The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-05-24

Prepared by the National Geographic Society.
Washington, D. C.-WNU Service.
WEDEN is still a land OF cas-
ties, although the owners of
~ many large estates have felt the
effect of world depression and
have been forced to curtail sharply
their living expenses. Yet modern
housing" has made few inroads, ex-
cept in the large cities; and the coun-
try gentlefolk, as a rule, adhere close
ly to quaint traditions of LONELINESS
inherited from their ancestors.
1t is not so easy to know the Swedes
well, especially the jewellers in the
country, who for the most part stay
at home on their property. Foreigners
are often led to think that they are
stiff and reserved, sometimes little
sullen or even naughty. But this
should be interpreted rather as sign
of their northern shyness.
They are in reality full of fun and
of warm feelings; but when it is a
question of showing the latter, their
shrinking from impulsive gestures and
emotional or grandiloquent language
is both comic and touching.
This is one aspect in which the rela-
tionship with the English is most clear
ly visible.
Certainly the letters are loosened
somewhat when they are in a festive
mood and have drunk little wine
But it is not then that one gets closest
to them. To know and value them
fully, one must observe them within
their own four walls, in their daily
life and activities. Only in intimacy,
free from alien, disturbing elements.
does their charming individuality come
to full Towering. Swedish home life
is a cult and a culture unlike anything
else, the product of centuries of ten
der polishing and refining. And no.
where has it attained such perfection
as in the old country houses.
There still were families which can
maintain to some degree their former
luxurious standard of living. Some had
the good fortune or the prudence not
to invest their fortunes in the securi-
ties which had later been affected by
the crisis and the Kreuger crash. 9th
ers had all their land leased on old and
profitable contracts, so long as the ten
ants could keep up their payments
But these were comparatively few and
privileged exceptions.
Big Landowners Suffer.
If the situation is serious for nearly
everyone nowadays, it is often catas-
trophic for the great landowners and
territorial magnates. Not 9 month
passes but some of them have to leave
home and property.
And where they stick to their old es-
tates despite all their difficulties, they
often do so less for their own sake,
but more in order not to abandon their
retainers to unemployment. In the
case of entailed estates there are of
course no bankruptcies and forced
sales, but 1t is not much more pleas
ant to be placed under the manage
ment of banks and creditors.
For Swedish agriculture can no long
fiict between agriculture and indus
try as in most other countries; and
it looks as If the former were getting
the worst of it.
A series of relief schemes has been
started to try to aid agriculture in
Sweden, as elsewhere But there has
been no visible result thus far. An
intensive educational campaign has
been set on foot: state advisers and
controllers have been provided for ev-
cry branch of forestry and agriculture.
There are such things as the milk
dues, which are intended to make up
the difference in price of the butter
which is sold at home and that which
is exported at unduly cheap rates. 1t is
hoped by such measures to keep the
price of the former somewhat above
production costs. Such Is also the aim
Of the new milling laws, according to
which no mill may grind foreign grain
without mixing with 1t high percent
age of native grain.
An active agitation is carried on for
"buying Swedish" and for burning
Swedish wood in the heating apparatus
of public institutions. to reduce the i'm
portation Of coal.
Most of the medieval castles in
Sweden are situated on heights sur
rounded by water or in otherwise in
accessible places. Such placement,
needless to say. was not due to any
considerations for natural beauty. but
because it afforded the most advan-
tageous defense.
For these strong stone houses had
developed direct from the prehistoric
Notifications whose foundations are
still found here and there.
Fortresses Made Into Dwellings.
When Sweden, in the Sixteenth GEN.
fury, ceased to be disturbed by civil
war. the gloomy and inhospitable for
tresses were gradually converted into
dwelling houses. AS time passed these
grew more and more comfortable, and
esthetic considerations became more
decisive. Many of the most beautiful
castles In Sweden date from this in
teresting transition period. From the
beginning Of the Seventeenth century
Sweden was great power, and re-
NAMED one till Charles KRIS unlucky
campaigns impoverished the country
and put an end to its domination In
the Baltic.
Among the medieval Swedish castles
touching the early Renaissance style,
Skarhult, Vittskovle, and Torup are
the most characteristic and best pre-
served. They are In Skane, and were
rob,,lt In the Siyteenth copfurv