Morris tribune., 1907-08-31

WllHtSSSti IL now going on, anu dDOut
10000 men are idle ON account of It,
all employees of paper and wood pulp
mills, nearly all of which are located
In the districts around Christiania. 1t
is a question of wages, and the con
fe"ences held have SO far brought no
results. Mr.. Berner, the president of
the storthing. has been appointed ar
bitrator between the contending par
ties. but his mission has so far proved
d failure. because the workmen do not
want to make any concessions what
ever. They stick closely to their de.
mands as originally set forth, and the
employers find it impossible to comply
with their requests. and have, there
fore, in several instances preferred to
CLOSE up shop entirely. All the pulp
mills and paper factories were ex-
tremely busy. They had advance or
ders for all the product they could
turn out for long time to come, and
even if the capacity of the mills had
been twice what it is at present, they
would haveR ready market for their
wares. America has of late become Il
large importer of Norwegian wood
pulp and wrappins>paper. This state
of the market the employees are fully
aware of, and they, therefore, thought
it a good time to strike for higher
wages. Whether they have done wise
ly by so doing remains to be seen. AS
it looks at present, it will at least take
some time--very likely long time
before the employers decided to give
in to the demands of the strikers, who
in the meantime will have to live as
well as they can. For many of them
it will undoubtedly be scanty living
in the long run. One think likely to be
the result of the strife is that the
number Of emigrants from Norway
this year will be larger now than if
there had been no strike"
Says an American correspondent
from Christiania: Norway is recov-
ering slowly but surely from the big
crash in 1S99 This is noticeable in
many respects. Foremost of all
comes the starting of great number
of new Industrial plants, mainly wood
pulp factories and paper mills, and
of equal if not still greater import
ance the opening up Of many mines
in the northern part of the country,
The small town Of Narvik at the
terminus of the railroad from Sweden
is now an iron ore export port, second
to but few in the world. The great
est part Of the ore exported from this
l'Dort is produced in Sweden, but
| the Norwegian treasury derives quite
an income from this source for car
| riage of the ore Oh the railroad to the
port of shipment. Among the great
industrial plants should be mentioned
the great works at Notodden in Tele-
marken, where the Birkeland-Eyde
! ! process is being utilized for extract
| ing nitrogen from the air and produc-
| ing the stuff that is to take the place
| of Chilean salt peter as a fertilizer.
This company has a capital of 34,00O..
| 600 kroner. and it employs large
corps of engineers and laborers, and
still it is as vet in its infancy. Much
| of the money invested in this enter~
prise is foreign, mainly French capi-
| tai Also in mines much foreign cap
| ital has been invested during late
years. OF American money. the main
| portion is invested in the Norwegian
American Mining company, with head
| quarters at Chicago. and of which Mr.
Larsen. Chicago alderman. is presi-
dent. This company is working both
iron and copper claims"
| Among the well known personages
who have travelled in Norway this
summer are the following: The en-
peror of Germany, the king Of Siam.
the Dowager Empress Eugene, the
prince of Monaco, the duke and duch
ess of Fife (the latter is Queen Maud'S
sister. All have been up to take a look
at the midnight sun. Emperor Will
lam is periodical visitor and he has
during his sixteen different visits to
Norway presented to the restoration of
the old cathedral at Trondhjem sum
of 10000 crowns.
The Norwegian royal family Is en-
joying a trip to the northern part of
, the country and from all reports they
are having a most enjoyable trip and
| pleasant weather. Wherever the
royal couple has made stop the peo-
pie have turned out in large numbers.
for in every section of the country a
king is rare sight to behold
Fridthiof Nansen, Norway's minis
ter to England. has accompanied
tile king ana queen ON this trip.
The king of Siam cruised about the
Romsdal fiords last month and seemed
to enjoy himself hugely. He even told
Christiania correspondent that he
would like to live in Norway. He has
also visited the Telemarken vicinity
| and extended his visit in Norway a
whole month more than he had con
| templated.
Congressman Volstead and family OF
Minnesota are among the many tour
lists who have this season paid Nor
way a visit. The Dovre Singing soce-
ty of Minneapolis is still touring the
| +rxr