Morris tribune., 1915-03-05
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Edwin Bjorkman, in recent arti-
Gle contributed to the American Re-
view of Reviews, says in part under
the caption, "Scandinavia's Situation"
To each one of the three Scandinavian
countries the war has brought plenty
of danger and disturbance. But quite
unexpectedly it has also brought some
good results, and these promise to en-
old, old dream of Scandinavian fellow.
ship-which does not necessarily i'm.
ply unity of government now
nearer a practical naturalization than
it has ever been in the history of the
three countries. And the immediate
fruit of this rapproachment is new
and more valid hope that one part OF
Europe at least will remain outside
of the world conflict. At the out
break of the war Sweden and Norway
entered into an agreement practically
amounting to defensive alliance.
They undertook mutually not only to
support one another to the utmost in
the case of either ones neutrality be-
ing menaced, but to refrain from any
step whatsoever that might tend to
produce such a menace. This under
standing had an almost magic effect
in removing the bitterness still lin
gering between the sister nations.
Denmark remained outside, however,
and the relationship between that
carious to such an extent that people
could be found who actually declared
an open conflict inevitable. At the
bottom of this disharmony lay sew
eral things: Swedish resentment be-
cause Denmark had grinned when
Norway broke out of the union in
1905, and Danish resentment because
Sweden had got even by ceasing to
use Denmark as a middleman in it's
dealings with the rest of the world;
also Danish fear of SWeden's pro-
! German leanings and Swedish dislike
of Denmark's close relationship to
Russia. Had German diplomacy been
on level with it's military ability no
one can tell how the friction between
Sweden and Denmark may have end
ed. But here as elsewhere German
tactlessness and arrogance proved ef-
fective. German representatives we're
constantly nagging at the three Scan
dinavian governments for alleged
breaches of neutrality. Unofficial rep
resentatives resorted to open intimi-
| dation. Hints about the formation OF
a Scandinavian empire under German
hegemony were frequently heard and
took as often the. form. of a threat as
of promise. The strongest Kind Of
pressure was employed to force the
three countries into rendering serv-
ices that would have aroused the hos
| tility of the powers opposed to Ger
! many German naval vessels sneaked
| into Norwegian ports without pilots
and Unanswered in Or near Swedish
territorial waters as if these had been
German or Russian. While Germany
was trying to arouse American opin-
ion against England because of the
latter's interference with neutral
shipping in the Atlantic and the North
sea it reserved for itself the right to
deal in the most high-handed manner
with Scandinavian shipping in the
Baltic. And at time when such
step could have little or no practical
Importance Germany put a contraband
prohibition on the free trade in lum-
Der, which step in Sweden, as we'll
as in Norway, was regarded as a
yelled threat against each nations
right to shape it's own destiny. There
can be no doubt that the most serious
factor in inter-Scandinavian politics
at the outbreak of the war was the
pro-German jingoism of a powerful
Swedish element, whose foremost
mouthpiece was the explorer Sven
Hedin Even at that early stage the
majority of the Swedish nation stood
tnexorably for scrupulous neutrality
although a passive sympathy for Ger
many was often coupled with keen
fear of Russia. But as events prog
ressed the dangerous element in
Sweden lost ground more and more,
while the sensible portions of the ma
ton began to temper their fear of
Russia with growing distrust of
Germany. It was thus that the ground
for a rapproachment between Sweden
and Denmark became gradually pre-
pared. While men like Sven Hedin
are losing. ground .daily..men like. DR..