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2 Scandinavian American Sming the Scandinavian-American PUPIIIJIN’H of the 67:1: Nortbwu! 'UBLISHED “TOE A MONTH AT 2228 FIRST AVENUE Subscription lute..." K. EINAR CARLSON, Publisher FDITORIAL STAFF THORSTEN‘NYMAN, Editor Harry F. Fabbe A publication Jedim/rd In the intern” of the Norwegian, Swedixb Danixlv, Finnijlv .mJ Icelandir population o,‘ the Great Novtbwen. The Epic of Norway Centef Our most profound appraisal could hardly sum up the situation so well and so briefly as did E. B. Hauge, Minneapolis. head of the Sons of Norway in America. “Norway Center is the biggest thing of its kind that has ever‘ happened in the long history of Norwegian-Ameri cans." , Nor could an editorial comment epitomize the long his tory. the laborious struggle. the ripe fulfillment of that aspiration which now makes Norway Center one of the truly great accomplishments in the Pacific Northwest. The task of portraying the colorful chapters of this epic in the language of the adopted land has been rightly and adequately done by a number of those who played an im portant part in its making. The story is outlined in articles in this issue. and for the cooperation provided us in this presentation we extend our sincere thanks. But as Norway Center can claim a place in posterity, and we are speaking for the American generations which will help pmerve it. we might add a little footnote. , This is one of the most gratifying and heartening ac complishments a Scandinavian people has ever passed on to succeeding generations in America—T. N. “Yellow" Ioumalism Aiding and abetting a lone criminal, fleeing from the long arm of justice in a police man hunt. is easily if not always punishable. But on higher levels the same sort of thing can be yery different. particularly if the long arm has been directed by many who aid and abet. If the law enforcement agencies and government itself are not fully capable of checking the hoary inter-mar riage of gambling and corruption. then who is? Sen ator Kefauver and FBI Chief Edgar J. Hoover point to the general public, saying it should organize resistance against it on local levels. We feel that is only part of the solution. Much depends on the press. too. Without the press. people only think with their noses. The days of the so-called yellow press, the scandal . mongers of newspaperdom, are disappearing. There's more sensible and honest journalism today, it is said. We sometimes wonder. The crusading “scandal-mongering" of the old public—spirited Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer did some mighty good things. Nowadays. you have to be a Westbrook Pegler or a Drew Pearson to risk all-out per secution. Libel suits are getting to be too expensive for the common man. Most papers nowadays prefer to sit on the fence and wait for the government. some law enforce ment agency or some top public official to explode a scan dal. That. in effect. is how the latest wave of crime news reached us. While assuming an air of respectability, more papers are becoming “yellow" without resorting to scandal-mon gering. The conspiracy of silence and complacency maintained for so long by papers in New York (not to say Chicago) against what amounts to legalized ‘crime and corruption is but an indication of a growing virus in the press, even in our small towns. ‘ The virus is commercialism, more and more of it. In some cases, the papers. feel more obiigated to protect their business than to report the truth as they see it. This has never been uncommon in newspaperdom. of course. but it can be alleviated greatly by competition among newspapers. 0n the other hand, some very fine newspapers do report the truth as they see it and profit by it. The Atlantic Monthly writes that the tendency toward bigness and consolidation is dominant in the press. “Forty percent of the American newspapers in existence in 1929 have either closed up shop or have been consolidat- Seattle 1. Washington Andrew Bjerkeseth Lieutenant—General H. G. Mar tin. London Daily Telegraph mili itary correspondent. recently spent a fortnight with Sweden's armed forces, and in an article for his paper entitled “How Sweden Re arms Against the Threat from the East.” he reported in part: “.8200 Per Year “At Karlskrona I went aboard the Uppland, one of the Navy's two 1.900-ton postwar destroyers. These destroyers and the two 8.- 000—ton cruisers. the ’he Kronor and the Gota Lejon, are the Navy's most [modern ships. . . . In addi tion, the Navy has three old ‘pocket battleships,’ still useful for coastal defense. two smaller crui sers, 13 fleet destroyers. 15 M. T. Bs and 24 submarines. In View of the conditions likely to prevail in the narrow waters of the Bal tic in another war, no more crui‘ sers are planned. Two 2,400-t0n International Class destroyers are building. as are also 11 M. T.Bs and three submarines. . . . “In the Swedish Navy the feel ing of comradeshlp with the Brit ish Navy is strong. Everywhere .I heard acknowledgements of the debt the Swedish Navy owes to our Navy for radar and other tech nical equipment. Today, of course. radar is indispensable to all three Services. for early warning. or navigation, or gun control. Swe den, however. ‘lacks a developed electronic industry. . . ." “Swedish Air Force Object Lesson In Manpower Saving" “General Nordenskiold is the creator of the Swedish Air Force, of which he has been Commander in-Chief for eight years. He has made it the second in Western Europe, with'a peacetime strength of about 800 first-line aircraft . . . He has made the Swedish Air Force an object lesson in manpow er saving. Sweden is a country of 7 million people. where everyone is employed. Swedish manpower is precious. The Russian Air Force employs nearly three times as many men per first-line aircraft as does the Swedish; the Canadian Air Force employs nearly three and-a-half times as many: the United States Air Force five times as many; the French and British more than six times. True. Swe dish Service aircraft are mostly single-engined. Nonetheless it is an astonishing comparison; and the R. A. F., I understand, is to send over a party to find out how the Swedes do it. . . . ed into a newspaper chain, and the end of the process is not yet in sight. Ten years from now. one can predict with regretful certainty there will be still fewer newspapers, still less competition among newspapers. and those which survive will have even bigger circulation . . . The more newspapers are consolidated the more uniformity you are bound to have in point of view, in content, and in appear