The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-31
Suffering in Famine Stricken
Sections of Scandinavian
Peninsula Demands Imme-
diate Relief, According to
the Vice Gonsul-There Is
No Food in the Land of the
Midnight Sun.

God fearing '-thiS is the description
E. H. Hobe, vice consul for the king
doms of Sweden and Norway, gives of
the thousands Of NorWegians, SwedeS
and Finlanders, who, in their native
land, are in danger of starvation unless
liberal aid is extended from their fell
low countrymen on this side of the
water.
To obtain an idea of the conditions
under which these people are living
one needs but to glance at the map
said Mr.. Hobe. With the North At
lantic ocean on one side of them, the
Gulf of Bothnia on the other, bounded
ON the north by the 66th parallel, and
en- the south by about the 64th, they
are truly within the arctic zone, where,
even under normal conditions with a
liberal food supply, the severe winters
are difficult to contend with. But when
to the cold is added a famine, it is no
wonder the cry goes out for relief"
Speaking to T he Clio b yesterday
Mr.. HObe continued:
while / have had no direct COM
munfcation from my government upon
the subject, I know from general in
formation something of the causes Of
the distress and the condition of the
distressed. Continuous rains, accom-
panied by cold weather, during the
early part of last year, delayed the
seeding to such an extent that it was
not until the month of August that the
grain sprouted in the ground. Then
came an unprecedented winter season,
snow falling heavily, with severe frosts,
with the result that the grain was
frozen in the ground, and even the hay
crop was total failure.
These people are poor that is to
say. they have large families, small
means, cultivating, in what are to us,
primitive ways, their small holdings.
They will have perhaps one to five
COWS, which have to be fed during the
winter, and upon whose products In
the way Of milk, butter and cheese a
great many Of the families live through
the long dark months. OF course, with
crops failure, the cattle will either
have to be slaughtered or else die of
starvation. Even the cereals neces-
sary for household use are not to be
had.
You will understand that while the
affected territory is larger in extent
than the whole of the New England
states, a great deal of it is mountain,
and 1t is only in the valleys that any
thing can be grown. The crops are
principally rye, barley and potatoes,
with some other small vegetables, and
hay on land not so easily cultivated.
Rich Cypress the Starving.
I'm the hills there is a great store of
wealth in timber and minerals, giving
employment to quite a large number
of people, but I have heard it stated
that the large companies are taking
advantage of the distress amongst the
poor-to scale down the rate of wages,
SO that even this resource is not avail
able. believe that the price Of bread
stuffs is regulated by the government,
but no matter what the maximum rate
is, 1t takes money to buy"
hcsf L.
terday, there has already been a gen
erous response to the appeal for aid
for the famine stricken. although ST
Pau1 has not done her share simply for
want or organized effort In the CITY
of Chicago there was raised some SOL
| 000, and up to Jan. Is the Augustana
synod had contributed $16,416.24 col
lected through the various churches
under its jurisdiction.
Thre have also been contributions
from other sources, as, for instance,
from Minneapolis, where a substantial
sum was raised. The funds when col
lected will be forwarded to a properly
! organized and authorized committee in
stockholm, known as the central relief
committee, appointed by the king of
Norway and Sweden.
Three Thousand Children Cared For.
'This organization is not only MAX
ing provisions for the women and men
IN the famine stricken provinces, but
mas established asyluns for the relief
OF the children of the poor having over
5000 Vesterbetten and Norrbotten in
rants now under care. While the exact
hgures are not known, this would indi-
cate that there are at least 1900 to
1900 families in want, as only the very
young are leaving the elders to help
| themselves all they can and subsist on
partial relief.
quite a number of the men are find
Ing employment in the timber camps
and in the extensive copper and iron
mines now being opened up, but again
difficulty is met in this direction. as
there is only one railway from the Golf
| of Bothnia across to the Atlantic and
J the portions where perhaps the great
| est suffering exists, are hard to reach
Another factor to be considered very
| seriously in raising a relief fund is the
| certainty that the sufferers must be
| maintained until the next crop is gath
| cred, While, even then, many who have
| by reason of the present famine lost
their little stock viii have to be re-es
| tablished and supplied with cows and
! sheep to enable them once more to
make living as they did previously
The distress has existed almost
| from the time of the first snow last
August, and the best efforts of the
i
! viate 1t entirely until after the new
| crop.
| ''The Norwegians, Swedes and Fin
| landerS are making an active canvass
amongst their residents in the North
4 western states, and this, with the as
! sIstance from the general public SO
confidently looked for, will undoubted-
/ ly result in a substantial addition to
| the fund already raised
General Committee Not Organized. :
No decision has yet been reached as
to the organization of the general COM
| mlttee appointed by Gov. Van SAINT
| further than that the three gentlemen
| named as central committee, L. o.
| Thorpe of Nillnar: n. o. Werner. of
1 Minneapolis, and Charles Wallblorn. OF
! st. Paul, will receive and acknowledge
| contributions which will be collected
! by the other members of the commit
| tee, either personally or by means of a
local organization.
In addition to the state committee
j an effort is now being made locally to
/ swell the st. Paul contributions. The
Swedish Brothers, a local benevolent
/ society, has appointed a relief COM
mittee, consisting of Frank G. Lilly
4 green, superintendent of the American
1 Hoist and Derrick company: Edward
/ Bergstedt, Of Bergstedt Bros. Co., and
! Edward Peterson, assistant city and
/ county assessor, and arrangements
/ have been made for a benefit concert
to be held Feb. Is, in the Luthern
church, corner Woodward and John
The committee members, however. be-
4 HeVlng that there are a number OF peo-