First then we may consider the causes which arise from economic conditions. These are well illustrated by the Scandinavian countries, slightly modified in each case by the operation of the special causes. Norway is a land of mountains, these making up in the fact fifty-nine per cent of its total area, while forty-four per cent of the soil of Sweden is unproductive. The winters are long and severe, the cold weather frequently sets in too early for the crops to ripen; with crop failure comes lack of work for the laboring classes, and, burdened by heavy taxation, as was the Norwegian farmer only too often in the middle of the last century, debt and impoverishment for the holders of the numerous encumbered smaller estates. In Norway, especially, the rewards of labor are meagre and the opportunities for material betterment small.[37] "Hard times" and the inability of the country to support the rapidly increasing population has, then, been a most potent factor.[38] The same will hold true of Sweden, though in a somewhat less degree. Denmark is better able to support a population of one hundred and forty-eight to the square mile than Sweden one of twenty-eight or Norway one of eighteen.[39] [37] A great change for the better has been taking place during the last few years. [38] Thus the failure of crops and the famine in Northern Sweden, Finland, and Norway in 1902 was followed by a vastly increased immigration from these sections. See above page 28. Compare Table II, Appendix. [39] The area and population of the three countries are:--Sweden, area 172,876 sq. m., population in 1901, 5,175,228; Norway, area 124,129, population in 1900, 2,239,880; Denmark, area 15,360, population in 1901, 2,447,441. In this connection compare above the statistics of immigration from the three countries, which are much lower for Denmark than for Norway and Sweden. The Danes at home are a contented people, and it is noticeable also that it is they who are most conservative here, who foster the closest relation with the old home, and who consequently become Americanized last. The Norwegians are the most discontented, are readiest for a change, are quickest to try the new; and it is they who most readily break the bonds that bind them to their native country, who most quickly adapt themselves to the conditions here, and who most rapidly become Americanized.