It is not unusual for the American newspapers to praise the Swedish-American citizen in print. This is a daily occurrence. And why shouldn't they? It ought not to cause a scandal if we Swedish-Americans like ourselves or think that we are as good as any other immigrants from any other lands and better than most of them. It cannot be helped that others openly speak words of praise about us.

We are only human. The Daily Tribune in Chicago the other day in an editorial had this to say about Swedish-Americans:

"Back to Sweden! That is the way it sounded a year ago. The newspapers were full of articles about the return of the Swedes to their homeland. Sweden was going to have a rebirth. Thousands of Mother Sweden's sons and daughters who had emigrated to America had decided to return to their fatherland. Sweden was to be enriched by new ideas and by the energy that had been acquired. Strong 2influences were active. About this time the financial depression began to be felt. Many did go home, just as many did in 1893 when they figured that it would be cheaper to visit Sweden until hard times were over. Many returned to Sweden with full intentions of making it their future home. But it has not developed as we thought. Every boat that comes in now brings some who are returning to America. They found wages in Sweden good, but living expenses were much higher then before, and in America they had become accustomed to a standard of living that was hard to give up or to equal [over there]. So they found that they could not thrive under Swedish conditions even though they were better [than they had formerly been]. No one here in America complains about this, since the Swedish-Americans form one of the best groups of American citizens, and they are one of the nationalities who help by their workmanship our nation's growth and enlargement. Particularly have the immigrants in the northwestern States won for themselves the highest regard.

"There can be found nationalities that Americans without regret could do without, but the Swedes are not among them. The thousands who have come to this 3country have been welcome, and they have found rich opportunities for investment. The thousands who may come here may be sure of the same welcome. America likes the Swedes. It is gratifying for us to know that after they had compared America and Sweden, they chose the United States."

The fact that the newspaper in question does not belong to our nationality and has readers of all nationalities makes this editorial more significant. That persons there at home who know America only by hearsay do not get the emigration fever and come over here we can readily understand if we care to, but that cannot be said of those who have proof of the life here in America. They decided to go back to the land of their birth but found uncertainty about future economic conditions. They packed up and came back to America, "God's own country," as it is called.

The fact must be that if everything is taken into consideration, America holds better possibilities than Sweden does.