Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.03.1961, Blaðsíða 4

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LöGBÉRG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 9. MARZ 1961
Lögberg-Heimskringla
Published every Thursday by
NORTH AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO. LTD.
Printed by
WALLINGFORD PRESS LTD.
303 Kennedy Street, Winnipeg 2, Man.
Ediior: INGIBJÖRG JÓNSSON
EDITORIAL BOARD
Winnipeg: Dr. P. H. T. Thorlakson, chairman, Próf. Haraldur
Bessason, vice-chairman, Mrs. Ingibjörg Jónsson, sec’y, Dr.
Valdimar J. Eylands, Miss Caroline Gunnarsson, Prof. Thor-
valdur Johnson, Mr. Jón K. Laxdal, Prof. Tryggvi J. Oleson,
Rev. Philip M. Pétursson. Monlreal: Próf. Áskell Löve. Minne-
apolis: Mr. Valdimar Björnson. Grand Forks: Dr. Richard Beck.
Reykjavík: Birgir Thorlacius ráðuneytisstjóri. Akureyri: Stein-
dór Steindórsson yfirkennari.
Subscription $6.00 per year—payable in advance.
TELEPHONE WH. 3-9931
Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa.
Dr. P. H. T. THORLAKSON:
The Future Of Lögberg-Heimskringla
Over the years it has been said that the continued ex-
istence of the “Þjóðræknisfélag” depended upon the publica-
tion of the Icelandic weekly papers. Others have said that
the League would cease to exist and to function one year
after the Icelandic papers were discontinued. Whatever truth
there may be in these dire predictions it can be agreed that
they are vitally necessary to each other.
The Icelandic National League has expressed its con-
cern over the future of the Lögberg-Heimskringla in a very
tangible way by voting $500.00 a year towards its main-
tenance. Various Chapters of the League and other Icelandic
organizations have held special concerts, the procepds of
which have been sent to the paper. The first one “Lögbergs-
kveld” was held in Vancouver on March 30, 1959. The Ice-
landic Library Associations of Gimli was second with a
concert in April 23, 1959. Contributions were made to the
papers by the Chapter “Brúin” in Selkirk in April, 1959; the
Lundar Chapter in May, 1959 and the Ladies Aid “Eining”
of Lundar in June, 1959. The Icelandic Good Templars have
supported the papers very substantially, contributing $1000.00
to each paper in September 1957, $500.00 to each paper in
September 1958 and $500.00 to Lögberg-Heimskringla in Nov.
1959. íslendingadagurinn contributed $50.00 in Aug. 1959.
In March 1960, the paper received $25 from the Chapter
“Brúin” in Selkirk and in September 1960, proceeds of a
concert held by the Gimli Chapter, amounting to $200.00.
The Chapter “Frón” of Winnipeg is planning a concert on
March 20th for the same purpose.
The late Mr. Einar Páll Jónsson continually urged the
Board of Columbia Press and of Lögberg to sponsor an
appeal for trust funds to insure that the life-line of the
paper would be extended. He worked quietly but effectively
on the project. He would have accomplished his ambition
to create a substantial Trust Fund if he had not thrown his
energies, his tremendous enthusiasm and the full support of
his paper into the campaign for funds which resulted in the
creation of a $220,000.00 Endowment for the Chair of Ice-
landic Language and Literature, in the University of Mani-
toba, and later about $225,000.00 to renovate and erect a
new Betel Home Foundation for our aged Icelandic citizens
at Gimli, Manitoba.
At the time of the amalgamation this special Lögberg re-
serve fund stood at $6,467. This sum of money was turned over
to the new North American Publishing Company at the time
of the merger. By the greatest economy and hard work his
widow, the present Editor, Mrs. Ingibjörg Jónsson, has kept
this fund largely intact. She has performed her many duties
as Editor, Circulation Manager, Business Manager and Ad-
vertising Manager with inadequate help. She has also per-
suaded a number of the Directors and others to contribute
annually $25.00 and up to $100.00 to support the paper. Some
well-wishers have made larger donations. The Government
of Iceland has sent a yearly donation since 1943 to both
papers and now Lögberg-Heimskringla has for the last year
received the combined amounts.
