No part of Europe is more truly interesting than Scandinavia, the home of the three northern nations, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The closer we observe them the greater becomes their significance. This is not, perhaps, apparent to the casual eye. These nations do not often appear in the limelight. Their doings are seldom good newspaper copy. Foreign press dispatches tend to deal with the sensational and the ominous-political crises, falling currencies, threats of revolution, war rumors, and the like.
Europe is a troubled place these days, and, taken as a whole, the outlook is far, from bright. Yet here and there we do find bright spots, and the brightest of these is undoubtedly Scandinavia. On the northern rim of a Europe rent by political and social dissensions, threatened with economic collapse, and menaced by next wars, there stands a group of peoples who are strikingly free from such troubles. Stable, moderately but consistently prosperous, threatened neither by domestic convulsions nor by foreign foes, here are countries worth investigating.
And the closer we look the more interesting do they become. We find the Scandinavian countries what they are to-day, not through sheer good luck, but through wise policy and intelligent action. These countries have

[51]

had to face many of the difficulties and temptations that have beset their European fellows. The difference is that instead of making a mess of things, as has happened elsewhere, the Scandinavian peoples have dealt with their troubles coolly and constructively, and are solving them in a peaceful, satisfactory fashion.
Intelligence is, in fact, the key to Scandinavians present good fortune. The Scandinavian peoples to-day stand admittedly on a high plane. They are well to the forefront among the truly progressive, civilized nations of the earth. In every field of human endeavor they are active, and they are keenly alive to all the intellectual, social, and artistic movements of our time.
Now, how does all this come about? How do the Scandinavians get that way? The answer is: not by luck, but by using their brains. Nature certainly did not endow the Scandinavian countries with the resources that we are apt to think of as necessary to highly flourishing peoples. Scandinavia is naturally poor, with a cold climate and comparatively little fertile soil. Without unusually intelligent, energetic inhabitants, Scandinavia would have been backward, thinly populated, and generally insignificant.
Yet just the opposite has happened. Small though these countries are compared with the big nations of the world, they are universally respected and their independence is secure. They are solidly prosperous. Placed though they are in a semibankrupt, distracted Europe, they are stable and peaceful. Faced though they are by serious problems, they are learning by past errors and are in a fair way to solve them.

[52]

This last fact is the most important point of the whole matter. The Scandinavian peoples have in the past made bad blunders, for which they have paid dearly. But they have profited by their mistakes and they are learning to avoid such mistakes in the future. That is where they happily differ from other peoples, who either continue to make the same old mistakes without any serious effort to stop or, grown impatient at their consequent misfortunes, try to cure these by quack remedies and short cuts to some emotional millennium.
The Scandinavian peoples, however, rarely let their emotions run away with them. They usually keep their feet on the ground, stick to their common sense, and think things through. The result is that they usually evolve a method of dealing with the particular difficulty in question which proves to be a real step forward. It may not , look especially brilliant and it does not get. big newspaper headlines. But it stays put and doesn't have to be undone.
Take one notable instance of the way in which the Scandinavian peoples have dealt constructively with a great problem -- the problem of war. War is undoubtedly one of the chief perils to modern civilization. The last war almost ruined Europe, yet already the next war hangs like a thundercloud on the political horizon. And Europe is not the only continent thus threatened. Other parts of the world, are menaced by strife between nations or are scourged with those internal wars known as revolutions. It is one of our proudest boasts that we English-speaking peoples of the United States and the British Empire are a unique exception to the rule; that we stand

[53]

forth as a group of peoples between whom war has become lot merely unlikely but impossible.
Yet when we turn to Scandinavia we discover another group of peoples between whom war has become practically unthinkable. And this is a noteworthy triumph of conscious intelligence, because neither by temperament, tradition, nor outward circumstances has such a state of affairs automatically come about. The Scandinavians are certainly not pacifists by nature. On the contrary, the old viking blood runs strongly in their veins. Several times during their history the Scandinavians were the terror of Europe. Furthermore, they have never fought
so fiercely as when fighting among themselves. Scandinavia's past history has been largely a record of bloody internecine wars. In fact, these wars have been Scandinavia's chief stumbling-block to political power. Had the Scandinavians united instead of wasting their strength in fratricidal conflicts, they would probably to-day form one of the great nations of the earth. Instead of this, the Scandinavian peoples by their disunion not only lost to more powerful neighbors many lands once belonging to them but also raised between themselves barriers of hatred that tended to drive them still further asunder and made common action extremely difficult.
Among less intelligent peoples this state of things might have gone on indefinitely. That is precisely what has happened among the Balkan peoples, for example, who, having fought each other for centuries, hate each other ferociously and are quite ready to fight again. Not so the Scandinavian peoples. "Profiting by the lessons of the past, they have buried old feuds and have learned

