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II. THE SWEDISH PEOPLE.
Sweden, distinguished by numerous and early marriages, but accompanied, none
the less, by low matrimonial fecundity and a great number of illegitimate births,
a high death-rate in general, a great frequency of suicides, and finally by a low
surplus of births, but with inconsiderable emigration; b) the Western part
of South Sweden, characterized by the paucity and lateness of marriages, but
not the less by great matrimonial fecundity and a low number of illegitimate
births, moderate or small death-rate, a low frequency, in general, of suicides,
and usually a high surplus of births, but with great emigration; and,
finally, c) North Sweden, distinguished by moderate frequency of marriages, in
general, by very great fecundity and a low number of illegitimate births, for
the most part, by a low death-rate and a very great surplus of births, and by
inconsiderable emigration.
During the last few decades, these distinctions have, however, become weakened
to some extent, and the characterization given above must, at the present moment,
own to several exceptions. Emigration, especially from the North of Sweden,
has been fairly considerable.
Of the foreign element mentioned above, the Lapps and the Finns are
in certain places of no small importance, namely, in the North of Sweden
(in the län of Norrbotten and the Lapp territory of the län of
Västerbotten).
First, as regards the Lapps, they have dwelt in Lappland from the most
ancient times, and, in smaller numbers, in the län of Jämtland, too. It is
absolutely wrong to mark, as the German ethnographical charts nearly always do,
the whole of the inland part of North Sweden, as far down as to 62° N Lat., as
being inhabited by Lapps. Of the 120 000 inhabitants of the län of Jämtland,
the Lapps number only about 900, and even in Lappland this people is in such
a decided minority that only a single parish is found there in which the Lapp
race forms more than one-half of the population: this parish is the most
northerly one in the whole of Sweden (Karesuando). In Lappland as a whole,
the Lapps do not amount to even one-tenth of the population.
The Lapps, who belong to the so-called "Finno-Ugric" branch of the Mongol
race, are still partly nomadic (though decreasingly so) and ethnographically
constitute a rather remarkable people: a point of view, however, which it does
not concern the object of this work to go into. To adjust the conflicting interests
between Lapps and Swedish settlers, and to prevent the suppression of the
former with the advance of a higher civilization, has been a by no means easy
task for Swedish legislation, without whose humane spirit the little Lapp contingent
would long before this have certainly vanished from Sweden.
The 25 000 Films are found to form by far the most part in the län of
Norrbotten, where, especially in the valley of Torneå, they form a compact
whole. According to the view of many investigators, this people is, as a matter
of fact, chiefly of Swedish origin, although, during the course of centuries, it has
been gained over to the Finnish language (mainly through the lack of insight
of the Swedish authorities into the import of the matter). At present the
Swedish tongue is spreading noticeably among the Finnish districts, by means of
improved communications with those of the Swedes — particularly railways —
and by means of the extensive mining operations, through which more especially
Gällivare, a parish previously Finnish, has been regained for Swedish civilization.
In our own days the State works for the spreading of the Swedish tongue,
by a liberal support of public education in these parts. Among the
Finnish-speaking element, there prevails a general wish to participate in the advantage
that accrues from a knowledge of the predominating language of the country.
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