There is a peculiar propriety in the name “No Man’s Land,”
which has been applied to the group of rocky snow-clad islands
four hundred miles to the north of the North Cape of Norway,
once spoken of as East Greenland, and appearing on all modern
maps as Spitzbergen. Wintering on these islands is practically
impossible to civilized man. There are myriad petrels and gulls
and wild geese in summer.
For two centuries the whalers and sealers--Swedes, Danes, Dutch,
Norwegians--frequented these islands in summer months. The right
whale disappeared. The seals became fewer. Visits to the islands
became less frequent. Now coal has been discovered in such beds
as to justify civilization in taking cognizance of “No Man’s
Land.”
The United States accepted the invitation of Norway to take
part in an international conference, at Christiana, to consider
the government of Spitzbergen. Russia, Great Britain, Sweden,
Germany and Denmark were invited. There is not much doubt that a
form of government will be devised and a full agreement reached.
This is a significant movement toward extending law in some form to
every bit of territory on the earth’s surface. A century hence it will
perhaps be impossible to find a square foot of earth that can be called
“No Man’s Land.”--Brooklyn _Eagle_.
(2201)
=Nobility, Obscure=--See SPIRITUAL NOBILITY.
=Noise, Vain=--See PRETENSE.
=Nomenclature, Absurd=--See ABSURDITY IN NOMENCLATURE.
=Non-Christian Religions=--See INADEQUACY OF NON-CHRISTIAN
RELIGIONS.