In spite of all these generous donations and all possible
ecohomy this special emergency reserve fund now stands
at only $7,146.00. This is a dangerously and totally inade-
quate reserve when it is realized that this amount would
be wiped out in less than two years unless additional fi-
nancial support is given as in the past to the paper. By
this everyone can realize how vulnerable we are to any
sudden drop in advertising
revenue and to the failure of
subscribers to meet their an-
nual payment.
The annual deficit in print-
ing and mailing Lögberg-
Heimskringla to our sub-
scribers can amount to be-
tween $3,500.00 to $5,500.00 a
year if it has to depend en-
tirely on present subscriptions
(now at $6.00) and current
advertising revenue. Com-
pared to twenty years ago six
dollars will now buy only an
equivalent of three dollars
worth of printing, paper and
labor.
In view of the absolute nec-
essity of increasing the num-
ber of subscribers to the pa-
per the Board of Directors ap-
pointed a special committee
at its last meeting under the
Chairmanship of Rev. Philip
M. Petursson to study this im-
portant problem. —
Over the past year the Edi-
torial Board has held meet-
ings to discuss ways and
means to broaden the inter-
est in the paper amongst our
people. The result of these
meetings have been: Two
noted men in Iceland were re-
quested to join the Editorial
Board, Birgir Thorlacius Dep-
uty Minister of Education and
Steindór Steindórsson, Prin-
cipal of the Menntaskóli at
Akureyri. They have sent
very interesting articles which
have been well received by
the readers. Dr. Valdimar J.
Eylands was persuaded to
publish his travelogue in the
paper, "Ævintýri í átján lönd-
um" which has proved exceed-
ingly popular as has "Litið um
öxl" compiled by professors
Thorvaldur Johnson and
Tryggvi J. Oleson. Prof. Har-
aldur Bessason gets the
“Morgunblaðið” by airmail
and writes summary of the
latest news from Iceland
which appears in the paper
weekly. He and Dr. Richard
Beck are now preparing les-
sons in Icelandic which in due
course will appear in one cor-
ner of the paper. Other special
columns are being planned,
such as, “Hver er maðurinn”,
‘Tslenzkir sagnaþættir” and
the “Women’s Column” will
soon be revived. —
At the last meeting of the
Board of the Company all of
the 17 Directors bought at
least one common share of the
Company stock for $50.00.
This was not done as an in-
vestment in ownership and
control even though it is legal
requirement for Directorship.
These moneys were paid over
to the Company for one pur-
pose only and that was to
bolster in a small way the fi-
nancial position of the Ice-
landic paper. As this was the
Annual Meeting these pay-
ments could be regarded as a
“Birthday Presents” for the
“child” which is now almost
75 years of age.
Frankly the paper needs a
great many “birthday pres-
ents” of this kind. The Board
of Directors is convinced that
other “Friends of Lögberg-
Heimskringla” will wish to
join them in their effort to
strengthen the Reserve Fund
which must be maintained and
increased if the paper is to
continue. —
By way of an interesting
commentary it should be re-
corded that the recent Annual
Meeting or “Birthday Party”
which was held in the offices
of Senator Thorvaldson and
Mr. Arni Eggertson Q.C. was
celebrated in true Icelandic
fashion. After two hours of
deliberations, the President
announced a break for re-
freshments. Believe it or not,
we were served excellent
“harðfiskur” direct from Ice-
land, supplied by the secre-
tary of the Publishing Com-
pany, Mr. Alex Thorarinson.
There were also delicious Ice-
landic “pönnukökur” made
for the occasion by the wife
of the President, Mrs. Arni
Eggertson, and then the larg-
est and most delectable “Vín-
arterta” made by the wife of
the Treasurer, Mrs. K. W. Jo-
hannson. This was topped off
by good Icelandic coffee sent
up from of all places the
“Chocolate Shop”.
