Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-06-17

vTe~t~t~ &
nsned at Bremen, recently said about
e political relations between Scan.
navla and Germany: "Political diff
I 1erences between us and the swedes
~ longer exist, and we hope that
o"ey Will never arise again. We Ger
ans cannot think of interference
: WIN the Independence of the Scan
olnav1an countries except as dam
age 10 ourselves and as danger to
our liberty at sea. May the Scandi-
+ na'ians always enjoy the blessing OF
peace
The following is a telegram dated
copenhagen, June S. - Throughout
the scandinavian kingdoms the great
est anxiety is felt on account of
Joseph Chamberlain's tariff project,
should the British colonial secretary's
scheme be carried out, the Scandina-
Wan export food trade would suffer
severe blow. Moreover, the duties
on non-colonial timber, which almost
Killed the Baltic timber trade about
the end of the eighteenth century,
and the abolition of which in the mid
die of the last century created an
economic revival in Sweden and Nor
way, would cause infinite harm to
Scandinavian interests in timber,
which constitutes half the total ex-
ports of Sweden and Norway and
goes mostly to England.
The readers of these columns are
entitled to a plain, clear-cut expo
sition of the present status of the
negotiations which have for their aim
the establishment of a separate con-
sular service for Norway. A joint
committee composed of two men,
bers of the Swedish cabinet and two
of the Norwegian cabinet held sew
eral executive meetings in 1902 and
in the early part of 1908, and the re-
suit of the labors of this committee
was a favorable report, which was
presented to the governments of Nor
way and Sweden. Concessions had
to be made on both sides, and the
publication of the report was hail
ed with yells of disapproval from the
camps of the extremists. Different
interpretations were also put upon
the document, and it's authors have
been kept pretty busy explaining its
real intent and purpose. But no expla-
nation of it could be more plain and
pointed than the one given before
the Norwegian storthing a few days
ago by Mr.. Blehr, the minister of
state of the Norwegian cabinet, and
for that reason his explanation is
submitted almost in full: The COM
munication is a preliminary agree
ment between the members of the
negotiating governments. which
proves that they are in favor of max
ing endeavor to settle the question of
abolishing the joint consular service.
No detailed explanation of the new
arrangement can be given at the pre-
sent stage of the negotiations with
summation of the plan. The follow
ing statement may be made, however,
without ignoring the discretion which
such "a delicate matter requires. The
negotiating members of the cabinets
state in their proposition that they
had to try to settle the consular SER
vice question in such manner as to
leave everything untouched with re-
ference to the minister of foreign af-
fairs and the status Of the foreign
embassies. The negotiations, there
fore, aim solely at a settlement of
the consular service question on the
assumption that the foreign affairs
and the status of the foreign embas-
sizes shall remain unaffected. It is
assumed that a Norwegian consular
service is established by the Norwe-
gian authorities, or, in other words,
that Norway appoints consuls of her
own, who are to serve under Norwe-
gian authorities. But when separate
consular service is established for
each of the two countries without
any change made in their existing
foreign service, a certain relation
must arise between the diplomatic
service and the consular services at
points where these two kinds of SER
vices touch each other, and it has
w
defined by Identical laws which shall
not be changed: by one party (either
Sweden or Norway and the aim of
which shall be, partly to prevent the
consuls from exceeding their proper
domain, partly to insure the necessa-
nv cooperation between the admins
tration of foreign affairs and the con-
sular service of each of the two king
doms. It is self-evident that these
laws must be formulated in such a
way that they only become rules OF
the government for regulating the al
fairs at said points of contact be-
tween the two kinds of services, that
is. the consular service of each of the
two countries on the one hand, and
the. existing foreign service on the
other. These institutions shall not
be established by laws, and the laws
shall entail no restriction of the right
Of each of the two Kingdoms to reg
uulate the foreign service; nor shall
~ DC 1orNnf