Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-11-01
A'SWORD AND A CROWN.
TO THE MEMORY OF HENRY
GEORGE.
BY Gerhardt Nelson.

Share of Truth was vainly set
In the Worlds wide faloW;
After hands shall sow the sesd,
After hands from hill and mead,
'p ~ 49, whittier.
My memory carries me back to
winter eve-18S1-in my native coun-
try, to the home of my uncle, al old
schoolmaster, to whom | am indebted
for my first Lessons in the English Ian
guage, and to whom the Danish people
are indebted for several valuable trans
lations of American and English liter
ature. He had never been in England
nor this country but he was, | often
| think, more American than Danish, and
| am certain Of one thing-that | have
never before or since found foreigner
SO thoroughly familiar with American
literature, with the American language
and American institutions. He knew
his Blackstone" by heart and could re-
cite "Atala" from beginning TO end.
He had followed the political events
during and after the civil war in this
country. He was an ardent admirer
of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield, whose
pictures, together with other American
authors and statesmen, adorned the
walls Of his study. On that particular
eve which | have referred to above
] found him, with four other school
masters from the neighboring counties,
! deeply absorbed IN q bundle of papers
| whieh had been divided up among the
FIVE gentlemen, and they xere devour-
ing the contents as if their lives de-
pended On it. Now and then one would
throw his head back and stare in
tensely up at the calsamined ceiling, or
bury his hands in his pockets and pace
the floor to and fro. And thus they
kept up until late hour in the night.
A few days after appeared, in
"The Polite" the leading Democratic
organ in Denmark, the first translation
| of Progress and Poverty" by Henry
George. The rest Of the newspapers
had at once TRANSACTIONS Extracts
made from the German language, and
the result was that within six months
thousands Of copies Of the book found
its way into the homes Of the people.
1t was not only the talk Of the town,
it was the talk Of the whole county,
or, I might say, the whole Of Scandi-
navia.
At that particular time a political
current-with its offspring in Germa-
ny-had swept Scandinavia. and
found, especially in Denmark and
Norway, a fruitful ground, and the
echoes sounded and resounded between
the three countries, as from hillside to
hillside. The German Richter" and
"BebeI'' were fighting shoulder to
shoulder. leading the alien forces, the
great common people, against the reg
iment headed by Bismarck and his
authocratic government. In Germany
Bismarck had succeeded in making Ger
many powerful State, but he had
ruined the people. IN Denmark,
small country, which is a thousand
times less able to stand the burdens Of
standing armies, military forts, etc, the
Ministerian of "Estrop' was busily en-
gagged in the attempt to force upon the
people among other measures, a ride
ulous defence law" which finally was
forced, by the aid Of the necessary
"Gendarmes, upon the people.
Meanwhile, one hundred thousand
people were out of employment. Our
best, most skilled, mechanics could rot
find employment anywhere or at any
price The students, the ablest writer's
on political economy, tried to solve the
problem, the cause. and to find the
remedy, and failed.
Socialists in Germany in one day than
the teachings of "Ruscan" would have
made in ten years. The finances Of
Germany had been sduandered in
reckless way by man who would sac
riiice his best friend. the welfare Of his
fatherland, everything and everybody,
for the furtherance of his pet ideas.
"Estrop" was initiating Bismarck in
Denmark. The future looked dark.
The farmer saw in the future rows Of
bayonets instead of blooming cornfield5
and the mechanics and laboring men
got ready to emigrate.
The German newspapers were censur-
ed and free speech was hampered with,
and Of course Estrop, in Denmark,
fastened to copy his lordly master in
Germany. Never before in the history
of Germany and Denmark were the SEN
time2ts wrought up to such an alarm
ing degree. Father was turned against
son, the classes arrayed themselves
more than hitherto against the masses,
the wholesale dealer against the small
retail dealer The masses declared
bitter war against the masses. l could
infinitely describe il, if | wanted to go
into detail, but this is enough.
| do not mean to say that the writ
ings of Henry George solved the prob
lem. not at all; that would have been
impossible at that time. But it came
into the German literature like cool
ing, soothing breeze on close summer
day, and we felt the breeze in Scan
dinavia.
From the first appearance of the
writings OF Henry George, particularly
his Progress and Poverty we mark
the change Of the current into other
channels Authors, hitherto obscure
and unknown, came out like flowers in
spring. The press led in the new Mahl-
stream with the students of almost
every university in Germany. The
writings of Henry George gave to the
German people, as to the people OF
France and Scandinavia, new inn
pulse, with new thoughts and ideas.
FronS Norway came sben, Bjorn-
stgerne kjornson and Jonas HE, and no
stronger IMAM or men did ever lift
their yoi{es in. Henry Georges behalf