664 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



SWITZERLAND. 



manufactured products 72,400,000 kroner, and 

 exports 34.000,000 kroner; total imports of mis- 

 cellaneous products 08,400,000 kroner, and ex- 

 ports 16,400,000 kroner. 



The values in kroner of the imports from and 

 of the exports to the principal foreign countries 

 in 1899 are given below: 



The majority of the inhabitants of Norway 

 are engaged in agriculture, notwithstanding the 

 fact that the arable soil is found only in isolated 

 narrow valleys. Of the total area of the country 

 64 per cent, consists of bogs, bare mountains, 

 lakes, and tracts covered with snow and ice. 

 Only 3 per cent, is used as grain fields and meadow 

 land, less than 1 per cent, being devoted to grain 

 crops. Out of 120,000 farmers 109,000 own the 

 land they cultivate. The farms are small and are 

 highly cultivated. Forests cover 21 per cent, of 

 the whole surface of the kingdom. They consist 

 largely of Scotch fir, spruce, and birch. The an- 

 nual production is about 344,000,000 cubic feet. 

 The restrictions imposed before 1860 were removed 

 in that year because they checked the timber in- 

 dustry. The wholesale cutting down of trees 

 that then followed threatened to denude the 

 country of forests, and in 1893 new laws were 

 passed for their preservation. The state pur- 

 chased large tracts of forest land, and is mak- 

 ing systematic efforts to restore large areas that 

 have been stripped of their timber. While the for- 

 eign commerce of Norway has quadrupled in half 

 a century, the mercantile tonnage is nine times as 

 great as in 1850, and in proportion to population 

 surpasses that of every other country, being ex- 

 ceeded only by 'that of Great Britain, Germany, 

 and the United States. About 20 per cent, of the 

 population are engaged in industrial occupations, 

 and the exportation of manufactures has gone 

 up from 1,500,000 kroner in 1865 to 45,000,000 

 kroner. Copper, silver, nickel, iron, and zinc are 

 mined, but the ores are not rich, and coal is found 

 only on the island of Andoen. The total mineral 

 output in 1897 was only 3,000.000 kroner. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 Government railroads in operation in 1899 had a 

 total length of 1,230 miles, besides which there 

 were 93 miles of private railroads. The Govern- 

 ment railroads in 1898 carried 7,706,516 passen- 

 gers and 1,679,483 tons of freight; receipts were 

 10.79:>.758 kroner, and expenses 7,808,320 kroner. 



The postal traffic in 1899 was 36,700,000 inter- 

 nal and 11,776,300 international letters and postal 

 cards; 2,435,600 internal money letters, containing 

 349,800,000 kroner, and 75,300 foreign ones, con- 

 taining 23,400,000 kroner; and 54,553,900 internal 

 and 5.369.200 international newspapers and cir- 

 culars. The receipts were 4,821,662 kroner, and 

 the expenses 4,57 7. 533 kroner. 



The state telegraphs in 1899 had a total length 

 of 7.487 miles, with 17,641 miles of wire; other 

 lines a length of 1,178 miles, with 2,098 miles of 



wire. The number of internal dispatches was 

 1,418,167; of international dispatches, 818,062; 

 service dispatches, 25,657 ; receipts, 2,216,485 kro- 

 ner; expenses, 2,171,510 kroner. 



Storthing Elections. The general election 

 \vas held early in September. The new Storthing 

 was made up of 77 members of the Left and 37 

 members of the Right and Moderates. In the 

 election of 1897 the Radicals, who had numbered 

 previously 59, and had only a narrow majority 

 in a house of 114 members, won 79 seats, and 

 had therefore a two-thirds majority, which they 

 still retain in the Storthing elected in 1900, but 

 only by a single vote. Christiania, which in the 

 former elections the Left won over, the Right re- 

 gained, the large Socialist vote having reduced 

 the Radical strength. The wave of national feel- 

 ing that produced the excitement in the last elec- 

 tion over the question of the relations with 

 Sweden had somewhat subsided, and the element 

 of the Radical party that was most determined 

 to secure a separate consular representation for 

 Norway and other rights pertaining to an inde- 

 pendent nation lost faith in the Radical Premier 

 because he had failed to advance their cause by a 

 single step. The elections were held for the first 

 time under the law of universal suffrage. The 

 Left put forth a programme calculated to attract 

 the new voters, containing among other proposi- 

 tions that were not approved by all adherents of 

 the party a plan for insuring the entire Norwe- 

 gian people against want in old age. The work- 

 ing people in Christianja nevertheless set up can- 

 didates of their own. The Right showed unex- 

 pected strength in the rural districts, the Social- 

 ist programme of the Left having alienated many 

 of the agricultural voters. The Storthing was 

 opened on Ot. 24 by the Crown Prince, who acted 

 as Regent on account of the King's illness. On 

 Nov. 3, Ministers Hoist, Nysom, Lochen, and 

 Thileson having resigned, ex-Minister Konow wa 

 appointed Minister of Agriculture; Lieut.-CoL 

 Stang, Minister of National Defense; Capt. 

 Sparre, member of the Delegation of the Council 

 of State sitting at Stockholm; and M. Aarstad, 

 Minister of Finance. 



SWITZERLAND, a federal republic in central 

 Europe. The legislative power is vested in the 

 Federal Assembly, made up of the National Coun- 

 cil of 147 members, elected by direct universal 

 suffrage for three years, and the States Council 

 of 44 members, representing the canton.*, in some 

 of which they are elected by the direct vote of 

 the people, in others by the cantonal legislative 

 bodies. The executive authority is vested in the 

 Federal Council, consisting of 7 members elected 

 for three years by the Federal Assembly, and 

 from among the Federal Council the President of 

 the Confederation and the Vice-Presidcnt. who by 

 custom is chosen President for the next succeeding 

 term, are elected annually. The Federal Council 

 for the term beginning in 1900 was composed :i- 

 follows: President of the Confederation and Chief 

 of the Political Department, W. Hauser. of Zu- 

 rich; Vice-President and Chief of the Department 

 of Justice and Police, Dr. E. Brenner, of Basel : 

 Military Department, E. Miiller, of Bern; Depart- 

 ment of the Interior, M. E. Ruchet, of Vaud -. 

 Department of Commerce, Industry, and Agricul- 

 ture, Dr. A. Deucher, of Thurgau; Department of 

 Posts and Railroads, Dr. J. Zemp, of Lu/.ern : I' 1 

 partment of Finance and Customs, R. Comtc e. 

 of Neuchatel. 



Area and Population. Switzerland has an 

 area of 15,976 square miles, with a population esti- 

 mated in the middle of 1898 at 3.119.635. The 

 number of marriages in 1899 was 22,669; of births, 





