The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-22

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liticians they have certainly shown marked
ability and have scored great success in
taking good care Of themselves and their
political friends. A few instances may
| be quoted by way of illustration. In 1899,
when the Steen ministry was in difficulties
| Captain Spare of the navy was induced
to enter as a member of the delegation In
stockholm. He served his time there and
wished to return to Christiania but there
was no department that he could very we'll
| be put in charge Of. Very OPPORTUNITY
the commanding admiral of the navy, V.
Krogh, died about that time and Captain
Spare had himself appointe ed commanding
| admiral Of the Norwegian navy. Admiral
Spare is AZ years old. He is certainly a
we'll educated and efficient officer but so
are several other officers in the navy, his
seniors In age and experience over whose
| heads he was passed into the highest
position in the navy, simply because the
chance of politics had paved the way for
him. With two admirals nett her of whom
is much above 40, there should be no dan
ger of old-fogyism in the Norwegian navy.
! A recently created Office as director In
charge of shipbuilding of the navy had
to be filled some time this winter. AS the
place commands one of the highest sal
aries In the service, a number of we'll
qualified naval const ructors and ship
pulloers, both in this country and in Eng
land, applied for it, but to the astonish-
ment of the public the man who carried
away the prize was man who has never
mad anything to do with shipbuilding. He
IS an engineer of undoubted ability in
otner helds-and an enthusiastic sup
porter of the political party in power. I'm
med1ately after his appointment he OBJ
tanned three months leave of absence
to go abroad to study naval architecture,
at the expense Of the government. But
then ne will probably not get much chance
of astonishing the world with new de-
partures in naval construction. In sud
den fit of economy the other day parlia-
,ment cut out all appropriations for new
ships for the navy. The four battleships
we now possess we got in this way: We
borrowed the money for them from Ger
man Jews and sent the money to England,
where all the ships were built. The Nor
4 wegians are tremendous hnanciers.
/ Another appointment which recently
caused a vast amount of newspaper dis
cussion was that of Mr.. Ullmann to one of
| the principal administrative Offices of the
country. Mr.. Ullmann has taken prominent
part in political agitation for many years.
He is fine scholar and man of IN
doubted ability in various ways, and has
hitherto shown less selfshness than any
of our leading politicians. His elevation
to high administrative functions may
prove more satisfactory than any OF recent
political preferments. ..'..-. -, r.
A Partizan Rewarded.
The climax in partizan political ap-
pointment to Office was reached only
few weeks ago. A good Office was to be
filled, the time for application had ex-
pired, with long list of applicants, when
| by request of certain members of the cab
met, Mr.. Abrahamsen, young lawyer,
who is one of the staunchest supporters OF
n for
the office and was Immediately appointed.
Mr. AOrahamsen was the youngest appli-
cant on the list, but he has for some time
been chairman Of the parliamentary COM
mittee which has to pass and report on
the acts of the government, and in this
capacity he had proved eminently useful
to the ministry. A more fagrantly parti-
Fan abuse of the appointing power could
b. rdly be ina gined.
Hitting IN Offensive Critic.
Heretofore it has been the boast Of
| .?every Norwegian that in this country Of
| fees We're out of the grasp of unscrup-
ulous politicians. that official promotion
was determined solely by scholarship,
high personal character and meritorious
service. OF course, even under the ole
conservative regime, other things being
equal, the Dreferment was apt to fall ~
the man who had not in any way affiliated
, with the opposition party But cases Of
unmerited official promotion were ex-
tremely rare. It was reserved for the
liberals 70 form, a mutual insurance So
ciety, distributing the honors AMI emolu-
lnents to the faithful retainers and pun
ishing those who dare to. doubt their po-
litical wisdom. Professor Morgensteirne,
, a member OF the law faculty of the uni
,, vcrsity, last summer in series of arti-
cles in a French review, subjected the
present liberal government of Norway to
severe but apparently not unmerited crit
icisnl. One of the liberal papers called
,, attention to this criticism and a terrible
cutlery was raised A formal complaint
was lodged against the professor with the
university authorities who, however, de-
clined to act. but the government still
had way of hitting the offensive critic.
Professor Morgenstierne also held posi-
) tion as extraordinary associate judge of
: the supreme court and when his term ex-
pired he was not reaDpointed. It is in
teresting to note that the very same
paper the: ("Verden's Garg'D which. in
December, 1901. raised the hue and cry
against Professor Morgenstierne under
March "a, 1902, delivers itself of this
editorial utterance.
Increased taxes go along with the eco
nomical mismanagement and excessive
S expenditures of an important clique gov
Y eminent. Those worthy representatives
of the people, who defend the wretched
/ thing, by the Norwegian government are
= put into fat offices, displacing men who
: have had no occasion to play the dog to
S catch a good bone.'
e 1t is not pleasant to have to tell my
: readers such things about ones own
:. country. tits truly sad that movement
t which, to start with, had so much of truth
: and justice on its side, should SO quickly
y degenerate into scramble for ONCE
= Human nature is pretty much the same
, all over the world. Complete and over
t whelming success is dangerous thing for
i the victorious party. The possession OF
j, power corrupts weak men, High and noble
!, ideals are lost sight of in the endeayor to
: perpetuate the power gained. And while
the politicians scramble and scheme tc
keep their good Jobs, to reward thei1
friends and punish their enemies the true
interests of the country are lost sight Of
: To catch the socialist vote and the labor
S vote all sorts of expensive experiments
: are undertaken and laws are passed which
: brighten capital away and paralyze indus.
: tries. In this city throughout the winter
: thousands of workingmen have been idle
! municipal assistance and private beneyo
= lence have been taxed to the utmost
S Norway, with her immense tonnage, keen.
t ly feels the universal depression in freight
o&s