Aftenposten
- Welcome.
- The paper dispute was settled on Saturday evening.
- 14 days from today.
Aftenposten's front page on 4 October 1926 welcomed Finnish President Lauri Kristian Relander, who was arriving in Oslo that morning for an official visit to King Haakon. The editorial stressed long-standing Finnish–Norwegian friendship, similar national character and shared interests. A long news report said the month-and-a-half paper-industry stoppage had been settled on Saturday evening: general issues would go to voluntary arbitration, with the wage question decided by a five-member tribunal, while special demands were to be settled by direct negotiation. A campaign editorial counted down the 14 days to the 18 October referendum on prohibiting spirits and urged opponents of prohibition to turn out. This reading covers the three selected items and does not include the dispute report's continuation on page 3.
Translation
Welcome.
[?] When Finland's president arrives in Oslo this morning to pay an official visit to King Haakon, he can be assured of the warmest welcome from the Norwegian capital. President Relander does not come to our country as a stranger. He has previously stayed here as a private individual and has come to know Norwegians and Norwegian conditions. Already from that stay he will have gained a sense of the interest and sympathy with which we here in Norway have followed Finland and the Finns, both in their time of tribulation and in their purposeful and energetic work during the first difficult years since they won their full independence. Between Finns and Norwegians a warm friendship has existed for generations. As has often been pointed out, the two peoples share closely related traits of character, which have made it easy for them to understand each other. A certain similarity in their historical development over the last hundred years and a likeness in the nature of their countries have brought with them a strong community of interests. [?]
The paper dispute was settled on Saturday evening.
[?] was settled on Saturday evening. Concessions from both sides. – The Tinnfos conflict kept outside. Work resumes today. The arbitration tribunal will not be appointed until later in the week. – What has the stoppage cost? The parties' representatives and the Minister of Social Affairs speak to "Aftenposten". National Mediator, lawyer Valentin Voss. Through negotiation and mediation, agreement was reached on Saturday evening to refer the general points of dispute to voluntary arbitration, as the National Mediator had earlier proposed. Work resumes immediately. • Our supposition that it was the decisive meeting that convened – Business Manager A. Bratvold, Norwegian Paper Industry Workers' Union. – at the National Mediator's on Saturday afternoon thus proved correct. The meeting lasted until 10 p.m. Then, finally, after a week and a half of intense negotiating activity, the agreement could be sealed, and the month-and-a-half-long conflict, so costly for the country, was resolved. As is known, after the vote on the National Mediator's proposal to resolve the conflict through voluntary arbitration, the workers' side put forward a compromise proposal that arbitration should be accepted on condition that Chief Director N. Rygg. the special demands were first settled by direct negotiation, which the employers agreed to. In all, the conflict covers 41 enterprises, of which 11 had settled their special demands before the negotiations began. Now, then, the wage question itself is to be decided by an arbitration tribunal of 5 members, of whom the State appoints 3 and the parties one each. Work will, however, be resumed immediately, for practical reasons probably not until this evening, but the wage- (Continued on page 3). [?]
14 days from today.
Out of town......... NOK 10.00 per quarter. Delivered by messenger, surcharge " 0.50 " " Morning no. 67th year. 14 days from today. Monday the 18th of October – that is, 14 days from today – is when the prohibition vote takes place. For prohibition of spirits or against prohibition of spirits: that is the question on which voters must then take a stand. At the previous referendum, 489,017 votes were cast for prohibition and 304,673 votes against prohibition. Thus a majority for prohibition of well over 184,000 votes. At that time there were about 1,200,000 eligible voters. On Monday, 14 days from today, there will be about 1,450,000 eligible voters. This strong increase in the number of eligible voters alone gives us who are against prohibition new possibilities, but the best card we have been dealt since 1919 is the experience that prohibition itself has given us. It is of such a kind that we must be allowed to count on thousands who voted for prohibition last time now voting against it. Sound common sense says so. However, what matters now is to use the 14 days that remain for information work and agitation in all circles, in town and countryside. And then the last, but nonetheless the most important of all: to get all opponents of prohibition to the ballot box on the 18th of October. In 1919 there were 400,000 stay-at-homes. This time everyone must turn out. So to work in the last 14 days before the decision! Large fire at Hemnesberget.
Context
Relander's Nordic visits as Finland's second president
The editorial greets Relander as a guest who "does not come to our country as a stranger", recalling an earlier private stay in Norway and presenting the official visit as an expression of friendship built up over generations. Relander was Finland's second president, in office from 1925 to 1931. Later assessments note that Finland's broader foreign policy of isolation continued during his term, but credit him with establishing relations at head-of-state level with neighbouring states, such as the other Nordic countries. The Oslo visit was one of a series of foreign trips: in 1926 he also made an official visit to Latvia, and his continual state visits drew criticism at home, earning him the nickname "Reissu-Lasse" (Travelling Lasse). The Norwegian welcome shows this head-of-state diplomacy from the host's side. The editorial's language of kinship and shared interests expresses goodwill rather than any formal alliance.
How the paper dispute was split between arbitration and direct talks
As Aftenposten reported it, the settlement rested on a two-track compromise. National Mediator Valentin Voss had proposed sending the dispute to voluntary arbitration, which was not compulsory. After a vote on that proposal, the workers' side agreed to arbitration on condition that the "særkrav" (special demands at individual workplaces) were first settled by direct negotiation, and the employers accepted this. The paper said 41 enterprises were involved, of which 11 had already resolved their special demands before the talks began. The central wage question would go to a five-member tribunal, with three members appointed by the state and one by each party. The report also said the separate Tinnfos conflict was kept outside the agreement. The front page describes the stoppage as a month-and-a-half conflict that was costly for the country, but the questions about its actual cost and the parties' statements continue on page 3, which is not part of this reading.
