Home from India--A Friendly Reception--Journey to New Mexico--The
Maxwell Land Grant Company--Renewed Visits to England and
Holland--Re-elected Secretary of State--Visit of the Swedish Officers
in Minneapolis and St. Paul--Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of
the Landing of the First Swedes in Delaware.
On the 8th of July I was again home with family and friends in
Minneapolis, and found everything pretty much as I had left it nearly
two years previously; except that my good old father had gone to his
final rest. A couple of days later I visited my farm, in the Red River
valley, and my old and faithful friend Capt. H. Eustrom, who lived close
by and was then holding an important office, and who had faithfully
attended to my interests at that place during my absence.
My Scandinavian friends had meanwhile arranged a reception for me, and
on the 11th some eighty of them joined in a banquet at Lyndale Hotel,
then situated in the suburbs of Minneapolis at Lake Calhoun. The
afternoon was devoted to a steamboat tour around the beautiful lake, and
in the evening the party all sat down to a sumptuous banquet, where many
addresses of welcome and tokens of friendship were spoken, read and
sung. I had been absent nearly two years, seen and experienced much of
the world and enjoyed many pleasures, but I found the old saying true;
"There is no place like home." These two years had been of particular
importance in the history of the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The
population had nearly trebled during that time, and such improvements
had been made that I could hardly recognize them.
A week after my return my friends from Holland arrived, and we proceeded
to New Mexico, where we found the great Maxwell estate, valued at ten
million dollars, and containing one and a half million acres of land,
consisting of coal fields, gold mines, timber and grazing lands, in a
deplorable condition caused by extravagance and mismanagement. We found
that there was nearly a million dollars of current debts, while the
income was not sufficient to buy postage stamps to carry on the
necessary business correspondence.
An agreement was finally effected whereby the former president and
American manager relinquished his interest and resigned his position;
the Holland directors determined to raise the necessary funds in Europe,
and I agreed to undertake the liquidation of the affairs of the company.
Shortly after I repaired to Washington to report my inspection tour in
India, and tender my resignation, which was accepted, an unusual
courtesy being shown me by extending my leave of absence to January the
next year. The following two years were devoted principally to business
journeys to New Mexico, England and Holland. I visited the latter
countries four times during that period. With the powerful aid of Baron
Rebeque, who had spent several months with me in this country in the
summer and fall of 1883, a syndicate, backed by several million dollars,
was at last formed in Holland, and the whole estate was turned over to
it. Having accomplished this, I voluntarily withdrew from the concern,
and returned to my own farm and home in Minnesota.
The Maxwell estate is situated within the Rocky mountain region, on an
elevation of from six thousand to twelve thousand feet above the sea.
The climate is delightful and the scenery beautiful, but the country is
not fit for cultivation, except such parts as can be irrigated. Hence
most of it is devoted to stock raising, and herds of countless cattle
were roaming over the prairies, the Maxwell Company alone owning at the
time I left its service nearly twenty thousand head.
In the fall of 1886 I was for the second time elected secretary of state
by the citizens of Minnesota, re-elected in 1888, and thus made for the
third time the head of the state department.
In the fall of 1887 the citizens of Minneapolis were honored by a visit
from a large number of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish military officers,
non-commissioned officers and soldiers. They arrived by an express train
from Chicago, and were met at the union depot by thousands of people.
The Swedish Guard, Normanna Infantry, and the society Dania were paraded
outside the depot building. The guests were received by a committee, and
conducted in procession through the illuminated and crowded streets to
Dania hall, where a splendid banquet was enjoyed, while music was
discoursed by the Svea and Normanna bands. The city mayor, Dr. Ames,
made an address of welcome, after which several Scandinavians made
speeches. I had been elected as the spokesman for the Swedes, and
expressed myself as follows:
"_Honored Guests from Sweden, Norway and Denmark_:
"From the place where we now stand the roar of the St. Anthony falls
may be heard through the still night. You are, therefore, far back in
the depths of the American West; and yet this is only the modern gate
of entrance to the great North-west.
