Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-05-24
Scandinavia, Hard Pressed BY the
Germans, Might Join Allies If She
Is Defended on the Seas, It is Said!

fooled by this excuse. used too often
by the Germans during the present
war to be believed. The Swedes
know. too well the stern discipline Of
the German army and navy to swal-
low such q pill. rsgardless Of the
thick sugar coating"
Instead Of discouraging the owsdes
from sytnpAthfkink. with the allies this
episode has further strengthened their
pro-allied sentiment The torpedoed
steamers were bound for ports in
northern. sweden, the stronghold Of
the liberals ana social democrats, who
therefore will exercise the strongest
ment to take the most drastic meas
ure6 against Germany.
Swedes Lose Faith In Kaiser's Word.
Judging from editorials In the Lead
Ing Swedish conservative papers. the
elements in sweden. up to the present
o or less openly sympathizing
with Germany. have now lost their
faith in the government of the kaiser.
They seem to realize that IL 10 Of no
government which utterly d~isregards
Its promises.
The sinking OF the three Swedish
STEAMERS together with the insulting
articles against 6w4des. recently pub
lished by the German press, will prob
ably sound the death knell of tho
pro.0 German sentiment In Sweden.
Even in Norway the alderman
sentiment has increased tremendous
" during the last week and the Nor
Westan press 10 already discussing the
possibility Of breaking off diplomatic
relations with Germany. Denmark has
hated the Germans for years because
OF their conquest Of Sch1egwig-Hol-
stein.
Military Position is P~recarious.
There seems to be little doubt that
all three scandinavian nations will be
more than willing TO join the allies In
but their military position fs al the
present time preoarious in such event.
Denmark would be overrun by the
German armies in q couple Of weeks
and the whole Swedish east coast
would be subjected to bombardment
the Baltic sea.
Stockholm, the capital Of Sweden,
Ia protected by sea f~ortihcations, but
they are not up to date and can
therefore not Withstand the heavy ar
tillery Of German dreadnaughts for
any length Of time. The rest of Swe-
denis eastern coast cities In absolute
ly unprotected. The Swedish navy is
too small to prevent offensive opera.
AoA0 W Su0 0SAkAAoA A0ok o6daAsSN
Sweden.
submarines Threaten shipping.
The North sea is infested with Ger
ma submarines, making It very DIFF
flcu1t for both Sweden and Norway
to receive enough supplies of food and
raw materials from America, in the
event Of war with Germany. Tha
Scandinavian nations also realize that
they would be an eas prey for the
zeppelins. because most Of the Scan
dinavian cities do not possess sufl-
Client protection from the air.
But the Scandinavian nations are
carer to Q German m%ilitarism
crushed. If the allied navies will un-
dertake q serious attempt to force
their way through the Belts into the
Baltic sea and establish q strong ma
val base on the Aaland islands to as
sist the Scandinavian countries, the
latter would not hesitate long to join
the lighting against Germany.
Germans Have Full Sweep.
But the Belts are heavily mined
by the Germans. while Oersund, the
other passage between the north ana
the Baltic sea. and dominated by the
Danes and 4wedes, 10 too shallow for
dreadnaughts. The KAISER ilhelms
canal between Kisl Inc W~ilhelmshaf-
on also allows the German feet to con.