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5423969_5_0035.xml
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5423969_5_0035.xml
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<bibl><title>Scandia</title>,
<date when="1930-05-15">May 15, 1930</date>.
<title level="a">Norwegian Independence Day</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
</title>
</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<publisher>The Newberry Library</publisher>
<pubPlace>Chicago, Illinois</pubPlace>
<address>
<addrLine>60 West Walton</addrLine>
<addrLine>Chicago, IL 60610</addrLine>
<addrLine>USA</addrLine>
<addrLine>http://www.newberry.org</addrLine>
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<idno>5423969_5_0035</idno>
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<note>Transcribed from digital images contributed to the Internet
Archive by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.</note>
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<div type="group">
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<item>NORWEGIAN</item>
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<item>III B 3 a</item>
<item>III A</item>
<item>III F</item>
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<div type="citation">
<bibl><title>Scandia</title>,
<date when="1930-05-15">May 15, 1930</date>.
<title level="a">NORWEGIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
</div>
</front>
<body>
<p>The Seventeenth of May is Norway's Independence Day. There are many points of similarity about the gathering of the Congress at Eidsvold in 1814 and the gathering of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776. The economic and political conditions that caused the convening of these two different assemblies, forty years apart, were very similar.</p>
<p>The cause of the American Revolution was, more than anything else, a question of unfair and burdensome taxes. The cause of the Norwegian uprising, according to Gjerseth's History of the Norwegian People, was "excessive taxes imposed against the will of the people," and harmful <pb facs="5423969_5_0036.jpg" n="2"/>trade monopolies which increased the cost of the necessities of life added fuel to the smouldering discontent. When the farmers gathered around the hearthstones they had grievances to complain of, and many a violent clash with officials to tell about.</p>
<p>You people who have emigrated here from Norway came from one free country to another free country. Your country had a government by the people and a constitution the same as you have here in the United States. Your ideals of government are the same as ours. America has a good many things to offer that Norway cannot give. You bring with you rich literature and culture that America needs. The transplanting of a Norwegian to American soil is not a painful process because any man who is a good citizen in the country from where he came will be a good citizen when he lands on American soil.</p>
<p>Good citizenship is not a monopoly of those whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower, nor is patriotism confined to those who speak the English language.</p>
<pb facs="5423969_5_0037.jpg" n="3"/>
<p>Some of you people were born on the other side and have recently immigrated here, so I want to say a few words to you about American citizenship. There has been so many slanderous things said about America and Americans in the last few years that I want to dispell some of the fog and poison gas that has been spread by those who would destroy America as Europe is now being destroyed. I speak as one descended from the same race as most of you, and I am proud of it. I speak as one born in America--yes, here in Chicago--and I am proud of that. My father and mother were Minnesota pioneers who later came here to Chicago, their bodies are buried in the soil of America, and to me America is holy ground.</p>
<p>Sixteen hundred people were burned at the stake in the United States in the twentieth century. These people were burned by people who considered themselves one-hundred-per-cent Americans, The men who have corrupted our courts and legislatures, looted our railroad treasuries, despoiled our natural resources, <pb facs="5423969_5_0038.jpg" n="4"/>have usually been men whose ancestors have lived here for many generations. Not one of them were Norwegian! These people call themselves good American citizens, and their ideas are often accepted as orthodox Americanism. I do not agree with their ideas on Americanism and citizenship.</p>
<p>Someone has said that "good manners are a state of mind," so good citizenship and patriotism can be said to be a state of the heart and soul.</p>
<p>Our battlefields and memorial tablets are filled with so-called "foreign names" of men who died because they believed that in giving up their lives they were helping to preserve what we call American ideals.</p>
<p>Many Norwegian immigrants have landed at Ellis Island with more love of America in their hearts than can be found in the hearts of some whose forefathers fought in the Revolution.</p>
<pb facs="5423969_5_0039.jpg" n="5"/>
<p>There are many Norwegian names on the roster of good citizens here in Chicago. Many Norwegians died for their adopted country. Many Norwegians have helped build industry and business here. We are proud of these people.</p>
<p>When I speak of love for America I do not mean that kind that finds expression in intolerance of opinion, bragging speech, and mob rule, but I mean the kind of love that finds expression in constructive building of a nation overzealous of the welfare of the people not only of this but of the coming generations--a love like that felt by a dutiful son for his mother, a love that makes a man gentle, tolerant, just, and whose self-respect grows with his labors and contributions to his country's welfare.</p>
<p>A certain philosophy says that in the struggle for existence only the fit shall survive, and those who survive say they are fit because they are strong, swift, and cunning. I do not agree with this philosophy. I think <pb facs="5423969_5_0040.jpg" n="6"/>it is a bad philosophy of life. The tiger in the jungle is stronger, swifter, and more cunning than the barnyard cow, but that does not prove that he is more fit to live. The shark in the sea is stronger, swifter, and more cunning than the horse, but that does not prove that he is more fit to live. The vulture is swifter and more cunning than the barnyard hen, but that does not prove that the vulture is more fit to live than the hen.</p>
<p>The supermen, as they claim to be, who have governed the nations of Europe may be stronger, swifter, and more cunning intellectually than the peasants and working people of Europe, but I submit that they have not proved by their deeds and their misdeeds that they are in any way more fit to live than any of the ordinary people of their nations. These supermen who have been in charge of European governments and who are responsible for the breakdown in continental European civilization, causing the misery and suffering over there, claim that they are the only ones who can save the white man's <pb facs="5423969_5_0041.jpg" n="7"/>civilization--at least that is what they are telling the world, and the interesting thing about it is that they are making the people believe it.</p>
<p>The American Government was founded by our forefathers with the intention that the Government should be used for an entirely different purpose than the European governments had been used. This Government of America was looked upon as an experiment among governments upon this earth at that time. It was considered a very radical departure in government. Up until that time governments had always been used by a few men, including the king, for the purpose of exploiting the great masses of people and enriching the treasury of the king and his friends. They raised armies that they might use them for the purpose of taking gold mines, oil wells, railroads, and lands away from other nations. The founders of American Government said:</p>
<p>"This Government shall not be used for these purposes at all. This <pb facs="5423969_5_0042.jpg" n="8"/>Government shall not be owned by a king and a few nobles; it shall be owned by the people."</p>
<p>We Norwegians feel that way about it. We will fight for freedom here just as we did in Norway in 1812. We have men of Norwegian birth who are in politics fighting for just those ideals. We have them right here in Illinois, here in Chicago. Yes, we know that they will always be true, honest and fair.</p>
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