Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/843

* SWEATING SICKNESS. 739 SWEDEN. In Hanover alone 8000 persons died. After 1551 no further epiduuiic occurred until the beginning of the eiyhteenlh century. Since tluit time nu- merous outbreaks have been noted, but in a milder form. The disease is nearly always prevalent in some part of the world, most frequently in France (Picardy) and Italy, under the more modern name of miliaru fever. (See MiLiAiUA.) In Germany it is still known as the 'English sweat.' As now observed, the disease is character- ized by fever, profuse sweats, and an eruption of miliary vesicles. As in inlluenza a large num- ber of people are attacked, but the epidemic lasts sometimes not more than seven or eight days, and the mortality is not high. For full his- torical accounts of the epidemics of the Middle Ages, consult Dr. Cains, .1 Uokc Against the Swcatiiiici Sickncssc {1552); Heckor, Eindemics of the Middle Ages {Sydenham Sociclij Trans- actions) ; Hirsch, (leographical and Historical J'atliology {new Sydenham Society Transactions, vol. i.) ; and C'reighton's History of Epidemics in Britain (1S91). SWEATING SYSTEM. The ]iractice pur- sued by certain manufacturers, ^jarticularly of clothing, of giving out piece work to individuals on which the work is to be done at home and at starvation wages. The system is a survival of the household form of industry that still exists in certain trades in large cities. The term 'sweater' was used first by journeymen tailors in London, who worked long hours. As more work was given out, the home worker employed his family and out- siders, and thus a system of sub-contract de- veloped in which the middleman was called the sweater. To-day 'the sweating system' designates the fag end of all industries where low wages and bad conditions prevail. The work is on a cheap grade of goods, principally cigars, bread made in cellars, candy, and garments. The people sweated belong to a low class of unskilled labor, generally foreign born. The sub-contractors usually are Jews. Evils of the sweat shop are long hours — ten to eighteen hours a day, including Sunday; over- crowding in the shops and surrounding tene- ments; unsanitary conditions in the work rooms and tenement houses, lacking in light, air, and cleanliness; child labor, very young girls and boys often running the machines; disease and de- formity brought on by confinement and dust; irregularity of the work ; and poor pay. The chief causes of the sweating sv'stem are (1) the exces- sive supply of unskilled labor; (2) an economic advantage to large dealers, in having their work done in small shops, thereby saving rent and evading factory laws, in cheap labor, in the ina- bility of isolated workers to combine, and in the irregularity of work; (.3) finally, the irresponsi- bility of employers, and the indifference of the public. Among proposed remedies may be mentioned (1) stringent legislation, backed by public opin- ion, to force these kinds of work into large shops and factories ; (2) cooperative production ; (3) trade unions for unskilled workers; (4) pub- lic workshops; (5) restriction of foreign immigra- tion ; ( 6 ) an eight-hour day : ( 7 ) consumers' league. Factory laws of Ohio, Massachusetts. Illinois, and New York require licenses, or permits, de- scribing rooms in which work may be done. 5Ias- sachusetts only enforces such laws successfully; and she cannot protect herself against sweat- shop goods from elsewhere. IJiiiLioGU^vriiv. Banks, ^Yhite Slaves (Bos- ton, 1,S'J2) ; Ilobson, Problem of Pocerly (Lon- don, 18111) ; Hull House Maps and I'apers (Xew York, 181)8) ; American Social Science Associa- tion Journal, 30, 57 ; United States Labor Com- mission ISulletin JV. (May, 18110) ; factory In- spectors' Ileport (Illinois, 1S1I5-<JG). See CoN- sfMERs' League; Lauok Problems; Factories AND Tiin Factory Sy.ste.m ; Factory Inspection. SWE'DEN (Sw. Svcrige). The eastern and larger part of the Scandinavian peninsula. It is separated from Denmark on the southwest by the Cattegat and on the west, north, and east is bounded by Norwav, Finland, and the Baltic Sea. It extends from 'latitude 55° 20' N. to 69°, and from longitude 11° E. to 24°. Area, 172,876 square miles. In several physical aspects it dill'ors nuich from Norway. It contains more level land and is more fertile and therefore adapt- ed to support a larger poiiulation. Its coasts are not so deeply indented ; its climate is continental instead of oceanic; and its harbors may be blocked with ice for five months, while those of Norway are unfrozen. Sweden comjjrises three main divisions. The northern half, which is very scantily inhabited, is called Norrland. The southern half comprises Svealand (Svearike), in the north, and Gotland (Gotarike), in the south. Topography. The area of all the islands that are a part of Sweden is about 3(>00 square miles. A group of islands without mountains or vegeta- tion skirt the Cattegat north of Giiteborg; and north of Kahnar, on the Baltic side, are many islets, chiefly low rocks in shallow water, the continuation seaward of the Swedish plain. Two large islands in the Baltic lie off the soutjiern or peninsular part of Sweden. The smaller, Oland, a narrow strip of land, 80 miles long, w'as once a part of the chalk shore of the mainland, from which it is separated by only two miles at the narrowest part of Kalmar Sound. The other, Gotland, is farther at sea, but connected with tlic mainland by a submarine bank. Only a compara- tively small part of Sweden is very mountain<ius — the portion lying along the Norwegian border. The frontier region is not all mountains, but a part of it is a high and bleak ])lateau. (See To- pography in NoRw.w. ) The greatest heights are in the northwest, Kebnekaisse being 7004 feet. In the south is a hilly district rising from a plateau that is several hundred feet above the surrounding plains of the coast, and is separated from the mountains of the north by the great depression occupied by the southern lakes. Most of the remainder of Sweden is a plateau sloping rapidly from the mountain fringe to a plain which stretches along the east coast to the southern extremity of the country, and which in- cludes the fertile lowlands of Gotland, strewn with erratic boulders, where the largest and most productive farm lands are found. Hydrography. Sweden is well watered and is rich in lakes. Many rivers flow from the nioimtains southeast to the Gulf of Bothnia or the Baltic, affording much water power, but little navigation, on acooiuit of their rapid fall. They pass through many lakes, particu-