Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-03-05

A peculiar musical tournament took
place at Aalesund Jan. 20. Only ma
tional tiddles were used, and fourteen
fiddlers competed for prices. One OF
them was 70, another was 20 years
old. The house was packed, and the
applause was both general and gen-
erous. The "hallings" of the old
gentlemen were particularly we'll re-
ceived, but the young fellows cap
tured the prices, which ranged from
SIS to $3.50. Many of the attendants
had come from the surrounding coun-
try though there was a drenching
rain.
Professor Birkeland's new electro
magnetic cannon is yet in it's earliest
experimental stages, and the princi-
pie on which it works cannot be
made public because the invention is
not fully protected by patents. All
that can be said with certainty is,
that the missile is hurled out of the
cannon by means of magnetic force.
The apparatus used so far are adj
mitted to be both crude and feeble.
But by means of them one-pound
missile can be shot through a thick
plank. A more powerful cannon is in
process of construction. Professor
Birkeland holds that it is practicable
to construct cannons sufficiently pow
erful to throw two-ton missiles far
beyond the range of the most power
full powder cannon ever made.
A lady walking from the train to
the depot building at Sandwich sta
ton fell down into ditch and broke
her leg. She asked for $4,000 damages,
and the railway department offered
her $500 for five years. She declined
the offer and referred the matter to
the courts, and all she gets is $1144S
The amount of money sent in the
form of postal money orders from
America to Norway in 1901 was $780,
1894. This is about $4,000 in excess
of the best record for the past eight
years.
The medical association of Stavan-
ger has taken the lead in raising a
fund for the benefit of consumptives.
The peace party in the storthing
has prepared an address to the king
in favor of an expressed policy of neu-
trality on the part of Norway, and
this question will soon be discussed in
the storthing.
SWEDEN
The labor conflict at the Arlof car
shops is at an end. The labor unions
came out of the struggle as victors.
The resources of the employers were
very seriously taxed, and the number
of employees has been cut down from
$50 to 70. The saddest feature of the
conflict is the fate of those laborers
who moved in from other places at the
beginning of the strike and interfered
as scabs, or ''strike-breakers." The
employers expected to obtain enough
of these to be able to pull through
without the old men. But when the
employers were beaten they were
forced by the strikers to discharge
every strike-breaker, that is, every
man employed during the strike. It
must be recorded, that the union men
were as relentless against their fell
lows, the non-unionists, as they were
against their employers. Many of the
non-unionists have left for other quar-
tiers; but about twenty families still
remain because they have no means
of getting away. Several of these
families are on the very verge Of
starvation, and the local government
may have to assist them.
Henri Dunant's share of the Nobel
peace price has not yet been paid
him, and his creditors are still plan
ming to get the money. The managers
of the Nobel funds are in a ticklisb
position. If the creditors obtain the
money the managers will be blamed
for failing to benefit the beneficiary,
and if they interfere they are apt to
be accused of going beyond their au-
thority.
The number of C. o. D. express
packages sent out from the Stock
holm Central railway depot in 1901
was 2s0,474, and the charges on them
were $1,377 ,915.S4. The increas.. for a
single year was over $15O,O00. These
figures are interesting mainly from
two viewpoints: they show to what
extent the railways serve as collecting
agencies, and they indicate the
growth of the trade between parties
who do not know each other wei.
enough to ship the goods at the abso.
lutte risk of the remitter.
A few years ago Werner Backstrom
of Lower Kalix was a rich man, and
in the hey-day of his prosperity he
donated $4,000 to his commune for the
establishment of a poor-farm. Being
generous and public-spirited to de-
gree, besides losing large sums of
money on account of his credulity, he
had been reduced to comparative pow
erty. A short while ago he petitioned
the commune to grant him five per
cent interest for life on the $4,000,
and the petition was granted.
There were 1877 labor conflicts in
Sweden in 1901, as against 1O4 the pre-
vious year. But the number of men
involved for the two years was 5000
and 10000, respectively. The number
of working days lost was 10000 in
1901, and 331, 500 in 1900.
A committee of five members from
each of the two chambers of the riks-