“ Naturalization Laws The Revised Statutes of the United States provide the manner in which aliens may be admitted to citizenship. Two years before their admission as citizens they must declare on oath before a circuit or district court, or a court of record of a State, their intention to become citizens of the United States. ”

“ He nominates to all higher appointments, both military and civil; concludes foreign treaties, and has a right to preside in the supreme Court of Justice. The princes of the blood royal, however, are excluded from all civil employments. The king possesses legislative power in matters of political administration, but in all other respects that power is exercised by the Diet in concert with the sovereign, and every new law must have the assent of the crown. The right of imposing taxes is, however, vested in the Diet. ”

“ Each rural parish, and each town, forms a commune or municipality in which all who pay the local taxes are voters. Each commune has a communal or municipal council. The communal assembly or municipal council decides on all questions of administration, police and communal economy. ”

“ Under the same conditions citizens thirty years of age, and having resided in Norway for ten years, are qualified to be elected. The mode of election is indirect. Towards the end of every third year the people choose their deputies, at the rate of one to fifty voters in towns, where the election is administered by the magistrate, and one to a hundred in rural sub-districts, where they meet in the parish church under the presidency of the parish minister. ”

“ By the terms of three laws voted by the Storthing in 1866, 1876, and 1885, the land forces are divided into the troops of the Line, the Landvaern, the Landstorm or final levy. All young men past the twenty-second year of age are liable to the conscription. The young men in the line raised by conscription have to go through a first training in the school of recruits, extending over 48 days in the infantry, in the fortress and mountain artillery, 50 days in the engineers, and 70 days in the field artillery and cavalry. ”

“ It is a bank of exchange to regulate financial relations with foreign countries, it accepts and pays interest on deposits of money, and on sufficient security it lends money for purposes in which there is no speculative element. The Bank is under the guarantee of the Diet, its capital and reserve capital are fixed by its constitution, and its note circulation is limited by the value of its metallic stock and its assets in current accounts at home and abroad ”

“ The nominal term of service is 13 years, divided between 5 years in the Line, 4 years in the Landvaern, and 4 years in the Landstorm. The Landvaern and Landstorm is only liable to service within the frontiers of the Kingdom. Every man capable of bearing arms, and not placed in one of the said categories, is in time of war liable to do service in the reserve of the Landstorm, from the eighteenth to the fiftieth year of age. ”

“ The naturalization laws of the Federal Government, of course, apply to all localities, and the naturalized citizen must conform to State laws, notwithstanding his naturalization. Under the section on State Governments the requirements or qualifications for voting will be stated. ”

“ The children of naturalized citizens, if under age at the time of the naturalization of the father, and if dwelling in the United States, are to be considered as citizens; so are the children of citizens born abroad. ”

“ The maps this year include a map of Africa, showing the railways, river routes, and telegraphs in Africa, existing and projected; a map of Newfoundland illustrating the French shore question; and a map showing the addition on the Chinese mainland to the colony of Hong Kong. There are preliminary tables showing the Revenue, Expenditure, Debt, and Debt-charge of the principal countries of the World, with the commerce of these countries, in absolute figures and per head of population; as also a table showing the gold and silver production of the World. ”

“ Of the extraordinary expenditure in 1899 the army claims 5,431,390 kronor, the navy 3,569,335 kronor, the interior 4,354,350 kronor, education and ecclesiastical affairs, 1,945,101 kronor, pensions 1,540,000 kronor. The value of the land and house property of Sweden is thus returned for 1897:—
The expenditure for the Church is chiefly defrayed by the parishes and out of the revenue of landed estates belonging to the Church, and the amounts do not appear in the budget estimates. A part of the cost for maintaining the army Indelta also does not appear in the budget. ”

“ The deputies afterwards assemble and elect among themselves, or from among the other qualified voters of the district, the Storthing representatives. Former members of the Council of State can be elected representatives of any district of the Kingdom without regard to their residence. No new election takes place for vacancies, which are filled by the persons already elected for that purpose, or, if not, who received the second largest number of votes. ”

