GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN
Only for the past three years has Norway had an independent political
life, and so few changes in local government have so far been made
under the new king that it will be profitable, in this chapter, to
take up the government and political life as it existed under the
united Constitutional Monarchy of Norway and Sweden. In fact, it is no
different than at that time, except that each has its separate king.
In internal rule, the two countries were always separate, except in
matters that pertained to the common weal of both. Thus, the Swedish
Minister of Foreign Affairs had charge of the United Kingdoms, and, as
previously stated, this was the rock on which the Union finally split.
The constitution of Norway, like that of the United States, invests
all power in the people, who are represented by their legislature and
their judiciary, with the king as an executive to administer the laws
passed by the one, and enforce the decrees of the other. When the
two houses of Parliament disagree upon a measure, they sit in joint
session, when it requires a vote of two-thirds to enact it, and the
approval of the king is necessary. He is also required to promulgate
all the acts of the legislature. Many Norwegian statesmen assert that
the king has no veto power, but merely temporary authority to
suspend a law pending the action of the people. If three successive
parliaments, after three successive elections, pass a bill in exactly
the same terms, it does not require the sanction of the king when
it is passed the fourth time. Thus the people may exercise their
sovereignty.
All edicts of the executive, all decisions of the court, and all
resolutions of the legislature are proclaimed in the king's name, but
the ministry is responsible to the legislature for the acts of the
king, and if they are not approved, as in England, the ministry must
resign and a new one be organized in sympathy with a majority of the
parliament. The king may choose his own ministers, but they must
represent the will of the people. They are called counsellors of
state, are eight in number. Before the disunion, two of these eight
counsellors were without portfolios, and resided alternately at
Stockholm, while the other members presided over six executive
departments in Christiania.
A record is kept of the meetings of the ministry by a permanent
secretary, and the constitution requires that each minister shall
express his opinion upon all questions brought up for consideration.
He who remains silent is counted in the affirmative. No matter of
business can be determined by the king without the advice of the
ministry, unless an emergency demands a prompt decision, when he must
take the responsibility of securing a ratification of his act. In the
same manner the king may issue edicts of a provisional character in
matters of commerce, finance, industrial activity, customs dues,
police and military affairs during a recess of the parliament, subject
to its approval within a limited time after reassembling.
The minister may act in the king's name in cases of emergency or
during his absence from the country, subject to his approval.
These conditions were adopted in earlier times, when the Norwegian
legislature sat only once in three years and some such power was
necessary, but now that there are annual and often semi-annual
sessions, and they have a king of their own residing always in Norway,
it is very seldom necessary for the executive power to exercise such
responsibility.
The king appoints all the officials of the executive part of the
government, all the officers of the army and navy, and all the
clergymen in the established church, but exercises this power through
his ministers. Dissenting congregations are not subject to government
control, and may choose their own clergymen, although the latter are
required to register an oath of allegiance and a pledge to obey
the laws of the nation and fulfill their duties with fidelity and
conscientiousness.
The king is the head of the established church, which is the Lutheran.
He is also commander-in-chief of the army and navy, but can not
increase or decrease the military establishment without the approval
of the parliament. He has the right to declare war and conclude peace,
but can not expend money for military purposes, not even for the
national defense, without the consent of the legislature. The
Norwegian constitution is silent concerning his authority to conclude
treaties with foreign powers, and the question has never been raised.
He conducts negotiations through his ministers and submits the result
of their labors for the approval of parliament. He has the power
to suspend the collection of customs duties temporarily until the
parliament can meet to consider the matter, but it has very rarely
been exercised.
The parliament is called the storthing, and is composed of one
hundred and fourteen representatives, thirty-eight from the towns
and seventy-six from the rural districts. It divides itself into two
sections, known as the odelsthing and the lagthing. The members are
elected for three years by an indirect and complicated system which is
nearly the reverse of our own. The voters of each parish, which forms
an election district, assemble at a given place and time and select
delegates to a convention which chooses their representatives in the
storthing, and, when the storthing meets, its one hundred and fourteen
members select one-fourth of their own members, generally the most
experienced and distinguished men, to constitute a senate, or upper
chamber, called the lagthing, which exercises a sort of supervisory
power over legislation.
