§ 18 

If we turn to our Iron works, we shall soon notice that it is far from being the wish of the owners of most of those Works to leave Sweden; but several poor Owners, who lack capital for carrying on their business, complain about slow sales, compulsory prices and the poverty they are threatened with, and that is quite another matter.

What is it that Smiths and Workmen complain of? Why do not the imported foreign workmen stay long? Why do the natives seldom marry and mostly become miserable creatures in the end? And how is it that the Corn and Provision business is only a little less profitable to the Owner than the Forging of Iron itself? And what is the cause of the peasants, who are under the command of the Works, getting breeze in their fields* and telling such stories about their children as did the Crofter mentioned above?

The manufacturer is really as well dressed in his own produce as anybody, but the workmen in the spinning-mill often sit half naked, and others walk the streets in rags, and beg, saying that they are foreigners who have been induced to come to the Country, but who now wish they were home again rather than in Sweden, where they have to stand at other people's doors and will finally have to die in poverty.

Among those who move from the towns, the mania for moving seldom affects those who are well-off or are Aldermen, but often does the poor and humble Burghers.

I think it is almost unheard of that Sea-Captains and Mates should desert their ships in a foreign harbour unless on account of crimes; but I dare not say the same about the ordinary Sailor or the Cook's boy.

Honoured Reader! Do you not now see the reason why our number of workmen does not increase and thereby our National gain? As far as I can see, it will for ever be impossible to stop this running away, if the dams are not opened.

The less the pressure is, the easier is the water retained; but the lower the water column is, the less is the pressure, and the column will always be lowest when the lock-gate is taken away.

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*A peasant under the command of the Works is said to get breeze in his fields, when he has so much to do for the Iron works that because of that he neglects his farming and thus suffers from failure of crops (Author's note).