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However, in practice he observed a sort of benevolent neutrality and did help a
good deal indirectly by publishing articles on transpolar commerce by air,
emphasizing the epochal possibilities of the transarctic flight of the United
States Navy dirigible Shenandoah which had just then been announced. by Rear Admiral
William A. Moffett, head of aviation for the Navy. Anyone who already had
Wrangell Island in mind would inevitably see in it added value if he only grasped
the general effect of Admiral Moffett's plans.

However, I am afraid I did not make full use of my opportunities
to influence the press, for I was so occupied with other things. Two classes of
journalists that I did try I found beyond the reach of evidence and, therefore,
beyond influencing. Garvin had discussed the whole subject with me with a mind
open to every new fact or argument and had ended by agreeing on every point except
the political wisdom of the plan. Mr. Hamilton Fyfe, editor of the Labour Herald,
was invulnerable because he believed every proclamation issued by the Soviet
Government, disbelieved the statements made by the British Foreign Office, and
was too busy to make any research into the question of whether the Russians might
possibly be wrong and the British right. He seemed willing to admit the scientific
and commercial side of my argument and even the importance of it politically but
considered the case of Wrangell Island to be closed because the Russians had said
they owned it.

Lord Beaverbrook, on the other hand of the Express, took little interest in the
Soviet aspect of the case or, indeed, in any aspect. He said his willingness to
meet me was based on the fact that I was a Canadian and that he was anxious to
encourage anyone who came from Canada, his own country. But he was really unable
to see how there could be any merit in my proposals since they concerned the Arctic,
and everything in the Arctic was worthless. He had closed his mind on that subject
some years ago at the end of a discussion with Sir Ernest Shackleton who had wanted
support for some plan or other. A variety of subjects were mentioned during our talk but on all of them
his mind was made up. He Lord Beaverbrook did not say when he had closed his mind on
other subjects or, indeed, these, nor whether there are topics upon which it is still open.