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Show THE NORTH POLE. The most important piece of news of the past week was that contained in the dispatches of the discovery dis-covery of the north pole by Dr. Frederick A. Cook of Brooklyn. Dr. Cook returned to civilization and was greeted by scientists and rulers of the lands he visited, and he has been recognized as the first man who reached the point on the earth where there is no longitude, where every direction is south, the latitude lat-itude 90 degrees north of the equator! Following close upon this announcement and the acknowledgment acknowledg-ment of his discovery, the Peary expedition returned to civilization and announced that it, too, had plant-ed plant-ed the American flag on the pole. That the pole has been reached has been accepted very generally, the high character of the men making the announcement dispelling any doubt's in the minds of those competent compe-tent to judge of the accomplishment. Among the first things thought of since the discovery dis-covery of the pole is that the pole belongs to the United States "by right of discovery." Since the western hemisphere was added to the civilized and known parts of the world, there has not been much "taking possession by right of discovery." It is hard to imagine that Dr. Cook when he set foot upon the pole solemnly raised the flag of the United States and announced that he took possession of the country in the name of the president. And if he did, or if the Peary expedition did, the United States has not yet put any "Xo trespassing" sirnis upon its newly acquired territory, and it mav be that other explorers will go there and contest the right of this country to possession. We don't believe be-lieve this country will contest the possession or the occupation of the territory by armed force. So f r as we have been able to learn, there were no fruitful fields or gold mines discovered; getting there is of no particular profit to anybody", but there is lots of satisfaction in knowing that an American was the first to do it. |