Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-12-07

St6LI There is little reason to. doubt
their fulftllment-his practical contri-
button to. h physical needs Of man
kind may eventually exceed those OF
any explorer since Co umbus, whils
his contribution to science will fall
. little short of that marked by the dis,
covery of America
"Stefansson must be given a large
place in history"
Mr.. Stefansson reached the Univer-
s1ty OF North Dakota, according to his
own statement at q recent meeting
there, with about fifty dollars in his
= pocket and the first bit of work he
/. found paid him two dollars a month.
lie found himself not amenable to the
university rules and at the beginning
of his senior year, at the ardent sug-
gestion of the faculty, he did not re-
sfturnr but conferred the. University Of
Iowa. It was. here he met Anderson,
his first companion q the -northland
trips, the youngers man, being at that
time ae~aptatnaof II :offEthe university
athletic teams.
tain community. was r G.. Schulason,
former law partner of Congressman
&Burtness and now one of the leading
attorneys of Portlands Oregon. E. J.
Laxdal, another Mou4tain> man, was
land commissioner forN many years,
while a companion, M. Brynjolfson,
was prominent in Democratic state af-
fairs and held office during the Burke
administration.
Paul Halldorson was named a dep
uty bank examiner Of North Dakota
banks by Governor Burke. He had
been a bank cashier. at Cavalier be-
fore that@time. He held office for
some time and it happened to be his
task to examine the Scandinavian
American bank at Fargo and the re-
port he made started the long chain
Of events in which that bank figured.
including the, taking control Of the
bank by the Supreme court regarded
as the only time in the history of the
country that this event has happened.
Mr.. Halldorson is now a. special ex-
aminer Of the Federal Reserve bank
with headquarters at Minneapolis.
Prominent at Winnipeg.
Another Mountain man who has at
,tatned a place in the world has NOV
ed from North Dakota and the Unit
ed Statfs. He is M. A. Bergman, now
OF Winnipeg. He Is a member Of the
law firm Of Rothwell, johnson and
Bergman, a prominent legal and fl
nancial firm of the Canadian city.
Thomas H. johnson Of the firm, also
an lcelander but not from the North
DohOSd COlOl1y, Is lAo AlIOTuGV KeNoY.
al Of Manitoba.
To these may be added the name
OF former States Attorney Brynjolf-
son of Pembina county, now deceased;
Attorney John J.. Samson. now deceas-
ed, a brilliant young attorney and ora
tor, In practice for several years at
Lakota, but taken by death before he
attained the heights to which. his
riends believed his genius would have
carried him. and DR.. Gislasson or
Grand Forks. one Of the pest known
physicians in the state.
Success of the Icelanders in the
law and its allied professions, accord
Ing to the North Dakota attorney
general, is due to-the7 aptitude Of the
race In matters of contention. An
Icelander. according to Mr.. johnson,
would rather dispute a d%ebatable point
than eat, and the legal profession
gives an abundant outlet for this abil-
ity and inclination. Two Icelandic
says Mr.. Johnson, with arguments pro
and con of letter writer's presenting
contentious opinions upon all sorts OF
subjects.
Back Of the success of these young
men OF Mountain is a vast life Of ira
dillon. The Icelanders are proud that
their people far back in the mists OF
t!He 1lrSt used language to record
the songs or sagas Of a race. The
people r proud that these same
sagas tell of the first white man who
found the western continent, and that
the sagas gave a fairly accurate ac-
count of the people found here. The
people are proud that Iceland had the
first republic Of the world of any
size q republic that existed for lao
years at a period n thousand years
ago.
In telling Of the people from which
he came, Mr.. johnson gave Just q
glimpse Of the training in the pride
Of his people that he himself receiy-
ed, possibly the training in tradition
that the youth of the Icelandic con
munity received as a whole. 1t was
a picture that might be drawn Of any
home, the mother finishing up the
tasks Of the home, the father at one
side, the four boys, Nj! johnson being
the youngest. arouni the table. The
reading night by, night was from tn
legends OF tho sagas. the half-reai
half-mythical history OF the D. oples
whose blood ran In their veins, a re-
cital that carried them back beyond
iceland to the Viking days, to hints of
WIDE origin Of their peoples, to a basic
foundation extending into the myste-
before history's facts.