[54]

to settle their differences without war, and even without bitterness. The task has not been easy, for during the past twenty years alone they have been divided by differences so serious that among other peoples war or at least lasting rancor, would have been inevitable. It is a true triumph of Scandinavian intelligence that not only has war been avoided but the way in which these disputes have been settled has actually led to increased sympathy and closer cooperation. When we come to view in detail events like the separation of Norway and Sweden and the grant by Denmark of practical independence to Iceland, we can better appreciate their deep significance.
In this connection let us further note that these problems have been solved spontaneously as they arose. No. elaborate machinery of conciliation had been erected beforehand to deal with them. No arbitration tribunal, no league, no loss of sovereignty was involved. When the dispute arose, the disputants met one another frankly and decided to sit down and talk matters over. They conducted the discussion like well-bred gentlemen, kept their tempers, avoided rows, and ultimately agreed on a settlement that was lasting and that formed the basis of increasing friendship for the future. How many other nations in this troubled world of ours can say the same?
With such a .record of constructive achievement, it is clear that the Scandinavian peoples well merit our close attention. Let us, then, see more in detail what are these Scandinavian lands and what sort of people are their inhabitants.
Scandinavia consists of two peninsulas that almost

[55]

touch, one reaching down from the far north, the other jutting up from the mass of Central Europe to the south. The northern peninsula, which is very much the larger in size, is the home of the Norwegians and Swedes. The relatively small southern peninsula, together with its adjacent islands, is peopled by the Danish nation.
Denmark has an area of about 16,000 square miles and a population of a trifle under 3,300,000 souls. Its capital is Copenhagen, a city of nearly 600,000 inhabitants, with a fine port, which is a centre of Baltic commerce. The climate of Denmark is damp and fairly mild, being not unlike that of England. Much of its soil is fertile, and the Danes have made the most of this by building up a remarkable system of dairying and other specialized agricultural pursuits. Denmark has, however, neither mineral wealth nor water-power, and thus lacks the essentials of industrial development. This, together with. her small size, sets close limits to her further growth in wealth and population.
Norway and Sweden are each much larger than Denmark, though less fertile, much of their territory being barren plateau or rugged mountains. They are separated from each other by a high mountain range. This is the reason why Norway and Sweden are separate nations. Even today, with good roads and railways, there is little land communication between them. Nature has in fact placed them like two men back to back and looking in opposite directions, Norway gazing westward out into the Atlantic Ocean, Sweden gazing eastward over the Baltic Sea. With their cold climates and scarcity of fertile land, neither country has been able to develop a

[56]

flourishing agriculture. However, Sweden has considerable mineral wealth, especially iron, while both countries have an abundance of water-power. With the development of hydroelectricity, this water power has been a great source of prosperity and has formed the basis for an important and rapidly growing industrial life. Furthermore, since only a small part of these natural resources has as yet been developed, both countries have great possibilities for future growth in wealth and population. Norway has an area of 125,000 square miles with a population of about 2,700,000. Sweden's area is 173,000 square miles with just under 6,000,000 population.
Such are the three Scandinavian nations. Taken together, they are a group of some importance, covering a considerable area and with a combined population of 12,000,000. Furthermore, there is the adjacent country of Finland, which is so intimately related to Sweden in both blood and culture that, in the broader sense, it may be counted as belonging to the Scandinavian family. If that be done, the population of the Scandinavian group is raised to more than 15,000,000. Lastly, considering the Scandinavian stock in its world aspect, we must remember the immense emigration of Scandinavians to various parts of the world, especially to the United States and Canada. It is probable that something like 3,000,000 of the inhabitants of the United States are of Scandinavian birth or descent.
Here, then, is a group of peoples numbering from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 souls, solidly planted in the north-west corner of Europe. These peoples are connected by close ties of language and culture. They are also bound

