There is wide-spread interest in the proposal that the American Navy send a large expedition of scientists to the Arctic. This would perpetuate the reputation established by' the American and British navies as pioneers in polar exploration. But there are practical reasons now for Arctic exploration that did not exist a few years ago. Indeed, now that the North Pole has been found, the romantic period in Arctic exploration may be regarded as having passed. The old question, What is the good of these expeditions?" can now be answered by pointing to essential advantages that may result. The unexplored Arctic still covers a vast area. Greenland alone, whose interior is almost wholly unknown, is nearly one fourth as Jarge as the United States, and, if the deductions of scientists are well founded, there is in the Polar Sea a great continent, as yet unseen by civilized eyes. The scientific possibilities of such an expedition are too vast to be conjectured. There are thought to be vast deposits of oil in the polar regions, and their discovery might solve a problem which is perhaps the most serious menace to the present economic fabric of the world. How long the present fidds can supply the demand is a matter of speculation, but many trustworthy estimates fix the maximum period at 25 years. Although oil-fields in the Arctic probably have little practical importance now, they may have stupendous value in the future. Coal mines in Spitzbergen, an Arctic archipelage as far north as central Greenland, have been profitably worked for some time. Therefore, the ex-blorers who can plant their country's flag in the ico above such deposits, will confer an incalculable boon upon coming generations. The world already greatly needs larger supplies of the rare metals; their use in the naval mines of the North Sea is still a secret, but even the non-scientific world is familiar with the importance of vanadium and molybdenum in the steel industry, platinum and iridium in the Taboratory. and radium medicine. There are good chances that. such deposits exist. in polar continents.
Tue Apvantace to Science These are a few of the possible direct benefits which this rumour ofan Arctic expedition suggests. But, after all, those results we can predict are likely to prove the least important. To the devotees of science and learning the extension of the knowledge of mankind is in itself a sufficient excuse for the expense involved. The advantages that may result from the discovery of new lands cannot be foreseen. Four hundred years_ago America vas interesting to Europe chiefly
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.