Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Page 68

5§
LE NORD
yet quite small, but owing to the social and political troubles
of the 1840’s it began to increase. Records for the period 1851—
1880 show an emigration from Europe of about 11 millions.
During the 1880’s the figure was over 7 millions, and during the
1890’s somewhat over 6 millions. The movement reached its peak
during the first ten years of the aoth century, when over 13 mil-
lion emigrants are recorded as having left Europe for overseas
countries. A decline then set in, owing to the Great War, eco-
nomic crises, and restrictive legislation in the countries toward
which emigration used to be directed.
There is a certain parallelism between the causes of this great
European emigration movement and the decline of nativity which
has characterized the last few decades. In both cases, the trend
of events has been influenced by the interplay of certain economic,
social, and psychological factors.
In a detailed State Paper dealing with the causes of Swedish
emigration, Professor Sundbárg asserts that the cause of the move-
ment is principally to seek in the unsatisfactory conditions then
prevailing in Swedish agriculture, among others the progressive
subdivision of holdings, while the developments within the
manufacturing industries which sprang up in the last half of the
i9th century played only a subordinate part. Contributory causes
were certain economic and social factors, dissatisfaction with
political and cultural conditions, etc. There was a great natural
growth of population, and in some parts of the country, during
certain periods, the increase of the means of existence did not
keep pace with this process, so that some measure of local and
relative overpopulation resulted. The prospects of attaining
economic security were thus diminished, and it became more dif-
ficult for young men to marry at a suitable age. Dissatisfaction
with this state of things, together with the desire to obtain a
new start in life with better chances of success provided the
principal incentives to emigration. Once the emigration move-
ment was started it constantly received new stimuli from the let-
ters of successful emigrants.
The emigration involved a considerable drain on the Swedish
population, and caused some dislocation of its composition as
regards age and sex grouping, but on the other hand some of its
consequences were beneficial. At a time when the rigidity of
the machinery of production prevented the latter from being