The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1911-10-26
NORWAY.

NOn"Nts
The private correspondence. of great
men is nearly always of intense inter-
est, and a selection of letters written
by Bjornstjerne Bjornson to his daugh-
ter, Mrs. Sigurd Ibsen, which have just
been issued from the press. is being
hailed with delight by the great poets
admirers. These letters were not
printed for general circulation, but the
call for them is so great that it is Ger.
tain that a second and larger edition
will soon be issued.
1t is reported from Christiania that
In a recent speech before a society
of young people Admiral Spare of
the Norwegian navy uttered a note OF
warning concerning the %decadence OF
the naval defense of Norway. The
naval defense, he says, has become
weaker and weaker during the past
ten years in spite of the fact that
economic conditions have been i'm
proved. No armored vessel has been
added to the fleet since 1900.
Arbitration and peace treaties, Ad-
| miral Spare believes, do not furnish
sufficient protection. 1t is significant.
he say that England in spite of her
many peace treaties is constantly in
creasing her navy. Taking up the ar
gument of increased cost of naval de
Tense, making it impossible for
smaller countries to keep up their
equipment. the admiral points out
that while the great dreadnaughts
have cost almost as much as one-third
of the whole Norwegian national budg-
ct, there has also been developed a
line of less expensive instruments OF
defense, such as torpedo boats, sub
marine boats, and mines.
DR.. Sigurd Ibsen, the son of Henrik
tbsen, has been ridiculed at various
times, and his ~pretensions to diplo
macy and craftsmanship have been
sneered at by certain leaders of Nor
way, but be that as it may. he has re
Gently succeeded in drawing upon him
self the attention of the country by his
contributions to the papers OF Chris
tiania on the treaties of 1905, which he
assails with a free hand. Speaking
of the Karlstad agreement he says:
The humiliation at karlstad can
not be undone, but we are burdenet
with another humiliation, which ii
may be possible to remedy. | have
reference to the Integrity treaty, which
has lowered Norway's national per
sonality by placing it under the con
ditions of a ~protectorate which offer:
no real protection, but gives the guar
antee powers an opportunity to con
troll our foreign politics. Three coun
tries have since the beginning of thi:
century been blessed with such
guarantee: The first one was Korea
the second Morocco, and the third II
Norway. Truly. our politics hav'
brought us into desirable company
To outsiders it must appear puzzllnt
why we in 1905 raised heaven al
earth in order to secure complete in
dependence, when we did not value
higher than two years later to place
# unnecessarily in the hands of fou
great powers"
The party of the Right is wrough
I'D to fury over DR.. Ibsen's criticisms
but the party of the Left welcome
them as a yindication Of their course
"Dagbladet," the radical Left organ
says:
mo wonder that this crushing
criticism has raised a storm within
the government press. The Karlsta'
and the Integrity treaties have bee
the "holy animals which it has bee1
political blasphemy to touch. An
now m a prominent member Q
the Hagerup unionist government, on
of whom the Right had great expecta
tons, and stamps the Karlstad agree
ment as the 'boldness of a faint hear,
and the Integrity treaty as a colossa
mistake
A dispatch from T%rondhjem says tina
another military riot has occurred j
the camp of Oianmoen. The last nigh
on which the artillerists We're in tn
camp some of the troops had raised
disturbance and a lieutenant had o.
dered them to cease, w%hereupon n
| was greeted with a shower of tin can
and similar objects, together wit
abusive language. 1t is said that seN
eral windows were broken in the tt
, multi. Other officers were also treate
; with rough language from the soldiers
, IT is expected that action will be tai