SCANDINAVIAN PRESS. 



689 



holm Aftoriblad, Evening Journal) is between 

 eleven and twelve thousand copies ; the cir- 

 culation of three other daily papers exceeds 

 seven thousand copies ; four other dailies have 

 a circulation of upward of three thousand 

 copies ; a few other papers print between 

 one thousand and fifteen hundred copies; 

 and most of the small country dailies have 

 a very limited circulation, frequently not ex- 

 ceeding two hundred copies. All the daily 

 papers published at Stockholm, Gothenburg, 

 Calinar, Ystadt, and Upsala, receive regular 

 telegraphic dispatches from all parts of Europe, 

 although, with the exception of the Stockholm 

 press, they do not get near as full telegraphic 

 reports as the Danish press. Very few of the 

 Swedish country dailies received any telegraphic 

 dispatches at all until the excitement, brought 

 about by the elections of members for the new 

 Swedish Parliament, and the debates of the 

 Chambers, caused a majority of the country 

 journals to have the most important news on 

 those subjects telegraphed to them from Stock- 

 holm ; and some of them, afterward, made ar- 

 rangements for the publication of special dis- 

 patches from the capital whenever important 

 events should take place. The total sum paid 

 by the Stockholm press for telegraphic dis- 

 patches in the year 1867 is estimated at forty- 

 two thousand rix-dollars. It must have been 

 considerably larger in 1868, in the first place, 

 owing to the great political excitement which 

 prevailed at certain periods of the year ; and, 

 then, in consequence of the painful and intense 

 interest excited all over Sweden by the appall- 

 ing famine which, in the early part of the year 

 1868, desolated certain provinces of the king- 

 dom. While the exciting political struggles 

 which took place in Sweden at the beginning 

 of the year, and the interest so generally taken 

 in the developments of the extensive famine 

 one of the most terrible calamities which ever 

 befell the Scandinavian Peninsula added con- 

 siderably to the circulation of the newspapers, 

 especially in the large cities, where some of 

 the most enterprising and popular journals 

 succeeded in selling twice 'as many copies as 

 ever before, the general stagnation of business, 

 arising from the same causes, on the other 

 hand, reacted injuriously upon the prosperity 

 of Swedish journalism, and the advertising 

 receipts of most of the Swedish newspapers, in 

 the early part of 1868, were considerably 

 smaller than in the same length of time in the 

 preceding year. 



Seven political dailies and five weeklies were 

 published in Stockholm in February, 1868; 

 the aggregate circulation of these seven dailies 

 was, on an average, forty-six thousand copies 

 daily; the Aftonblad (Evening Journal) had 

 the largest circulation. The annual advertising 

 receipts of all the Stockholm dailies rarely ex- 

 ceed one hundred and twenty-five thousand 

 rix-dollars. They are mostly edited with 

 marked spirit and ability, as regards both 

 their political and literary matter. The com- 

 VOL. vm. i4 A 



pensation paid to Swedish journalists and 

 feuilletonists, as a general thing, is more liberal 

 than that obtained by their Copenhagen col- 

 leagues. Some of the most eminent Swedish 

 authors and savants are connected with the 

 press of Stockholm, whoso influence over the 

 educated classes of the population is very 

 great, and which played an important part in 

 the momentous struggles which have agitated 

 the kingdom since the year 1865. But for the 

 boldness and talent with which the organs of 

 the Liberal party in the Stockholm press at- 

 tacked the old Constitution of the kingdom 

 and advocated the necessity of reforms more 

 in keeping with the progressive spirit of the 

 times, the struggle against the aristocratic 

 system of the " Four Estates " and the trans- 

 formation of Sweden into one of the most 

 liberal constitutional monarchies in Europe 

 could not have been carried into effect at so 

 early a day. The daily journals of some of the 

 other large cities of Sweden are but little 

 inferior to the metropolitan press, as regards 

 ability and enterprise ; but little can be said 

 in praise of the Swedish country press. Owing 

 to the sparseness of the population in most of 

 the central and northern districts of the king- 

 dom, the imperfect character of the railroads,, 

 and postal and telegraphic communications, 

 few of these country papers are in a prosperous 

 condition; As a general thing, they are even 

 smaller, and contain less reading-matter, than 

 the Danish country papers ; but, as the re- 

 sources of the country are being more and 

 more developed, and railroads and telegraph 

 lines multiplied, their condition and prospects 

 cannot but greatly improve. 



The press laws of Sweden are not fully as 

 liberal as those of Denmark, and administra- 

 tions of reactionary tendencies might subject 

 the press of the country to many vexations ; 

 but, fortunately, the Swedish Government, for 

 many years past, has displayed a spirit of un- 

 usual moderation in this respect, and press 

 prosecutions are of very rare occurrence, not- 

 withstanding the marked boldness with which 

 the. opposition papers frequently attack the 

 measures of the administration. 



Some of the literary papers published in: 

 Sweden have a comparatively large circulation ; 

 one of them, the Stockholm Miscellany, prints - 

 over twenty thousand copies. The compensa- 

 tion paid to contributors by some of these 

 literary journals is larger than that obtained 

 by the periodical writers in other countries of 

 Northern Europe. 



Two of the monthly magazines published at 

 Stockholm are printed in the French language. 

 Most of the others, as the quarterly and annual 

 reviews, are edited by university professors and 

 distinguished savants. A feature, peculiar to 

 the periodical literature of Scandinavia, is the 

 fact that quite a number of these magazines 

 and reviews contain only articles written by 

 the editor and proprietor. Their circulation, 

 with few exceptions, is limited. 