The storthing sits for about six months every year. The members are
paid $3 a day during the session and their traveling expenses. The
presiding officer is chosen every four weeks, and can not succeed
himself without an interval. The committees are appointed by a
"selection committee" elected by ballot, and each committee chooses
his own chairman. There is a rather novel rule requiring bills
referred to committees to be assigned for consideration to the several
members in rotation. Any member may introduce a bill modifying the
constitution, but all other classes or measures must proceed from the
government and the members of the lower house. Members of the upper
house, or lagthing, are not permitted to propose ordinary legislation,
on the theory that they should remain unprejudiced so as to exercise
a judicial revision. Thus, bills must originate in the odelsthing,
which, having passed them, sends them to the lagthing for its
approval.
The financial officers of the government and the directors of the
national bank are elected by the storthing, which appoints a committee
every six months to revise and audit the accounts of officials who
have to do with the disbursement or collection of money. When an
irregularity or improper expenditure is discovered, the legislature is
asked to decide whether the minister in charge of the department shall
repay the sum from his own pocket and repair the damage that has been
caused by one of his subordinates.
In the same manner the storthing regulates all loans, on the theory
that the money belongs to the people. The members of the ministry may
be impeached by the odelsthing for a violation of the constitution and
tried before the lagthing and the supreme court.
The following eight executive departments are in charge of ministers:
1. For ecclesiastical matters and public instruction, which also has
charge of charities, insurance companies, and matters relating to the
relief of the people.
2. The department of justice.
3. The department of the interior, which has jurisdiction over
everything that is not under the other departments.
4. The department of agriculture.
5. The department of public works.
6. The department of finances and customs.
7. The department of defense.
8. The revision of public accounts department.
For administrative purposes, Norway is divided into twenty districts,
viz.: The cities of Christiania and Bergen and eighteen "Amts" or
provinces, which coinside with the diocese of the church, and there
is a very close relation between the ecclesiastical and the civil
authorities. The chief magistrate in each of the counties, nominated
by the king, is known as an "Amtmand." His duties are similar to
those of the French prefects, although the theory of home-rule and
self-government is carried into each county and each municipality and
parish, where every magistrate is responsible to a council elected by
the people from among their own number. They make the laws for the
magistrate to administer. There are few countries in which the theory
of self-government is carried to such an extent as in Norway. The
sovereignty of the people is absolute and their rights are jealously
guarded. Norway is divided into ecclesiastical parishes, which are the
voting districts, as in England, and are governed in a similar way.
The Norwegian constitution of 1814, based upon the principle of
popular self-government, declared these municipalities completely
independent in the management of their own affairs, placing the
administrative authority, with the power of taxation and the
disbursement of revenues in the hands of the taxpayers and
householders, so that they could not be coerced by the national
government, if there ever was any disposition in that direction.
This authority is exercised through a council called a "bystyre,"
composed of from twelve to forty-eight members, according to the
population of the parish, who are elected for terms of three years,
and serve gratuitously. The council elects from its own number a
chairman who is the head of the whole municipal organization, and is
known as an _ordförer_. He corresponds to the German burgomaster and
the mayor of the American city.
In addition to the popular council there is a magistrate representing
the royal government, who, with the consent of the council, may be
admitted to their deliberations, but is not allowed to vote. He
is also ex-officio a member and often chairman of the municipal
departments or commissions, such as the board of public works,
the school board, the harbor commission. In this way he becomes a
connecting link between the national authority at Christiania and the
municipal councils throughout the kingdom, because certain measures of
local interest are subject to restrictions by the national parliament,
particularly those involving finances.
Under the direction of the council are permanent executive departments
similar to those found in the United States, pertaining to public
highways, the public buildings, the public health, the relief of the
poor, the fire department, police department, etc. These in every case
are managed by permanent officials under the supervision of committees
of the council. Every year a budget is made up of the income and
expenditures expected; each department being permitted to submit its
own estimates, which are approved or amended by the council, and the
amount is raised by taxation of houses, lands, personal property,
and incomes, with fees for licenses to transact business. The entire
system of local taxation is similar to our own, and the methods of
assessment are the same. In order to meet the expense of unusual
undertakings for the benefit of the municipality, such as waterworks,
tramways, docks, etc., funds are raised in the usual manner by
the issue of interest bearing bonds, which are usually in small
denominations in order to permit people of limited means to invest in
them. They are redeemed, as a rule, in forty annual instalments, the
bonds to be canceled being selected by lot. In this system of local
government women now participate upon an equal basis with men.
