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132
II. TH B SWEDISH PEOPLE.
The Swedish-born population in the United States entered in the census of
1900 was 674,625 persons; counting the immigrants since that time and also
children born in America of Swedish parents, the total Swedish population might
be at least 1 million, perhaps considerably more. The great bulk is to be
found in the States of Minnesota (more than 20 per cent), Illinois, Iowa, and
other states around the great Canadian lakes, as well as in South Dakota etc.,
— the climate of which somewhat resembles that of Sweden. Especially in
Minnesota there are vast regions wholly populated by Swedes. The Swedish
immigrants have to a greater proportion than those of most other nations occupied
themselves in farming, then in industry and navigation, only few of them in
commerce. Though the Swedes still have great affection for their old country,
they generally, soon, become very good Americans.
The emigrants from Sweden consist, for the most part, of workmen
(agricultural and industrial) and domestics, but, of course, all classes
of society have their representatives. The emigration, on a large
scale, of unmarried women began a little later than did that of the
other classes, but that, too, soon reached important dimensions.
Emigration from the flourishing North Sweden, the
inhabitants of which are to a great extent dependent on the timber-trade,
has always been considerably lower than from the agricultural
provinces of South Sweden.
The effects of this great emigration have undoubtedly extended
to all classes of society. Prom an economic point of view,
emigration proved a relief during the period when the younger age groups
were in excess, and when the opportunities for work were few, as was
the case, for instance, about 1880. But, at other periods, the loss of
such an amount of working-power must have been crippling, and it
cannot be advantageous to the economy of any country to bring up and
educate young people who immediately afterwards proceed to utilize
their training in a foreign land. Neither is it possible for the
productions of a country to increase to any great degree, unless there be a
simultaneous increase in the number of the consuming population. And
if we leave the economical point of view for that of culture, we see
that emigration has occasioned Sweden a most sensible loss, in carrying
away a large proportion of the most intelligent and capable part of
the population.
On the other hand, our country has already derived no small
gain from the profitable intercourse with other nations — especially
with the great republic on the other side of the Atlantic — to which
emigration has given rise, and from which powerful impulses for good
have already made themselves felt in the life of our country. Neither
can it be said to be of no importance for our nation that, poor both
in wealth and number as it relatively is, it thus shares in the work
of building up one of the great powers of the world, a country
where many a gifted Swede finds the ample field of activity which the
restricted conditions of his own land do not provide him with at home.
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