In the United States there are at present two million people who still speak Swedish. It should be close to the hearts of all friends of the native land to strengthen the sense of unity these immigrants have for the homeland--for its culture and language. Although these people have found a new fatherland in the United States, they are not, however, entirely lost to Sweden as long as they speak the Swedish language and interest themselves in the homeland's destiny. To preserve and strengthen this unity is to make Sweden greater and richer in sons. It is, likewise, winning a new land for Swedish culture.

While year after year an average of five to six million dollars is sent over to Sweden, hardly anything is done for those of our countrymen here who are in need of help, in spite of the fact that there are one half as many Swedes in America as there are in the homeland. But what we failed to do, they have done. Without our help they have worked, struggled, and 2pressed forward.

Although they immigrate from Sweden usually with empty hands, the Swedes nearly always become good and useful citizens of their adopted land, and quite a few of them have attained respected stations in life. With their own means they have built Swedish schools, some of which are almost on the level of universities. To the best of their ability, they have sought to strengthen the love for Sweden's language and culture.

But how much more vigorous this love would be if they knew that those in the homeland understood and assisted in promoting these endeavors? It is in regard to this that we now appeal to the Swedish public.

In 1860 the Swedes in America established a school which grew to be their finest seat of learning. This school, the Augustana College and Theological Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois, has exerted a powerful influence over the 3Swedish-Americans, and it has been the noblest hearth for the preservation of Swedish in a land far from Sweden. The majority of the teachers in Augustana College received their training in Sweden.

At first the College's purpose was to train men for the ministry in order to meet the ever-growing demand for clergymen brought about by the influx of Swedish immigrants into the United States. After the shortage of ministers had been taken care of, the institution became of a more general type. New branches and higher courses have been included in the curriculum, and one dares hope now that the institution will develop into a real university.

However, to collect the funds which are needed for this purpose requires energy and effort, as well as the impulse to start it. But from where shall this impulse come?

Would it not be most proper that the impulse should come from the old fatherland, which would thus prove that it has not forgotten those in America who have preserved their love for Sweden, its language, and its culture?

Certainly, nothing could tighten better the common tie between the old and the new Sweden than a contribution from Sweden for the Swedish-American College. Such attitude on the part of the homeland would be invaluable to the preservation of the Swedish language abroad.

Indications are that the solution to the problem is at hand. A movement has been started in Sweden to raise an endowment fund of 100,000 crowns. This is to be supplemented by a fund of $60,000. to be raised in America. With this fund three professorships will be created at Augustana College.

One of the professorships should be in Natural Science, in recognition of the services of Linnaeus and Berzelius; another in Church History, 5and a third in Scandinavian Languages, with special emphasis on Swedish. The last mentioned professorship is to be called the "Oscar II Professorship in Northern Languages." This arrangement would strongly emphasize the Swedish character of the university and permanently serve to strengthen the ties between the new homeland and the old.

The initiative for this movement in Sweden was taken by a number of Sweden's foremost leaders in various branches of cultural development.