The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-05-28
multitude; and then 1t became the law

multitude; and then 1t became the law
Of the land.
The Norwesians thus proved that they
were the most democratic people in Eu-
rope. There are too many evidences
that even in this great republic there are
thousands who would be glad to see IT,
ties of nobility established on the ruins
of liberty. The disgraceful efforts of our
female American aristocracy to wed the
wretched remnants Of European nobility
is conclusive upon this point.
Norway is in some respects more pro-
gressive than our own country.
The judges Of their courts have not
yet usurped, as here, the right to set
aside the verdicts of the juries and con-
sttute themselves sole judges of law and
fact. Here they are omnipotent and can
even Eullify an act OF congress There
they are liable in damages for their de-
cisions.
Here we have been abridging the right
Of the people to make laws by abolishing
annual sessions Of the legislature and
substituting biennial sessions. There
they abolished the sessions Of the stortll-
ing, once in three years, and it meets
now annually. Even the king cannot
dissolve that body until it has been
three months in session. And his veto
can be overruled by the action of three
successive storthings. If President Nc
kinley vetGes ;ln act OF congress, it can
not become a law unless passed over his
veto by two-thirds vote.
In Norway. the people own the rail-
roads and telegraph lines. Here the
railroads and telegraph lines own the
people, and can tax them and appro-
pirate their earnings to any extent they
may see it,
The Norwegans believe in the public
school system; and there are fewer
among them who cannot read and write
than in any other part Of the world.
Education is compulsory, and all chill
dren are obliged to attend school from Z
to II years of age Each parish has it's
schoolmaster, who is paid by Il small tax
levied upon stockholders.
Most of the land is the property of the
tates in 1896 WAS 47.453, Of which 49,
7SU were cultivated by owners.
In this country. the land is rapidly con-
centrating in the hands Of moneylen0-
ers because msgovernment robs indus
try OF its rewards and forces the cult
vator to mortgage his home.
Here we have continent, reaching
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and OK
tending from the lakes to the gulf. The
Norwegans have Il little slice of rocky
territory, bounded on the north by cter
nal cold, on the east by mountains, and
on the west by the lashing waves of the
most tempcstllous sea in the world. But
they have. by wise laws and industry,
made this unpromising territory gar
den of prosperity; while we, in the pos
session Gf Il paradise, have permitted,
by evil laws, three-one- hundrcd,hs of l
per cent of the population to own one
fifth OF all the wealth of the country.
Nine per cent OF our people own IL per
cent Of the entire wealth, while 81 per
cent own but % per cent. While or
population increased from 1850 to 1880,
25 per cent. and our wealth increased is
per cent, the mortgage Indebtedness in
creased 1856 per cent and the tenantry
i0h per cent.
Tho minds Of cur people are filed with
aprrehensions as to our future, and men
ask each other anxiOusly: Can this re-
public cndure?" The sun Of the 10Th
century threatens to set in the hlood-red
clouds of bankruptcy and revolution,
while the Scandinavian peninsula. that
seed-plot of the nations and colonizer
OF the continents. strong in It's simple
honesty, looks out from its rocky fast
nesscs, serene in the consciousness OF it's
love Of liberty and its patient devotion
to duty.