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Page 91
"We found out all of a sudden that here at last was a subject we were
agreed upon, a subject in which we took an extraordinary mutual
interest. We discovered that we had read almost every explorer's book
from Sir John Franklin down. We knew all about the different theories
and plans of reaching the Pole. We knew how and why they had all failed;
but, for all that, we were both of the opinion" (Campbell leaned
forward, speaking with considerable energy) "that it can be done, and
that America ought to do it. That would be something better than even a
World's Fair.
"We give out a good deal of money, Tremlidge and I, every year to public
works and one thing or another. We buy pictures by American
artists--pictures that we don't want; we found a scholarship now and
then; we contribute money to build groups of statuary in the park; we
give checks to the finance committees of libraries and museums and all
the rest of it, but, for the lives of us, we can feel only a mild
interest in the pictures and statues, and museums and colleges, though
we go on buying the one and supporting the other, because we think that
somehow it is right for us to do it. I'm afraid we are men more of
action than of art, literature, and the like. Tremlidge is, I know. He
wants facts, accomplished results. When he gives out his money he wants
to see the concrete, substantial return--and I'm not sure that I am not
of the same way of thinking.
"Well, with this and with that, and after talking it all over a dozen
times--twenty times--we came to the conclusion that what we would most
like to aid financially would be a successful attempt by an
American-built ship, manned by American seamen, led by an American
commander, to reach the North Pole. We came to be very enthusiastic
about our idea; but we want it American from start to finish. We will
start the subscription, and want to head the list with our checks; but
we want every bolt in that ship forged in American foundries from metal
dug out of American soil. We want every plank in her hull shaped from
American trees, every sail of her woven by American looms, every man of
her born of American parents, and we want it this way because we believe
in American manufactures, because we believe in American shipbuilding,
because we believe in American sailmakers, and because we believe in the
intelligence and pluck and endurance and courage of the American sailor.
"Well," Campbell continued, changing his position and speaking in a
quieter voice, "we did not say much to anybody, and, in fact, we never
really planned any expedition at all. We merely talked about its
practical nature and the desirability of having it distinctively
American. This was all last summer. What we wanted to do was to make the
scheme a popular one. It would not be hard to raise a hundred thousand
dollars from among a dozen or so men whom we both know, and we found
that we could count upon the financial support of Mr. Garlock's society.
That was all very well, but we wanted the _people_ to back this
enterprise. We would rather get a thousand five-dollar subscriptions
than five of a thousand dollars each. When our ship went out we wanted
her commander to feel, not that there were merely a few millionaires,
who had paid for his equipment and his vessel, behind him, but that he
had seventy millions of people, a whole nation, at his back.
"So Tremlidge went to work and telegraphed instructions to the
Washington correspondents of his paper to sound quietly the temper of as
many Congressmen as possible in the matter of making an appropriation
toward such an expedition. It was not so much the money we wanted as the
sanction of the United States. Anything that has to do with the Navy is
popular just at present. We had got a Congressman to introduce and
father an appropriation bill, and we could count upon the support of
enough members of both houses to put it through. We wanted Congress to
appropriate twenty thousand dollars. We hoped to raise another ten
thousand dollars by popular subscription. Mr. Garlock could assure us
two thousand dollars; Tremlidge would contribute twenty thousand dollars
in the name of the Times, and I pledged myself to ten thousand dollars,
and promised to build the ship's engines and fittings. We kept our
intentions to ourselves, as Tremlidge did not want the other papers to
get hold of the story before the Times printed it. But we continued to
lay our wires at Washington. Everything was going as smooth as oil; we
seemed sure of the success of our appropriation bill, and it was even to
be introduced next week, when the news came of the collapse of the
English expedition--the Duane-Parsons affair.
"You would have expected precisely an opposite effect, but it has
knocked our chances with Congress into a cocked hat. Our member, who was
to father the bill, declared to us that so sure as it was brought up now
it would be killed in committee. I went to Washington at once; it was
this, and not, as you supposed, private business that has taken me away.
I saw our member and Tremlidge's head correspondent. It was absolutely
no use. These men who have their finger upon the Congressional pulse
were all of the same opinion. It would be useless to try to put through
our bill at present. Our member said 'Wait;' all Tremlidge's men said
'Wait--wait for another year, until this English expedition and its
failure are forgotten, and then try again.' But we don't want to wait.
Suppose Duane _is_ blocked for the present. He has a tremendous start.
He's on the ground. By next summer the chances are the ice will have so
broken up as to permit him to push ahead, and by the time our bill gets
through and our ship built and launched he may be--heaven knows where,
right up to the Pole, perhaps. No, we can't afford to give England such
long odds. We want to lay the keel of our ship as soon as we can--next
week, if possible; we've got the balance of the summer and all the
winter to prepare in, and a year from this month we want our American
expedition to be inside the polar circle, to be up with Duane, and at
least to break even with England. If we can do that we're not afraid of
the result, provided," continued Mr. Campbell, "provided _you_, Mr.
Bennett, are in command. If you consent to make the attempt, only one
point remains to be settled. Congress has failed us. We will give up the
idea of an appropriation. Now, then, and this is particularly what we
want to consult you about, how are we going to raise the twenty thousand
dollars?"
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