662 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



internal money letters and postal orders, remit- 

 ting 810,941,000 francs, and 306,000 international 

 ones, remitting 04,914,000 francs. The receipts 

 were 14,824,085 francs, and expenses 13,345,879 

 francs. 



The telegraph lines belonging to the Govern- 

 ment had a length of 5,540 miles in 1898, with 15,- 

 980 miles of wire; those belonging to railroad 

 companies had a length of 3,308 miles, with 11,072 

 mill's of wire. The number of paid internal dis- 

 patehes was 129,681; international, 841,430; in 

 transit, 331,256; service dispatches, 156,899. The 

 receipts were 2,364,326 francs, and expenses 2,010,- 

 746 francs. 



There were 198 systems of urban telephones in 

 1898, having 45,540 miles of wire, and the number 

 of conversations was 93,840,774. The long-dis- 

 tance lines had a. length of 6,145 miles, with 33,- 

 300 miles of wire; number of conversations, 2,785,- 

 952. 



Legislation. The improvement of the military 

 power of Sweden on land and sea was the task 

 most urgently impressed upon the Riksdag when 

 it met on Jan. 18, 1900. One of the measures 

 brought forward was for the payment of dam- 

 ages to laborers injured during their wo^k. The 

 Second Chamber declined to sanction the erection 

 of a fortress near Boden at the end of the rail- 

 road, but the Government majority in the First 

 Chamber was sufficient to carry the measure on 

 a joint ballot. The Riksdag voted 3,000,000 kro- 

 nor for small arms and ammunition, and in- 

 creased the sum allotted to new naval construc- 

 tion to 1,725,000 kroner for 1901. In the begin- 

 ning of May it was proposed in the First Chamber 

 to impeach the ministers because a Norwegian, 

 M. von Ditten, had been appointed to the chief 

 post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which 

 was in violation of the Constitution. The Pre- 

 mier urged that the constitutional usage would 

 have to be developed in conformity with the act 

 of union, and that the conditions of the union 

 involved the inclusion of a Norwegian in the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both Chambers sus- 

 tained him in his position. On Sept. 12 M. Bos- 

 trom asked to be relieved of his post for consid- 

 erations of health, and the King appointed Ad- 

 miral Fredrik Wilhelm von Otter to the premier- 

 ship. On Oct. 17 the Council of State decided to 

 intrust the Crown Prince with the Government of 

 the country during the illness of King Oscar, who 

 was unable to attend to public business. In No- 

 vember the Minister of War brought in a bill 

 for the thorough reformation of the military sys- 

 tem, the task for which he was appointed to suc- 

 ceed Baron von Rappe in 1899. The reform of 

 1892 was only a transitional measure, which re- 

 tained the indelta, or cantoned troops, furnished 

 and maintained by landed proprietors in lieu of 

 paving taxes, also the enlisted part of the army, 

 and of the conscripted troops, about 29,000 in 

 each year, it required only ninety days of service. 

 In place of this system universal obligatory mili- 

 tary duty will become a reality. All who are 

 liable and fit for service will have to serve three 

 hundred and sixty-five days: in the infantry, two 

 hundred and forty-five days consecutively, and 

 then thirty-five days in each year for three years; 

 in the cavalry, artillery, and a part of the en- 

 gineers, two hundred and eighty-one days in the 

 beginning, and forty-two days in the second and 

 the fourth year. The army will attain not merely 

 greater unity, but at the same time greater nu- 

 merical strength. It will consist of (i similarly 

 composed divisions or corps, and will contain 28 

 regiments of infantry, with the proper comple- 

 ment of troops of other arms. Both infantry and 



cavalry will gain greatly in efficiency, while the 

 fortress artillery will be brought up to such a 

 state that they can perform the duties required 

 in the fortresses even in time of peace. The proj- 

 ect includes provisions, moreover, for a consider- 

 able reserve. The annual cost is reckoned at 57,- 

 000,000 kroner, of which 48,338,000 kroner are 

 for the army alone. The accomplishment of the 

 reform will take twelve years. 



Norway. The legislative power is vested in 

 the Storthing, containing 1 14 members, elected for 

 three years, 38 by the towns and 76 by the rural 

 districts. The Storthing elects one fourth of its 

 members to form the Lagthing, which has a veto 

 power over the acts of the Odelsthing, composed 

 of the rest of the members. The Minister of State 

 presiding over the Council of State at the begin- 

 ning of 1900 was J. W. C. Steen, and the Coun- 

 cilors of State in charge of the various depart- 

 ments were: Worship and Public Instruction, V. 

 A. Wexelsen; Justice and Police, E. Lochen; In- 

 terior, O. A. Qvam; Public Works, H. H. T. Ny- 

 som; Finance and Customs, E. Sunde; National 

 Defense, Major-Gen. P. T. Hoist; Secretary of 

 State, H. Lehman; section of the Council sitting 

 at Stockholm, Minister-of-State O. A. Blehr and 

 Councilors-of-State G. A. Thilesen and J. G. Lov- 

 land; General Secretary, H. Schlytter. 



Area and Population. Norway has an esti- 

 mated area of 124,525 square miles. The popula- 

 tion on Dec. 31, 1897, was estimated at 2,122,400. 

 The population of Christiania in 1900 was com- 

 puted to be 220,423, having grown from 148,213 in 

 1891. The number of marriages in 1898 was 15,- 

 039; of births, 64,821; of deaths, 32,693; excess of 

 births, 32,128. The number of emigrants in 1898 

 was 4,859; in 1899 the number was 6,699. The 

 population of Norway has grown at a slower 

 rate than that of any other European country ex- 

 cept France. This is due to the large emigration, 

 especially to the United States. To this fact, 

 since a great part of the emigration consists of 

 young men, is due in considerable measure the 

 excess of women over men. Another cause is 

 the constant mortality from drowning among 

 the men, so many of whom are sailors or fisher- 

 men. The number of Norwegian settlers in the 

 United States was over 320,000 in 1890, and si net- 

 then Norwegians have been emigrating at the rate 

 of about 6,000 a year to the United States, and 

 considerable numbers to South Australia, Vic- 

 toria, and New Zealand, not a few to Hawaii and 

 the Argentine Republic. 



Finances. The revenue for the financial year 

 1899 amounted to 83,800,000 kroner from ordi- 

 nary sources, and the extraordinary receipts wer 

 320,000 kroner subscribed locally for railroad 

 construction and 11,564,300 kroner from loans, 

 making the total receipts 95,685,200 kroner. Of 

 the ordinary revenue 5,244.500 kroner came from 

 direct taxes; 37,421,500 kroner from custom-: 

 4,073,900 kroner from the liquor tax; 4,100,800 

 kroner from the malt tax; 1,502,900 kroner from 

 the tax on playing-cards; 1,143,500 kroner from 

 courts of justice; 061.100 kroner from the succes- 

 sion duty; 1,459,400 kroner from state properly. 

 !)(il.. ")()() kroner of it from forests and 497.900 kn> 

 iicr from mines; 2.S20.300 kroner from revenue of 

 active capital; 4.620,000 kroner from the po>t 

 office: 2.000.200 kroner from the telegraphs; 11.- 

 981.100 kroner from railroads; 2,225.400 kroner 

 from the university, schools, and worship; 394,- 

 800 kroner from prisons: 1.000.400 kroner from 

 hospitals and insane asylums; and 2.957,000 kro- 

 ner from various other sources. The total ex- 

 penditure for 1899 was 73,919,400 kroner for ordi 

 nary expenses of the Government and 15.004,900 