With the exception of the British parliament, the Swedish riksdag is
the oldest legislative body in the world. The kingdom of Sweden has
maintained its integrity for not less than four thousand years. So far
back as the anthropologists can trace the history of Swedish people,
the boundaries of their land have remained the same. The Duchy of
Finland was subject to Swedish sovereignty at one time, and at
different times Sweden has been united with Norway and Denmark under
the same ruler, but Sweden has been Sweden ever since human beings
inhabited its territory, and it is the only nation in Europe that has
never been conquered or had its boundaries changed by foreign powers.
Since the beginning of history, home rule has prevailed among the
people and has been defended and recognized as their right. The
parishes have always controlled their own affairs, and since the
Reformation their government has been in the hands of a board or
council elected by the people, of which the pastor of the church is
chairman. Everybody who pays taxes, men and women alike, may vote at
the election of the council. The burgomaster serves for life, and is
usually required to abstain from all other business except that which
pertains to the public weal. The parishes are consolidated into
twenty-four provinces, similar to our states, each having a certain
independence and government of its own, although the governor-general,
who also serves for life on good behavior, is appointed by the king.
The city of Stockholm is an independent jurisdiction like the District
of Columbia, with a governor appointed by the king. The riksdag
was formerly composed of four distinct bodies,--nobles, clergymen,
burghers, peasants,--representing the different classes of the
community, and all laws required their approval. In 1866, however,
this clumsy arrangement was abolished and the national legislature was
consolidated into two bodies known as the first and second chamber,
similar to our Senate and House of Representatives. The two chambers
are equal in every respect, except that the second chamber, or lower
house, has the advantage of numbers when a deadlock arises and the
question in dispute is decided by a joint ballot. Then, unless there
should be an overwhelming difference of opinion, the second chamber
usually has its will, which is perfectly right, because it represents
the people. The king must approve all legislation to make it
effective, and his veto is final, except in matters concerning
taxation and the expenditure of public money. The diet has the sole
power to levy taxes and make appropriations with or without his
consent.
The first chamber, which corresponds to our Senate, is composed of
one hundred and fifty members, elected for terms of nine years by the
provincial councils and by the city councils in towns of more than
25,000 inhabitants. As the councils are elected by the taxpayers, both
men and women, the members of the first chamber may be regarded as the
representatives of the property-owning portion of the community. To be
eligible to the first chamber a candidate must be thirty-five years
old, own property assessed at $21,000, or pay taxes upon an income
of not less than $1,100. Rank does not count. The qualification is
pecuniary entirely, and so evenly is property distributed in Sweden
that only ten thousand people in the entire kingdom are eligible to
the first chamber of the diet.
The members of the second chamber, two hundred and thirty in number,
are elected for three years, of whom eighty are elected by the towns
and one hundred and fifty by the rural districts. Each must have
property worth $270, or have leased $1,600 worth of land for five
years, or pay taxes on an income of $214. These are also the
qualifications for voting for members of the parliament.
There is very little of politics in Sweden. There are three parties,
known as the conservatives, the liberals, and the socialists. The
conservative party is comprised of the aristocracy, the church, the
agricultural classes and people of conservative sentiment generally.
The liberal party is composed of progressive elements, the theorists,
the artisans, the machinists, and the thinking men among the
laboring element, who advocate a reduction of the tariff on imported
merchandise and free trade so far as possible; a separation of church
and state on the theory that no man should be taxed to support a
religious faith that he does not believe in; a reduction in the army
and navy and other official expenses; the modification of the election
laws as above stated; rotation in office, so that all shall have a
chance, and they oppose the general tendency to centralization in the
government.
The socialists go a little farther. They are not so radical as those
who go by the same name in Germany, France, and other European
countries. They are very moderate in their views. They favor most of
the planks in the liberal platform, and, in addition, advocate the
adoption of socialistic reforms, the loaning of public money without
interest to the poor, public pensions to the helpless, sweeping
reforms in the labor laws, and the purchase and maintenance by the
state of all public enterprises that affect public welfare, such as
the street-car lines, the insurance companies, the banks, etc.
