826 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



revenue is not mentioned in the budget. The 

 public debt of Sweden on December 31, 1880, 

 amounted to 230,356,239 crowns. 



The Swedish army in 1881 consisted of 202,- 

 783 men. The navy consisted of 44 steamers 

 with 155 guns, 10 sailing-vessels with 105 

 guns, and 87 smaller vessels with 113 guns. 



The length of the Government railroads in 

 1880 was 1,954 kilometres, and of the private 

 roads 3,920 kilometres; in all, 5,874 kilometres. 

 The length of the Government telegraph lines 

 in 1880 was 8,288 kilometres, and of the wires 

 20,336 kilometres. The number of stations was 

 176. There are, besides, 187 stations connected 

 with the Government railroads. 



NORWAY. In Norway the executive is rep- 

 resented by the King, who exercises his au- 

 thority through a Council of State, composed 

 of two Ministers of State and nine Councilors. 

 Two of the Councilors, who are changed every 

 year, together with one of the Ministers, form 

 a delegation of the Council of State, residing 

 at Stockholm near the King. 



The area of Norway is 122,280 square miles, 

 and the population, according to the census of 

 1875, was 1,806,900. According to an official 

 calculation, the population at the close of 1879 

 was 1,916,000. The receipts for 1880 amounted 

 to 48,721,000 crowns (1 crown = 26'8 cents), 

 and the expenditures to 44,212,000 crowns. 

 The public debt on June 30, 1880, amounted 

 to 91,500,000 crowns. The imports in 1880 

 were valued at 150,871,000 crowns, and the 

 exports at 108,739,000 crowns. The length of 

 railroads in operation, December 31, 1881, was 

 1,323 kilometres. The length of Government 

 telegraph lines on the same date was 7.517 kil- 

 ometres, and of the wires 13,666 kilometres; 

 the number of stations was 127. The length 

 of the railroad telegraph lines at the close of 

 1880 was 1,162 kilometres, and of the wires, 

 2,309 kilometres; the number of stations was 

 122. 



The main sources of the public revenue of 

 Sweden are the import duties, the liquor-tax, 

 and the state railways. The total revenue in 

 1880, under these heads, amounted to 59,201,- 

 502 crowns ($15,866,000), against 51,261,653 

 crowns ($13,728,123) in 1879. The different 

 sources of revenue yielded the following 

 amounts : Customs, 27,632,634 crowns, against 

 25,003,261 crowns in 1879; spirit-tax, 15,168,- 

 868 crowns, against 12,024,322 crowns; state 

 railways, 16,400,000 crowns, against 14,234,079 

 crowns. The income exceeded the budget 

 estimate by 4,301,502 crowns, while the pre- 

 vious year it fell 1,038,347 crowns below the 

 estimate. The direct taxes, etc., swelled the 

 total revenue to about 76,000,000 crowns. On 

 the 1st of January a new tariff went into 

 operation, in which the metric system is em- 

 ployed in place of the old system of weights 

 and measures. Flour imports are subjected to 

 a registration fee, another name for an import 

 duty. About $1.50 per capita is raised for the 

 annual expenses of the state by indirect, and 



only one-fifth or one-sixth as much by direct, 

 taxation. Of the total expenditures the army 

 and navy usually demand about one third, and 

 public education one tenth or one twelfth. In 

 voting the budget for 1881, the Second Cham- 

 ber carried, over the hostile vote of the Upper 

 Chamber, a measure increasing the income-tax 

 rate for the year, in order to meet certain 

 floating liabilities of the Treasury. As the es- 

 timates were made unusually low, and the 

 necessity for the extra tax did not appear to be 

 urgent, it was probably intended to pave the 

 way for a new distribution of the taxes, and is 

 likely to be made permanent. 



The Swedish Diet appointed, at the close of 

 the session, committees to consider projects 

 for the reform of the army, the navy, the 

 taxes, and the tariff. The reports of these com- 

 mittees proposed no extensive changes in the 

 existing systems. The one on the army pro- 

 posed that the strength of the regular army 

 be fixed at 25,000 men in peace and 47,000 in 

 war-time, the annual contingent at 5,500 men, 

 and the military budget at from 25,000,000 to 

 27,000,000 crowns. The very unpopular duty 

 on corn-meal, which was imposed in 1880, 

 was the subject which chiefly occupied the at- 

 tention of the tariff committee. 



The Crown Prince of the United Kingdoms 

 wedded, in the summer, the Princess Victoria 

 of Baden. 



Only 15 per cent of the Swedish people 

 dwell in towns, including under that name 

 places of only 300 or 400 inhabitants. There 

 are altogether ninety towns in the country, of 

 which thirteen have a population of under 

 1,000. The urban communities are given a 

 greater number of representatives in the Legis- 

 lature than the rural communities. Thus, in 

 the last general election the cities elected mem- 

 bers to the Lower Chamber in the proportion 

 of one to 10,000 inhabitants, while the coun- 

 try electoral districts counted on the average 

 27,000 inhabitants. About 5'9 per cent of the 

 population in the country districts and 6 '5 per 

 cent of the city population possessed the fran- 

 chise; but for the communal elections lO'l 

 per cent of the rural population are entitled to 

 vote. The average proportion of the electors 

 who exercise the franchise is in the country 

 only 16 or 17 per cent, while in the towns 

 from 37 to 41 per cent of those entitled to 

 vote take part in the general elections. 



The political subdivisions of the country 

 possess considerable powers of self-govern- 

 ment. The communes are charged with the 

 duty of providing for the support of churches, 

 schools, the poor, public buildings, and high- 

 ways, and the local taxation for these objects 

 amounts to more than 50,000,000 crowns an- 

 nually. The lans, or counties, twenty-five in 

 number, have the charge of sanitary matters, 

 and provide for the maintenance of hospitals, 

 etc., dispensing about 2,500,000 crowns annu- 

 ally. 



Every Swedish parish has its poor-house, the 



