Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1916-01-05
NORWAY.


The steamship Oscar II, with the
Ford peace party. arrived at Christi
ania December is. No official or other
reception was accorded the peace
party and only newspaper men board
ed the vessel upon it's arrival. The at
titude of the Norwegian press is un.
doubtedly influenced by unfavorable
reports received through English
sources. The Norwegian people are
more friendly, but disappointed be-
cause there are not more persons of
prominence in the delegation. In the
evening members of the Ford peace
party spoke before the Norwegian Stu
dent '-Aion in Christiania. The Ameri-
can minister, Alliery G. Schmedeman,
and the rector Of the university were
in the audience which crowded the
hall. The Minister'S Peace society,
under the leadership of Rev. N. B.
Thvedt, formerly of Minneapolis, greet
ed the delegates. The larger Norwe-
gian peace organizations have held
aloOf. According to the Christiania
newspapers, the only prominent Nor
wegian pacifist interested is former
Secretary LANCE of The Hague Inter
national Peace society. Louis p. Loeb
ner, who spoke for Ford, announced
that the complete delegation for the
peace congress would include the
Americans and all Dutch representa-
tives who chose to attend, and ten
Norwegians, ten Swedes, ten Danes,
ten Spanish and ten Swiss peace ad-
vocates. Their expenses will be paid
by Ford. Five Norwegian newspaper
men Joined the party at Christiansand,
They said Norwegian Socialists were
sympathetic, but had made no arrange
ments for an official reception. You
have our sympathy" said the spokes-
man for the Norwegian newspaper
men in greeting the American CORE
spondents. A violent alteration arose
from attempts to give the Norwegian
reporters the news. insurgents" in
the peace party admitted the truth of
reports Of discussions. The Ford reg
ulars" told the Norwegians these re-
ports had been grossly exaggerated.
and attempted to give them more ia
yorable impression.
One strong electric power company
after another has been organized in
Norway during the last few months.
In former years foreigners often fur
nished large part of the capital for
such enterprises. Now the great war
has made 1t impossible to borrow
money from the rich nations of Eu-
rope. But money is piling up so fast
in Norway that the people of the coun-
try seem to be able to go on with the
development of the waterpower of the
country by means of domestic capital
At the present time the waterfalls OF
to be the most attractive. The streams
are not large in that part of the coun-
try, but even small creek can per-
form large amount of work when il
has falls of several hundred feet. The
new improvements of this kind in
western Norway will cost about $14,.
100000, and five or six new cities will
soon spring up faster than on the Da-
kota prairies.
Prices on all sorts of paper in Nor
way have gone up 80 to 40 per cent
and are still on the increase. Some
sorts cannot be manufactured by the
Norwegian paper mills, as, for in
stance, blue paper, for want of blue
dyestuff, which usually is supplied by
Germany. The central valleys in Nor
way are great lumber districts, much
like northern Minnesota The princi-
pal trees are pine and evergreen and,
thanks to the numerous cellulcse and
paper mills which have been bCilt N
the last Is or 20 years, the value of
the woods has increased considerably
So many foreign factories had to stop
because Of the war prices on the prod
uets from the Norwegian plants have
gone upon cellulose from $40 a ton
before the war to $40 ton now.
Now that private parties have al
ready raised S135.000 for university
in Bergen IT is taken for granted that
the national government viii be in
favor of such an Institution. Trond-
hjem, the third largest city, has the ma
tional school Of technology, which in
some respects completes with the uni
versity in Christiania 1t is therefore
only natural that Bergen, the second
largest city, is anxious to build up an
educational institution of high rank.
Private parties have also raised $780,
600 for commercial high school in
Bergen.
A very fierce storm led the CEN
trail parts Of Norway November rs.
Many motor boats were sunk, and 9TH
ers blown away. In Gudbrandsdalen
the wind was so strong that people
could hardly stand on their feet along
the roads. A railway conductor re-
ported that the snowstorm was SO
dense that he could not see the trees
on either side Of the line as the train
passed through the woods. OF course
the railway traffic. as well as other
kinds OF travel, came 10 a standsdll.
Fortunately no lives we're lost.