The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-12-15
Swedish lady, he has furthermore
strengthened the bond between himself

Swedish Indy, he has further moro
strengthened the bond between himself
and the Swedish people.
The diplomatic relations between the
United States and Scandinavia have al
ways bean most friendly, and conse
quently Mr.. Thomas has had no cause
for exercising his sagacity and wisdom
in dissolying any grave complications.
But he has been useful in many other
ways. Here we will recall only few in
stances of later dats. During his second
term he helped secure the appointments
of Swenish jurist az chief Justice OF
Samoa under the treaty OF Ber1n, and
Norwegian statesman as q member OF the
tribunal of arbitration between the
United States and Great Britain on the
question of the fur seal fisheries in
Behring sea.
On the memorable occasion when the
United States IN such an impressive way
honored the memory of Swedish Amer1-
can tor his services TO his country OF
adoption 1--WE refer, Of course, to the oc-
casio.. when the American man of-war
Baltimore hIouaht home to Sweden the
ashes Of John Ericsson to be lowered in
the motherly bosom of the old country
MIR. Thomas with on eloquent address,
delivered the precious burden OF the bal
tmore TO the peopls of Sweden. During
Mr.. Thomas seound term, also, freezer
in Sweden, the Riksdag having voted In
1891 to reduce the dnties on both grain
and pork by ore half. 1t WAS at the sug-
gestion of Mr.. Thomas, made to the De-
partment of State in 1890, that he
received instructions under which ne
commenced negotiations with the gov
ernments of the United Kingdoms that
resulted in the full and satisfactory ex-
tradition treaties of 1898 between the
United States and both Sweden and Nor
way.
As the founder of the Swedish settle
| ment, New Sweden, in Maine, Mr..
Thomas has long ago written his name
in the history Of thefculiur of the United
STATES. 1t was in 1870 that he, rs a COM
Sweden, recruited a colony of 81 Swedes,
| sailed with them over the ocean, and
| founded the above named flourishing
settlement in the priIneval forests OF his
native state. Last year when New
Sweden celebrated its 25th anniversary,
Mr.. Thomas received the unanimous
praise of both American and Swedish
prise.
We Swedish Americans owe great
debt of gratitude to Mr.. Thomas on &C.
count Of his efforts to make our land
and our people known to Americans, not
only ny the above named literary works,
but also by his spoken words. He has
| publicly lectured about Sweden and the
| Swedes before large audiences over a
| large portion OF the United States.
| During the last national campaign MI.
Thomas worked energeticallY among the
Scandinavian population in the North
west, and that his words obtained n heat
| ing was shown clearly at the PTesiden-
| tial election Inst November.
We omit mention here Of the important
/ II M. Thoypae has ypada to
| the interior development of mis- own state
and of the country. The intent of these
| limos has been to give only few short
recollections of what he has done for
Sweden and the tSwedes. life-wcrk
which we think should fully explain our
hope that Mr.. Thomas be rsappointed
by our next President. minister to the
| United Kingdoms-Sweden and Norway.
In this hope the Swedish American
population Of the United States, we are
perfectly sure, unites, knowing his re-
| turn to Sweden would be greeted with
satisfaction not only by the monarch,
| whose personal friend Mr.. Thomas is,
hut also by the whole Swedish people.