630 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



cient, anticipating that the payment of the cou- 

 pons in gold would cause a fall in the rate of 

 exchange. The interest amounts to 40,000,000 

 pesetas in gold annually, and the premium on 

 gold at the beginning of December was 42.85 per 

 cent. Premier Sagasta persuaded Seiior Urzaiz 

 to withdraw his resignation. 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY, two kingdoms 

 in northern Europe united since 1814, having the 

 same sovereign, but in constitution, government, 

 and laws independent of each other. The throne 

 in each monarchy descends to the heirs of the 

 house of Bernadotte. In case of the extinction of 

 the dynasty the Diets of the two kingdoms will 

 assemble separately to elect a sovereign, and if 

 they can not agree upon one person an equal num- 

 ber" of Deputies from each will meet together, and 

 the choice of the majority shall be King. Affairs 

 common to both kingdoms are decided by a Coun- 

 cil of State composed of Swedes and Norwegians, 

 and in case of a minor succeeding to the throne 

 this Council of State will exercise the sovereign 

 power pending the appointment of a regent or 

 regents by the two Diets or by the joint vote of 

 delegations from each. The reigning King is 

 Oscar II, born Jan. 21, 1829, grandson of Marshal 

 Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, the founder 

 of the dynasty, who was chosen by the Swedish 

 Diet in 1810 to be the heir and successor of Carl 

 XIII, the last sovereign of the house of Holstein- 

 Gottorp. The heir apparent is Gustaf, Duke of 

 Wermland, born June 16, 1858. 



Sweden. The Diet of Sweden, called the Riks- 

 dag, consists of a First Chamber composed of 150 

 members, elected for nine years by provincial and 

 municipal assemblies, and a Second Chamber con- 

 taining 230 members, elected for three years, 80 

 in towns by direct suffrage and 150 in rural dis- 

 tricts, either indirectly or directly as the majority 

 <lecide, by natives of Sweden who own or cultivate 

 land of a certain minimum value or have 800 

 kroner of income; The Minister of State at the 

 beginning of 1901 was Admiral Baron Fredrik 

 Wilhelm von Otter, the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs was Carl Herman Theodor Alfred Lager- 

 heim, and the Councilors of State were: Justice, 

 Per Samuel Ludvig Annerstedt; War, Jesper 

 Ingewald Crusebiorn; Marine, Gerhard Dyrssen; 

 Interior, Julius Edvard von Krusenstjerna; Fi- 

 nance, Count Hans Hansson Wachtmeister ; Edu- 

 cation and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Nils Ludvig 

 Alfred Claeson; Agriculture, Albrecht Theodor 

 Odelberg; without departments, Sven Herman 

 Wikblad, Karl Sigfrid Husberg, and Dr. Ham- 

 marskjold. 



Area and Population. The area of Sweden 

 is 172,876 square miles. The population on Jan. 

 1, 1900, was computed to be 5,097,402, consisting 

 of 2,486,447 males and 2,610,955 females. 



The Army and Navy. The Swedish army, 

 composed of enlisted troops paid by the Govern- 

 ment and cantoned troops, who live rent free on 

 the lands of the proprietors and receive from 

 them a small amount of pay, had at the begin- 

 ning of 1901 a strength of 1,946 officers, 1,782 

 non-commissioned officers, 1,655 musicians, 683 

 civil employees, and 33,057 rank and file, making 

 a total number of 39,123 in active service, with 

 6,876 horses and 240 guns. The reserve consisted 

 of 725 officers and 517 non-commissioned officers. 

