Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1943, Page 76

7°
LE NORD
of affairs abroad with the greatest interest. Here the problem
of Scandinavian co-operation suggests itself with particular force.
As far as this problem is concerned, the Society has given unmis-
takable and active proof of its sympathetic attitude. Early in
1943 the Danish Society concluded an agreement with the Royal
Swedish Department of Schools for a mutual interchange of
grammophone records to be used for teaching their respective
languages, both in the institutes of higher education and in the
elementary schools. At the same time the Society placed the first
series of its records at the disposal of the teachers of Danish in
the Swedish secondary schools. In so doing, the Society gave
proof of its interest in Scandinavian co-operation in the practical
sphere. The same interest is evidenced by its project of placing
a large number of copies of its text-books at the disposal of
Scandinavian study circles in Sweden and the other Northern
countries.
The Society does not, however, contemplate sending agents
to our Scandinavian sister nations, because the »Norden« Societies
are already carrying on information work about Denmark there.
In connection with the question of increased Scandinavian
co-operation, the whole problem of the future position of the
smaller countries naturally suggests itself. By giving information
about Danish life, without losing itself in exaggerations and self-
praise, the Danish Society wishes to call the attention of the rest
of the world to the standard attained by the civilization of a
small country. Its members are convinced that it is incumbent
on the smaller nations actively to promote the study of, and
the dissemination of information about, the smaller cultural units
of the world, their languages and their history. This work, which
should run parallel with the study of the world languages and
the civilizations with which the latter are associated, ought, they
think, to be carried on, first of all among other small nations,
but also among the great powers. In energetically pursuing this
task, and in establishing a machinery for doing so, the smaller
nations would also acquire a means of asserting themselves among
the nations of the world.
An international work of information, which shows the rest
of the world what values the smaller countries have contributed
to the common stock of civilization, must be initiated among
all the influential circles abroad, and take place in close contact
with the organs of public opinion everywhere, and the task of