THE POLAR FLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1924, Page 7

THE POLAR FLIGHT

JUSTIFIED BY DENBY

VALUE OF ARCTIC TO AMERICA.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAX-NEW ZEALAND CABLB ASSOCIATION.) WASHINGTON, 18th January.

Mr. E. Denby, testifying before the House Naval Affairs Committee, declared that the vast unexplored area contiguous to Alaska constituted a constant challenge to the United States and justified the Polar flight.

"Another power will, within a year, have a photograph map of this region," he declared, "even i£ we do not. The Arctic circle area certainly would be of high strategic' value, commercially and militarily, and would be the property of the United States." ZHI will cruise over a million square miles of unexplored territory. The flight will not be especially hazardous. The cost is estimated at 185,000 dollars.

Lieutenant-Commander Bartlett, who accompanied Robert Peary, the discoverer of the North Pole, also testifying, recommended the -flight, and endorsed its practicability. Other naval experts affirmed that ZRl's experience in the gale only demonstrated the vessel's airworthiness regarding the Polar expedition.

Senator W. H. King (Utah) introduced a resolution into the United States Senate asking for an investigation into the advisability of the construction of dirigibles. The resolution stated that, owing to the danger of operation, the Senate should consider withdrawing the appropriations for their further construction .from the Bill. A prior resolution by Representative Taylor requested the Navy Department to inform the House what scientific acts would be ascertained by the proposed Polar flight, of ZRI, and whether the Dixmude's defects had been corrected in the ZRI. He also asked what tlie estimate of the probable cost of the flight was.