Morris tribune., 1912-11-15

time. He. succeeds Tolstoi, Ibsen,
Bernhard Shaw. The Swedes have
recognized the fact, as the Norwegians
did concerning Ibsen, that Strindberg
is their greatest national asset as re-
CARDS the attention Of the world"
= X = j. = :. j. :. i. :. + j. i. T. !. Il. +
+ NORWAY. +
: :. !. ! + !. !. i. x i. x + + i. X !. =.
The cod fishing industry is among
the greatest in Norway, indeed it may
be said to be the country's leading
Industry. A conservative estimate
places the total value of the cod and
his byproducts at $10,000,000 ann l.
ally. The cod prefers rocky or stormy
banks, richly supplied with fauna. He
is Matched in two or three weeks and
Immediately gets busy preparing him
self for market. He has a voracious
appetite and eats everything that he
sees. In years time he is about
one foot long and from now on he
joins the tribe in it's migrations until
finally he winds up his career of three
or four years either on the Banks OF
Newfoundland or somewhere along
the Norwegian coast. To begin with
only the fish proper was placed on
the market, but it was not long before
everything, from the head down and
In, was utilized The head is used
either for cattle food or fertilizer, the
roe is put into use as bait, while the
Oil from the liver appears upon the
table wherever there is any one suf
fering from a scarcity of fat. Pro.
lessor Sars describes the huge shoals
of cod that annually approach the
coast OF Norway as mountains of
fish" This is a very effective way of
expressing the wonderful sight, espe.
cially if you think of the mountains
as standing on their heads, the base
at about eighty fathoms underneath
the surface and the tops extending
to depth of 200 fathoms. About 120
fathoms seem to be the Gods most
popular depth, and here the noun
tain is thickest. At times the fisher
men strike an exceptionally fine
ground" as for instance last winter
when Finmarken fleet brought in
100000 cod, weighing 85,000,00
pounds, after an absence of only three
weeks, but ordinarily catch of 1000
for each man is regarded as a good
seasons work. This means that the
average amount a cod fisher earns
annually is about $500. At the banks
of Lofoten the fishing fleet assemblies
the latter part of January. During
the month of February there may be
from 10000 to 10000 men, with Z 200
or 5000 boats. At 4::30 in the morn
ing everything is in readiness, but
not boat leaves before the signal
shot is fired. Then slowly the great
feet glides out towards the banks,
sometimes sixteen miles distant,
where hard run of from twelve to
fifteen hours awaits the hardy toilers
of the sea. The boats are mainly five
to eight-ton sailing vessels, with six
or more men in each boat, but you
will also find number of steamers
among the craft Both nets and lines
are used, but the latter is by far the
most usual. Four hundred fish per
man per day is regarded as good
days catch. But the catching of the
cod is one thing and the cleaning is
another. The fish must be cleaned,
and in this work the Norwegian fish,
erman is assisted by his wife and
children. Then it must be stripped
open and sailed, if it is to be made
into stockfish, and hung up to dry, OF
simply slit through along the spine
and hung up to dry without salt if ii
is to be made into ''torf1sk" Time
and again the cod fisher risks his life
on storm tossed sea. Every year
from fifty to eighty fishermen are
drowned and occasionally a great ca
lamity occurs, as for instance in 1889
when $50 were lost in gale.
!. !. !.
A movement was recently started
in Norway to maintain and strengthen
the state church. For some years
there has been great activity for q
free church. Evidently there is a
large element who are not willing to