stefansson-wrangel-09-01-004-003

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of 1914, we have a better claim than any other country at present to
Wrangel Island. Should we occupy it in an unostentatious way, it is
not likely that any country will protest, for some years at least,
against our occupancy, for the idea of the great value of the North
is only slowly dawning at present and is not likely to become univer-
sal for several years. If we are the first to realize the value of
these northern islands and to occupy them, they as well as other lands
that we may be able to discover to the north will belong to us. But
should we continue inactive until others have occupied Wrangel Island,
our claim resting upon the discovery would probably be inadequate to
secure us possession of it as against the claims of others supported
by their present occupation.

There has already been brought to the attention of the Govern-
ment the question of whether we shall be able to maintain successfully
our claim to Ellesmere Island. We should occupy Wrangel Island before
any such dispute arises as has already arisen with regard to Ellesmere Island.

At the request of the Prime Minister, I am giving very tenta-
tively an outline of the steps that might be taken to discover new lands
in the North, explore those already discovered, and follow that explor-
ation by occupation so as to insure our territorial rights in these lands.

It is easy to show that the northern lands contain resources
that we value to-day. It appears to me, however, unnecessary to go
into that discussion. It is simpler and safer merely to remind ourselves
that it has been the universal course of history up to the present that
the lands considered worthless in one age are considered valuable in
the next, and that the spread of value in land will, therefore, prob-
ably continue to the remotest corners of the earth.

It appears to me clear that the Antarctic continent will
become a valuable possession much later than the islands north of
Canada. Still, through the familiarity with the Antarctic continent
brought about in Great Britain by the expeditions of Scott and Shackle-
ton, there has been created the very strong impression there that even
that remote and really icy land is going to have commercial value.

Honourable W. W. Cory, Deputy Minister,
Department of the Interior.
Ottawa, Ontario.