“ In Sweden trial by jury only exists for affairs of the press.
In 1896, 1,936 men and 262 women were sentenced for serious crimes; at the end of 1896, 1,640 hard-labour prisoners.
Pauperism. Each commune is bound to assist children under 15 years of age, if their circumstances require it, and all who from age or disease are unable to support themselves. In other cases the communal poor board decides what course to take. Each commune and each town (which may be divided) constitutes a poor district, and in each is a board of public assistance. ”

“ The election of the members takes place by the 'Landstings,' or provincial representations, 25 in number, and the municipal corporations of the towns, not already represented in the 'Landstings,' Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Norrköping and Gefle. All members of the First Chamber must be above 35 years of age, and must have possessed for at least three years previous to the election either real property to the taxed value of 80,000 kronor, or 4,444 £., or an annual income of 4,000 kroner, or 223 £. They are elected for the term of nine years, and obtain no payment for their services. ”

“ The exports are divided into exports of Norwegian articles (special trade) and exports of foreign articles (transit, warehousing on credit, duty-paid and duty-free articles) . A considerable part of the export and also of the import (mostly duty-free) trade over the land frontier between Norway and Sweden escapes the control of the Customs' authorities. COMMERCE
tobacco, 3,299,000 kroner ; spirits and wines, 2,084,000 kroner ; mannfactured goods, 3,376,000 kroner. The value of imports suhject to duty (1897) was 162,675,200 kroner, and of duty-free 101,043,000 kroner. ”

“ In 1890 the foreign-born population numbered 24,548, of whom 4,066 were born in Germany, 5,401 in Denmark, 6,287 in Norway, 4,609 in Finland, 1,195 in Russia, 598 in the United Kingdom, and 1,482 in the United States.
According to civil condition the population was divided as follow in 1890:—
The following table shows the leading occupations of the people in 1890, including the families and dependents of those directly employed:—
II. Movement of the Population. 1. Births, Deaths, and Marriages. 2. Emigration. III. Principal Towns. The population of Sweden is mainly rural. ”

“ There is comparatively little land under tillage, pasturage being the chief pursuit of the people, who raise large herds of cattle, as well as sheep and goats. Cotton, the sugar-cane, date-palm, and vine thrive well in many districts, but are nowhere extensively cultivated. ”

“ In many of the States, probably one-half of them, aliens—that is, persons foreign born—who have declared their intention to become citizens have the right to vote equally with those native born, but in the remainder of the States only citizens native born or naturalized may vote. ”

“ The principal ordinary business of the Storthing is to enact or repeal laws, to impose taxes, to supervise the financial affairs of the kingdom, to vote the amounts required for the public expenditure, and to examine treaties concluded with foreign Powers. Questions relating to laws must be considered by each house separately. ”

“ The Spanish fleet attempted to leave the harbor of Santiago, but was met by the American squadron, which, in less than three hours, destroyed all the Spanish ships and sank three torpedo boats, driving the Maria Teresa, Almirante Oquendo, Vizcaya, and Cristobal Colon ashore. The Spanish admiral and over 1300 men were taken prisoners, while the Spanish loss of life was very large, some 600 perishing. On the American side but one man was killed, on the Brooklyn, and one man seriously wounded. ”

“ The clergy are chiefly supported from the parishes and the proceeds of the Church lands.
Instruction. The Kingdom has two universities, at Upsala and Lund, the former frequented by 1,405 and the latter by 585 students in the spring of 1898. There are also a state faculty of medicine in Stockholm (268 students) and private philosophical faculties in Stockholm and Göteborg. Education is well advanced in Sweden. In 1897 there were 79 public high schools, with 16,180 pupils; 28 people's high schools, 1,205 pupils; 12 normal schools for elementary schoolteachers, 1,203 pupils ”

