Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-02-26
NORWAY.

The Hector whaling vessel which
has been operating in the South Shet-
land islands reports an output of TO-
900 barrels of whale oil. :.>..,s I.
The people of Norway are taking
more interest in historical research
than formerly, and historical societies
are springing up in different parts of
the country.
Christoffer Petersen, Of Fredriks-
warn, has followed the sea for fifty
years, having served A years on the
same vessel, steamer named Brivik.
He Is now occupying the position of
machinist, and he attends to his duties
as punctually as any man. He has
never been on the sick list in fifty
years. ~
Mild weather has prevailed in many
parts of Norway, except in Gudbrands-
dalen, where the snowfall has been
80 heavy that logging has been diff.
cult or even impossible. But the
Wintry weather in that part of the
country brought a large number OF
winter tourists, and such people are
welcome at any time of the year.
In 1917, almost 700 years ago, Eng
land entered into her first commercial
agreement with any country, and that
country was Norway. A little over a
year ago the London chamber of COM
merce and the Norwegian chamber of
commerce in London entered into the
first agreement of it's kind in interna,
tional connections. The agreement
provides that Norwegian and English
firms can close commercial contracts
binding the two parties to observe
rules of arbitration agreed upon by the
two chambers of commerce mentioned
above.
A firm of Norwegian picture operat.
ors sent two men over to this country
not long ago for the purpose of getting
pictures of President Taft and of Nor.
ways native son in the United States
senate, Hon. Knute Nelson. The NOV
ing pictures of President Taft were
arranged without difficulty. The presi
dent walked, rode, bowed, and shook
hands before the clicking camera. But
the picture men hung around the cap
itol for two days before they could get
Senator Nelson to consent to walk into
the face of'the machine. They almost
had to make affidavit that King Haak-
on himself had sent them on the
errand; and they finally got the film
only on the pledge that it would never
be used in the United States.
Prof. Olav Birkeland has restless
brain, so restless and iconoclastic that
the man might have been looked upon
as daft if he had not accomplished
something so intensely practical as to
invent the method of extracting nitro
gen from the air and throwing it upon
the market as commercial fertilizer,
now generally known as NORWAY salt
peter" No man has gone so deeply
as he into the nature of northern
lights. And now he has worked out
bran new theory Of the material uni.
verse which is apt to put him by the
side Of such men as Newton and La.
place. Birkeland's cosmogony is based
on strictly scientific ELECTROMAGNETIC
experiments, and his book on the sub
ject will be sure to attract universal
attention.
The second Norwegian expedition
sent to the relief of the German scien-
lists stranded in remote part of
Spitzenbergen has not succeeded in it's
undertaking. It left Advent Bay late
In January, but was forced to return
to Green Harbor in a pitiful condition.
The expedition reached Dickson bay,
where a hurricane stopped all prog:
ress. Seven dogs died and several Of
the rescuing party were frost bitten.
Two sleds were destroyed and for that
reason, and the loss of the dogs. the
expedition was forced to leave all pro
visions except minimum rations. No
further effort will be possible untfl
additional dogs are sent from Norway.
Experts consider that unless the Ger.
mans are rescued in the near future
their position will be precarious.
DR.. Sigurd 1bsen, the son of the poet,
Hervik 1bsen, has written a newspaper
article on the language question. He
points to Low German in Germany and
the Provincial in France to prove that
dialect may exist indefinitely by the
side of the regular language of a coun.
try, and he thinks the radical language
reformers in Norway ought to be sat.
isfied with the present position of the
native dialects. To those who are In
favor of the present Norwegian Danish
book-language he gives the advice that
they better make no compromise with
the radicals.
y. s. Road Follows River.
MinneanO1ia Minnesota,a fodora1