[57]

together by the even closer tie of blood, for they are near kin. The Scandinavians are almost all pure-blooded members of the Nordic race -- that tall, blond stock which forms the predominant element in the British Isles, the United States, and the self-governing dominions of the British Empire, together with many parts of Europe, like northern Germany, northern France, the Netherlands, and northwestern Russia. The Scandinavians are thus blood brothers of the Anglo-Saxons, and both stocks show to the full those striking qualities of creative energy, political ability, self-reliance, self-control and common sense that have everywhere distinguished the Nordic race.
Scandinavia is in fact an old Nordic brood land, a reservoir and breeding-ground of Nordic stock, sending forth for ages wave after wave of Nordic migration. Many of the Nordic tribes that overran the Roman Empire and settled the British Isles came from Scandinavia. Pure Scandinavians were the vikings, who not only ranged Europe from Spain to Russia but also fared forth in their tiny ships across the trackless northern ocean, settling Iceland and Greenland, and actually discovering North America, thus anticipating Columbus by 500 years. Strange accident of history if Leif Ericson and his Norse rovers had voyaged a little father southward and had planted a colony that could well have prospered, North America might centuries ago have become a Greater Scandinavia and the whole history of the world would have been changed.
It was not to be. Scandinavia missed her great opportunity overseas: She also lost her European opportunity.

[58]

Instead of uniting, the Scandinavian peoples wasted their abounding energies in fratricidal wars that were their common undoing. When we look back on the medieval might of Denmark and on the power of Sweden from Gustavus Adolphus to Charles XII, it is not too much to say that a united Scandinavia might have forged a Baltic empire that would have endured to this day. Instead of this, the rising empires of Russia and Germany broke Scandinavia's resistance piecemeal, cut away its borderlands, and confined it to its ancient bounds. A century ago the world had practically forgotten the Scandinavian peoples, regarding them as little nations whose day was over and whose very existence would henceforth depend upon .the mutual jealousies of powerful neighbors, tempered perhaps by sentimental consideration for a heroic past.
This attitude was not strange, because a century ago the Scandinavian nations seemed to have no future worth speaking of. Their present prosperity is in striking contrast to their past misfortunes. A century ago the Scandinavian countries were profoundly poor, most of their present sources of wealth being either unknown or undeveloped. This poverty was reflected by the sparseness of population, Scandinavia at that time being able to support less than a third of its present inhabitants. And the prospects did not look bright. Sweden, with her cold, frostbound soil, could never hope greatly to extend her cultivable area. Denmark, though possessed of rich farmland, was very small. Norway was but a strip of barren mountains.
Nevertheless, despite all these handicaps, the Scandinavian peoples turned to and showed the stuff that was

[59]

in them. Putting behind them the bitter memories of their defeats and their lost provinces, they resolved to make the most of what was left. Applying their inborn energy and intelligence to an intensive development of their natural resources, they soon laid the foundations of their present prosperity.
In all three countries it is the same story of grit, thrift, hard work, and intelligent insight making much of little and turning every new development to full account. Take Denmark, for example. Lacking, as she does, minerals, coal, and water-power, Denmark's one real asset was some good farmland. But there was so little of it that, cultivated in the ordinary way, it would never support a large population. The Danes therefore determined to specialize on high-grade lines for export. Accordingly, they went in for scientific dairying, pedigreed live stock, and certain high-class agricultural specialties. Gradually they built up a marvelous system of production, distribution, and marketing on co-operative lines. It is not too much to say that the Danes have industrialized agriculture. As time passed and western Europe became covered with cities and factories the Danes found an ever-increasing market for their products. The development of cold storage and cheap long-distance ocean transportation threatened to hit them for a while by bringing in competition from distant parts of the world, like North America, Siberia, and China. But the Danes triumphed over this also by concentrating on quality. More and more, Danish butter, Danish eggs, and Danish agricultural specialties got the reputation, for being the best on the European markets and thus fetched fancy prices. Danish agricul-

[60]

ture is thus the solid foundation of Denmark's economic life, and it is all a triumph of intelligent, skilful planning. Besides her agriculture, Denmark, has. a large merchant marine and a prosperous fishing fleet, while her industries, though relatively less important, are profitable and high-grade.
Another point that should be noted is Denmark's social soundness and the wide diffusion of prosperity. The Danish countryside is inhabited, not by peasants in the ordinary European sense, but by intelligent, well-educated, prosperous yeomen, owning and loving their land -- in other words, farmers in the true American sense of the word. Even in the towns there are not the contrasts between great wealth and grinding poverty observable in many other lands. Furthermore, taxation statistics show that the national wealth is becoming more generally distributed; and this, be it noted, is due to economic processes -- the Danes are too intelligent to tinker with crank legislation.
Thus Denmark advances steadily despite all the troubles of her European neighbors. It is estimated that the national wealth of Denmark has doubled in the last twenty years. As might be imagined under such circumstances, the health and vigor of the Danish people are excellent. The average expectation of life is fifty-six years for men and fifty-nine years for women. A century ago it was only forty years for men and forty-three or women. This clearly shows the great advance of health and vigor that has taken place during that period. As might be expected, the population shows an increase healthily adjusted to the rate of economic and social progress. At present the

