This year, as usual, the Norwegians celebrated their Independence Day. This year's celebration was the most successful in years. More people attended than ever before. Many were the speeches delivered, and excellent ones, but the outstanding address which is herewith published was delivered by Attorney Fred Gade:

Fellow Countrymen:

"Patriotism, great and deep-seated, has been demonstrated here today. On a foreign shore, thousands of miles away from our beloved homeland, this patriotism asserts itself and finds expression in a celebration similar to those at home. We march in a procession with our national colors, as they do far away, there in Norway, where we ourselves, most of us as children, some even at a more advanced age marched with flag in hand to the honor and glory of the dear motherland and her day of rejoicing. Today we unite in mind and heart with our brothers at home--for home it still is and ever 2will be, however good citizens we may be here--and we sing the praises of that home in our national hymns and commemorate the day when there was given to her that bulwark of liberty and independence, the constitution of "Syttende Mai" (17th May).

"Of what does this patriotism consist? Love of our country with its beauty, traditions and customs? Love of all that is dear to us from our childhood; our relatives, friends and other ties there at home? Yes, love certainly and something else beside, which perhaps after all is part of that love: gratitude, deepfelt and lasting, gratitude for all she was and still is to us every day of our life.

"We are told we make good citizens in this country, that we are found to be an honest, industrious trustworthy people. It is said that we are the kind of immigrants this country wants and needs, and that we seem to bring with us from across the seas a knowledge of institutions and conditions of the freest kind, presumably similar to those existing here. It is said 3that we are an element for good and that we benefit the country by standing on the right side where principle is involved, above all, that we are law-abiding.

"If this be true and if we are deserving of such commendation, if we are in truth law-abiding, it must be due to the conditions and institutions of our homeland where that quality which naturally obeys and respects the law was fostered in us. It must be because we are accustomed to a law that commands respect, and deserves obedience.

"To learn the nature of a people one must look to their laws and institutions. The rules and regulations laid down by a people for its own conduct are a criterion of its sense of responsibility and honor, and in proportion to their justness, goodness, liberality, or the reverse, those laws advance or retard that people's growth, development and happiness. They cannot but affect the attitude, not only of the people as a whole, but in some degree of the individual towards every question met with in life.

"What laws has Norway? What is her constitution? It is a constitution that is freer and more just than any on earth. Some would object to this statement on the ground that Norway is not a republic, under the impression that a monarchial form of government implies curtailment of the people's power, that in fact the very word "king" means loss of the rights of the people. But is it so after all in Norway? Do we not know that the will of the people is asserted there in more prompt and telling manner than in this republic, and that our constitution retained as chief executive "king" because our traditions, abounding with the leadership of a king, so demanded it? Have not the Norwegian people repeatedly passed the measure they wished above the king's veto in accordance with their constitutional right to do so? Did not the democratic spirit of the Norwegian people bring about the abolition of titles against the expressed wish of King Carl Johan--nobility being the last remnant of class distinction repugnant to the spirit of the constitution?

"And it is to the constitution to which we today pay honor and respect with a deep feeling of gratitude in our hearts not only for its sturdy care and 5protection of us at home, but also for its lasting benefit to us here, in training and adapting us to American citizenship.

"God keep that constitution safe, and give to our people strength to preserve it intact and sacred!"