Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-01-07
NORWAY.

Now that the population of the cit
les and towns is increasing so much
faster than that of the rural comInu-
mites it Is realized how wise the
trainers of the constitution were when
they provided that the rural districts
shall contribute two-thirds and the cit.
les and towns only one-third Of the
members of the storthing. In most
constitutional countries the legisla-
tive body is divided into two cham
bers as a, safeguard or brake" The
Norwegian storthing consists Of only
one chamber. But brake" Is fur
nished by what has sometimes been
called "the peasants paragraph" Of
the constitution. At the dissolution
Of the union of Norway and Sweden.
in 1905. this paragraph necessarily
dropped out of the constitution togeth-
err with several others. Those In ia
vor of it we're afraid that the urban
representatives would fight against
the restoration of this paragraph. But
at the earliest opportunity the govern
ment introduced the paragraph In the
storthing. To the CONSERVATION of
everybody, several members of the
storthing voted in favor of it. This. If
anything, certainly speaks Of the lofty
patriotism of the average Norwegian
politician when he is confronted with
a really serious problem. In this con-
nection it may not be utterly amiss
to call attention to the terrific howl
raised by the press of Minneapolis
and st. Paul when the legislature of
Minnesota proposed to curtail the
power of the large cities by means
of constitutional amendment limit
ing the number of senators from any
single county to seven.
A Morse correspondent writes that
Norway has an excellent opportunity
for increasing its trade with Russia
during the European war. in the opin-
ion of Sverre Holmboe. who is acting
as French consul in Vardo, the Nor
wegian port on the Arctic sea near the
Russian border. The trade between
northern Norway and Russia is very
brisk, the trade being carried on prin-
cipally through the port of Archangel.
The chief articles of export from Nor
way are fish and fish products. Con-
sui Holmboe declares that the rela-
ton between the Norsemen Of north
ern Norway and the Russians Is on
the whole very cordial.
Christiania is blessed with greater
number of newspapers and other jour-
nails than any other city Of equal size
in the world. The city Is about as
large as st. Paul. and hence much
smaller than Minneapolis. but It has,
according to the directory, no less
than Is daily papers and $50 other
periodicals.
Major Orstad. the commandant of
Fort Agdenas. in the Trondhjem ford,
has been removed to the forts of Ber-
gen. Major Calmeyer has been APP
pointed as his successor. The rea-
son for the change is that the for
mer failed to detect the German aux
iliary cruiser Berlin on its way past
Fort Agdenas. Major Orstad was part
ly excused because he had been In
structed to use searchlights sparingly.
The ford Is about one mile wide at
the fort, and snowstorm concealed
the Berlin from the view of the man
in the lookout tower Of the fort.
A London Wholesale merchant named
Jorgensen and q brother of his at
Kongsberg. Norway. have donated
a public hall to the commune Of Fen,
stad. which Is their birthplace. About
four hundred people attended the ded-
ication OF the building.
The Ofoten railway has carried only
about fifty thousand tons Of iron ore
a month from the iron ranges of north
err Sweden to Narvik, Norway, since
the beginning of the war, as against
two hundred thousand tons month
for years past.