The Coolidge examiner., 1932-10-28

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. C.)
(WNU Service)
| TOCKHOLM is celebrating, this
y year, the one hundredth ami
versary of the opening of the
Gotta canal which connects the
Swedish capital with Goteborg on
the North sea, 246 miles across the
kingdom.
Even without it's party adorn-
ment, which it has donned for the
celebration, Stockholm is a city that
fairly shines. It's quays are the
city's front doors. with steps always
freshly scrubbed. Under brilliant
summer sun, even the cargoes of
many of the harbor's sailing craft,
mOored in front of royal palace,
town hall, and house of parliament,
glisten with countless cords of sill
yer birch, the city's fuel.
Every year, in gorgeous midsum-
mer floral regalia, Stockholm stands
frultlessly groomed to receive only
a few score American visitors, while
other continental capitals, included
In customary tourist itineraries, are
athrong.
The average traveller does not de-
eide casually upon trip to Stock
holm, nor, unless he comes directly
from New York by ocean route, does
the American always arrive in the
most amiable frame of mine. 1t is
q long, hard journey from western
or southern Europe to the historic
city founded several centuries ago as
fortress to resist the forays of Bal
tic pirates.
From Paris, for example, unless
one selects the speedy and exhil-
arating airplane mode of travel, the
major part of one day must be spent
on the train to Amsterdam; thence
there is an all-night journey to Ham,
! burg, then another full day on the
train to Copenhagen, and finally, by
| train, ferry, and train again, sec
Ond night is required to reach ones
destination.
Stockhom's prosperity, like that Of
the entire country, is founded in
large measure on forests-the city's
name, Isle of Log, suggests it-but
there Is no evidence of this in exter-
nal appearances. There was a time
when the metropolis was built of
wood, and it required six disastrous
confagratlons, recurring over Pc
riod of two and half centuries, to
convince it's citizens that their
safest insurance against flames lay
beneath their feet.
City Built of and on Granite.
Stockholm today is built of gran
ite, upon granite foundations. A
landowner blasts his building ma
terial from the site of his proposed
structure, and by the some opera
ton makes his cellar. The result
is city of somber, unadorned gray
stone apartments and business build
ings, conveying the impression of
having been erected for eternity.
Architecturally one enters a new
world on reaching Stockholm. No
slightest suggestion is to be found
of that classical Greek influence so
conspicuous in most of the Capitals
and chief cities of southern, central
and western Europe.
For twelve years Stockholm la
bored on its town hall. 1t was fin
ished, as planned, for formal dedi-
cation in 1923, the four hundredth
anniversary of the beginning of the
reign of Gustavus Vasa, Sweden's
first hereditary ruler.
The hall, in contrast to the Gus
tomary granite, is built of eXcep-
tionally large red bricks. It's in
terror is as impressive as its ex-
terror. On one side of a great in
ner court is the famous blue room,
rising from the ground to the full
height of the building. This is used
for official banquets and similar
civic affairs.
Here, each year on a Sunday in
August, a picturesque event is
staged, when awards are made to
StockhOlm's great army of wOrkmen
farmers, one of the most interest
ing groups to be found in Europe.
The Swedes are noted for their
love of the soil and all that it pro-
duces, and this passion for growing
things cannot be stifled by the cir
cumstance of metropolitan exist
ence; so the city has set aside count
less acres of suburban territory for
conversion into garden plots, and
these are rented to workingmen for
the equivalent of $5 for a summer
season.
Here the laborer builds a tiny cot
tage-one room and porch, usually.
He can buy a complete house ready
made for 800 and set it up like a
jig-saw puzzle. All summer he and
his wife and children live on their
little farm" He continues his
work in shipyard or factory, but