The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1941-04-19
MANHATTAN is CAPITAL
OF NORWAY AFLOAT

BY TOM WOLF

WI S'N'' 'N'S' S'
BY TOM WOLF
NEA Service staff Correspondent
ONEW YORK, April 10 - The
capital of Norway afloat"-the
unconquered Norway that lives
in the free ships of her famous
merchant fleets a downtown
Manhattan office building.
All Norwegian shipping, ex.
cept that chartered to the Brit.
ish Ministry of Shipping (about
so per cent?, is directed from
here. And because he who con-
trolls Norway's maritime COM
merce shapes the Morse destiny,
the New York office of the Nor
wegian Shipping and Trade Mis-
sion is perhaps the most import
ant branch of the Norwegian
government-in-exile.
This control of shipping keeps
the exiled governments prestige
high at home. It is an old sea
custom for a sailor to have part
Of his wages deducted at the
source and paid directly to his
dependents at home. The Ship
ping Mission continues to de-
duct these "allotments" and is
building of them a huge fund
for postwar distribution. This
news is broadcast to Norway,
with a request that dependents
be credited for food and sup
plies up to their allotment's
value.
The Nazi-sponsored govern
ment in Norway has legalized
this transaction, so that the gov
eminent in exile is, in a very
direct way, still administering at
home.
"The Importance of the Nor.
wegian fleet (now almost 1000,
900 gross tons, manned by near
ly 10000 seamen) exceeds that
of 100000 soldiers said one
British shipping trade journal
recently. In addition the fleet
provides taxable source of rev.
enue for the government in ex-
lie, making it possible for that
government to continue paying
all its obligations without dip
ping into its capital-all of
which was struggled out of Nor
way during the invasion. This
income also makes it possible
for the government to maintain
training bases, said to include
two naval training camps and
an aviation school in Canada.
The cost to the government in
exile has been the loss, since II
reQuisitioned the merchant fleet
last May, of 90 of the 997 ships
at its disposal and an unan-
nounced number of men.
CONSTANT FLOW
OF INFORMATION
In addition to helping run the
merchant marine, the Shipping
and Trade Mission here serves
as sort of unofficial clearing
house for information about con-
ditions inside Norway. This in
formation reaches the Mission in
variety of ways, which can
not be disclosed.
1t Is impossible for the Ger
mans to patrol more than a frac-
ton of the innumerable fjords
and bays dotting Norway's long,
Jagged coastline; so there is a
constant flow, in astounding
quantities, of men and supplies
from Norway 70 the outside
world.
Through its contacts. the
Shipping Mission can chart, not
more than two or three weeks
late, the exact sentiment within
Norway. 1t knows, for example,
that spirits were very low in
June after the fall of France;
that now spirits and resistance
are increasingly mounting.
MUCH OPEN
SABOTAGE
Much of the resistance to the
Quisling government is spontan-
eous and unorganized. At least
one secret patriotic society,
however, publishes an under
ground bulletin which counsels
only passive resistance. Despite
this advice. there has been much
open sabotage.
Landslides started i'm the
Western Norwegian hills almost
simultaneously one night. cut
ting the Oslo-Bergen railway in
q dozen places. A mysterious
fire ravaeed Q German supply
depot in BERGEN