The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-08-21
"A HAS HARD ].
TINES IN SWEDEN
Danger that the Country May Be.
come Depopulated Of Able
/ .s..ys bodied Men. .:.a.. 3 st.
Angust Hagburg Tells Of Labor
80 oondi dihons as They Exist in
5. .=1s::g. gs:3.& ~. That Country. ..s:.s 5s


tho relative positions Of capital and
:labor n Sweden. Whereby the working
Iclasses receive more adequate compen-
sation for efforts expended IN behalf
OF their employers, that country soon
will be inhabited only by old men. chill
dren and women, while all the able
bodied males will have. migrated to
America This, at least, IL the way the
situation is sized up by August Hag-
berg OF Duluth, state factory inspector,
who has. Just returned home from q
trip to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
4 4 s5G ST Observations ia Stockholm. s.
!: MI. HaEbers was In Stockholm when
tthe trouble between capital and labor
resulted nthe; big strike OF factory
hands, and was Ia stocgholm also on
the ds e1 1Ieafsoldir shot !. The
pNluth man's sympat hiess are with the
men He says they work ten
dsAwel1e aheaIs g tor dis9rxcs
zfil1y small 4wges, and that they ara
Aasily justifie lin striking for more.
The1average daily wage Is about three
kronen, equivalent to- about 81 cents
American money. The pulp. wood
workers are the leaders Of the strike,
and are principally affected by it. They
are working under the three kronen
wage scale. Out Of their small earn
inss each man is compelled to pay an
Income tax Of 100 kronen year, even
&ff he doesn't work more than two
months out Of the twelve. Board costs
him 80 kronen a month. These two
items alone eat up 700 kronen a year,
and II he works every week day he is
left only about 200 kronen, or about
l$64 for other expenses and his pleas
,ures. 9f i ..s:.z ~; Re ~ z.S.. =
..Es5 Hard Economic Conditions.
:. Mr.. Hagberg says the feeling, be-
tween the factory and mill owners and
the laboring element Is intensely Bit
ter. with scarcely possible chance
of the present trouble being adjusted.
The owners. refuse absolutely to grant
the very necessary increase in wages,
and tho employees have reached con-
ditions where they believe they really
cannot 60 on any longer under the old
unfair system. The common people.
says Hagberg, are steadily growing
poorer; while the capitalists are get
ting richer. The latter, instead Of try
ing to adjust economic conditions, sit
around the swell cafes and sip expen-
siye wines. paying no attention to ths
cries OF their dissatisfied and half
starving emplayes. 81 55 IS
So a. Tids Of Immigration. 55s
t#a Mr.. Hagberg expresses. the opinion
that the present situation Will almost
surely result in 9 general exodus Of
ablebodiei men from their Enativa
country, leaving only the women and
children and old men, with the capi-
.talists,,s 70 populate Sweden. He thinks
the tide OF Immigration will set to-
wards American shores. Aside from
the deplorable labor conditions the
Duluth man says Sweden is an ideal
country IN which to- live. n HI 4
While abroad he boght the Huse.
copper mines In Sweden for. the Lake
Superior q Nevada Development COM
pany. This property was worked for
134 years prior ITO 1885, when 1t was
temporarily closed down. There is.
said to still remain valuable deposit:
OF the metal IN 5s 9ss: s55 !, 81