Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-02-17
England's reasons for hating ship

England's reasons for hating ship.
ping that flies the Norwegian flag is
now explained as due to the suspicion
that many of the boats are in reality
German ships, disguised with the Nor
wegfan colors, and ranging all the
way from mine-laying trawlers to
speedy steamers loaded with coal and
provisions for cruisers. AS illustrat-
ing the methods which it is claimed
the Germans are pursuing, a well
known Norwegian captain has pub
lished the story of the Norwegian
Steamer Bjorgvin of Bergen" which,
when she left New York, was the
Hamburg-American vessel Graecia,
he says. AS the Graecia, he claims.
the boat sailed with a cargo of coal
and supplies sufficient for several
months for the then German cruisers
Goeben and Breslau. In midocean
the crew repainted the vessel, altered
the name and added a big white "B"
to the funnel to complete the illusion.
The transformed ship, the captain
claims, was halted by an English
man-of-war. It announced that it was
the Bjorgvin and answered success.
fully and satisfactorily all questions
asked. Only when the British noticed
the amateurishness Of the painting in
of the new names did the ruse fail.
After brief chase the Graecia was
captured by the British warships and
now lies in the harbor OF Gibraltar,
where the Norwegian captain respon-
sible for the story found her and
learned the reasons for the capture.
The real Bjorgvin actually was cross
Ing the Atlantic at the time the
Graecia was captured She was sunk
sixty miles north of Roohall Jan. 2.
The English, it is reported, have
heard that the Norwegian flag has
been flying from numerous suspicious
looking vessels, particularly in the
North sea, and that at the time the
cruisers Abonkir, Hogue and Cressy
were sunk a steamer with the Nor
wegian colors was seen in the i'm
mediate vicinity.
i i
NORWAY is more in the war than
is the United States" was the state
ment of Professor elsie Bothne, pro-
fessor of Morse language and litera-
ture at the University of Minnesota,
who has just returned from an eight
months visit in Norway. I'm the Nor.
weg:an papers no word is permitted
favoring any of the warning coun-
tries," he asserted. Better relations
than ever before between the Scandi-
navian countries was stated by Pro-
fessor Bothne as one of the most i'm
portant circumstances resulting from
the war.
The value of the crops of the coun-
try for the year 1914 was $2,2OO,OOO
below the average. Technically the
difference was much smaller because
the estimates were made before the
rise of the prices due to the war, but
that does not alter the economical
status of the country as whole.
The hay and potato crops were above
the average, but the grain, fruits
and vegetables were poor in most
parts of the country.
!.
The receipts of the national treas
ury for the past year exceeded the
estimates by $4,5O0,OOO. AS the ex-
penditures also went almost $4,000
900 above the estimates the net result
was fully s2,5OO,OO0 better than the
forecast made in the budget over a
year ago. And still there are many
people who complain bitterly because
the Knudsen cabinet is not "busi-
ness administration"
!. !. i.
Dispatches from Copenhagen under
recent date state that queer rumors
are in circulation about large Amer
lean steamer stranded on a bar out
side Esbjerg. No one has succeeded
in reaching the ship, which was re-
ported heavily laden and lying on its
side.