The evening times., 1898-12-22
NORWAY AND SWEDEN.
of the Statistics of the
Two Countries.
(FrOm The New York s.

(Fr0m the New York Sun
The demand of Norway and of the Nor
wegians for political autonomy and the
reluctance or refusal of Sweden and the
Swedes TO grant ii is a matter of growing
interest. The Norwegian constitution
dates back to 1914. and the Norwegians
say they withheld certain rights which
the Swedes aver were surrendered TO the
common monarchy along with the right
of the King of Sweden TO declare war,
make peace. contract alliances, send and
receive amba ssadors. and manage De for
eign affairs of the two kingdoms. The
exact political relations between Norway
and Sweden were not very clearly defin-
ed. and as a result of this indeiniteness
and the ambiguity of the laws concerning
them there has recently been great
deal of friction. The most recent cause
of controversy arose from the alleged
attempt of the King of Sweden 10 reduce
the strength of the Norwegian army
while maintaining a large Swedish army
for use in the event Of trouble.
The area of Sweden Is l72.000 square
miles: the area OF Norway is l2i.0o
square miles or considerably less. The
population of Sweden is nearly 5.ooo.0o0;
the population Of Norway Is 2000. .040. The
population per square mile of Sweden Is
IS: of Norway l6 In a total population
of 5000 900 in Sweden, the excess of fe-
males is l00.0 .0O1; il is just as large in Nor
way, in total population OF only 2oc0.-
COO Sweden has one large city Stockholm
with a population of nearly 800. 44i: the
largest city in Norway is Christiania.
which is only half as large. The excess
of births over deaths in Sweden is co..
COO year: in Norway il is S0.01o The
total emigration from Sweden in year
is $500, mostly males; from Norway il
averages io.000.
Practically all the emigration from Nor
way and Sweden is TO the United States.
There IS some immigration into Sweden
into Norway none at all. The population
of both countries Is mainly rural. but
more largely so in Sweden than In Nor
way There were 1,500 Americans in
Sweden by the last census, but no Ameri-
cans to speak of in Norway. Financially
Sweden is much the stronger country of
the two, and the Swedish army is gener-
ally regarded as more formidable than
the Norwegian army, which numbers
80, 600. The Swedish army numbers about
40. 900 on a peace footing.
The total debt of Sweden is 200. 600. 600
crowns, or about s7O.000000. The total
debt of Norway is 100, 600 crowns. or
nearly $40, 600 600 The revenues of Sweden
are from customs and excise chiefly, from
an income tax and from the sale of
stamps: the income of Norway is from
customs chiefly. The postofiice receipts
! are relatively greater in Norway than in
Sweden. and the internal revenue taxes
are much larger in Sweden than in Nor
way. The Swedish army costs about %
per cent of the total national outlay.
The Norwegian army costs about one
seventh. Norway spends more relatively
for its navy than Sweden. and the civil
list of Sweden is, of course, very much
! larger than that of Norway Seventy
three per cent of the forest lands of Nor
way are pine forests. Sweden, by the
last census, had $4,000 miners. in the
iron and coal mines chiefly Sweden's
chief exports are to England; the chief
imports to Sweden are from Germany
The United States does very little business
with Sweden. The chief exports of Nor
way are to Great Britain and the chief
imports are from that country. There
are $500 miles of railroads in Norway,
and smaller mileage in Sweden. There
are $1,000 miles of telegraph line in Nor
way and $500 only in Sweden.