[61]

net increase in population is a trifle more than one per cent a year.
The economic development of Norway and Sweden, though different in direction from that of Denmark, is equally, striking and equally due to energetic, intelligent foresight. At first this development was largely maritime, both countries building up flourishing merchant marines and fishing fleets. The perfecting of the steamship, for instance, enabled Norway to develop fully possibilities like the Arctic fisheries. Later, Norway began to capitalize her scenery, becoming one of the chief tourist resorts of the world. Every year great floating hotels bring multitudes of travelers to enjoy the beauties of Norway's magnificent fiords and to gaze at the midnight sun. Mean while Sweden was fast developing her mineral wealth. Until the age of railroads, steam, and electricity this had been but little exploited, because most of Sweden's minerals, particularly her iron deposits, lie in the far north. Today Sweden is all important iron-and-steel-producing country, specializing in high-grade lines.
The greatest single factor in the prosperity of Norway and Sweden is, however, the development of water-power. Its importance is comparatively recent. Both these mountainous lands have a multitude of waterfalls and rushing streams; but formerly these, though things of beauty, were of little practical use. The development of electricity, however, entirely changed the situation. Hydroelectric power was now seen to be available in almost limitless quantities, and this white coal, as it has been aptly named, has been increasingly harnessed to a myriad industrial activities, so that both Norway and Sweden

 

[62]

to-day possess a flourishing industrial life. And this may perhaps be still in its infancy, because neither country is at present using more than one-tenth of the total hydroelectric power that is available. The perfecting of long-distance electric-power transmission promises soon to open up a great new source of wealth, since Norway and Sweden will be capable of supplying the power needs of all North-Central Europe.
Economic and social conditions in Norway and Sweden bear a general resemblance to those of Denmark. In both countries the standard of living, health, and education is high. In both countries the national wealth is rapidly increasing and is well distributed, while the rural population consists, as in Denmark, of sturdy, free-spirited yeoman farmers. The population shows a steady, healthy increase of about one per cent a year, and, should the development of natural resources continue at its present rate, large further increases of population can be supported in the future.
Such are the economic and social achievements of the Scandinavian peoples. Let us now examine their political achievements, which have insured their stability and have saved them both from tragic quarrels among themselves and from dangerous feuds with their neighbors. As we have already remarked, these political achievements have been of a high order. During the past twenty years the Scandinavian peoples have to their credit a whole series of successful political settlements that rank among the finest examples of human intelligence, foresight, and self-control.
The first of these political tests was the crisis that arose

 

[63]

 

between Norway and Sweden, resulting in the separation of the two countries in the year 1905. Though occupying the same peninsula, the Swedes and Norwegians have never been one people. Sundered by a barrier of lofty mountains, they had slight physical contact and accordingly went their respective ways. Such contact as they did have was usually of a hostile nature. For centuries Norway was politically united to Denmark, and loyally supported it in the long series of Dano-Swedish wars. When the Vienna Congress of 1814 remade the map of Europe after the Napoleonic wars, it took Norway away from Denmark and assigned it to Sweden as compensation for Finland, conquered by Russia a few years before. But this diplomatic transfer did not result in union of hearts. Though Sweden granted the Norwegians practically full autonomy, they remained dissatisfied and chafed at political union with their Swedish neighbors. Chronic disputes culminated in the year 1905, when Norway seceded and proclaimed its independence.
This was rebellion. Sweden was aflame with wrath, especially since most Swedes believed that Norway was guilty of nothing short of treason in face of a common foe -- Russia. For Czarist Russia was at that very moment destroying the liberties of Finland, hitherto an autonomous dependency of Russia, but now being brutally transformed into a Russian intrenched camp that threatened all Scandinavia with the shadow of the Russian bear.
For a moment war between Norway and Sweden seemed inevitable. Swedish voices demanded the punishment and subjection of the "traitorous rebels" Norwegian voices

