PEARY AND SOUTH POLE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 9

PEARY AND SOUTH POLE.

A RACE WITH ENGLAND. Commander Peary and Captain Bartlett, the sturdy Britisher who blazed the trail of his chief on the path to the frozen North, were the heroes of a great popular demonstration in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, last month, when the discoverer of the North Pole received a national testimonial to his achievement from representatives of the nation, the State, and the municipality. Approval reached its highest expression when Commander Peary, holding in his hand a cheque for £2000, presented to him as a popular gift, said : "Permit me to contribute ihis money as a help and incentive toward the triumph of our country in its contest with Great Britain to discover the South Pole." More than three thousand men and women aroee, and cheered long and loudly. This constituted the first public announcement that the National Geographical Society has accepted the proposal of the Peary Arctic Club to undertake tho Antarctic quest. The great Opera House was crowded, from the orchestra, where seats sold at 30s each, to the gallery, to which 4s was charged for admission, and as Mr. Hughes, Governor of the State of New York, followed by Commander Peary, Captain Bartlett, and other members of the expedition, walked towards the stage, there was an out-burst of enthusiasm such as has probably never been eclipsed in New York, cheers from floor to ceiling, and cries of welcome, which entirely drowned the usually crashing notes of "Hail to the Chief," played by brass bands. President Taft wrote expressing sympathy with the national testimonial, and suggesting that Congress should take some substantial notico "of the achievement, which reflected such great credit on American enterprise, persistencfr, courage, and endurance." Captain Bartlett made a briet, maniy speech, eulogising Commander Peary, and said it was honour enough for him that he had been nearer to the earth's apex than any other Britisher. Captain Bartlett is a tall, lithe, swarthy Newfoundlander, and was never sick or sorSr all the time he was in the frozen orth.