Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1898-07-13
It is agreed that the election of repre-

sentatives and their meeting together
as storthing has not succeeded in Sc
curing liberty and progress to the ex-
tent intended by the fathers who
framed our constitution at Eidsvold.
We have had certain experiences. But
these experiences are not such as to
suggest that the democratic form of
government is played out. These ex-
periences do not warrant the re-estab-
lishment of the monarchy in the old
splendor which surrounded it before
the representative national assemblies
rose to the dignity of rulers of nations.
No; We only speak of a government
for the people, to use the words of
Abraham Lincoln. The extension of
the right to vote, the referendum, pro-
portlonate representation. etc, only
serve to call a greater and greater
number of citizens to a participation
in and responsibility for the actions
OF the people at large, making more in
telligent and able people out of them.
and putting the public veal on safer
basis. The ripper a people becomes,
the more absolute does old monarchy
become. It belongs to the past more
wise politics is to carry the people
toward more complete democracy.
Nothing can be safer than this
When the projected railroads in the
North are completed, it will be posi-
BILE to travel by rail from Ofoten
through Norway. Sweden. Finland,
Russia md Siberia to the Pacific ocean.
But cars must be changed at Hapar-
anda. the boundary line between Swe-
den and the Russian empire. because
all the railroads of Russia have
broader gauge than those of western
Europe.
Some of the congregations in Kris
tiania have more than Is, 900 mem bers,
including the children; and the seating
capacity of all the churches in the city
is 10000, or one seat for every ten per-
sons.
There were SIG, 335 dozen logs rated
on the Glommen river up to June H.
This is about 100, dozen above the
average.
Recent strikes have caused the en-
ployers in Bergen so much worry that
they are taking steps to organize them
selves into union.
The recent suffrage laws prescribe
way of securing proportionate repre-
sentation at the local elections next
fall. 1t is brand new thing in Nor
way; but the system will be tried in
several communities.
The storthing voted a subsidy of s4O,-
600 to company of shipowners in
Bergen to enable them to enlarge the
Laxevaag dry docks so that they may
accommodate the ironclads.
About 20 silver CONS, dating from
1880 to 1920, were found in an excava-
ton in Kristiania. The find, which is
claimed to be an important one, has
been turned over to the university.
The appropriations made by the
storthing aggregate s23, 900, or
about S11 for every man, woman and
child in Norway. BY way of COMPARE
son, our "billion-dollar congress" ap-
propriated only about 81 a year per
inhabitant. No wonder many Norwe-
gians think the burden of the national
government is getting rather heavy,
even the liberal papers admitting that
it Is about time to be a little more
careful"
Bjornson's name again appears in
the Russian press. This time he noti-
fies the Russian people that if Count
Douglas, the minister for foreign af-
fairs, does not permit Norway to make
special treaty with Russia, a joint
Norwegian Swedish treaty will not be
accepted by the Norwegian storthing.
He also suggests that the past history
of Count Douglas is such that he ought
not to fill the position of minister for
foreign affairs. The letter will doubt
less be vigorously commented upon by
the Scandinavian press.