Entered as Second Class Matter, at Portland, Oregon, October 13, 1904, under the Act of Congress of March, 1879.
Volume 1
I
THE COPY
15c in Canada
f
Portland, Oregon, April 29,1920
.
The Northman
V.
_______________________________ /
“There is the moral of all human tales;
’tis but the same rehearsal of the past,
First Freedom, and then Glory—when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption—.barbarism at last,
And History, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page.”
Thus wrote Lord Byron, Britain’s mad
cap poet, a century ago after bidding fare
well to his native land never to return,
proceeding to Switzerland, Italy, and later,
to Athens to join the Greeks in their
desperate struggle to throw off the oppres
sive yoke of the Turk.
Is this the unalterable cycle of all
nations—republics as well as monarchies?
We of, and for America believe not—
must believe not—if we are to have an
ideal and a faith attached to that ideal.
We believe that the progress of democ
racy is irresistable; that today is the best
day the world has seen for the greatest
number of the children of the earth.
Democracy has brought this day and it is
the duty of democracy to make tomorrow
a better one, thus moving onward toward
the perfect day.
For this faith the flower of our citizen
ship crossed the seas to subdue the men
ace that arose in Europe and for this
faith we must work during periods of
peace.
This thought should be kept in view by
the public prints of the country,—every
newspaper, every magazine, no matter
what may be its particular field of activity,
for in this lies the spirit of Americanism
which must be upheld first and foremost
if our nation is to press forward and en
dure.
The Northman in its succession to a
foreign language publication believes that
it is placing the keystone in the arch of
a bridge that will carry the alien and the
citizen of alien speech and attitude of
mind across into the atmosphere of
American thought and that closer affilia
tion necessary to true naturalization.
There are children numbering into the
millions in America, descendants of for
eign born, who grievously lament the cir
cumstances which rendered their parents
unable to grasp the significance, the im
portance and the advantages of the more
perfect naturalization which should have
been theirs as a heritage that would have
been an ever-present aid all through their
lives, constantly contributing to their suc
cess and to their happiness- Their paths
have been more thorny and their progress
more difficult because of it.
Shall this wrong be continued another
generation ?
The pioneers from the Northlands
brought with them not only the rugged
principles of good citizenship, but many
shining strands of culture twined in the
shimmering sparkle of crystal heights;
many strong fibres spun from centuries
witching glow of the midnight sun and
of struggle for existence on the dreamy
uplands and in the chimerical valleys
swung between the scraggy rocks of
austere heights, and many bright threads
drawn from adventure and achievement
in Neptune’s realm of the seven seas and
the polar domain of Boreas. The foreign
language agencies—press and pulpit and
parochial school—have not only failed to
weave this splendid cultural contribution
into the fabric of Americanism, but failed
to inculcate the lore of the Northlands in
their children and their children’s children
so that in going out to find their places
in life and make their way through the
industrial, social and political avenues of
society they would be equipped to meet
all with whom they might come in contact
with the confidence, pride and dignity of
bearing which comes from its possession,
and further, be enabled to impress upon
those with whom they came in contact
something from that culture which would
command respect and higher regard.
Academic America appreciates this in a
degree but the great mass of American
citizenship does not. It is frankly admit
ted by the heads of the Scandinavian
church denominations but the greater
part of the press is still blind because it
will not see. The clergy has been brought
to an understanding through the fact that
after confirmation in a language they did
not consider their own, the children,
reaching the bounds of parental control,
passed on out of the church and the reli
gion of their fathers never to return. This
fact has brought about a change in the
once uncompromising attitude for the per
petuation of the native tongue in America
for it has dawned upon the church organi
zations that they were committing slow
but certain suicide.
The Northman is an amalgamation and
continuation of the Pacific Skandinaven
and The American Scandinavian. Pioneer
work has been done by the one and the
other advances from the ranks of the for
eign language press to join hands and
take up the work in this field in which the
foreign language agencies have so con-
spiciously failed, and endeavor to carry it
forward toward success. Through the
medium of the common language it will
direct its efforts toward bringing the for
eign and native born into a better under
standing of each other and toward de
veloping that better citizenship which will
come from a removal of the barriers and«
obstructions raised by race prejudice.
In this work The Northman is confi
dent it will meet with the wholesouled and
cordial co-operation of all fair-minded and
red-blooded Americans regardless of ra
cial origin and it earnestly invites a
measure of support in keeping with the
CO THE YEAR
by Subscription
Number 1
scope and importance of the undertaking.
That there may be no misconception it
may be stated that it will be non-partisan,
non-sectarian, independent in all things
and fair, liberal and temperate in all
things. Representatives of all the races
which have assembled beneath freedom’s
banner will find something of interest in
its contents, for the hope of the ages stirs
the soul of Scandinavian, Saxon, Slav or
Semitic alike.
As Americans all must be one.
To the end that we may keep the good
we have gained and progress toward a
higher and better civilization promoting
the general welfare and happiness of the
races transplanted in this Fair Land of
Promise, and that it shall continue to be
the refuge of the oppressed of the world
so long as nations shall endure, but its
banner never a shield for the unworthy
from any land, The Northman is solemnly
dedicated.
BUILDING A BETTER CITIZENSHIP.
A WORK of inestimable value is being
inaugurated in some of the Eastern
states through a night school department
of the public schools. The pupils of the
night schools are principally foreigners
who have sought employment in the iron
ranges, coal mining districts and other
industrial communities employing for
eigners on a large scale.
Among the subjects discussed in the
night schools are various ways of earning
a livelihood, the laws of business, letter
writing, politeness, the importance of
neatness of dress and person are things
taught as well as the English language,
federal, state and city government, and
the practical utility of all the various
departments of civic affairs.
This is practical work in the making of
American citizens and should be advanced
in every community having a foreign born
element. It is important that the for
eigner arrive at an early understanding of
the governmental difference between the
United States and the country from which
he came, and that here he is expected to
acquire the kingly qualifications of self-
government- A kindly, helpful and
thoughtful interest taken in the foreigner,
no matter from what country he may
come, instead of an attitude of antagonism,
will go a long way toward making them
desirable citizens, whereas the opposite
attitude tends to force exclusion, ignor
ance of our liberal institutions and a
spirit of viciousness and antagonism to
law and authority, exemplified in what we
have come to call “red” or I. W. W.-ism.
The simplest, best and most direct
course in Americanism The Northman
can recommend is a study of George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln.