Lögberg - 21.08.1930, Blaðsíða 2

BIs. 2
LÖGBEKG, FIMTUDAGINN 21. ÁGÚST 1930.
CANADA
Address delivered by J. T. Thor-
son, K.C., J.D., at Hnausa, Man.,
August 4, 1930.
marches ahead of law. He as-^whether appeals should lie to Verdun and the immortal words,
serts, and with him I a!gree, that the Privy Council. We have settledl “they s'hall not pass”, and kept
there| ernment means in Canada exactly
1 what it means in Great Britain,
Canada is a nation.
Prior to Confederation
were several British Colonies in
British North America, each with'that in the last resort responsibil-
a measure of self-government;'ity for political policies and con-
each having its own separate duct shall be to the electors them-
economic and political entity.
Their attitude of mind was pro-
vincial and colonial and any idea
selves. In the enjoyment of con-
stitutional ri'ghts Canada has
equality with Great Britain, and
Ladies and gentlemen.—It gives
rne very great pleasure to be here
this afternoon and to meet so
many friends whom I have not met
sion it would be a pleasant task of distinct nationality was indeed now the, Impenal Conference has
to speak in honor of Iceland, that’ remot€- Yet there were men in, duefined that ,eq"ahtJ U8
small island in the arctic seas,|those day« who could see visions, that was gradually being recog-
regarding which we have heard’ of the future' Macdoanld, Cartier,,
so much in recent years. The 'f'uPPer an(f McGee
nation that lives in that island is
small in point of size but great in
the wealth of its traditions. It
has just celebrated the thous-
andth anniversary of the estab-
lishment of its parliament, a
! nized by practice. Great Britain
to mention'has impliedly agreed not to exer-
only a few of the Fathers of Con-]cise the rights of sovereignty
federation, were statesmen. They(which she legally possesses ex-
had the image of a united Canada^ cept with the concurrence or upon
before them and they were not the request of Canada. The door
afraid to hope for the future. is open for an increase of Cana-
Their dreams of yesterday are be-úian autonomy. Canada has only
thousand years of love of liberty comin* realities* of They!to m*ke the request and the re-
which was the cause of its forma- sowed the seed of Canadian qU&St WlH h° granted; °Ver *
tion and has been its sustaining nationality. ' year ago I had the pleasure of
force throughout the centuries That seed has *rown with mar-^eanng a great Canadian orator,
that have gone by. When Harold velous raPidity for if fel1 on fer-. SÍr Ge°rge F°Ster’ SPeak
the Fairhair won the battle of tile soih Time does not Permit SUbjeCt °f <*“?a- ®e °Utllned
Hafursfjord, he defeated the last me to more than merely outline mUch m°re ablyuthan 1 could hoPe
of the Norse chieftains who had the sta*es of that »rowth' UP°n,to do some of the stages.of devel;
refused to submit voluntarily to the granting of responsible govern-l opment that I have mentioned and
his efforts to unite Norway under ment there was a oomPleto chanSe, he made one stntement that; 1
his rule. That meant the begin- in the attitude of Creat Britain to,should llke to tonday: No
ning of the colonization of Ice- Canada; government from Down- nation m the world of the size of
land and those who loved liberty in* Street is a thin* of the Pnst-!Canad^ can Point to as *reat an
above all else determined that Confederation conferred upon us achievement as Canada has ac-
they would set up a new nation in a lar«e mensure of self govern-^ complished m the short space of
this far-off island, of which they ment’ the checks on federal legis-, half / ,century- . The Pulse of
had had news, rather than submit lation have been rarely exercisedj Canada is quickenmg; natioha
to the rule of Harold. The home and there has been a comPlete «- consciousness is becom.ng a real
for all time that responsible gov-| the German troops out of Paris;
the spirit that held the Canadians
fast in that hell of poison 'gas at*
the battle of Ypres and saved the'
civilization of the world. Is the
spirit that enables men to do these
things, that keeps a nation intact,
steadfast and strohg, lightly to
be cast aside as a thing of little
value? Yet t'here are many in
1 his land of ours who would stifle
cur further growth towards na-
tionhood.
We have accomplished much in
the past and we have done so in1
the face of great difficultiesj
I
greater than those that most
nations have enqountered. Yetj
our pathway is still beset with
many obstacles, economic as welll
as racial. How shall we overcome
these obstacles? How' shall we(
solve the problems that confront
us? .
which they established in the far
cognition of our autonomy in the^ factor in the public life of Can-
off island which we now call Ice- sPheres of jurisdiction respective- ada. Our growth towards nation-
land, attracted many others and ^ nssiKned to the provincial legis-
the Icelandic nation was born. latures and the federal Pnrlinment-
It lived through its golden age of We have been encouraKed to solve
saga and romance. It left its our own Problems in our own waY
imprint upon the literature of the and our Politlcal independence in
world. It lived through the dark seif-&°vernment has developed the
forbidding centures of the middle Pride that comes from eeif-respect.
ages harrassed by famine, pague, Economic progress has also played
volcanic eruption and the lavages its Part in our national «rowth-
of foreign pirates, but it l.as sur- We are heSinninS to feel that in
vived its period of depression and this Canada of ours we have a
emerges again in this century herita^e of value> that our eountry
with its free institutions of Iiberty.jis not a barren waste of ice and
Our forefathers created a great snow>
nation from the point of view of Promise-
its character and we, their descen-1 W68^1"11
dents, are doing our part in the'as worthless> the exploitation of
creating of a new nation in this our mines and forests and the de’
new land. That is our task, and vel°Pment of our water Power
but a land of wealth and
The cultivation of our
prairies, once regarded
it is of the Canadian nation that
I wish to speak to-day. If we can
do as well in the task of nation
builþing in Canada as our fore-
fathers did in the small island in
the arctic seas, we shall have
been worthy of them and shall
have done well. In budlding a
new nation in Canada, we are
charged with a great responsibility.
In discharging that responsibility
we have two functions to perform.
As architects we must draw the
plans for a noble edifice and as
1 have made us feel that we are not
paupers but can take our place
with the other nations of the
world and stand solidly upon our
own feet. We face the future v>ith
cptimism and confidence. Prior
| to the war another factor contri-
I buted to our national develop-
ment. I refer to our participation
in the Imperial Conferences. The
Dominions were called into the
Councils of the Empire as part-
ners on terms of equality. At these
I conferences Canadian premiers
builders we must carry out thesel from Sir Wilfrid Laurier onward>
! regardless of their political affili-
I ations, have constantly maintain-
I ed an independent attutude and
plans so that the building may
endure. Moreover, we must use
the materials that we have on
hand.
stoutly insisted upon the right of
the Canadian Parliament to deter-
mine for Canada what the course
shall be, and British
statesmen have freely recognized
origins,1 the justice of the position that
courageous and aggressive, and
we have tremendous natural re-
sources, fertile fields and vast
What materials are there in
Canada with which to build a na-! of Qana(ja
tion? We have sound men and
women of various racial
hood has been steady and rapid.
Should this growth cease? These
are questions which I leave with
you for your consideration.
You may well ask—why should
we concern ourselves with the de-
velopment of a national conscious-
ness in Canada? If we have self-
government and material pros-
perity, what more do we want?
What is the value of national
consciousness, a sense of nation
ality distinctly Canadian? May
I turn to the lessons of history?
But before doing so perhaps I
should endeavor to explain what
I mean by the term. I am not
using it in its original sense, for
that implies community of racial
origin and that we do not possess.
Nor am I using it in a purely legal
sense implying solely community
of allegiance, for that we possess
in common with India and the Gold
Coast. I use the term in a special
sense. I mean that spirit that
holds the inhabitants of a country
together, places that country in
which they live first in their af-
fections, carries them through ad-
versity to success, makes them a
united force ready to defend their
Just as people came to Iceland
in the days of its colonization
from many lands, from the rocky.
fjords of Norway, from the misty
Western islands, from the north-
western shores of Scotland and
the east coast of Ireland after the
defeat of Olaf the White, and all
played their part in the formation
of the Icelandic nation, borne in
love of liberty, so we in Canada
are forming a new nation out of
many elements coming to us from
different lands with differing in-'
stitutions and varying traditions,'
but all desirous of taking advan-
tage of the opportunities and pri-
vileges presented by this new
land. How are we to weld these
people together into a Cenadian
nation? Those who came from
other lands to this new land pur-
posely severed the ties that bound
them to their old land. They
pulled their roots from the soil
of their native lands and planted
them in Canada. They came here
in order that their sons and
daughters might enjoyi opportuni-
ties in this new land that had
been denied. to them in the old.
Each group of newcomers will
have its contribution to make to
this new Canadian nation and we
in Canada will have to accept the
contribution whéther it be good
or bad, for the groups of new-
comers are here and will leave
their impress upon this land and
upon us who live here, but surely
we can determine the qaulity of
the contribution that each group
will make by our attitude towards
the newcomers. Let us keep con-
stantly before us the plans that
we have drawn for our new nation.
