706 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



mines, 1,635,300 kroner from invested funds, and 

 the rest from law courts, the university and 

 schools, prisons, hospitals, and asylums, succes- 

 sion duties, a duty on playing cards, etc. The 

 ordinary expenditures were 49,688,500 kroner, 

 of which the principal items were 9,674,700 

 kroner for operation and maintenance of rail- 

 roads, bridges, canals, and harbors, 8,382,400 

 kroner for the debt, pensions, silver mines, and 

 collection of customs, 8,192,400 kroner for the 

 army, 7,101,300 kroner for the post-office, tele- 

 graphs, agriculture, fisheries, forests, etc., 4,915,- 

 200 kroner for education and worship, 4,955.500 

 kroner for courts, police, prisons, and sanitary 

 service, and 3,264,100 kroner for the marine. 



The public debt on June 30, 1892, amounted to 

 125,541,200 kroner, and the reproductive capital 

 of the state to 137,468,600 kroner, exclusive of 

 public lands, forests, and mines. 



Commerce. The merchandise imports in 

 1892 amounted to 200,000,000 kroner and the ex- 

 ports to 126,400,000 kroner. The principal im- 

 ports were : Cereals for 37,200,000 kroner, tissues 

 for 27,500,000 kroner, colonial wares for 23,200,- 

 000 kroner, animals and animal food products 

 for 13,500,000 kroner, coal for 12,400,000 kroner, 

 and metal wares for 10,300,000 kroner. The 

 principal exports were animals and animal food 

 products for 46,000,000 kroner, timber for 27,- 

 900,000 kroner, and \vood manufactures for 15,- 

 000,000 kroner. Over one quarter of the imports 

 came from Germany, something less than one 

 quarter from England, and a little more than 

 one eighth from Sweden. Of the exports, 43,- 

 642,000 kroner went to England, 19,709,000 

 kroner to Sweden, 15,690,000 kroner to Germany, 

 and 12,642,000 kroner to Spain. The imports 

 from the United States were valued at 9,472,000 

 kroner, and the exports to the United States at 

 1,842,000 kroner. 



Navigation. There were 12,362 vessels, of 

 2,921,807 tons, entered, and 12,002, of 2,853,366 

 tons, cleared in 1891. Of the arrivals, 6,860, of 

 1,979,489 tons, and of the departures, 6,542, of 

 1,922,441 tons, were Norwegian vessels. Of the 

 total arrivals, 6,212, of 1,831,931 tons, brought 

 cargoes, and 6,150, of 1,089,876 tons, came in bal- 

 last, and of the departures, 10,644, of 2,339,036 

 tons, carried cargoes, and 1,358, of 514,360 tons, 

 sailed in ballast. 



The merchant navy on Jan. 1, 1892, numbered 

 6,798 sailing vessels,' of 1,500,069 tons, and 735 

 steamers, of 238,511 tons. 



Communications. The railroads in 1892 had 

 a length of 970 miles. The postal traffic for 1892 

 was 23,449,000 domestic and 8,409.962 foreign 

 letters and postals, and 26,710,600 domestic and 

 3,917,600 foreign printed inclosures. The postal 

 receipts were 3,130,493 kroner and the expenses 

 3,111,614 kroner. The telegraphs of the state 

 had a total length of 4,915 miles, with 9,920 miles 

 of wire. The number of internal dispatches was 

 1,139,527; of international dispatches, 568,700. 

 The receipts were 1,314.591 kroner and the work- 

 ing expenses 1,399,267 kroner. 



The Army and Navy. Military service is 

 obligatory from the age of twenty-three for five 

 years in the active army, but the recruits are 

 only required to remain with the colors from 

 forty-two days in the infantry and fifty in the 

 cavalry and field artillery in the first year and 



shorter periods in the succeeding years. The 

 effective strength of the active army is about 

 1,700 officers and instructors and 18,000 men, 

 which can be supplemented by an equal number 

 of the Landwehr in time of war. 



The fleet consists of 4 ironclad monitors, 2 cor- 

 vettes, 3 first-class, 12 second-class, and 16 third- 

 class gunboats, and 9 first-class and 4 second- 

 class torpedo boats, mounting altogether 75 large 

 and 92 small cannon. 



Conflict with Sweden. The political strug- 

 gle between the Norwegian democracy and the 

 Swedish Government, which the Swedes treat as 

 a battle for the preservation of the Union, has 

 been lately restricted to the question of a sepa- 

 rate consular service. The Norwegians argue 

 that consuls appointed and instructed by the 

 Swedish Government do not adequately protect 

 their maritime interests, exceeding fourfold 

 those of Sweden. The Radicals of Norway also 

 have demanded the creation of an independent 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, alleging that it is 

 necessary to preserve them from any wars or al- 

 liances in which Sweden may involve herself. 

 Under the act of union the Norwegian militia is 

 not bound to serve outside of Norwegian terri- 

 tory. When the dispute over foreign affairs first 

 arose, in 1837, the Swedish Government offered to 

 make the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible 

 to both Legislatures, with a chief who might be 

 either a Swede or a Norwegian, provided that the 

 Norwegian troops should share the duty of the 

 common defense of both kingdoms. This prop- 

 osition was rejected, and three commissions for 

 the revision of the Constitution have since come 

 to naught. Sverdrup and the Radicals asserted 

 that the exclusive Swedish control of foreign af- 

 fairs is contrary to the spirit of the act of union, 

 which they regard as a simple dynastic union 

 and defensive alliance. The Swedish Govern- 

 ment offered to compromise by establishing a 

 common Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose head 

 might be indifferently a Swede or a Norwegian. 

 This proposition was rejected on Jan. 14, 1893, 

 as illusory and prejudicial to Norway's elemen- 

 tary right to control her foreign relations. 



When the Storthing met the Radicals offered 

 a resolution asserting the right of Norway to in- 

 dependent action in all matters not specifically 

 reserved in the act of union, and calling upon 

 the Norwegian Government to proceed in ac- 

 cordance with the vote of June 10, 1892, to 

 establish a separate consular service. This was 

 passed on March 17 by 64 votes against 50 given 

 in favor of the proposition of the Conservatives 

 and Moderates to continue negotiations with the 

 Swedish Government for a compromise. Premier 

 Steen said that legal means would be found to 

 dissolve the Union if Norway could not other- 

 wise come by her rights, and he accused the 

 King of having violated the law in not sanction- 

 ing a Norwegian consular service. The King 

 went to Christiania, and, in compliance with the 

 resolution of the Swedish Diet, again refused to 

 sanction Norwegian consulates. The Steen Cab- 

 inet then resigned, April 22, and on April 24 the 

 Storthing suspended its sittings, precisely as was 

 done in 1892. Stang. the Conservative leader, 

 finally consented to form a Cabinet, which was 

 constituted on May 1 as follows : Minister of 

 State, Emil Stang ; Minister of Finance, 0. A. 