The anti-prohibition case: electorate growth and the 1919 stay-at-homes
The countdown editorial is openly partisan. It speaks for "us, who are against prohibition" and builds its case on two arguments. The first is arithmetic. By the paper's own figures, the 1919 referendum produced 489,017 votes for prohibition and 304,673 against, from about 1.2 million eligible voters. That means roughly 794,000 votes were cast, and the gap is consistent with its claim of 400,000 stay-at-homes. With the electorate now said to be about 1.45 million, the editorial argued that new voters and mobilised non-voters could overturn a majority of just over 184,000. The second argument is experience: it presents the years under prohibition since 1919 as the opponents' "best card" and says common sense would lead thousands of earlier supporters to switch. It does not spell out what those experiences were. It simply assumes readers share its judgment. The vote itself, on 18 October, lay two weeks ahead of this issue.
Original
Velkommen.
[?] Naar Finlands præsident kommer til Oslo i formiddag for at avlægge et officielt besøk hos kong Haakon, kan han være forvisset om den hjerteligste mottagelse fra den norske hovedstads side. Præsident Relander kommer ikke som en fremmed til vort land. Han har tidligere som privatmand opholdt sig her og har lært nordmænd og norske forhold at kjende. Han vil allerede fra dette ophold ha faat en følelse av den interesse og den sympati, hvormed vi her i Norge har fulgt Finland og finnene baade i deres trængselstid og i deres maalbevisste og energiske arbeide i de første vanskelige aar, siden de vandt sin fulde selvstændighet. Mellem finner og nordmænd har der gjennem generationer bestaat et varmt venskapsforhold. Som det ofte har været fremholdt har de to folk nær beslektede karaktertræk, som gjør, at de har hat let for at forstaa hverandre. En viss likhet i den historiske utvikling i de siste hundre aar og en ensartethet i deres lands natur har ført med sig et sterkt interessefællesskap. [?]
Papirkonflikten blev ordnet lørdag aften.
[?] blev ordnet lørdag aften. Indrømmelser fra begge parter. - Tinnfos-konflikten holdt utenfor. Arbeidet gjenoptas idag. Voldgiftsretten blir først utnævnt senere i uken. - Hvad har arbeidsstansen kostet? Partenes repræsentanter og socialministeren uttaler sig til " Aftenposten ". Rigsmæglingsmand advokat Valentin Voss. Ved forhandling og mægling er det lørdag aften lykkedes at tilveiebringe enighet om at overlate de generelle tvistepunkter til frivillig voldgift, som av riksmæglingsmanden tidligere foreslaat. Arbeidet gjenoptas straks. • Vor formodning om at det var det avgjørende møte, som traadte Forretningsfører A. Bratvold, Norsk Papirindustriarbeiderforb. sammen hos riksmæglingsmanden lørdag eftermiddag, var altsaa riktig. Møtet varte til kl. 10 aften. Da, endelig efter halvanden ukes intens forhandlingsvirksomhet kunde enigheten besegles, og den halvanden maaned lange, for landet kostbare konflikt var løst. Som bekjendt blev det efter avstemningen over riksmæglingsmandens forslag om. at løse konflikten ved frivillig voldgift fremsat et kompromisforslag fra arbeidernes side om, at voldgift skulde akcepteres paa betingelse av, at Chefdirektør N. Rygg. særkravene først var ordnet ved direkte forhandling, hvad arbeidsgiverne tiltraadte. Ialt omfatter konflikten 41 bedrifter, hvorav de 11 hadde ordnet særkravene før forhandlingene begyndte. Nu skal altsaa selve lønsspørsmaalet avgjøres av en voldgiftsret paa 5 medlemmer, hvorav Staten opnævner de 3 og partene hver sin. Arbeidet vil imidlertid bli optat straks, av praktiske grunde antagelig først iaften, men de lønnin - (Forts. 3dje side). [?]
14 dage idag.
Utenbys......... kr. 10, 00 pr. kv. Ombragt ved bud, tillæg " 0, 50 " " Morgennr. 67. aarg. en. 14 dage idag. Mandag den 18de oktober - altsaa 14 dage idag - er det forbudsavstemningen foregaar. For brændevinsforbud eller mot brændevinsforbud er det spørsmaal, som vælgerne da skal ta stilling til. s Ved forrige folkeavstemning blev der avgit 489, 017 stemmer for forbud og 304, 673 stemmer mot forbud. Altsaa et flertal for forbud paa godt og vel 184, 000 stemmer. Dengang var der ca. 1, 200, 000 stemmeberettigede. Mandag, 14 dage idag, vil der være ca. 1, 450, 000 stemmeberettigede. Allerede denne sterke økning i de stemmeberettigedes antal gir os, som er imot forbudet, nye muligheter, men det beste kort, vi har faat paa haanden siden 1919, er de erfaringer selve forbudet har git os. De er av en saadan art, at vi maa ha lov til at regne med, at tusener som stemte for forbud sist nu vil stemme imot. Det tilsier den sunde fornuft. Imidlertid gjælder det nu om at benytte de 14 dage som er igjen til oplysningsarbeide og agitation i alle kredser i by og bygd. Og saa det siste, men dog det aller viktigste: at faa alle forbudets motstandere frem til valgurnen den 18de oktober. I 1919 var der 400, 000 hjemmesittere. Dennegang maa alle frem. Derfor til arbeide de siste 14 dage før avgjørelsen! Stor brand paa Hemnesberget.