The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-09-28

. strong country church. But In. this
respect the Scandinavian together
with the Germans form an exception.
You ind we'll organized congrega-
ton with q neat and we'll kept church
IN every Scandinavian settlement. It
goes without saying that the relig-
tous and moral influence which goes
out from these Thousands Of houses
OF worship every Sunday is of the
greatest consequence in the develop.
ment Of the northwest. especially
when we remember that the great
majority. Of the men who make their
mark in public life come from the
country. A goddess people is the de-
structton Of country. A citizenship
which respects and reverences the
law Of God Is the backbone of a ma
ton.
think the moral influence of the
Scandfnavians is being more and
more felt In our temperance legisla-
ton. l do not mean to say that the
Scandinavians do not drink. / am
ashamed to confess that they drink
altogether too much. But they are
as a rule in favor of stringent tenn
perance legislation, and it is a ques-
tion whether North Dakota would
have been prohibition state IL it had
not been for the Scandinavians.
| ] look upon the church work which
the Scandinavians have done in this
country as their greatest work and
the influence which their church
work has had as the greatest and
most wholesome influence which they
have experienced in the development
of the northwest.
Education an Important Work.
One branch OF their church work
is their work for education. They
have built and are maintaining
large number of educational institu-
ttons In this country but every one
of them has been built BY and is
maintained by the churches. The
scandinavians love education. There
Is no country in the world where pop
ular education stands as high as In
Norway. Sweden and Denmark. In
the statistics a fraction of one per
cent of the population of the Scan
dinavian countries is given as illit-
crate, but that fraction of one per
cent consists of idiots, and idiots can
not be educated in any country. The
Scandinavian countries are the only
countries in the world where we may
truthfully say that there Is absolutely
no illiteracy.
The Scandinavians, when coming to
this country, may not always have
given the impression Of being intelli-
gent, because they could not speak
the language of the country, and a
man who can not answer when you
speak to him always appears stupid
to you. But an American would APP
pear just as stupid If he were to visit
one of the Scandinavian countries.
That the Scandinavians love edu-
cation they have proven by the fact
that they, as stated, have built and
are maintaining a large number of
higher schools In this country. do
not know how many, but do know
that the Norwegians alone have four.
theological seminaries, two colleges,
two normal schools. two girls semi
naries and eighteen academies, three
Of which are doing partly college
work, making total of twenty-eight
educational institutions. The influ-
ence of these twenty-eight education
al institutions is felt ali over the
northwest.
j. Independent In Politics.
H. l wish to mention one more char
acteristic of the Scandinavians, and
that Is their spirit of independence.
To outsiders think the influence of
this spirit of independence is most no.
ticeable in their politics. Minnesota
Is strong Republican state. and the
great majority of the Scandinavians
in Minnesota are Republicans, and
still they have three times in success
sion with an Overwhelming majority
elected Democratic governor. You
will probably say that the reason is
that Governor johnson was of Scan
;. dinavian descent. No, that was not
the reason, for at the last election
there was a Scandinavian, and good
and clean man at that, running
against him on the Republican tick
ct. And wish to call your attention
to the fact that in North Dakota,
which also is a Republican state and
where the Scandinavian Republicans
hold the balance Of power, they have
twice elected an Irish Democrat for
governor, and at the last election in
spite of the fact that Scandinavian
was running against him on the Re-
publican ticket. The Scandinavians
cannot be whipped into line by party
bosses. And let no candidate be sure
Of their vote because he belongs to
their nationality or because he be-
SO AIRED leo1lIlod emss eul o, sSuoI
the majority Of them. believe that
this spirit Of independence has had
a wholesome influence on party ma
chimes and party bosses.
Some purgatives contain such
strong drugs that, while they cause
the bowels to move, injure the deli
cate Innings Of stomach and intes-
tines. HOLSTERS Rocky Mountain
Tea is not in that class. It is slight
ly laxative and at the same time heal
ing and soothing 35 cents. Lion