[64]

answered bold defiance. Both sides mobilized and made ready for a war that would inevitably have been of a most stubborn and sanguinary character.
But the war did not take place. Intelligent sober second thought -- the inborn heritage of the race -- warned instinctively against fatal disaster. Both sides began to figure out the consequences. Cool-headed Swedes soon realized that to hold down Norway against the fixed determination of .its people was in the long run impossible. Furthermore, both peoples came to see that such a war whatever its outcome would leave them alike at Russia's mercy. Accordingly the crisis was settled without shedding a drop of blood. Sweden recognized Norway's independence and Norway gladly accepted Sweden's demand for the total disarmament of their common frontier.
The results of this peaceful settlement were of the happiest nature. Within a few years all traces of mutual bitterness had vanished. On the contrary since causes of friction had been removed, the two peoples began looking at their common interests. The Russian peril was a powerful promoter of kindred feeling. When the Great War broke out in 1914 both countries made haste to affirm their friendship, for, simultaneously with their declarations of neutrality they formally agreed that under no circumstances should one country take hostile action against the other.
An even, more remarkable example of intelligent forbearance was shown in the settlement of the Danish-Icelandic controversy Iceland that strange land of snow-fields and volcanoes lying in the remote recesses of the Arctic Ocean, was settled more than 1,000 years ago by

 

[65]

 

rebel vikings refusing obedience to the first Norwegian kings. Eventually brought under Norwegian control, Iceland passed with Norway under Danish rule; but then Norway was joined to Sweden in 1814, Iceland remained under the Danish crown. It may seem strange that the sparse population of this forbidding land -- only 90,000 souls -- should have cherished separatist feelings; yet such was the case. The old Norse love of freedom was in the blood and as time passed the Icelanders, despite wide autonomy, chafed under Danish overlordship, precisely as their Norwegian brethren did at political union with the Swedes.
Here, if ever, was a test of Scandinavian forbearance and self-control. A handful of people scattered along the shores of a distant and barren island were asserting their claim to independence against a wealthy nation of 3,000,000. Denmark could have crushed Iceland at a stroke. In fact, dependent as the island is on imported foodstuffs a mere blockade of its ports would have starved it into submission.
Yet the Danes never even considered such measures. The dispute was temperately argued out, and a solution was finally arrived at satisfactory to both sides. By the Act of Union of November 30, 1918, Iceland was declared to be a free sovereign state, united with Denmark by a personal bond of union under the same king. Certain matters especially foreign affairs are conducted by Denmark; but the act may be revised in the year 1940 at the option of the contracting parties.
This settlement, like that between Norway and Sweden, is producing the happiest results, both Danes and Ice-

[66]

landers experiencing an increase in mutual regard and common aspiration toward larger Scandinavian interests.
These two examples show how Scandinavia has solved her internal problems of political readjustment. They certainly merit the attention of thinking people everywhere. Yet no less worthy of the world's attention is Scandinavia's attitude toward her neighbors, particularly regarding lost or unredeemed territories. One of the most disquieting and discouraging aspects of present-day Europe is the fierce clash of imperialistic appetites displayed by most of the European nations. This is not a matter of size; some of the small nations are more greedy and reckless than the larger ones. In certain cases the claims advanced by nationalistic propagandas are based on the most absurd perversions of history, or even upon the brazen argument of strategic frontiers. Some of the arguments would be laughable if they were not so tragic. Territories lost centuries ago are to be redeemed, ancient defeats are to be avenged, long-established borders must be rectified. The Versailles Peace Conference, at the end of the Great War, was turned into a perfect bedlam by the wild cries of greedy propagandists after all they could get regardless of consequences, and too many of these unsound claims were, alas, allowed; the upshot being that Europe is to-day cursed by a whole crop of nationalistic troubles threatening new wars.
In striking contrast to all this stands the attitude of Scandinavia. Not that Scandinavia lacks such claims if she cared to raise them. The Scandinavian nations have lost many territories to neighboring states. In two cases the loss was comparatively recent and still keenly felt.

[67]

These were Sweden's loss of Finland to Russia in 1809 and Denmark's loss of Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia in 1864. At the close of the late war Denmark and Sweden both had opportunities to regain at least portions of these lost territories. Let us see how they conducted themselves. Their attitude is in such refreshing contrast to that of most other European nations that it well merits our attention.
Consider first the case of Schleswig-Holstein. This borderland between Denmark and Germany was conquered by Prussia in the year 1864. The southern province -- Holstein -- is thoroughly German in blood and speech. The northern province Schleswig is predominatingly German in its southern part; but the northern portion, adjoining Denmark, is mostly Danish in blood and language, while there is a considerable Danish element the central portion as well. By the peace of 1864 it was agreed that a plebiscite should be held in north Schleswig in order that the inhabitants might themselves decide their political allegiance. Prussia, however, disregarded this proviso. The plebiscite was never held and the Danish districts were ruthlessly Germanized.
Denmark thus had a first-class grievance, which was recognized by the Versailles Conference. Indeed, a considerable body of public opinion in the Allied countries, particularly in France, urged the Danes to assert their historic rights to all Schleswig-Holstein. If Denmark had said the word she could probably have had both provinces for the asking. Imagine what would have happened if such an opportunity had been offered most European nations! But not the sane, far-seeing Scandinavians! The

