Morris tribune., 1910-03-25


DR.. Sven Hedin has, on the recon-
mendation of the American Geographi.
cal society, been awarded the Elisha
Kent Kane gold medal from the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania This is the
first time in its history that the Penn.
sylvania institution has honored a
Swedish explorer.
NORWAY.
Captain Otto sverdrup, the famous
arctic explorer, is at present in the
United States, having come to Ameri'
ca principally for the purpose of con-
sulting with business associates in
New York and Minneapolis about a
whaling venture in the arctic regions
The expedition will not be for scienti-
fic purposes, but principally to capture
whales and walrus. Norwegian papers
announce that Captain Sverdrup has a
whaling vessel under construction at
Halfsen's shipyards in Porsgrund, Nor.
way, which will be ready before the
summer. He planned originally to ex.
tend his cruise along the east coast of
Greenland, but it is now said that he
intends to work out from Alaska Cap.
tain Syerdrup was the sailing master
of the Fran, which carried DR.. Nan
sen on his famous drift from the New
Siberian islands to the new farthest
north. After Or. Nansen and his com
pan1ons left the vessel, SVerdrup navi
gated successfully out of the drift ice
and reached civilization about the
same time as Nansen. Desiring to es-
tablish a name for himself, Captain
Sverdrup later organized an expedition
to the north. He explored and charted
the northeast coast of Greenland, but
made no attempt to reach the pole.
From a scientific standpoint his ven
ture was highly successful. In recent
years Captain Sverdrup has been in.
terested in founding Norwegian col
ony in Cuba and has been engaged in
various commercial enterprises.
The Scandinavian-Ameri Line
steamer United States, from Copenha-
gen, was grounded off Christiania, says
a telegram from there dated March Is,
but has not at any time been in any
serious danger. The telegram says:
We grounded in a dense fog. There
was no panic. The life boats we're put
in readiness, but it was soon seen that
there was no danger to be feared. On
examination we found large hole un-
Il thn
were kept at work. When the fog
cleared five steamers arrived and took
off all the passengers, transferring
them to Christiania. A liner was or
dered from Copenhagen to take third
class passengers to New York, the first
and second class passengers were sent
to British ports to re-embark. The
work of unloading the steamer pro-
gressed splendidly preparatory to max
ing an attempt to ref1oat her.
The immense ship tonnage of Nor
way means large import and export
business. In 1906 Norway went to
Great Britain for $23,917,377 worth of
goods, and sent into that country goods
to the value of $23,857 200, while she
sent to America $1,474,3OO worth of
goods. From Australia the Norwegians
bought only $25 worth of goods and
they exported to that country goods
valued at $959,777 for 1906.
The railway mileage of Norway, III
cluding 251 miles of private lines, is
1,605, while the length of telegraphs
and telephones belonging to the state
is over 10000 miles. The mercantile
marine is important and marvellous for
a little nation of only 2,350,365 peo-
pie, there being over 1900 vessels,
with tonnage above 1,550,0OO.
The Aftenposten (Christiania) pro-
fesses to believe that the United
States desires to annex the Spitzper-
gen islands and devotes lengthy ar
ticle on the subject. Little has been
heard regarding this in the United
States and the chances are the rumor
has no foundation whatsoever.
The emperor of Germany is popular
in Aalesund, Norway. A statue will
be raised in his honor in conspicu-
Gus place in that city in the near fu-
ture.