The peasants in the country are protectionists and belong to the
conservative party. The mechanics in the cities are generally
socialists. Politics, however, is not very exciting. The tariff, labor
questions, and other propositions are always discussed, and of late
years the most interesting issues have been the appropriation of money
for national defense, the increase of the term of military service
from ninety to three hundred and sixty days for every citizen, the
modification of the electoral law, and the regulations of the forests.
Peasants have been members of parliament for more than five hundred
years, and now constitute more than half the membership of the second
chamber--intelligent, well-educated mechanics and farmers, who take a
deep interest in the affairs of the government and generally are
on the right side. The agricultural peasants are invariably loyal
supporters of the king. The mechanics from the city are usually
opposed to him.
The annual session of the riksdag opens immediately after the holidays
with a great deal of pomp and ceremony. It is one of the most imposing
functions in all Europe. The members of both houses meet at their
respective halls, attend divine service at the cathedral, where they
receive the sacrament and listen to a sermon of admonition. Then they
march in a body to the royal palace, where they are received by the
king's ministers with great formality, and escorted to what is known
as the throne room. As they enter, each man bows reverently to a
silver throne which stands upon a dais at the other end of the
apartment. The members of the first chamber are seated on the right
side of the great hall, and those of the second upon the left.
When the sound of trumpets is heard, all rise, and the master of
ceremonies enters in gorgeous apparel, followed by four pages in dress
of the sixteenth century. Behind them is a squad of trumpeters, then
the grand marshal of the court, preceded by four heralds and followed
by the assistant marshals, the grand chamberlain, the lord steward,
the master of the horse, and other officers of the royal household,
the eighteen judges of the supreme court, the archbishop and bishops,
and the members of the king's cabinet.
Then follows a guard of honor, composed of the highest nobles of the
kingdom in glittering uniforms and carrying old-fashioned weapons,
such as were once used in actual warfare. They surround the king, who
wears his royal robes, and, as he enters, the band plays the favorite
air of the people, "From the Depths of the Swedish Heart." He wears
the crown of state and a purple robe bordered and lined with crimson
the two corners of which are carried by chamberlains Upon the right
side of the king walks the prime minister of Sweden. Following the
king walk his sons, the princes of the royal house.
When the king has reached the center of the room, he stops, turns with
great dignity and bows first to one chamber and then to the other, and
then to the queen, who has taken her position in the balcony, attended
by the princesses and other members of the royal family and the
officers of the court. Then he proceeds slowly until he ascends
the dais and seats himself upon the throne, his minister of state
occupying a position on his right. Before the separation of the Union,
the Norwegian minister of state sat upon his left.
The grand marshal steps forward and strikes the floor three times with
a long staff of silver, tipped with jewels. At this signal all arise
again except the king. In old-fashioned Swedish the heralds command
silence. The king, seated upon his throne, reads his speech, which
always begins, "Good gentlemen and Swedish men." The prime minister
then reads a review of the acts of state since the adjournment of
parliament, which he skims over as rapidly as possible, because the
printed copy will be placed in the hands of every person present as
soon as the ceremony is over. The presiding officers of the two houses
of parliament step forward and make speeches of congratulation, and
reassure their sovereign of their loyalty and respect. The king then
rises, bows first to the queen, and to each house in turn, and slowly
leaves the chamber accompanied by the procession that followed him in.
The courts of Sweden are conducted upon the French plan, and no jury
is ever impaneled except in cases concerning the liberty of the press.
When a newspaper is accused of libel or sedition, the complainant,
whether he be a member of the police or any other official of the
government, chooses three jurymen, the defendant three, and the court
three. These nine men hear and decide the merits of the case without
application of such strict rules of evidence as prevail in the legal
practice of the United States. All judicial procedure in Sweden is
based upon the assumption that the court is sufficiently intelligent
and impartial to determine the reliability of witnesses and to judge
of the application of facts laid before it. All judges and judicial
magistrates are appointed for life on good behavior, but they can be
impeached by processes similar to those authorized by the Constitution
of the United States.[g]