The plans are those of a great
democracy and true democracy is
tic seas. To us of Icelandic origin
this statue has a special signific-
ance for it symbolizes the recovery
of the nation of our forefathers
and their acqusition again of free
institutions of government, but
perhaps the statue has a wider
significance, and I like to think of
it in that light. It symbolizes the
presence in our midst of the des-
cendents of the foreign born who
came to Canada that their sons
and daughters might enjoy the
freedom and the opportunities of
this great new land. In the centre
Queen Victoria sits on her throne
of bronze, a constant reminder of
our unbreakable Anglo-Saxon
ties. And near Osborne Street
there is a monument to our fallen
soldiers, erected by their next of
kin. Upon that monument are
engraved the names of Canadian
heroes of French, British and
non-British origin. United they
fought in war against a common
foe and gallantly they gave their
lives for Canada and for Liberty.
Equal they lie in the fields of
France and Flanders, equal in the
Fraternity of Death.
What contribution can we make
to this new Canadian nation of
which I speak? ■ Our Fathers
came very rich in the traditions of
the Old Land and possessed of thé
characteristics that sustained its
people throughout the centuries,
love of liberty and love of country,
strong in body and in mind asser-
tive of their rights and proud of
their traditions. If we can bring
as part of our contribution to this
new land the qualities that made
our forefathers great, — courage,
fortitude and tenacity — then, we
shall have made a contribution to
this new Iand worthy of the stock
from which we came, a contribu-
tion which this country should
be proud to receive. This nat.ibn
has wealth, which the nation of
our forefathers has not. This
nation will be large in numbers
and that of our forafathers will
always be small, but if we in this
new land make a nation as great
in character as the nation of the
Old Land, we shall have completed
the building according to our
plans and the 'Canadian nation
will truly be a great one amongst
the nations of the world.
John Masefield
lárviðarskáld Breta.
Englendingar hafa lengi haft
■þann sið, að eitt af skáldum
þeirra hefir opinberlega verið
skipað “lárviðarskáld” og hefir
notið launa úr ríkissjóði. Þetta
skáld hefir ort kvæði við ýms
meiriháttar opinber tækifæri, en
annars verið frjáls verka sinna
og hefir það þótt heiður að vera
skipaður lárviðarskáld. En oft
hafa staðið deilur um skipunina,
en það er forsætisi’áðherra, sem
ræður henni. Á síðari árum hafa
sumir vilja láta afnema þetta
embætti og bent á, að oft hafi
verið gengið fram hjá beztu mðnn-
unum.
Nú er nýlega útnefnt nýtt lár-
viðarskáld (eftir Bridges)i og
hefir John Masefield orðið fyrir
valinu. Hann er fæddur 1875 í
Liverpool, var um skeið sjómaður
í æsku og vann lengi fyrir sér
með ýmsri erfiðisvinnu í Ameríku
og svalt þá stundum. Hann hef-
ir ort kvæði, leikrit og sögur. Með-
al kvæðasafna hans má helzt
nefna Saltwater Ballads (1902),
Reynald the Fox (1919) ágæta
ljóðsögu, og af sögum hans má
helzt nefna Multitude and Soli-
tude. Masefield er lítið sem ekk-
ert kunnur hér á landi, en er
merkur höfundur, frískur, hisp-
urslaus og oft áhrifamikill. —
FRÁ ÍSLANDI.
Undanfarna daga hefir mikil
síld veiðst fyrir Norðurlandi og
Austfirðingáf halfa einníig veitt
talsvert fyrir Austurlandi. Búið
er að salta 36 þús. tn. á Siglufirði
og af því eru 11 þús. tn. sendar út.
Síldarbræðslustöð ríkisins hefir
starfað síðastliðna viku, en ekki
getað gengið með fullum krafti,
því ólag hefir verið á vélunum.
Krossanesverksmiðjan byrjaði að
bræða síld um miðja vikuna; er
síldarverðið 6 kr. málið. Einkasal-
an hefir samið um sölu á 15 þus.
tn. af saltaðri síld til Rússlands,
en um verð er ekki kunnugt. —
Mgbl. 27. júlí.
country and give their lives if founded upon the eternal principles
| our leaders have so uniformly
adopted. During the war the
, kernel of Canadian nationality
forests, rich mines and waters ripened stiJ1 further_ No nation
teeming with fish; our industries| in
the world played .
are expanding; we have devised heroic part than Canada
and built great systems of trans-
portation and distribution. Of
all these assets we are justly
proud, but they alone cannot make
a more
in that
terrible drama that began m
1914. Canada emerged from that
war with a new status in the eyes
of the world. She signed the
8 nation’ B”cks alone d0 not Peace Treaty recognized by Great
be Britain and the powers of the
world as a nation. Canada has
make a building; they must
truly laid upon a firm foundation
and they must be securely bound
together. So also with a nation.
