Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-02-25
SCANDINAVIAN News
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT HAP.
PENlNos IN FAR OFF
NORTHWEST.
ITEMS FROM THE OLD HOME
Resume Of the Most Important Events
In Sweden, Norway and Denmark
OF Interest to the SeandlnavIans
In America.
SWEDEN.

The swedish riksdag was opened In
the presence of the king, the crown
prince, the Princes Wilhelm, Carl,
and Eugen, and a magnificent retinue
of some of the foremost dignitaries
of the kingdom. Having assembled
In their respective chambers. they
marched in procession to the castle
chapel, where Rev. N. ]. Welinder
preached a sermon on "The Lords
Blessings" After the close of the
service the members of the royal
family headed the procession back to
The riksdag building, where the king
read his speech from the throne In a
strong voice. The minister OF civil
affairs read his report on what had
taken place in the kingdom during the
past few months. whereupon the
speaker Of the first chamber In elo-
quent terms addressed to the throne
assured the king that his imperturb-
able peace policy was backed by the
people. The speaker of the second
chamber said that the second cham
Der was greatly pleased with the
ceaseless efforts made by the king to
maintain the neutrality of the coun-
try, and he expressed the hope that
the king would succeed in overcom-
ing all difficulties and maintaining
peace.
The Petrograd Novoye Vrem1a ac-
cused the Swedish officers in Persia
of carrying on pro-German agitation.
To this the Berlin vossische Zeitung
remarks: The only men in Persia
who have ever half succeeded in COM
batting the disturbances in the ex-
posed districts. are the Swedish off,
GERS. who. at the request of Russia
and England, entered the Persian
gendarmerie service. But the more
systematically they performed their
duties the more the Russian Nationa-
lists went cunning for them in their
newspapers. 1t did not suit the Rus
sian "civilizers" that there should be
in their neighborhood a gendarmerie
who held view of their duties en-
tirely different from that held by the
Russian gendarmerie, which even in
Russia had a poor reputation and
whose higher positions are consid-
cred good enough for blasted subjects
from the fine bodyguard regiments
of the car. And SO the Swedish Of
ficers OF the Persian gendarmerie are
shown the honor of being abused by
Russia's most corrupt newspaper"
The action of the government In re-
moving the import duty on corn,
wheat and rye for the period ending
next August may result In perman-
ent free trade for Sweden so far as
foodstuffs are concerned. The power
full socialist party. with which the lib
erals form legislative majority, has
decided to make this its particular
fight in the session Of parliament just
convened. which, says one of the So
cialist leaders, means the beginning
of the end OF the protective tariff in
Sweden. When Sweden placed duty
on foods, 20 years ago, agriculture
was still its main industry. The farm
ers feared ruin from American wheat
and Russian rye. Since then the eco
nomic character of the country has
completely changed. Sweden's pros
perity now, depends on its manufac-
ture of wooden and metal ware,
matches and other products and the
export of timber and iron ore. AS the
majority of the population depend on
Ara thnu nhiAnf 70 he Axuf
ding band of farmers profiting at
their expense. When the war caused
the price of foods to rise to exorbitant
rates, parliament was forced to sus-
pend the duty on grains. This was
done in December.
The net profit of the Swedish riks.
bank for the year was 17.52 per cent
of the capital stock. The gold re-
serve at the end of the year was $780,
100000 for the year. There was
great run for gold during the last
week of July, and the reduction of
the gold reserve was $750,000. But as
soon as the bank stopped paying out
gold for its notes there was steady
increase. During the entire war the
bank furnished ample gold for all In
dustrial and commercial purposes.
The horsekeepers of Malmohuslan
who have sold horses to the army of
Sweden have donated $4,000 to the
government, the money to be used for
furnishing clothes for the members
of the Malmohus landsturm who may
be in need Of 1t.
Wilhelm Born, proprietor of Moss
berga estate. Hogrum parish. GLAND.
who was serving at Thorn, West Prus-
STA. as lieutenant of spy battalion,
offered his service at the front near
Warsaw, Poland, and distinguished
himself by signal bravery. His acts
of heroism were not forgotten. and
In due time he received the iron cross
from Kaiser Wilhelm.
The city of Malmo paid out over
$1,000 as aid to the unemployed dur
ing December. The demand was still
greater In January.
There was very large increase Of
the production of malt drinks during
the last quarter Of 1914. The amount
of malt consumed during the period
was 7,110. as against $500 tons for
the corresponding quarter of 1918
The increase Of the tax was about
$4,000.
While party OF sailors from
Swedish warship was attempting to