Morris tribune., 1909-04-03
SWEDEN.

During the past year there have
been many things published in Swed-
ish papers, which are supposed to have
transpired in America, but which after
careful investigation have been found
to have no ground for truth whatso-
ever. Several prominent Swedish
Americans have been reported dead
and we note that they are still alive:
sensational stories have been pub
lished to the effect that Swedish-Amer-
leans are beginning to return to the
fatherland by the hundreds and one
telegram after another containing not
one word of truth have been published
by the Stockholm papers time and
time again. A correspondent known
under the pseudonym ''Limpan" seems
to have been the man who taught the
Swedish journalists the art of sensa-
tional news fabrication. He began
his work in 1907 during the Stockholm
exhibition, when he was representing
a number of American newspapers,
sending one sensational story after an
other to America which was copied by
the Swedish-American and American
newspapers all over the United States.
Through such unworthy methods,
Americans, and especially Swedish
Americans, have often been misrepre-
scented in Sweden so that people over
there have the most ridiculous ideas of
the American people and their institu-
tons. The Swedish-Americans have
in many instances been described as
a boorish lot of people who possess
no culture whatever and American in
situations have time and again re-
ceived unwarranted slaps.
Sweden, says Current Literature,
has produced two women of genius in
our day-Ellen Key and Selma Lager
lof. The first is a sociologist, the Sec
ond is an artist. The one lives in Ber-
lin, preaching the subversive doctrine
that the world is not as yet prepared
to accept; the other has remained in
her native land, beloved and honored
by all. A few weeks ago the f1ftieth
birthday of Selma Lagerlof was cele-
dlCu Oil OFS1 owe dl1u CfSu III
neighboring lands. The schools held
festivals in her honor; her poems and
stories were recited at the clubs and
societies. kilograms of congratula-
ton and appreciation from all kinds
and classes of people, from the royal
family down to poor peasant children,
who had read her fairy tales, were
sent to her, lectures were given on her
works, and the papers and magazines
abounded in articles and portraits.
Unlike that other great Swedish
dramatist and writer, August Strind-
berg, Selma Lagerlof is naive and
optomistic. The spirit of a Swedish
Peter Pan breathes in her-the intense
love of the mystical Swedish nature
for weird forests in which sprites and
fairies and imps have fingered since
the days when the Gods walked upon
earth. Where Strindberg uncovers
and delineates the worm-eaten, the
morbid and the evil in humanity, she
searches for the higher and redeem
ing motives. Her art is saturated with
romance and her philosophy, if it could
be summed up in a single sentence,
would be: MAN needs an illusion to
be able to live"
In an article entitled 'fWhat Health
Is Worth to Us" written by Frances
Maule Bjorkman, the writer makes the
following interesting statement: "In
Sweden, the home of the famous Ling
cvctop, Of oUpnactioc uboro Ybvcioo1
training forms part of the education
of every child, the average length of
life is fifty years for menNand fifty
three for women-the highest in the
world. In India, on the other hand,
|! where hygiene and sanitation are I'M
known or unapplied, it is twenty-three
for men and twenty-four for women
the lowest in the world. AS might be
expected, the death rate is lowest in
the Scandinavian countries, only 1876
to 14.4 per 1000 population; and high
est in India, 1928 per 1000 population,
with the United States holding the
relatively low position of 1875"
Axel Burman, prominent Stock
holm banker and for years a member
of the firm of Burman & Co., died a
few days ago on his estate at Brandal-
sund near Sodertelge, aged forty-one
years. He had purchased the afore-
mentioned estate only short time ago
and intended to devote the next few
years to agricultural pursuits. About
two years ago he made trip to Cey-
Ion in the hopes of regaining his
health, but the trip proved disastrous
to him instead. Mr.. Burman was
shrewd business man and had, al
though comparatively young man, al
ready amassed considerable fortune.
Swedish papers state that the gov
eminent needs several hundred men
on state railways which are being con-
structed in Norrland, and hundreds of
men are anxious to get the iohs h1t