 The enlisted troops, who serve two or three years, 

 include the guards, the artillery, the engineers, the 

 train, sharpshooters, and some infantry and cav- 

 alry regiments. The cantoned troops may remain 

 in the service as long as they are capable of bear- 

 ing arms, the infantry receiving two hundred 

 days and the cavalry four hundred days of train- 



ing in the first two years, after which they exercise 

 about three weeks every year. All Swedes not in 

 the regular army are liable to conscription, and 

 if drawn for the service are trained for ninety 

 days and are bound to serve in case of mobiliza- 

 tion with the regular troops during a period of 

 twelve years and for eight years more in separate 

 bodies. The annual contingent is about 29,000 

 men. The 12 classes subject to mobilization in 

 the first line number about 250,000 men, and the 

 8 classes of the Landsturm about 200,000 men. 



The Swedish navy in the beginning of 1901 com- 

 prised 7 first-class armored monitors, besides 3 

 unfinished ones, 4 of the second class, 9 smaller 

 ones, 3 corvettes, 5 torpedo-cruisers, 13 gunboats, 

 13 first-class torpedo-boats, besides 2 not com- 

 pleted, and 9 second-class torpedo-boats, exclusive 

 of 2 unfinished ones. The first-class monitor Svea, 

 launched in 1886, has 11.8-inch armor and displaces 

 3,100 tons; the Gota, launched in 1891, has 11.7- 

 inch armor and displaces 3,200 tons; the Thule, 

 launched in 1893, with the same armor, displaces 

 3,300 tons; the Oden, launched in 1897, with 10- 

 inch armor, displaces 3,500 tons; the Niord and 

 Thor, launched in 1899, have 9|-inch armor but 

 as great a displacement, which is the same for the 

 Dristigheten, which has 8-inch armor; and the 3 

 new ones, with 7-inch armor, will have a displace- 

 ment of 3,650 tons. The speed of the later turret 

 gunboats is 17 knots, nearly a knot better than 

 that of some of the earlier ones. With the im- 

 proved armor their protection is better. Instead 

 of 10-inch guns in their turrets, the latest have 

 8.3-inch quick-firers, with 5.9-inch quick-firers in 

 their secondary batteries, while the earlier ships 

 of the series have been provided with 4.7-inch 

 quick-firers. 



Legislation. The Riksdag has approved a 

 scheme of army reorganization introducing uni- 

 versal military service. The Government pro- 

 posed a term of compulsory service- of twelve 

 months, but the Second Chamber would only 

 agree to eight months. King Oscar in sanctioning 

 the law on June 25 declared that he did not con- 

 sider that it settled completely the question of 

 defense. The estimates for national defense are 

 increased 22,500,000 kroner owing to the new law 

 which brings the military estimates up to 45,- 

 000,000 kroner and the naval estimates up to 

 14,000,000 kroner. The King, who while ill was 

 represented by the Crown Prince, took charge 

 again of the Government on Jan. 21, 1901. A bill 

 for the insurance of workmen against accidents 

 was introduced by the ministry. On Dec. 5 Dr. 

 Annerstedt resigned the post of Minister of Jus- 

 tice; the King appointed Dr. Hammarskjold as 

 his successor and Dr. Westring to succeed the 

 latter as minister without portfolio. 



Finances. In the budget for 1902 the total 

 receipts of the treasury were estimated at 156,- 

 143,000 kronor, including 24,165,000 kroner 

 brought over from the preceding year. The ordi- 

 nary receipts of the year were reckoned at 21,- % 

 578,000 kronor, of which 480,000 kronor come 

 from the land tax, 1,500,000 kronor from tonnage 

 dues, 2,100,000 kronor from leased domains, 750,- 

 000 kronor from the personal tax, 7,000,000 kro- 

 nor net from railroads, 1,610,000 kronor from tele- 

 graphs, 7,000,000 kronor from forests, and 1,138,- 

 000 kronor from various sources. The extraordi- 

 nary receipts amount to 108,400,000 kronor, of 

 which 49,000,000 kronor come from customs, 12,- 

 400,000 kronor from the post-office, 6,500,000 kro- 

 nor from stamps, 19,500,000 kronor from the tax 

 on spirits, 10,500,000 kronor from the tax on 

 sugar, 9,800,000 kronor from the income tax, and 

 700,000 kronor from various sources. The share of 



