The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-28
ro the editor Of The journal.

TO the Editor of The Journal
In3The journal appeared last sum
mer two articles by Professor Breda, form
erly of the University Of Minnesota, In
which he shamelessly ISLANDERS his own
countrymen. the people Of Norway. He
re- hashed the most silly twaddle that has
appeared in the fanatlcal reactionafy pa
pers in Norway.
According to the professor everything
that is vile, foolish, extravagant, or IA
natical In Norway is gathered in the lib
eral party. .Ft---%.s-,
He sings the same refrain that has
been sung by conservatives In Norway
from the times of Wergeland and from
the time when, about the year 1880 the
farmers of the country first In q consider
able body appeared in the storthing (Nor-
wegfan parliament) and asserted the
rights to which they were entitled accord
ing to the constitution Of 1884,.
The professor s. statement that the his
tory Of Norway as an Independent ma
ton covers only a period of eighty-nine
wears, is misleading. . Norway was indie
pendent from the first dawn Of Its his
tory In 1890 it was united with Dem
mark at first nominally' upon equal
terms, but in 1886 1t was made subject to
Denmark and remained so till 1914
In the professors opinion everything was
lovely under the rule Of the conservatives,
while now everything is going to perdi-
tion. This gives the key to the stand
ard by which he measures things.
List of Supposed Sins.
Of course, it is impossible to enter into
all tho details Of the long articles. But to
illustrate their. one-sidedness and -unre-
liability few specimens are selected.
The professor speaks about the increase
of taxation and how 'unfavorably taxation
in Norway compares with that Of Swe-
den. According to good authority state
taxes in Norway are % crowns per- cap
ita; in Sweden 22a crowns, and in Den
mark rs crowns. In 1899 the local taxes
in Denmark were i33 13 crowns per cap
tia; in Norway 28A crowns. Increase in
taxation seems to be a disease that is pre-
valent thruout the whole world: We need
only mention our own state and national
taxes as an illustration. AS to emigra ton,
which the professor says Is caused by bur-
densome taxes statistics show that it
has been no larger. under liberal admins
tration than under that Of the conserva-
tives. &&Fj -
Among the supposed misdeeds Of the
liberal party the professor mentions the
national insurance project" When this
''project" was first introduced into the
storthing only twenty members voted
against it, Of these eighteen were lib
erals and only two conservatives. In de-.
-rouncing this measure the professor seems
to forget, that national insurance" has
existed In Norway at least as far back as
the adoption of it's present constitution;
all office holders on retiring receiving
pension. The professor does not explain
why one class in the commonwealth should
oe Ensured and others not Under the
head of "Spoils for the Victors'' he makes
number of assertions about which it is
sufficient to say that here as elsewhere
he fails to produce the evidence What
his object is in throwing all this dirt, 1T Is
impossible to understand.
"HIaher Glasses" Always Despised Labor.
Manual Labor no Longer Respectable
is one of the headings in the professors
article. Among the so-called higher
classes in Norway manual labor has new
err 5been respectable. A person of the
SO called better class cannot even carry
a I,ackage on the street without being
stared at. AS the white people of our
southern states think manual labor re-
spectacle only for negroes, so the upper
class in Norwaysrthink manual labor re-
spectacle only for peasants. When tae
professor seems inclined to make the lib
eral: party responsible for the increasing
number Of persons seeking a higher edu-
cation he is about as sensible as the noted
political speaker who made the populists
responsible for the drought In Kansas. AS
to ''class distinctions 1t Is not true that
they are, yet abolished in Norway, and 1t
is not in human power to abolish them.
A Crooked Progeny. i, =
What the professor says about the
Shaking of the bloody shirt Is the Ver1-
est rot 1t is a general Idea among the
common people of Sweden that Norway
is subject to = Sweden, and the ruling
classes Of the latter country have always
tried to assert Swedish supremacy over
Norway But what Is more deplorable Is
that there has existed in Norway itself
an aristocratic clique that: has largely Sec
ended such efforts. Since the time when
the able and redoubtable chief Erline
the Wrynecked Cor Crooked, In the
twelfth century attempted to trade away
a part Of southern Norway to the Danish
king in order to get the aid of the latter
In getting his son acknowledged as king
Of Norway, contrary to Norwegian law
there have again and again appeared GER
tain crooked classes who have been will
ing to trade away q part Of the country
or its rights in order to! rule over the
rest The slogan of the modern crooked
progeny Of Erling the Crooked has been
Swedish supremacy rather than peasan
rule!' By the aid Of this element the
Swedish expansionists have hoped to ge
the Swedish claims of supremacy enacted
into law. The danger of that supremacy
is as real a danger as ft:,ever was. Pa
triotic men in Norway do not desire
repetition a. parallel to the union under
the Danish Oldenburg dynasty with nom
inal equality, but real and growing SUI
premacy on the part Of the allied nation
"Fools" Of IIIustrfous Rank.
About the men In Sweden who hav,
voiced the Swedish lust for supremacy
Professor Breda uses the expression
"nnen who retaliated in kind" How NIGEL,
the professor puts in when the talk is o