Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-05
SWEDISH IMfIGR4TION.


Visit to st. Paul of Mr.. r. p. Donovan,
Swedish Agent of the American Line of
Stearsships-WhatH He Says of the Emil
grafton From Swcden-A Favorable I'm
preston of st. Paul and the Northwest.
Of late the Northwest has been visited by
| several scandinavian emigration agents,
and now the GLOBE has to chronicle the
arrival of F. P. Donovan, g general agent at
| Gothenborg, Sweden, of the American line,
| and the senior emigration agent in Sweden.
Mr. Donovan was found by GLOBE report
erat Commissioner Johnson's Office, of the
Manitoba road, yesterday afternoon, and
was introduced as Mr.. Donovan. of Gothen-
borg. The name did not strike the report
or as Swedish in sound,
and MIR, Denovan's English had Scotch
accent, but it was explained that fifteen
years residence in Sweden had enabled
Mr.. Donovan to master the language, and
he speaks it with ease and fuency. Mr..
Donovan proved a perfect encyclopedia
of emigration, and his conversation was
interesting and entertaining. He states,
among other things, that the
total number of emigrants from
Sweden to the United States
this year will not fall short of Sc, 600. about
| * per cent. of the entire pop
ulation, and as the greater part are of the
younger, harder classes, the perc entage
of actual working and producing people,
| must be fully 3 per cent of the total, and
this for single season. The government
shows great anxiety on the subject of en-
igration, and is constantly On the alert
to use available means to re-
duce its volume. The latest move
will be at the next sitting of the parliament
to attempt the passage of a law prohib-
ting the employment of local agents for
the various steamship lines, and by their
abolition it is hoped to suppress. or at
least restrict, the distributing of emigra-
alton documents, the reading of which
keep the people restless and anxious to
enigrate. But Mr.. Donovan thinks all
attempts at interference will be futile, as
there a,e most potent causes and
reasons for the continuous stream
which pours out of Sweden and towards
our glorious new Northwest, i. e.,the large
ly increased wages here, and secondly, the
hope to secure a home of 100 acres of
rich land, with light burdens in the way of
taxes.
MIR. Donovan says a frst-class female
servant in Sweden gets SIS per year; here
they have $15 per month. A farm hand
gets $25 year; here the same per month.
Experienced sawmill hands get
about twenty-five to thirty cents
per day, with board; here they get from
81 to $1.5O per day. Skilled mechanics
wages are about IS cents per day; here
from - to So, and the same comparison
through the entire list. The thousands of
letters weekly from relatives in America,
have power which no government policy
can neutralize. Mr.. Donovan says the
Northwest receives the lions share of the
very best Swedish emigrants, and it
appears to be the objective point
for the future for even those who,
through lack of means must make tenn
porary halt at the seaport. The more
active and enterprising emigration agents
in Scandinavia finds it to their advantage
to come out and take look at the great
Northwest, and personally learn about the
section that receives such a large share of
their passengers.
Mr.. Donovan has trip through the Red
river valley planned, as he says there is
extraordinary desire manifested of late by
lnDenuliig enilgran5s to obtain information
about the northwestern part of Minnesota
and northern Dakota. The magnitude of
the general business in st. Paul, the sub
stantial business structures, and the ap-
pearance of prosperity and wealth on
every side, together with the manufacture
ing interests and railroad facilities in St.
Paul, impressed Mr.. Donovan most favor
ably.
Frequent visits to the Northwest by such
gentlemen as Nh. Donovan. and recently
Mr.. Odell, of the Inman line, cannot fail
to prove beneficial to the entire country
tributary to st. Paul.