[68]

bulk of Danish public opinion rejected such suggestions without a moment's hesitation. To poison their national life by annexing more than 1,000,000 recalcitrant Germans and to hang about Denmark's neck the millstone of a German war of revenge was clean against Danish common sense. Danish feeling crystallized in a popular slogan: All that is Danish. No More and No Less!
That was the watchword, and thus was it settled. The destiny of Schleswig was determined by the free vote of its inhabitants. The province was divided into three zones, each zone to vote separately. In fact, before the vote was held, the Danish Government voluntarily ruled the southern zone out of consideration as being clearly German, thus avoiding the unnecessary friction that the holding of a vote might have caused. Ultimately the northern zone voted for union with Denmark by a vote of three to one. The middle zone, on the contrary, voted to remain German by more than two to one. This result was, of course, disappointing to Denmark. There was even some talk of disregarding the vote and annexing the territory. But the bulk of Danish public opinion refused to be stampeded: All that is Danish. No More and No Less! That was what the Danish people had promised, and they kept their word.
The next notable instance of Scandinavian moderation was the attitude of Sweden in the Aland Islands controversy. This rocky archipelago lies in the Baltic Sea midway between Sweden and Finland. Sweden ceded the Alands to Russia along with Finland in 1809, but always regretted their loss, since they virtually dominate Sweden's capital, Stockholm. When Finland declared its

[69]

independence after the Russian revolution of 1917, the inhabitants of the Aland Islands, who are of pure Swedish blood, declared that they wanted to go back to Sweden rather than to form part of the new Finnish state. Naturally, Swedish public opinion warmly favored the recovery of the Alands. But the Finns strongly objected, declaring that the islands formed part of their country. The question was warmly debated on both sides, considerable bitterness developed, and there was even talk of war. Sweden was so much stronger than Finland that she could have seized the islands at will. But Sweden resisted the temptation.
Here again Scandinavian common sense and far-sightedness prevailed. Sweden's true policy was to make fast friends with Finland and bind Finland to the Scandinavian family of nations, where she really belonged, thus banishing the Russian peril. To seize the Alands would embitter Finland and perhaps drive her back into Russia's arms. Accordingly, Sweden offered to submit the matter to arbitration, and the case was tried by the League of Nations. The League awarded the Alands to Finland on condition that they be permanently neutralized and that their inhabitants be granted full autonomy. Another victory for peace and sanity had been won.
Such is the record of the Scandinavian peoples in their dealings both with one another and with their neighbors. It is a brilliant record that may well be pondered not merely by Europe but by the whole world. It is also a striking display of those inborn qualities of intelligent foresight, high political ability, self-control, and common sense that are the birthright of the great Nordic race, to

[70]

which the Scandinavians belong. These things did not happen by chance; they happened because they were thought out and carried out by well-bred brains. Once again the fundamental importance of race in human affairs is clearly shown.
It is interesting to note that this basic fact is consciously appreciated in Scandinavia, perhaps more generally than anywhere else. More and more, Scandinavian public opinion is realizing the true significance of race, as distinguished from other factors, like language and nationality, which elsewhere are apt to confuse the issue.
This growing appreciation of the racial idea is producing excellent results.
It is drawing the Scandinavian blood brothers into a closer and more intimate association. It is also inspiring them with a heightened desire to do their utmost in saving the threatened fabric of European civilization.
And surely the Scandinavian peoples are capable of playing a part in Europe's reconstruction far greater than might appear from their mere size and population. One of the things that the whole world needs to learn is the fact that quality is much more important than quantity. In Scandinavia we surely have quality. Here are fully 12,000,000 people, racially homogeneous and of an unusually high grade; intelligent, progressive, and prosperous; with no serious internal differences and no external foes. Certainly, Scandinavia is today the brightest spot on the Continent of Europe.

Flag carried by the 3rd Maryland Regiment at the Battle of Cowpens, S. Carolina, 1781

© America First Books
America First Books offers many viewpoints that are not necessarily its own in order to provide additional perspectives.