The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-10-13

tocracy' and royalty, Bthe government
n the haseaucrats. there was scarcely
a a of=hiS long service that he was
not forced into . skirmish. One of his
long campaigns was in opposition to
the assumed prerogatiNo of the govern-
ment to raise and. lower the customs
duties and the internal revenue taxes.
If he did not always win he caused his
modest than they otherwise would have
been.
Hatred of the Bureaucrats.
His hatred of the ~bureaucrats was
born when he was a student at Upsala,
as. were most of the principles which
governed his course in politics. The red
Istape forinalities, endless correspondence
and interference with private affairs
which characterized the bureaucratic
tribe mcensed such a plain and direct
man as Hedin. The relations between
the people and the officials. who con-
sldered themselves the masters. when
the conditions should have been re-
yersed, We're intolerable to his liberal
spirit and he could always be counted
upon for assistance when anyone want
ed to curb the bureaumen. While adj
vocating good pay for good work. he
was always alert to abolish sinecures
and cut off unmerited salaries. 1t was
this spirit of antagonism to self-consti-
tuted masters which led him into the
famous tilt With Baron Rape and the
military clique over the Kailsborg
mystery, when an attempt at military
legislation was made without the
knowledge OF The only national legis-
latiye body in the country. =.
He had no anarchistic prejudice
against the army. Rather he favored
an arny-not a large standing army
maintained at the expense of heavy
taxation. bur a general consumption
which made every able Swede a soldier.
who could be called to arms
when men We're needed. 1t
was In this connection that he
advocated Il general suffrage for all
men of good character, for with the
responsibility of citizenship would
come a deeper patriotism and a Will
ingness to defend his rights and the
national honor.
Battle for Universal SUFFRAGE.
1t was one of his greatest sorrows
that his colleagues would not recognize
the necessity of guarding the country.s
welfare by making all her sons full
citizens. The argument that there was
danger in socialistic ideas, he ridicuIed
and scorned
do not fear the Swedish work
ing men. he said repeatedly, for they
are flesh of our flesh and bone of our
bone" -,
He failed in his attempt to have the
second chamber elected by popular vote
ton for the parliamentary elections to
the same amount as that provided for
the mn elections.
Though never making any campaign
for a republic he often characterized a.
constitutional monarchy as a pretty bit
of fiction and laughed at the ~oft-spoken
term, the divine right of kings" The
assumed superiority of the first cham
Der and the Difference shown it by the
government annoyed him and he made
repeated attempts to establish an
equality between h two chambers and
should first be submitted to What was
called the second chamber, as is done
in all other countries having the BIZ
canlerals system.
Hedin was a free trader in principle,
but was not an extremist. He favored
high tobacco duties, but not from the
standpoint of d protectionist. Although
"a strict abstainer, he opposed at one
time an increase in the duty on the
cheaper brandies. without a cores
pending Increase on the fine French
vines. TWAS the common people Who
would feel the burden. he argued. When
criticised for this position, he replied
simply that there We're other means of
regulating the liquor evil than by inn
posing high duties. These should at
least be equal on various kinds of liz
Jquors, and not lower on the rich mans
Wine than the Door mans brandy.
For the workingman he always had a
Sympathetic consideration. His efforts
at reform often failed, notably in the
attempt to reduce the hours of labor
for the bakers and in the law to protect
worldngmen from injury while at work,
but he exposed the unjust system of
company stores in the numbering and
mining camps of Norrland, secured an
appropriation of 10000 kroner for in
vestigating the condition of working
men, secured an increase in the pay of
railway employees and obtained vaca-
tions for pOstmen.SI
The free public school had in Hedin
ar. earnest and lifelong champion. A
sianch advocate of higher education,
he nevertheless opposed the system of
Latin schools n other parade
schools, as he called them, which sim
Upholstered class distinctions and pre-
vented the proper development of a
comprehensive system of popular edu-
cation which should begin in the lowest
of elementary schools and be carried
out through various steps to the uni-
versity.S
His Attitude Toward Norway.
What a v Hedin his fame abroad
Was his enthusiastic advocacy of Scan
dinavian unity and his aggressive de-
Tense of the rights Of Norway. The
Norwcgians and Danes HI considered
as much his blood relatives as the
sSMedes.s To- him Sweden and Norway
was a mutual union of two free and in
dependent kingdoms, with a joint king
and (; joint department OF foreign
affairs. Therefore he frequently criti-
cised the king for viewing Norwegian
questions and opposed all interference
in the purely domestic affairs of Nor,
way. His Bitter attack on the union
revision movement Of 1895 probably
brought him more criticisms md open
enemies than any Of his former battles.
He found it necessary to use harsh
words and Q used them regardless Of
consequences. No Norwegian could
hase .Shampioned the cause OF Norway
more ably or more loyalty than did
Adolf Hedin. and in return be had the
fullest confidence of the Norwegian
people.
Pan.Seandinavian Dream.
His dream from student days had
been IL Scandinavian union. While still
at Epsalu he stroye diligently to intro
duee the best of Norwegian n Danish