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Show 4 ..... i WHATS THE USE?. Commander Peary got thirty-two minutes nearer the pole than any former explorer. He and his crew suffered indescribable hardships and were in peril of their lives for several days. Gales disrupted the ice, destroyed, caches, cut off communications with supporting parties, and they, had .altogether a very tough time. . ' He is on his way back, probably to lecture an-1 other winter and then try it .again..- - - . : . ; '.. For many years we have been studying to .see what special advantage would accrue to science even if the pole were to be reached. We have.tried to be enthusiastic, but from the days of Sir John Franklin down,' we" have been unable to see the utility of fitting fit-ting up. ships, manning them with brave men, and sending' them up into- that merciless north to find an abstraction. V. ' ' |