Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. My Reason for Taking Part in the Civil War—The Dignity of Labor—The Firm Mattson & Webster—Svenska Amerikanaren, its Program and Reception—The State Emigration Bureau of Minnesota—Its Aim, Plan and Work
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Storvt o><’ an Emigrant.
07
large field for me. I accepted the appointment on condition
that I should not move to Chicago, but simply help to start
the paper and put it on a firm footing, and that I should be
allowed to resign in case I found this kind of work
unfavorable to my health, which had been very seriously affected by
the hardships and sufferings of the war.
On September 18, 1866, the first number of the Svenska
Amerikanaren was published. I quote from the article
announcing my having assumed editorial charge of the paper as
follows: "It shall be my ambition to so write as to advance
the interest of the laboring people of our nationality, and to
guide them in becoming good American citizens. I am one of
that class myself, and during my residence in the settlements of
the West I have learned to know their wants." The paper
was very favorably received both in this country and in
Sweden, and, under the name of Svenska 7 rib mien, is
still exercising a great and good influence among the
Swedish Americans.
The following winter (1867) the legislature of Minnesota
established a state bureau with the purpose of inducing
immigrants to settle in the state, and I was appointed by
Gov. W. R. Marshall to be secretary of the board of
emigration, with the governor and secretary of state as
ex-officio members; the Rev. John Ireland, now Catholic
Archbishop of Minnesota, was also for a time a member of that
board.
The St. Paul Press for March 14, 1867, contained the
following concerning the new board :
" The state board of emigration, composed of Gov.
Marshall, Col. Rogers and Col. Mattson, was organized
yester-d:i/, and a general plan of operation agreed upon. We learn
that the board concluded that, with the limited means at
their disposal, it was not advisable to employ agents to
work in Europe, but to use every practicable effort to turn
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