The Coolidge examiner., 1932-08-26
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington, d. c.
(WNU Service)

brating, with memorial rites
- and exhibits, the three hun
dredth anniversary of the death in
battle of Gustavus Adolphus, the
Swedish hero king.
Many are the ways of celebrating,
for as the traveller moves about
Sweden by canoe, coast steamer,
river barge, motor car, railway or
airplane, he is confronted with
many peoples with customs and dia-
lects unalike.
The differences, however, fade in
retrospect and the outstanding i'm
preston one gets Of Sweden today
is of a closely knit and homogene-
Gus group. In its population an un-
usually pure Nordic type predom-
inates-tall stature, long face, light
complexion, golden hair and blue
eyes. The blond coloring gives the
streets of Stockholm a quality of
lightness. In contrast, Paris seems
somewhat somber and dark.
The one exception to the homo
geneity of the population of Sweden
is the Lapp. Some seven thousand
of them, a race apart, dwell in the
Arctic wastes of the Far North. In
some vague past-their racial men,
ory is short-they wandered in
from the East, possibly from Mon
golia. They have not stopped to
carve their names on the eternal
hills. They are deaf to the tread of
centuries. For them the music of
life comes only through the singing
of the wind above their nomad
tents of bark and through the vel
vety tramp of fleet, vagrant rein
deer hoofs.
AS protected wards of the Swedish
state, members of this alien race
roam securely over the tundras and
snow-capped fields of the North.
For more than a century Sweden
has not been embroiled in war. At
no time in its history has con-
quering foe invaded its territory
and left the customary aftermath
of mixture Of blood. During the
past six years Sweden has entered
more actively upon its humanita-
rian purpose of trying to outlaw war
altogether.
Sweden has no colonies and so
avoids entangling alliances. It's zest
for empire and empire-building was
worked off in the flush of youth. In
the viking days brave adventures
went West, and traces Of their wan
derings still exist on the coasts of
England and France, Iceland and
Greenland but in many of the lands
they touched they left no enduring
record of occupancy.
No Immigrants There.
Sweden has no immigration prob
lem, about 90 per cent of its six mil
lions being native-born. Not i'm
migration, but emigration, once
threatened the national welfare. Be
fore American immigration quotas
were known, nearly fifth of Swe-
denis population was represented in
the United States.
Love Of country dominates the
Swedish people. Their songs re-
veal a passionate love for the
beauty of the land which has been
an unending source of inspiration
to Swedish poets. The Swede's rep
utation for melancholy may be at
tributed wholly to his susceptible
ity of the vagaries of the weather.
He is gloomy at the very thought
of autumn, harbinger of the dark
winter months. All the russet gor-
geousness of September and Octo-
Der is wasted on him. He is quick
to lament the briefness of the sea-
son of light. Remind him of some
event in the past and he is likely
to say reflectively, "Oh, yes, that
was the year the summer fell on a
Tuesday"
In that respect he is the arch pes
simist. Stockholm, to be sure, is
in very nearly the same latitude as
the southern tip of Greenland. This
means that approximately two
thirds of the country lies in lati-
tudes generally considered unfavor-
able to habitation and growth. But
the climate of the Scandinavian
peninsula, with it's Jagged coast line
sweeping down majestically from
polar regions into the North and
Baltic seas, is tempered by the
warm Atlantic drift, which follows
the western coast of Norway and
dips also into the Skagerrack.
There is a joyous glamour about
the way spring and summer come
with a rush. Almost overnight, in
the South, one sees the beech for
ests turn into low ranges Of jade.
The islands the transatlantic visi-