Evening star., 1925-06-06

President Coolidge has gone to
Minnesota to speak words of felici-
tation to the Americans who are
celebrating the centennial anniver-
Sary of Norwegian settlement in the
Northwest. He will not-cannot-
address his remarks to any assem-
blage of "Norwegian-America for
there are no such people and never
have been.
hyphenated. When he left Norway to
make his home thereafter in the
Great Republic he became in spirit
and in deed an American-not par
TALLY but absolutely. For a century
he, with other Scandinavians, has
dominated the Northwest and pio-
neered its vast enterprises, devel-
oped it's resources, and marked the
character of it's institutions. More
than a third of the population of the
Northwest is Scandinavian.
The Scandinavians include the
Norwegians, the Swedes and the
Danes. The Swedes in the old coun-
try depend largely upon agriculture,
the Norwegians are the Vikings, the
hardy adventurers upon the sea, the
fishers and traders. When the de-
scendants of Vikings came to the vast
horizon-bound sea of grass in the
Northwest, they, too, became farmers
and stock raisers. Some became gov
ernors of their States.
One little boy accompanied his
mother from Norway-an orphan
and sold newspapers in Chicago to
help bear the mothers burden; later
he became Governor of Minnesota
and from that position became United
States Senator-the late Knute Mel
son. Another Norwegian-or rather
native American born of Norwegian
parentage-Henrik hipStead-became
a country dentist in Glencoe, Mimi;
but, while practicing his profes-
sion, he took up finance as an avo-
cation, thereby preparing for Unit.
ed States senatorship, and even in his
first year in the Senate he demon
strated his preparedness. Former
Representative Volstead is a Norwe
gian, as is his successor, o. J. Kvale
and as are many other members from
the Northwest.
It is not through the accident OF
individual character that the Nor
wegians have developed the traits OF
daring and achievement, such as
created a NanSen ana an AmundSen
conquerors of the ice-bound polar
seas. Away back in the eighth cen
tury Scandinavian explorers conquer
ed the mysteries of many islands be
tween the Arctic Circle and Ireland
and it is believed that in 1000 they
landed on the mainland of North
America It is one of the objectives
of the polar explorer, Macmillan, with
in the next few weeks, to seek out
the stone houses built in Labrador
by the reputed settlers from Nor
way a thousand years ago.
In those early centuries Norway
was in constant struggle between
rivals to her throne. From 1899 tC
1913 Norway was subject to Sweden
whose population was much larger
Late in the fourteenth century Nor
way and Sweden united under a joint
government, to which Denmark was
added later, and this Scandinavian
union lasted until the beginning Of
the nineteenth century. AS a reward
for services to the great alliance o.
powers fighting Napoleon, the crown
prince of Sweden, Charles John, il
1914, was given the throne of Norway
| The Norwegians refused to recogniz,
| the convention thus given 'withou
| the consent of the governed" and
| in the consequent fighting, the con
nection with Denmark was severed
and the Norwegian Parliament elected
| the reigning King of Sweden as also
King of Norway, and drew IN act o,
union between Norway and Sweden