Evening star., 1917-09-30
SWEDES SMART|NG
UNDER THEIR Yoke
Mighty Democratic Current
Rising to Throw Off Prus-
sian Domination.
PEOPLES ARE HUNGRY

LONDON. September 29.-The unrest
in Sweden is due to q popular effort to
shake off the Prussian yoke under
which the country Is smarting. Sweden
is ruled by a small Junker caste whose
interests are identical with those Of
Prussianism. Against the domination
of this caste there IS now rising In
Sweden a mighty democratic current
This is the analysis of the Swedish
situation by Swede who has lived in
the United States and written for
American, English. Danish and Swedish
publications He says:
TT is fact that tho inferior
classes of Sweden have been reduced
by hunger to despair. Commodities and
articles most indispensable for daily
life have risen so high in price that
the average working man is unable to
buy them. However, patient by nature
and custom the Swede may be. he has
finally come to think that he must
have recourse to arms to assure for
himself the commodities necessary for
his subsistence. But he is not actuated
by this necessity alone. he is inspired
by a very noble cause which has re-
ceived very little attention outside OF
Sweden, and which consists OF freeing
the future Sweden from a PruSsianized.
autocratic and aristocratic government
Foods Exported to Germany.
Some one will ask. perhaps. how did
it happen that an agricultural country
like Sweden has been reduced to fam
inc, while since the beginning OF the
war 1t had imported from America four
times as much cereals as in an equal
length of time before the war. The
secret of this lies in the fact that all
the imported commodities and the sur
plus of grain produced and OF the cat
tie raised in Sweden have regularly
been exported to Germany.
This trade. which has offered no ad-
vantages to the Swedish people and has
not even contributed to Sweden's In
ternal prosperity. has only served to
enrich wealthy Germanophile Swedes
and to benefit German militarism. The
impudence of these exploiters went SO
far as to celebrate in their newspapers
The intelligence and the courage, the
material and spiritual firmness with
which the Swedish government was
thus defying England
.Rut when the lack of food began to
be felt the masses tried to learn the
cause of it and asked themselves the
question whether the government was
maintaining numerous troops under
arms to show the allies the power or
Sweden and to inspire them with re-
spect for Swedish neutrality and in
dependence or whether it was grossly
deceiving the people by employing the
mobilized men and recruits to cover the
profitable transactions of the nobliity
and of the capitalist recipients OF the
imperial marks and to help the great
Ihenefactor of humanity to impose
Prnssianism upon the world
'.Rut the disorders which have broken
in several parts of Sweden are more
than mere hunger strikes. The work.
ingmen and, the small farmers are re-
publicans. and these oppressed classes
are seizing the opportunity which is
offering itself to free themselves from
a semi-feudal regime and to shake on
the yoke of .Prussian liberty which is
oppressine Sweden.
1.-The Swedish ruling class consists OF
a very small number of families be-
longing to the old nobility, the mem
hers Of which are profoundly imbued
with the German kultur. The Swedish
aristocracy has adopted the Prussian
spirit of militarism, together with its
love for domination. with JUS ruoeness
especially lourishing in the military
caste.
.Since the accession of the present
king things have been becoming worse
and worse. The queen, who is GER
man woman, has found in the superior
ranks of the army and among the aris-
tocracy faithful collaborators and SYM
pathizers with her Prussophile ten
tendices. The Swedish ruling classes
resemble those of Germany as regards
the art of 'bluffing.' The police are
Instructed to use force on the least
pretext.
Brutality Every Day Affair.
Brutality in Swedish prisons is an
everyday affair. There are languishing
today in Swedish prisons many Rus
sian revolutionaries of both sexes who
have been condemned to long years OF
penal servitude. The majority of them.
victims of Cars regime, had come to
Sweden to earn their livelihood by
working But their poverty and the
fact that they were foreigners have
aroused suspicion against them. and
the fact that they were receiving LETT
ters from home from time to time was
sufficient to stamp them as spies.
Recently, two respectable heads OF
Swedish labor organizations. members
of the second chamber. have been sent
forward to prison for hsxing made ad:
dresses that were anti-mffitaristic and
anti-Gerrnan.
Both the President of the United
States and the American people have
been insulted with impunity because
they are protecting the life and COM
merce of their nationals against the
submarine warfare in consequence OF
which the United States has decided to
exercise a minute control over its ex-
ports to Sweden. The Swedish Junkers
are laughing at this. They are counting
on the profits which a German victory
will bring them