ance." The magazine also notes the loss of power of the edito rial page; the wide use of syndicated material; the increas ing power of wire services, resulting in-less individual newsgathering; the general acceptance of the news hand out, and the carefully controlled mass press interview as a prime basis of newsgathering. Obviously. these trends reduce the possibilities of many papers to cover and reflect wider ranges of opinion. pre viously afforded by so many independent newspapers. The dissemination of news and the controling ownership of newspapers is being concentrated on fewer hands. which explains why the press is becoming increasingly conser vative. Conservatism comes mainly of wealth and secur ity. The effects of this were clearly discernible in the last presidential election. when almost the entire press pre dicted what may be called a conservative result. while actually the liberals scored a decisive victory. Clearly. the press failed to sound out the true majority opinion of the people. or else it did not feel obligated to do so. 0 0 # However. this tendency toward unprecedented bigness and consolidation can be a definite asset in the struggle to check crime and corruption. The big metropolitan newspapers with their increased influence and prestige could more effectively aid. if not direct, the public in this effort. Why not? It wouldn‘t be “yellow.” but a logical extension of “sensible and honest journalism."—T. N. W “W Sweden’s Part in the Defensé of the West ..Mww “In brief, the air plan is to maintain in readiness four ‘air base areas’ — Lapland, North, East, South — to enable the Air Force to concentrate against at tack Q‘om any direction and with the utmost speed. No more hang ers will be built above ground; the Air Force will rest secure in the heart of Swedish granite. “Relations between the Swedish Air Force and the R. A. F. are just as cordial as those betwaen the Swedish and British Navies. Here again radar is Sweden’s main requirement. General Nor denskiold told me that if he could get all the equipment now on or der from Britain his worst anxie ties would be set at rest." Field Army of 400,000 7M9“. 350.000 More for Local Defense “Lastly. I met the Army. . . . The individual conscript is well trained. Conscripts from North and Central Sweden have an ad vantage in that 100 per cent of them have learned to ski before they join. I watched both artillery and infantry exercises in deep, soft snow. . . . The rapid and noiseless passing of these white clad ski-troops was most impres sive. Everything else—guns, ma chine guns, wireless sets, mortars, casualties—went across country on sleds. . . . “On mobilization, conscripts un der training (about 30.000 in Army and 10.000 in Air Force and Navy) would not take the field. Instead. about 400,000 reservists would be called up to form the "troops of the Line' or Field Ar my; about 350.000 more could be called up for Local Defense Forces and Reserve. Every one of these reservists is already ear marked for his precise job. In order that they may learn these jobs, 180.000 . . . are now being called up annualy. Every man has to do three such monthly periods of repetition. In this manner the Army is tackling with great thor oughness the very difficult prob lem of combining extremely short conscript service with rapid mo biiization." “Armaments of Very ngh Quallty MButr Limited Quantity" , “With her annual production of 1,450,000 tons of steel. Sweden makes armaments of Very high quality but limited quantity. From foreign sources the Army‘s main needs are threefold: more artil lery generally; in partlcular long- THE SCANDINAWAN AMERICAN range anti-tank weapons—that is to say. effective medium tanks or self-propelled guns; anti-aircraft radar. “In regard to training, I got the impression that the Army is perhaps lees closely in touch with its British counterpart than are the Navy and the Air Force. More than one officer spoke to‘me of their wish to go on attachment to i the Briitsh br United States Army. A policy of extended attachments! or exchanges .would be‘all to the& good of both parties. Our own of: a. fioers would have plenty to learn} —about winter techniques in Lap- , land, for instance—and they would“ be sure of the warmest of Wel comes." Scandinavians Discuss Korea, llnited Nations The Foreign Minister of Den mark. Iceland. Norway and Swed en. at a recent meeting in Oslo. discussed the continued support of the Scandinavian countries of the United Nations action in Korea and their contributions to humani tarian work and reconstruction. They agreed that the Scandinavian countries should offer all possible support to the efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the con flict. The Foreign Ministers also called for the highest possible degree of economy in the activi ties of the United Nations and Its special organizations. They do cided to assign budget specialists to prepare concrete proposals for cutting U. N. operation costs. At an earlier meeting, in Reykjavik. Iceland, from August 31 to Sep tember 1 last year, the Foreign Ministers discussed the question of joint Scandinavian action in the General Assembly for the pur pose of speeding up the efforts to coordinate and streamline the work of the United Nations. This would mean the avoidance of over lapping work and a more effective use of the means available for international collaboration in vari ous fields. It was decided that the delegations should together try to further this matter in the Gen eral Arsembly. - Swedish School Leader Is Dead Joseph Weijne. who me from public Ichool teacher to Mini-tor of Education and Church Affairs. died in Stockholm recently at the age of fifty-eight. It was primar ily thanks to his efforts that a sweeping school reform was unani mously passed by the Riksdag in June of last year. The new plan calls for an increase of the com pulsory education period in Sch on from eight years to nine as well as for a unified elementary and early secondary school sys tem. Because of its great scope and its many ramifications, the new system is not cxpected to be in operation for at least a de oxide. He was also one of the leaders of the Swedish temperance move ment. Scandinavians Exchange Senate Seat In Oregon PENDIJL'I‘ON, Oregon (Speclah ~—A Pendleton when! and pea grower. Arthur Lindberg. 59. was appointed successor 1m week to the late State Smutor Carl En;- dlhl, who died last week In Pendle tun. Undberx previously served In 1944 u appointee sure repre sentative. At "In. time he 3130 succeeded En‘dnhl to an I home vacancy when laud-m was ap pointed Rumor.