Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-06-09

!" -
family quarrel. This fact the Swedes
and the Morse and the Danes-kind.
red people. speaking kindred tongues
ARE proving anew. United these
splendid sons OF the Vikings. the
hardest, the bravest. among the most
progressive. might have now been
one Of the strongest nations Of the
world. There Is no better blood In
Europe than that which flows through
Scandinavian veins. These northern
people are still In the vigor and hey.
day Of their youth. They are still
much the same people that conquer.
cd England and at q latter date be.
came masters Of the vast empire Of the
sea.
But this family has always shown
quarrelsome traits among itself. The
Anglos and the Saxons and the Jutes
OF the eighth century quarreled vici.
Ously and the seven kingdoms OF the
Saxon h~eptarchy fought q constant
battle OF kites and crows before the
strongest monarch, the Wessex king,
finally triumphed and united the gov
ernments. In Great Britain, Norman
and Saxon and Dane and Scotch have
been united and even the Irish are
being assim1lated, but still In the
Scandinavian hills and along the
fijords the ceaseless family struggle
is raging with unabated violence.
Province after province has slipped
away UNDECIDED while the quarrel has
been going on. Sweden has lost Fin
land to Russia. Denmark has been
robbed OF much Of her territory by
Russia and now Norway, to weaken
further the consanguinous race, kicks
out OF her loose union with Swede,
In older times, because Dane wanted
to rule Swede and Swede was determin.
ed to sway Dane and both were deter.
mined to suppress Norwegian, the great
Scandinavian nation failed of realiza.
tion and a power that might have con.
trolled northern Europe and girdled
the world with its possession is far.
Their away than w
Sweden. at one time a first class
military power. lacked the genius to
fuse Its kindred races as It lacked
commercial instinct and initiative.
1t wasn't long before the Norwe,
CLANS agreed to accept Marshal Ber-
nadotte OF France as king of both Nor.
way and Sweden. while retaining their
own flag. laws. parliament, army and
navy, both nations being anxious to
unite with the power Of Napoleon
against Russia, that the Norsemen be.
gan to agitate for separate consular
and diplomatic service. Back OF all
the agitation vas the feeling that the
nations, distinct In almost every other
respect. was ruled by a king Of an,
other nation,
It was not the kind Of union that
could last. As In England, the union
or the crowns could scarcely have
been enduring II later the parliaments
mad not also agreed to unite, so In
these northern countries, either a
closer union or disruption was bound
to come.
And 1t is disruption that has come.
Norway has departed far from Swe,
den. She has abolished her nobility,
she Is more fiercely democratic than
America, she has advanced her women
to such an extent that her books and
papers show actual hostility OF feeling
is growing between the sexes. There
may be war. II 50 II will mean a re.
public. Norway offers to accept a
prince OF the ~reigning Swedish house
as sovereign, but 1t does this only
with a hope Of preserving peace. In
any event the burden of monarchy
will be thrown Off and before long,
II wal comes It will mean, OF course,
the settlement Of the tendency to sex
hostility. For II Is after all the only
reason why she has not been accorded
the position which the majority of
her still does not rave. is that she
cannot take up arms for defense.
When the war drum beats no longer,
woman may confidently expect to
realize any political hope she may de.
sire.
Ii Is very certain ,aat Sweden can
never conquer Norway. I'VE have con.
querod the mountains and the SHOWS"
said Napoleon when he had crossed
the Alps: there are the plains and
the enemy" But Swedes, after con.
quering the mountains, would not find
the plains and the enemy. Norway
Is a natural fortress too nearly i'm
pregnable for the might of the Swede