These observations are
made to assure our friends in
Jceland and in North America
that while our business meet-
ings are conducted largely in
English that the Icelandic
atmosphere is maintained.
While we do not begin or end
the meeting by singing “Ó,
Guð vors lands” or with an
Icelandic prayer which would
be most appropriate, every
occasion starts off by the good
old Icelandic custom of shak-
ing hands all around as each
Director arrives at the meet-
ing. The greeting invariably
is “Komdu sæll.”
For those of us who have
only an occasional opportuni-
ty to converse in Icelandic
and who had little opporunity
to study the Icelandic gram-
mar in our youth because the
school system demanded that
English have priority followed
by Latin, French and German,
the Icelandic language, how-
ever, holds for us considerable
fascination and interest. Many
of us understand the spoken
v/ord quite well, and read it
with sufficient ease to appre-
ciate the written word, but
speak even “vestur-íslenzku”
poorly, and in my case it may
be mixed with a little Nor-
wegian. Yet the opportunity
of working with the group
which is determined to con-
tinue publishing Lögberg-
Heimskringla for an indefi-
nite period is both an stimu-
lating and interesting experi-
ence. —
At the last Annual Meeting
it was suggested that the Di-
rectors place the present
balance of the special dona-
tions into “The Lögberg-
Heimskringla Trust Fund.” It
is proposed that the income
and such amounts of the capi-
tal as may be absolutely nec-
essary will be used to sustain
and improve the Icelandic
paper.
The Editor, Mrs. Ingibjörg
Jónsson, the Editorial Board,
which has on its membership
representatives from Iceland,
United States and Canada,
and the Board of Directors
all join in making an appeal
to everyone who is interested
in the continuation of the pa*
per and in the preservance of
this important link with the
Old Land to join the “Friends
of Lögberg-Heimskringla” by
becoming regular subscribers
to the paper, by encouraging
your neighbors and relatives
to become subscribers and if
possible to join us in estab-
lishing a “Lögberg-Heims-
kringla Trust Fund” which
will give new life and con-
tinuous support to the paper.
Séra Eyjólfur J. Melan
Frá bls. 1.
á því máli, sem þau skildu.
Eyjólfur var ekki aðeins
hagur í höndunum, heldur var
hann einnig orðhagur svo af
bar, og eru ræður hans og
rit þar til vitnis. Á yngri árum
mun hann hafa fengizt nokk-
uð við ljóðagerð, en hann
hélt því lítt á lofti, og lagðí
það víst að mestu niður síðan
árin. Væri vel að það, sem til
er eftir hann, bæði í bundnu
og óbundnu máli, væri ekki
aðeins verndað frá glötun,
heldur væri því safnað saman
og gefið út.
Hér þykir mér eiga við að
fylla inn þá mynd, sem vinir
Eyjólfs og velunnarar vilja
geyma, með nokkrum penna-
dráttum, teknum úr bréfi fra
konu hans til mín, eftir lát
hans. Hún segir meðal annars:
„Sem heimilisfaðir gjörði
hann allt, sem hann gat fyrir
okkur Jónas. Hann unni Lil'
lian, tengdadóttur sinni jafnt
Jónasi og gjörði allt til að
létta leið þeirra. En mesta
gleði hafði hann, þegar hann
var með sonarbörnum sínum-
Gjörði hann þeim margra
glaða stund með því að segja
þeim sögur, og leiða þau út 1
náttúruna, til að sýna þeim
fugla og jurtir.“ Og um af*
stöðu hans til meginmála
mannfélagsins segir hún:
„Hann unni trúfrelsi og jafn-
aðarmennsku, en hataði allan
yfirgang, óréttlæti og hjátru.
Við félagar, starfsbræður og
vinir hans, sem þekktum gáf'
ur hans og mannkosti, finnum
til þess, að flokkur okkar varð
miklum mun fátækari við lat
séra Eyjólfs, og við kveðjum
hann með söknuði og þakk-
læti.
A. E. K*