The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1916-11-04
important Events in Sweden,
Norway and Denmark.
BRIEFS FROM OLD COUNTRY
interesting Items From the Three
Great Kingdoms Of the North. Sc.
iected for Scandlnavians and
Their Descendants.
BY MARTIN w. oDtAND.
Norway.

! irritation the continued Interference
with Scandinavian mails and commerce
on the part OF Great Britain, and there
Is every indication that some decisive
action will be taken shortly. Officially,
the pariaments OF Sweden and Nor
| way maintain silence-an ominous ST.
lence, In the opinion of the political
press Of the two countries-but the |
ban has been lifted on the influential
newspapers published ut Christiania.
Voices are raised In these papers, with |
the evident consent of the government,
vigorously attacking Britain and Brit
ish methods. The Morgenbladet, for
instance, says: while our storthing
continues to maintain an absolute ST.
lence concerning conditions which are
of vioN Importance to the country, the
press mas the duty to lift the veil now
hanging over Norway's position in COM
mefcial politics. This position is far
from enviable. Let us take some of
the most fragrant examples: "Norwe-
yian manufacturers of oleomargarine
| are compelled to obtain the permission
| and consent of the British embassy for
each shipment of their product, even
| destined for Denmark !" The Norwe
| Spltzbergen company, for instance,
ordered II tons of oleOmargarine for
Its own wOrkmen ON Spitzbergen, but
the British legation demanded pledges
and securities of kind which it was
practically impossible to give. There
fore Norwegian product intended for
Norwegians working on Spitzbergen,
had to remain In the warehouses, al
though the workmen were in dire need
of it, 1t Is II peculiar coincidence that
dealers in coal, In Norwegian ports, are
ut the same time dealers in fish and
blubber. Dealers are now compelled
to turn over to the British embassy
certain percentage of their catch In
return for the permission to buy coal
from Great Britain. They are also
forced to obtain permission from the
embassy to sell small portions Of their
catch to outsiders" Verdens Gang de-
clares that "the control of the British
even goes so far as to put their own
superintendent In Norwegian facto-
ries, having complete charge Of the
raw materials, by-products. finished
products, packing and shipping. When
the Norwegian government proposed
to have this work superintendent by
two Norwegians, appointed by the Nor
wegan prime minister, Great Britain
CURLY refused. This control even ex
tends to the manufacture of packing
boxes for oleOmargarine, which are
shipped from one Norwegian port to
another in Norwegian steamers, which
are using coal mined in England !"
,Aftenposten calls the attention of the
people to the following fragrant case:
Fifty thousand bags of oatmeal, which
Norway needed for It's own use and
which were stored I'm Norwegian ware
houses. could not be put on the market
because the mill which had done the
grinding had supplied the German Red
Cross with 400 bags Of Norwegian oat-
meal, with the special permit of the
Norwegian government. A small Ger
man steamer which reached Christi
tnia In June this year desired 30 small
baves of bread for the 20 men of its
crew. A baker who was on the point
of delivering the 80 loaves was or
dered to desist, on pain of being cut off
from American flour supply for the
rest of the war-his name was to be
put on the blacklist by the British"
Summing up the situation, the Morgen-
bladet, in later issue, says: "In a
world cataclysm the voice of the small
nation Is lost-Or, at the best. II Is
so insignificant that the big bullies
need pay no attention to protests. How
ever, the example Of the bee shows
that even where an attack may be fol-
lowed by death ii is sometimes prefer
able to die fighting for good cause,
rather than submit to humliations
which no sovereign nation ought to suf-
fer. This rs not time for clustering,
for vain threats, or vain cries for ven
geance; when the fateful word Is spo-
ken, II will mean n struggle for life
and death. May heaven prevent such
an event-but Great Britain will have
to be more of an assistant to heaven
in this preventing than she has been
In the past
The Norwegian steamer Roney has
been torpedoed in the arctic. Its crew
was landed, according to n dispatch
from Christiania. The dispatch says
that It Is feared that the Norwegian
steamer Viking has met similar fate
In the arctic, as wreckage with Its
name has been washed ashore.
|
A new type Of ship has arrived Mt
Christlania from the ship yards of
Christianinfjord. The ship. which re-
sembles n huge barge, Is constructed
entirely of concrete except for the ribs.
which are steel. It Is said the hull
will resist damage better than steel or
wood, and that the ship is therefore
safer.