Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1907-01-24
Recent Occurrences Of Interest
in Sweden, Norway and
Denmark.
SPIRIT OF SPECULATION RIFE
Wonderful Headway Made by Indus
trial Manufacturing Companies
In Sweden.
SWEDEN.
Stock holm.

making wonderful be: ! Of lat"
years and the spirit Of %ulation *
rife. Says Hugo Nallemtin. the stock
holm correspondent, regarding the
tendency and the brokerage systcmt
at is not necessary to take into con
sidcration onccrns in which the dc
velopment has covered a period Of
years. such for instance. as the well
known separator company. which man
%ufactures the world-famed milk and
cream separators and whose shares OF
1000 kronOr par value are worth fifty
times that amount; nor the Ericsson
Telephone company, which sells tele~
phones all over the world and whose
shares have by degrees gone up ire
mcndously. l am thinking Of other af-
fairs, az for instance, the Stockholm
tramways, belonging 10 a private com
bany. These were electrified two
years ago, and the shares, originally
worth perhaps 100 kronor par value.
worth perhaps 800 kronor at this mo-
ment or perhaps twenty times this
amount, are made an object for specu-
lation. II was pure gambling. People
worth not q penny one day were rich
the next. ! am also thinking of sew
eral such transactions that have taken
place in the last year, such as when
a combine of Spectators has bought
a sawmlll and large tracts Of forests
and sold them in a couple of months
with 2.0OO.OQa kronor profit. am
thinking of the speculation that has
been going on in almost every kind of
security, some Of which do not de-
serve that name, and in which not
only business men, but everybody has
taken part without any other inten-
ton than making money as quickly as
as possible. Stockholm does not pos
sess q stock, exchange in the sense as
IL Is found In the great centers Of
commerce. To be sure, a stock ex-
change exists, but very little business
is transacted there. The business real
" is done by outside brokers, the MA.
jority OF whom are not brokers, but
spectators. Boys, who have just left
school, have entered a brokers' office
as junior clerks without the slightest
knowledge Of the business. Perhaps
after two years they have been well
established brokers themselves in
beautifully equipped offices, with ten
telephones through which they have
transacted nine-tenths Of their bust
ness, which generally has consisted of
spreading as many rumors as possible.
Young fellows who behind a counter.
In a warehouse or on the road would
not have been worth their keep. have
made 100000 kronor a year through
sheer audacity. Everybody has talked
about the great fortunes made and
those who have not made them have
been envious and tried to initiate. The
result has been that a perfect gam
bling spirit has arisen, but luckily for
ns this has taken place during a period
when real values have increased sim
~ultaneously on a sound basis. The
excellent crop this year has certainly
saved us from financial scares in these
days of dear money. Although three
months bills cannot be discounted I'M
der z per cent. and there Is a possi-
bility of the interest going mp to 8 per
cent, there is no visible decrease in
values and prices are keeping up
The direction in which a great deal
Of speculation has been going on in
house property in Stockholm recently
is remarkable. This year houses have
been changing hands constantly. A
great number OF old houses have been
pulled down and rebuilt. In this re-
spect Drottninggatan, the principal
thoroughfare of Stockholm. has under
gone a great change. House after
house has changed hands. been pulled
down and risen up again. generally
with doubled rents. In fact. rents are
now enormously high in Stockholm
and the cost OF living generally is very
high. This means really great hard
ships for all those who have to exist
on salaries, which have not risen In
comparison. The workmen with their
situated. In that they have been able
to enforce their demands for raised
wages. which those employed by the
state and the community, have not
heen able to do. If the good times
and the development Of industries CON
tinue In the natural course without dis
turbanccs, then, OF course, everything
will find Its level. Sweden Is adj
vancing undustrially In a remarkable
degree, but a speedy and thorough
solution OF the franchise Question
lwould undoubtedly contribute much to
this.
The duchess Of Dalarne celebrated
her roth birthday Dec. q. She re.
ceived many congratulations from
both ut home and abroad ana received
a deputation from Dalarne. which pre-
scented her with a beautiful oil paint
ing by Schultxberg. The duchess pre-
scented ON this day a sum Of 1000
crowns to the directors Of the Haga-
mud's labor fund.
Professor Molssan, one Of the Nobel
prize winners, who has Just returned
from Stockholm to Paris, Is enthusias.
tie ovcr Sweden ana the Swedes. He