H.M. Jones Claims France, Germany Yield Cultural Lead to Scandinavia

Emerging relatively unscathed from a war that shattered most of the Continent, Scandinavia today is heir to the intellectual and cultural leadership of Europe that has been held for many years by France and Germany, Howard Mumford Jones, professor of English, states in a recent issue of the Aftenpostens Chronicle of Oslo, Norway.

"If I were a Scandinavian . . ." he writes. "I would begin to believe that now, if ever, is the time for the Great Scandiuavian Renaissance that in its dynamic power will give hope to the whole of Europe.

He pointed out in an interview Tuesday that there is little chance that France or Germany will over regain their prewar cultural and intellectual dominance in Europe. The German and French tradition of fine art, literature, education, and architecture, is broken, possibly irreparably.

British, Continental Universities

Questioned about England's cultutal and intellectual status in Europe, a point that he does not consider in the article. Professor Jones asserted that England is physically unable to take over the intellectual leadership of Europe. He also said that British universities are "admirable," but they have always had an "lnsular" attitude towards the universities on the Contineat.

He explained, however, that Segndin avia is not only physically able to take the lead in education, art, painting, and music in Europe, but that the "inherited traditions of free thinking" of its universities qualify it to supplant France and Germany as the cultural center.