e. They have inherited the power of
endurance and the ability to survive hunger and thirst and discomforts
better than most races.

There are comparatively few poor in Sweden, probably fewer than in any
other European country except Norway and Switzerland, because of the
low cost of living, the sparse population, and the ability of all
men and women to find work if they are willing to earn their own
subsistence. Able-bodied paupers are compelled to work upon poor
farms, but the aged, decrepit and invalids who are dependent upon
public charity are kindly taken care of by what is called outdoor and
indoor relief. In the cities are asylums and almshouses similar to
those in the United States, but in the parishes, as a rule, the care
of the poor is assigned to individual farmers and others who
are willing to take care of them under contract, subject to the
supervision of a board of guardians, of which the pastor is the
chairman and the elders of the church are members. This has long been
a practice in Sweden, but is not universal.

There are at present 5,277 relief establishments of all kinds in the
kingdom, and the total contributions for the benefit of the poor
amount to $3,000,000 annually, or on an average of 58 cents per capita
of the entire population, an average of 44 cents in the country and
$1.18 in the cities. This includes all poorhouses, asylums, hospitals,
and other institutions for adults and children who can not take care
of themselves.

A large part of the relief work in the cities is looked after by the
Salvation Army under contract with the municipal authorities, but
there are many institutions, hospitals, asylums, homes for the
friendless and aged and for orphan children, supported by private
charity. The free hospital for children in Stockholm is famous as one
of the best equipped and managed institutions in the world.

The private charities in Stockholm are united for cooperation in
an organization similar to those found in American cities, and all
charitable institutions are subject to government supervision.[l]

CHAPTER XIII

MATERIAL CONDITIONS

The chief occupation of the Scandinavian peninsula is agriculture,
employing more men and yielding larger monetary returns than any other
industry in either Norway or Sweden. This may seem strange when it is
recalled that sixty per cent of the surface of Norway is occupied by
bare mountains, twenty-one per cent by woodlands, eight per cent by