Swedish Exodus

10. The Consequences of Emigration in Sweden

10 The Consequences of Emigration in Sweden A study of the impact emigration had on Swedish society demands attention to a whole range of questions-economic, social, political, cultural, religious, and others. A central question , however, concerns the official attitude toward emigration on the part of Swedish lawmakers and the ruling classes. Emigration was restricted by law as early as 1739. At that time the Swedish economy was in the hands of mercantile interests who were alarmed by the acute shortage of manpower in commerce and agriculture. The immediate purpose of this restrictive legislation, then, was to ensure the strength of the nation's economy and the expansion ofits labor force. In 1840 a new law entitled Swedish citizens to emigrate without royal permission. This piece oflegislation was entirely the result of liberal political opinion in Sweden and had no connection with the early trickle of emigration to America. From that point on the only persons restricted in their movements were military conscripts, who had to apply for royal permission to leave the country. The major purpose of supplementary legislation during the rest of the 1800s was to protect unsuspecting emigrants from exploitation at the hands of commercial and transport interests. Laws and promulgations were one thing, public opinion another. Throughout the mass-emigration era, the Swedish ruling classes were strongly opposed to the idea and practice of emigration. In 1865, for example, the provincial governors and State clergymen circulated an official dedaration in which they 132 Consequences ofEmigration in Sweden 133 warned the population of the consequences of emigration. Five years later, in the summer of 1870, Sweden's charge d'affaires in Washington, Carl Lewenhaupt, was sent on a fact-finding tour of the Swedish settlements in the Middle West. The substance of his report, later published by the Swedish government, was more optimistic than anyone had anticipated. Lewenhaupt was particularly impressed by the progress since the 1850s, and he had nothing but praise for the material welfare of Swedish farmers and homesteaders. In the long run this fact-finding tour defeated the purpose of its original drafters, while gladdening the hearts ofimmigration supporters. The reaction of the American minister in Stockholm was typical: "The spirit of the report appears to me to be excellent."l In Sweden the emigration issue divided public opinion into two camps, each of which developed its own arguments and solutions. The conservatives and ultranationalists opposed emigration for its damaging impact on the Swedish economy, particularly the manpower drain in agriculture, as well as for its depletion of a standing army based on military conscription. In their opinion, emigration was just as harmful to the national welfare as a general spirit ofinsubordination and a lack of moral fibre. Two solutions to the problem were legislative restrictions on emigration and a "call for national unity," including the return of emigrant Swedes. In 1907 representatives of this faction introduced a motion in the Swedish Parliament for the creation of a "national labor exchange office to serve the interests of Swedish residents abroad." Herman Lagercrantz, appointed Swedish minister to Washington that same year, expressed the hope that no energy would be spared in turning the tide of emigration. It was even suggested that Crown Prince Gustav (later King Gustav V) be sent as a goodwill ambassador to the Swedish settlements to drum up support for remigration. This coalition of conservatives and ultranationalists also founded the National Association Against Emigration (Nationalfareningen mot emigrationen) in 1907 for the purpose of checking the spread of America fever and encouraging the repatriation of Sweden's prodigal sons and daughters. Aside from distributing antiemigration literature, the association lent 134 SWEDISH EXODUS its support to the Private Home Ownership Movement (Egnahemsrorelsen ), which worked for the improvement of living conditions among Swedish workers and the redevelopment of districts in northern Sweden. According to liberal reformist circles, however, there was another side to the emigration issue. While recognizing the blood-letting effects on population growth, they called attention to the symptoms in Swedish society responsible for the exodus. The primary goal was to isolate the causes of emigration and solve them with social reforms, and it was this thinking that lay behind the creation of the National Commission on Emigration (Emigrationsutredningen) by the Swedish Parliament in 1907. Chosen to head the commission was a rather eccentric statistician by the name of Gustaf Sundbarg. Over the next six years the commission investigated emigration...