St. Paul tidende. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1902-1928, 1920-05-07

YheFriis Cabinet is composed Of men
|Of the highest repute, of tried liberal
ism, and discreet courage. But their
%sojourn on the front bench of the.
Rigsdag will hardly be of long dura-
ton, as the elections are close at hand,
And then the real battle will burst
forth. !.
The riots in Copenhagen we have
read of are of little consequence; just
corner skirmishes between the police
and the "Bolsheviki'-a term of re-
lproach inDenmark as elsewhere. Those
riots had little to do with the rank and
file Of Danish organized labor, which
constitutes well over SO per cent of
the entire working class. Half of the
population of Denmark is agricultural;
thirty per cent are industrial workers:
The majority have a very high intel
%lectual standing as a result of the
educational work carried on for forty
years by the trade unions, the Socialist
press, the evening schools Gin charge
OF university men) and the Peoples
Universities.
Through the last half century the
Danish peasantry have gradually in
creased their wealth by cooperation
ana scientific management. During the
flrst year of the war, gold poured in
on them in streams; the same was true
OF the fishermen who even before the
war had been a prosperous group, most
OF them owning their homes and boats
and equipment. That the damage
causA by the German submarine war
did not impoverish them or force them
into the proletariat group is due chief
~ to the state pensions wisely proyid-
ed blythe Fable Government, which, for
that matter, provided no less generous
~ for the prOletarians of land and CT
ty. Notwithstanding the benefit re-
ceived at the hand of the Radical Ad-
ministration, when the real test of
strength comes the fishermen are like
~ to side with the landowning farmers,
whose number has also increased by
about 10000 under the recent expro-
priatiOn of feudal estates. The farm
laborers on the other hand, will side
with the Industrial workers.
The intelligentsia and the middle
class in general are divided between
the two, and the Danish political are
ma Will stage a performance interest
ing enough to attract outside atten-
ion it the king does not spoil things
by supporting II of the parties
against the other, as did his grand
father. The parties are almost equal
IN strength, and in all fairness should
be left to themselves to fight it out in
the Rigsdag.
On the other hand, if the king and
the military party and the capitalists
succeed in teasing awake the drowsy
lion of the p%roletariat, the may be a
struggle of a livelier nature. In Den
mark the Socialists cannot be over
looked as they can at Albany. With
their Radical allies they compose half
the population. They have been the
rulers for seven years. They are, in
dividually and collectively, as self-pos-
sessed, sensible, and well-bred a group
as can be found in the realm. They
are the last people in the world to re-
sort to violence. But if they find
rights and liberties are being infringed
by a naughty minority, they will see
and perhaps act-red.
The choice is up to the king and his
: conservative friends. Shall the battle
be Il contest of parlamentarism presid-
: ed over by a constitutional monarch as
umpire, or shall it be a real war with
flying bullets and hand-grenades? 1t is
7 to be hoped that the storm will remain
T confined to it's glass of water, that the
, lion, e if slightly reused, will be
content to show it's fangs.
The present lull is that preceding
the battle. 1t will not be a battle
7 primarily about Flensborg; not ever a
battle of monarchy against republic,
although the Social Democrats have
I the latter inscribed on their banner.
The battle will be. between country
! and city, between individualist free
l holders n socialist wOrkers-ulti-
| mately, between reaction and democ.
racy-"The Nation"