Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIII. Grasshopper Ravages in Minnesota—The Presidential Election—Chosen Presidential Elector—Minnesota Stats Tidning—Svenska Tribunen in Chicago—Farm in Northwestern Minnesota—Journalistic Work
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154
IS 154.2 Story of an Emigrant.
for some time I had the actual management of both papers,
dividing iny time between Minneapolis and Chicago. My aim
in this journalistic work was mainly to instruct and educate
mv countrvmen in such matters as might promote their
well-being and make them good Amerian citizens. The Stats
Tidning, or at least a part of it, gradually became a kind
of catechism on law and political economy, containing
information under the heading "Questions and Answers." This
was intended especially for the Swedish farmers in the state.
If a farmer was in doubt as to his legal rights in the case of
a road, a fence, the draining of a marsh, or wished to know
how to cure a sick horse or other animal, or how he could
get money sent from Sweden, or if he wished advice or
information on any other question relating to everyday
life, especially if he got into trouble of some kind, he would
write to the Stats Tidning for the desired information.
Such letters were then printed in condensed form and
followed by short, clear, pointed answers, and, so far, I have
not heard of a single person being misled by those answers.
On the other hand, I know that the public, and more
especially the newcomers, reaped very great benefits from
them. Few persons have any idea of how irksome and
laborious this kind of journalism is, and at times I was on
the point of giving it up in despair. As an example I will
relate one little incident connected with this work. A farmer
in a neighboring county had, through ignorance of the
homestead law, met with difficulties in securing title to his claim.
As usual he wrote to the Stats Tidning, and received the
desired information just in time to save his property, which
was worth over $1,000. On a visit to Minneapolis a short
time afterward his feeling of gratitude directed him to the
office of the paper to express his thanks. In a conversation
with him I found that he had never subscribed for the paper
himself, but was in the habit of going to his neighbor every
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