Upon what foundation shall we
build in Canada? How shall we
bind together the materials for
nation building that we so plenti-
fully possess? These are the
questions which I wish to dis-
cuss with you to-day.
It has been said that the in-
habitants of a country are a na-
tion when they believe themselves
to be a nation. Have we, as yet,
developed any such consciousness
af nationality ? There are two
distinct schools of thought as to
taken her seat in the Councils of
the League of Nations and proudly
holds her place in the ranks of
those nations who are undertak-
ing the arduous march towards
the goal of world peace. Since
the war still further progress has
been made. We are thinking more
in terms of Canada than ever be-
fore. ‘The Canadian clubs have
taken a new lease of life. On every
hand we see such organizations
as the Native Sons of Canada
springing into life. Groups of
thinking men are being formed
from coast to coast for the pur-
the nationality of Canada. There pose of studying Canadian prob-
is that of the narrow legalist who lems and promoting good will and
denies that Canada is a nation^ mutual understanding. Canada
and points to legal argument now negotiates her own treaties
and the language of statutes in with other nations. There is a
proof of his contention. On the' growing demand that Canada
other 'hand there is the constitu- should have the right of deter-
tionalist who realizes that consti- mining whether her judicial sys-
need be in order that its honour
may be preserved and that it may
continue free and prosperous. It
is the same spirit that held the
people of Iceland in the land
which they regarded as home.
One of the most stirring incidents
in the history of Icelnnd took
place during the 18th century
The population of the island had
dwindled to only a little over
30,000 people as a result of the
hardships thiey had undergone
through famine, plague and vol-
canic eruptions, and it was pro
posed at a meeting of the Althing
that Iceland should be abandoned
and that the inhabitants should
settle themselves on the plains
of Jutland where life promised to
be kinder and easier than in the
dismal land that was theirs. The
motion failed. The great Ice-
landic characteristic of tenacity
asserted itself and the view was
held that their fathers had chosen
this land as home and home it
would remain whatever the con-
sequences might be. It was the
spirit of Icelandic nationality
that sustained the inhabitants of
Iceland in those dark days to re-
main in that poverty stricken land
because it was home to them. It
is the same spirit that moved
Leonidas and his noble band of
Spartans to lay down their lives
at Thermopylae that the Persian
hordes might not overrun Greece;
the spirit that moved Drake with
his tiny Ejnglish fleet to attacki
the Invincible Armada, drive it
from the seas and so save England
from the maw of Spain; the spirit
that held the British squares in-
tact at Waterloo and saved Europe
from Napoleon; the spirit that
tutional progress and development tem should be self-contained or, inspired the Frencíh defence of
of liberty, equality and fraternity.
These are to constitute the founda-
tion upon which we shall build
the Canadian Nation. Liberty of
self development. Equality of
íeligious thought and opinion,
Equality of rights before the law
and the Fraternity that unites
them all shall be a common .love
of Canada. It is upon such prin-
ciples as these that all great na-
tions must be built if they are to
endure. These are the principles
that sustained the old nation from
which we came, and they must be
the principles to sustain the nation
which we are helping to create.
In front of the Parliament Build-
ings at Winnipeg there is a pic-
ture of Canada consisting of four
statues, representing, as I like
to think, the constituent elements
of our new nation. Upon the
statue nearest Kennedy Street
there is this inscription: “May
the new province of Manitoba al-
ways speak to the inhabitants of
the north west the language of
reason, truth and justice.” What
a noble sentence! Manitoba has
not always spoken that language,
but Manitoba and each section of
Canada must speak that language
to every other section if Canada
is to be the great nation that we
plan it to be. Those words were
spoken by Cartier, a French Can-
adian Father of Confederation on
the occasion of the formation of
Manitoa in 1870. It is his statue
that stands near Kennedy Street,
the statue af a French Cánadian.
Next we come to a statue presented
by the Kingdom of Icelanud to the
Province of Manitoba. It is that
of Jon Sigurdson, an Icelandic
patriot, who battled for political
freedom in the island of the arc-
K0MIÐ í VEG FYRIR
GERAUÐN
SKÓGA
Þér
getið komið í veg
fyrir
skógarelda
Skógarnir í Can-
ada auka árlega
fimm hundruð mil-
jónum dollara við
þjóðar auðinn. Þeir
eru í stór hættu
vegna skógareld-
anna, sem beinlínis
eða óbeinlínis er
þröskuldur á vegi
hvers einasta borg-
ara þegar um fram-
farir þjóðarinnar er
að rœða.
Hver einasti Can-
ada-maður œtti að
fara varl ega með
eld í skógunum.
V erndið
SKOGANA
Miljónir eiga framtíð sína undir þeim
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