Royal Visitors

ROYAL VISITORS (See Frontispiece) By J. M. Sjodahl As is well known, the Swedish Crown Prince, Gustav Adolf, attended the unveiling of the John Ericsson monument in Washington, May 29, 1926, as the official representative of Sweden. John Ericsson, it need hardly be said here, was the famous engineer, a Swede by birth, who constructed the armored vessel, the Monitor, which on March 9, 1862, during the Civil War, put an end to the depredations of the Southern ironclad, the Mertimac, and who gave the world a new type of battleship, some features of which are still retained in modern navies. Congress, in 1916, appropriated $35,000 for the monument, and $28,000 was contributed by the Swedish people, chiefly in the United Slates, through the efforts of a committee which had charge of the work. According to the original plans, another function was held in JOHN ERICSSON, FAMOUS ENGINEER AND INVENTOR

862 IMPROVEMENT ERA Philadelphia, in the early part of June, when the foundation w3s laid for a memorial building in honor of John Morton, another American of Swedish descent, whose name is indelibly engraved on one of the early pages of American history. This building is part of the Sesqui- ccntennial exhibition, but will be permanent. Who was John Morton? He was the grandson of Morten Mortenson, who, in 1654, came over from Gothenburg in the ship Orn. John Morton, the grandson, was born, in 1725, in Chester county, Pa., in a house still standing. He held several positions of trust. He was, for instance, one of the delegates to the famous Stamp Act Congress in New York, in 1765. In 1776, when a Pennsylvania delegation was appointed to considet secession, Morton was elected chairman of. that body, and while he was acting in this capacity his great opportunity came to serve the cause of liberty for all time to come. Six colonies had voted in favor of secession, and six against. Pennsylvania was divided. A majority of the Pennsylvania delegation, it seems, were against secession, but on the day when the vote was taken, two of these were absent, reducing the number of delegates to five. James Wilson and Benjamin Franklin were in favor of independence, but two others were against. John Morton, sick in bed, arose, against the advice of his physician, and journeyed on horseback to Philadelphia, and cast his vote with Wilson and Franklin. Thus Philadelphia was placed on record for secession, the deadlock was broken, and the colonies carried the proposition for independence with the majority of one vote, and that vote was Morton's. Hence the present effort to erect a memorial building in his honor, as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, celebrated this year. The journey of the Crown Prince has local interest, because the distinguished traveler and his company will spend one day, July 9, in Salt Lake City, and two or three days in southern Utah among the scenic and pre-historic wonders of this part of the country. He is accompanied by the Crown Princess Louise, an English princess by birth. The royal entourage includes Miss Carolina Elizabeth Christina de Reutersvaerd, maid of honor to the Crown Princess; Oscar von Sydow, governor of Bohuslaen, and Count Marshal Rudebeck, master of the royal household. Crown Prince Gustav Adolf is a gentleman of distinction, promi- nent among men, even if he were not of royal descent and the heir to a throne. He possesses that refinement, that character and that brilliant genius, which were universally admired in his grandfather, King Oscar II, and without which even a royal diadem, though radiant with costly gems, is but a worthless emblem. i The Crown Prince, whose full name and title is Oskar Fredrick Vilhelm Olaf Gustav Adolf, Duke of Skandia, was born Nov. 11, 1883. His education has been thorough in every respect, both in-

ROYAL VISITORS 863 tellectual and moral. At the age of 19, he was ready to commence his university career, and from the beginning he became specially interested in the natural sciences. Botany was his favorite study- Geology attracted his interest even as a young boy, at an age when other boys rave about pirate exploits and detective yarns. Later, he became interested in history, civics, statistics, law, egyptology and archaeology. He has taken active interest in archaeological researches around Upsala and brought to light many valuable relics of the bronze age. He has also extended his research to other parts of Sweden, and in 1920, during his travels in Greece, he decided to organize a Swedish archaeological expedition to that country, and during 1922, he personally took part in the excavations at Asine, where valuable finds were made. It is further due to the efforts of the Crown Prince that the Swedish archaeologist, Professor Gunnar Anderson, has been enabled to pursue his researches in China, and it is, nc doubt, his interest in archaeology that prompts him to undertake his journey to the Far East at this time. The Crown Princess, Lady Louise Mountbatten, is the daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg, later the Marquis of Milfordhaven, who, at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, was the admiral of the British fleet. She is a granddaughter of Princess Alice, a daughter of Queen Victoria. The wedding was heldi in London, Nov. 3, 1923. The Crown Princess is greatly beloved by the Swedish people. She has studied the language, history and traditions of her new home- land and she has become very popular, owing to her fine, lovable character. King Oscar II said of the Crown Prince on one occasion, "He has a heart of gold," and that applies equally to the Crown Princess. Princess Louise is the second wife of Prince Gustav Adolf. His first consort was the Princess Margaret of Connaught, daughter of Prince Arthur of Connaught and granddaughter of Queen Victoria. They were married at the Windsor Castle, June 15, 1905. It was a happy and harmonious union, broken by the death of the princess. May 1, 1920. Not only the relatives of the royal couple, but the entire Swedish nation mourned at the bier of the beloved Crown Princess. She left five children, the Princes Gustaf Adolf, Sivard, Bertil and Carl Johan, and the Princess Ingrid. There is some prospect that Salt Lake City will have the honor of a visit by a brother of the Crown Prince, H. R. H. Prince Vilhelm, the second son of the Swedish King Gustav V, next year. The Era joins the people in Utah of Swedish extraction in wel- coming the Crown Prince and Crown, Princess to this Mountain State in the great American Union, and in the sincere wish that their brief sojourn here may be one of pleasure and interest, and that the choicest blessings of him who is the Father of us all may follow them and remain with them and theirs continually.