“ The American publishers conceived the idea that the public would welcome an edition containing more extended data, and to that end there have been prepared from the latest official and from original sources the facts contained in this chapter. The aim of the editor has been to present the information most desired by legislators, publicists, authors, professional and business men, not expecting, however, to meet all demands, but the wants of the greatest number of those who will use the annual. The difficulty has been to keep the work within necessarily prescribed limits. ”

“ The value of all cereal crops in 1897 was estimated at 265.2 million kronor. At the end of 1896 Sweden had 512,406 horses, 2,554,577 head of cattle. 1,298,732 sheep and lambs, 788,736 pigs. In 1880 34,000 head of cattle and
29,000 sheep were exported, in 1896 respectively, 25,146 and 12,793. II. Mines and Minerals. Mining is one of the most important departments of Swedish industry, and the working of the iron mines in particular is making constant progress by the introduction of new machinery. There were raised in the year 1896, throughout the Kingdom, 2,038,094 tons of iron ore. ”

“ April 22 the President proclaimed a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, and the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba, and on the next day, April 23, called for volunteers to execute the purpose of the resolution. On the 25th Congress passed an act declaring the existence of war from and including the 21st day of April, and May 25, a second call for 75,000 additional troops was made. The ranks of the regular army were increased to the limits provided by the act of April 26. ”

“ The taxation for communal purposes amounted for the rural communes to 11,967,620 kroner, and for the towns to 11,813,513 kroner in 1896.
Defence. The most important fortresses of Norway are Oscarsborg and the new fortresses by Agdenes, Bergen, Tönsberg, and Christianssand S.; the other fortresses, Fredriksstad, Fredriksten, Carljohansvaern, Akershus in Kristiania, Trondhjem, and Vardö, are of little importance.
The troops of the Kingdom are raised mainly by conscription, and to a small extent by enlistment. ”

“ The capitulation of Santiago followed. Negotiations continued from July 3 to July 15, when the preliminaries of surrender were agreed upon, and on the 17th of July General Shafter occupied the city. The capitulation embraced the entire eastern end of Cuba. The Spanish surrendered 22,000 men. ”

“ A railway from the port of Jiboutil in French Somaliland to Harrar in the south-east of Abyssinia, a distance of about 186 miles, is projected. About 70 miles of the route have been surveyed, and 12 miles of the line laid down. There is a telegraph line between Adis Abeba and Harrar. ”

“ The Storthing assembles every year. New elections take place every three years. The meetings take place suo jure, and not by any writ from the King or the executive. They begin on the first weekday after October 10 each year, and must receive the sanction of the King to sit longer than two months. Every Norwegian citizen of twenty-five years of age (provided that he resides and has resided for five years in the country) is entitled to elect. ”

“ The Swedish Krona and the Norwegian Krone, each of 100 öre, is of the value of 1 s. 1+1⁄2 d., or about 18 kronor to the pound sterling.
The gold 20-kronor piece weighs 8.960572 grammes, .900 fine containing 8.0645 grammes of fine gold, and the silver krona weighs 7.5 grammes, .800 fine, containing 6 grammes of fine silver.
The standard of value is gold. In Sweden National Bank notes for 5, 10, 50, 100, and 1000 kronor are legal means of payment, and the Bank is bound to exchange them for gold on presentation. The case is the same in Norway, where there are also notes for 500 kroner. ”

“ The returns of quantities are compiled from the officially controlled declarations of importers and exporters. These declarations state the countries from which the articles are directly imported and to which they are directly exported. An article coming, for example, from the East Indies via London is recorded as coming from England. The recorded imports include all articles imported, whether for consumption inland or for re-exportation. ”

“ Education is restricted to the teaching of the secular and regular clergy, who instruct a limited number of children in grammar, choral singing, poetry, and the recitation of Bible texts. Justice being entirely administered by the provincial governors, landed proprietors, and shum, or petty chiefs. ”