Editorial: According to the national census taken in 1880 there were within the boundaries of this great republic 440,262 persons born in the three Scandinavian countries. Of this total number, 194,337, so the census has it were Swedes, 181,729, Norwegians, and 64,196 Danes. The same document is authority for the further statement that of the above number of Swedes 42,415 were found in Illinois, 39,176 in Minnesota, 17,559 in Iowa,11,164 in Kansas, 11,164 in New York and 10,164 in Nebraska. As to cities, Chicago contained 12,930, Minneapolis 8,186, New York 3,194, Brooklyn2,848, and St Paul 1,897.

Several American dailies have reproduced these figures and commented thereon, all in a very favorable light, expressing their astonishment at the fact that there are so many Scandinavian born Americans, and their great satisfaction with this class of foreigners, who are described as in every sense the best of those coming to these shores in quest of greater liberty and the other blessings flowing from the institutions of a republican country.

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And yet, it must be a potent fact to every observing Scandinavian-American that the census has told only half the truth in regard to our number. We hold, and that on good grounds, that the Swedes alone are almost as many as the census reports the representatives of all the three nationalities to be,

Let us take our own state and city as an example, illustrating how wide of the mark the official figures actually are.

Commencing with Chicago the Swedish-born population, of which according to the census, aggregates only 12,930, we are through diligent inquiry, in a position to inform the census-takers that we numbered no less that 25,000. The basis of our calculation is the church membership. There are today about 10,000 adults belonging to the different congregations in the city, and if we allow 2,000 as the accessions gained from the immigration of the last two years, we had at least 8,000 church members in 1880, the year when the census in question was taken. Add to these 4,000 children born in Sweden (A figure by no means over-estimated) and we have, or had then, 12,000 Swedish-born Chicagoans within the pale of the church.

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The next question is how many non-church members there are among us. Generally they are supposed to be about three times as many as the others, which, if correct, would swell the whole number of what one might call pure Swedes to something near 36,000. But in order not to seem exaggerating we are willing to deduct 10,000 from this figure and say that our numerical strength is 26,000, just twice as great as the census gives it.

What is true of the city of Chicago in this respect is also true of the state of Illinois. That is to say, the official figure of 42,415 ought to be doubted, if it is to correspond with the actual number.

To verify this assertion we need only mention that the Swedish-Lutheran Conference of Illinois embraced in 1881 nearly 25,000 persons and that Methodists, Baptists, Mission-friends and others enrolled as regular church members according to all probability fully numbered 10,000. Here, then, we have 35,000 Swedish-born church adherents only in this state, and while the proportion between the church element and those who as yet have no ecclesiastical connections is not the same in the state 4as in the city, we are free to assert that the two classes are at least co-equal in this respect,

Whence the conclusion follows that the Illinois Swedes born in Sweden reach the figure 70,000.

But for fear that some one may think we go too high we shall compromise again and declare ourselves satisfied with 60,000 which is an increase of nearly forty per cent on the figures of the census; a calculation that raises the number of Swedes in all the states from 194,337 (see census) to about 276,000. But here our statement will, perhaps, be met with the objection that the discepancy between the (by the census) alleged number and the actual one in Illinois may not exist in the other states.

We have every reason to believe it does. We are sure that the census underestimates (for although it should be a count it cannot claim to be more than an estimate) to 5the same extent as to every state where Swedes have settled in larger numbers, Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and New York in particular.

In the three cities of New York, Brooklyn and Jamestown, there can be no less than 15,000 individuals born in Sweden, whereas the census gives the whole state only 11,164. But we must conclude, what we wanted to prove is that the census is very unreliable in regard to our number. If it is as wide of the mark in general as in this particular case, the republic now may boast of a population in the neighborhood of seventy millions.

In as much as the first native-born generation should be classed with the parents as to nationality, we Swedes can now claim to be around a half-million in this country, or more if we include the 100,000 who have arrived after the census of 1880.