"A couple of hours ago a half dozen railway trains left our depot over
different roads and are now speeding on toward the setting sun, and
some of them do not cease their journey until they have passed
distances greater than that between London and Rome, through fertile,
but, as yet, mostly unsettled regions. Thirty-four years ago I, with a
few other of your countrymen, some of the earliest in Minnesota, gazed
for the first time at the St. Anthony falls. There was no city, not
even a sign of a city, on this side of the river; the red man chased
his game in the woods where our churches and school-houses now stand;
the country west of us was an unknown wilderness, Minnesota did not
exist as a state, and many of our western states, which now contain
millions of happy inhabitants, were not even projected.
"Now, on the contrary, our state alone is a mighty empire, with a
population of nearly a million and a half, and with an assessed
valuation of six hundred million dollars. Minnesota now produces a
hundred million bushels of grain annually on her fertile fields, six
hundred and fifty million feet of lumber from her forests, and her
infant iron mines already show an annual production of half a million
tons of rich ore. The Scandinavians constitute more than one-fourth of
the population of the state, and produce at least one-third of our
agricultural products on their own lands, as most of them are farmers.
The amount of grain which in Minnesota alone is annually produced,
would be more than sufficient to furnish the whole population of
Sweden with bread from the beginning to the end of each year.
[Illustration: CAPITOL OF MINNESOTA.]
"Our beautiful city of Minneapolis has already a population of one
hundred and sixty thousand, of which at least one-fourth, or forty
thousand, are Scandinavians or their descendants.
"I hope you will all have an opportunity to see our city with your own
eyes before you leave us,--its mills, churches, schools and happy
homes,--and will therefore not consume the time by referring to these.
"As to yourselves, gentlemen, we have heard what has been said to you
so expressively in Chicago by our friends there, and we join them
heartily in their praise.
"When we heard that the soldiers and representatives of Denmark,
Norway and Sweden would honor us with a visit we all rejoiced, and we
have come together this evening to express our joy in a cordial
welcome.
"We have intentionally conducted you to this hall where we may, under
our own roof, pay you our homage in the plain manner of our sturdy
Scandinavian forefathers, and give you an opportunity to see us as we
are in our daily life. We are men of the people; we have come here as
poor immigrants, ignorant of the language and of the customs of
the country. Our sole heritage was our strong arms and our good
cheer,--no, excuse me, another heritage of more worth than gold or
genius have we brought from our old homesteads,--our share of Northern
fidelity, strength, and virtue; and the talent confided to us we have
used in all branches of industry, science, fine arts, in the service
of the community, the state, and the Union, in peace and in war, and
we perform our share in the great national work, the result of which
is a new and powerful commonwealth, the foundation of which lies in
the individual worth and right of man.
"I think I can see a Providential dispensation in this, that when the
time arrived for the new world to take its place among the nations
with a new and powerful cosmopolitan race, the Scandinavian people
were also chosen to contribute a part in that grand work, and that it
was especially reserved for the 'men of the people' to receive in this
country free and equal opportunity for their development. Who can fail
to see the stamp of the Scandinavian people on the entire social
fabric of the new world?
"We would be forgetful if we did not gratefully remember the great
good which the fatherland has bestowed upon us from tender childhood
to the very hour when we bid it farewell; we would be unworthy of the
name and fame of our fathers if we did not honor and love as a dear
mother the ever memorable land of our birth, and you, its worthy
representatives, as our relatives and brothers.
"Your presence among us is a proud event, and its remembrance shall be
cherished as one of the most pleasant. And when you return to those
dear places where we took the first steps on life's eventful journey,
we wish you to take back cordial greetings from us all, and say to our
kindred that we teach our children to love and honor the people and
institutions in the Northern lands, although they have never seen
them; and say to them that, far out in the wide West by the laughing
water of Hiawatha, and hundreds of miles beyond, are friends and
brothers whose fidelity and affection neither time nor distance can
obliterate."
The address was responded to with much feeling by Col. Liljehoek of
Sweden. The festivities continued amid addresses, music and song until
long past midnight. The following day the guests were shown around the
city, after which they visited St. Paul, where they also received a
cordial welcome, and were presented to the governor.
