Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1932-12-15

the conflicting opinions as to what
should be done. There were men in
those days even in Norway who
thought that the thing to do was to
dispose Of these vital problems by
cheap expedients and political COM
promises. Intense nationalism famed
and spread; the talk of war was COM
mon. Stephen Decatur's doctrine,
my country, right or wrong" doc
trine which the Chicago Tribune has
carried on it's editorial page for years
to guide America, would never have
been accepted by Bjornson, not "My
country, right or wrong" but Norway
must do right at any cost" was the
impelling motive of his life. In this
statement one begins to see why he
never became a politician, never de-
served the name politician. He
thought of politics as a field for the
exercise of constructive leadership.
He thought the people of his country
should be led in peaceful ways to bet
ter things. Fortunate it was for Nor
way that Bjornson and Nansen and
acters possessed this wisdom. other
wise Norway would have been in
vOlved in war, and the dissolution
that naturally follows war would have
been visited upon this great people.
Upon practically every public is
sue Bjornson was speaking or writing.
There was no movement of any cOnse-
quence upon which he did not express
himself. He stirred and directed the
national spirit by his oratory-he was
the most powerful orator in all Nor
way. and one of his patriotic poems,
Eyes, We Love the Land that Bore
U.s." became Norways national hymn.
Travels in Other Countries.
The developing and expanding spirit
of the man became evident in his
early seventies when he Travelled in
foreign countries. These travels were
equivalent to a liberal education.
They showed him how life differs
throughout the world as to its man
ners, its customs, its traditions, and
its forms of government. We find him
attacking social problems in his
plays. In "The Editor" for example,
he excoriated the self-seeking news
paper man with no sense of social
responsibility; in "A Business Fail
ure" and 1.-The New System" he mer-
cilessly exposed the commercial spirit
and the consuming passion for specu-
lation; in "The King" he pictured the
blighting effect of the royal life upon
the king himself; in "The Gauntlet"
he denied the double standard of NOR
atty for men and women.
Bjornson was the first great leader,
demand economic. social, and polit-
ical equality for the sexes. When one
reads the life of Bjornson and that
of a half dozen of his contemporaries.
he begins to understand why Norway
has been so progressive in social and
political legislation. He sees. too.
why Norway has attached such high
value to education in all Of its forms.
The leaders of public thought insisted
that public good rather than interest
of particular class or group should
be the aim of legislation. They
maintained also that government
could be administered satisfactorily
and freedom and liberty assured
only when the people are an informed
people. Wherefore, Norway has been
among the leaders of the world in the
attention and consideration that she
has given to education.
AS Bjornson travelled and grew
older, he came to cherish the hope of
united Scandinavia in which each
nation would retain it's autonomy and
be on a complete equality with the
others. So deep and fundamental was
his faith in modern democracy that
he even ventured to dream a still
vaster dream, that Of great Pan
Germanic federation, rooted not in
conquest or in the suppression of the
smaller nationalities, but in free CO.
operation and common cultural in
terests. These are majestic thoughts.
How far the world is from accepting
them today! International jealousies,
international rivalries and suspicious,
coupled with intense and militant ma
tionalism laying the basis for new