Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Social Movements - 1. Labour Questions and Social politics - Emigration. By A. Molin
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v. social movements.
which had then carried through some 30 000 sets of negotiations concerning the
securing of employment, "own homes" loans, the acquirement of land,
naturalization and national military service, etc. for returning Swedish-Americans, whom
the bureaus are specially anxious to assist in their efforts to make a living and
gain a new footing in the old country. There is published a special organ for
the activities of the Association in securing the transference of land, called
"Svensk jord" ("Swedish Land"), which contains full particulars of small
properties which are for sale.
Thus the chief mission of the Association is to act as negotiating party in
securing workers a means of livelihood. Above all, however, the emigration
problem involves the task of providing new possibilities of earning a livelihood
for the increasing population. But only in one department has the Association
been able to act directly and effectively in the accomplishment of this task —
in the department of agriculture. And this it has done by trying to promote
a rational development of the "own homes" movement, and thus to increase the
prospects for the youth of the rural districts personally to participate in the
utilization of the agricultural resources of the country. Considerable obstacles
in the way of the activities of the "own homes" movement are, however, not
only the formalities in connection with the transference of land and with the
State "own homes" loans, but also, and chiefly, the difficulties of getting land
at all that is suitable for small farms. These difficulties the Association seeks
to overcome by the wholesale cutting up of land. The agents for this form of
activity are "own homes" companies, founded on the initiative of the Association,
or with its co-operation. These companies are founded for the purpose of
buying cultivated land, or land capable of cultivation, and cutting it up into small
farms. At the beginning of 1913, such companies were at work in nine läns
(Stockholm, Jönköping, Kronoberg, Kalmar, Göteborgs och Bohus, Älvsborg,
Värmland, Västernorrland, and Jämtland). At the same period, the total capital
of the companies amounted t.o 400 000 kronor, of which the Association had
contributed about 90 000 kronor. The means for this contribution the
Association had obtained by its "own homes" fund, amounting to something over
130 000 kronor, the result of a national collection made in the autumn of 1909,
with the object of assisting the "own homes" activities of the Association.
Exceptionally also, loans are made out of this fund to private "own homes"
enterprises. By the agency of the Association and its "own homes" company, 26
"own homes" colonies had been established by the end of 1914, and about 400
small farmers had been settled in them.
In establishing "own homes", the Association has devoted special attention to
rational and economical building. Material which tends to throw light — from
various points of view — on the modern Swedish art of arranging small
homes has been collected and arranged by the Association, in the form of a
permanent "own homes" exhibition in Stockholm, which, at the same time, aims
at giving a general idea of the position and development of the "own homes"
movement.
At the turn of the year 1912—1913, the Association numbered "about 13 000
members, who are distributed according to läns into 13 local branches. Every
year these branches nominate representatives, who meet in Stockholm and appoint
a Central Committee, which is the responsible authority of the Association. In
its turn the Central Committee appoints an acting committee, which is the body
that chiefly directs the activities of the Association.
The economy of the Association is based on members’ subscriptions, State
grants, grants by County Councils, by agricultural societies, by communes, and
by private foundations. In 1912 the Association’s income and expenses amounted
to about 68 000 kronor, and its total capital to nearly 200 000 kronor.
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