exploration has somewhat 

 spent itself, resumes its leading place 

 with five expeditions in the field or 

 preparing to enter it. 



The meeting of this Congress in this 

 country holds great possibilities of good 

 for us, both as individual geographers 

 in being brought in direct contact with 

 the work of our colleagues of other 

 countries, who are hewing new paths 

 and broadening old ones, and also as a 

 country. 



I earnestly hope that this session of 

 the Congress will prove a great and last- 



