A movement has existed for some time for the collection of funds for a memorial gift of a million dollars from the Norwegians in America in connection with the 100th anniversary of the constitution.

The movement has been discussed in the Norwegian press in America since 1905, and a number of proposals have appeared in Skandinaven and other papers concerning the collection of gifts for one purpose or other. All these proposals have sprung from a love of the old homeland, and for this reason will be considered sympathetically by all Norwegians. But all of them are suffering from one defect; they give the impression of wanting to aid a poverty stricken land. This is an insult against Norway Norway is not poor. A nation which was capable of executing the June 7th undertaking in the manner in which it was done by the Norwegians in Norway, is also capable of building onward without outside aid.

The readers of Skandinaven has proven as ready as anybody to step in helping when calamities have hit some city or district in Norway, nor will they stand back when any occurences of that type might take place in the future. They contribute their share to the constant stream of little gifts to relatives in the homeland. These are gifts that require no prompting and all these sums arrive at places where they will do the most good. Besides, their total is far greater than the proposed one million dollar gift.

A gift in commemoration of the independence gained in 1814 would be proper if properly presented. There must be no intimation of the gift as aid to a poor country. Norway is not a poor Country, it is rich. It is most necessary for the Norwegian nation that its eyes be opened for the great possibilities existing in Norway. But a gift of a million dollars from abroad will not help the Norwegian people to realize this.