The following year, on the 14th of September, an event took place which
deserves particular mention. It was the celebration of the two hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of the landing of the first Swedish settlers on
the Delaware. The Revs. J. Enstam and C. J. Petri, together with myself,
in the middle of the summer called a meeting of Swedish-American
citizens to prepare for such celebration. Committees were appointed and
elaborate preparations made, to which nearly all the Swedes lent a
willing and helping hand. The great exposition building was given up to
our use: bands of music were engaged, a choir of one hundred and fifty
Swedish singers, mostly from the different churches, was trained, and
eminent orators, statesmen and professors were invited. A souvenir badge
was sold at the Swedish business places in the city; the net
proceeds,--amounting to about eight hundred dollars,--were donated to
the fund for the relief of the sufferers by the great fires in
Sundsvall, Umea and Lilla Edet in Sweden.
The program of the day included a fine parade with bands of music and
banners; but a heavy rain came early in the day, and the parade had to
be abandoned, and the people instructed to assemble at the exposition
building at their own convenience, _which they also did_, in such great
numbers that before the hour of opening the exercises every seat and
standing place in the great auditorium were occupied. Many came from
distant towns, cities and states; a special train brought nearly one
thousand from St. Paul, with marshals, music and banners; the general
council of the Lutheran Church, then assembled in Minneapolis, came in a
body and occupied seats on the platform to the right of Cappa's Seventh
New York Regiment Band, while the Swedish chorus of one hundred and
fifty voices, under Prof. Norman, occupied the platform to the left.
The platforms were decorated with numerous society banners, and the
colors of Sweden were seen everywhere. The lofty pillars reaching to the
roof were wrapped in alternate stripes of blue and yellow, the national
colors of Sweden, and side by side and uppermost were the stars and
stripes. A large picture of the old Swedes Church in Wilmington,
Delaware, built in 1698, was hung in front of the speakers' platform,
and attracted general attention.
As chairman of the committee of arrangements I had the honor to act as
presiding officer of the day. The government of Sweden was represented
by Consul Sahlgaard, with other distinguished guests, and the historical
society of Delaware by Maj. Geo. Q. White. As near as can be estimated
there were fully fifteen thousand people present, and the interest
manifested by that vast audience can best be understood from the fact
that thousands stood upon their feet during the whole proceedings, which
lasted three hours.
[Illustration: OLD SWEDES CHURCH AT WILMINGTON.]
The festivities commenced at two o'clock in the afternoon with a musical
selection by Cappa's band, at the close of which the audience was
welcomed by myself in the following words:
"The discovery of America was the greatest event which had taken place
from the days of Christ till it was made, but the settlement of
America by the right kind of people was, in its beneficial effects
upon the human race, a matter of still greater importance. It seems
like an order of Divine Providence that this new world was left in its
natural or savage state during all the dark centuries of schooling and
experiments in Asia, Africa and Europe, in order that it might remain
a virgin soil for the higher civilization which was to follow.
"To establish this civilization, based upon true principles of
government required not only wisdom and strength, but toleration,
brotherhood, justice and exalted virtue. The people chosen for that
great work came from different countries and different conditions of
life,--the English Pilgrims to New England, the Dutch, the Swedes and
the Quakers to the middle country, the English Cavaliers, the Scotch
Highlanders and the French Huguenots to the South,--and in them all,
combined and intermingled, were found the elements of body and of
mind, which have given to the world its best government, its greatest
nation, and its highest civilization.
"Since the English were the largest in number their language became
the language of all, and for that reason, perhaps, history has been
partial to those who first spoke it. Memorials and anniversaries have
often been celebrated over the landing of the Pilgrims and the valor
of the knights; their just praise has been written and sung a thousand
times, so that their honored names have become precious household
words among the generations of our day, while the others have often
been forgotten or ignored.
"Fully recognizing the merits of all, we have assembled here to-day
from many parts of the United States to commemorate a great historical
event,--in celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
landing of the Swedes on the Delaware, and to do honor to their memory
in prayer, song and speech, and to this intellectual feast I bid you
all a hearty welcome."
This celebration was unquestionably the largest and most important
gathering that ever took place among the Swedes in America; great
attention was paid to it all over the country, and it contributed
greatly toward placing the Swedes rightly in the estimation of the
people, throwing a clearer light on the achievements of the past, and
emphasizing the importance of the Swedish-Americans of the present.