this respect, and efforts came to be concentrated on stock-raising.
The number of horses in 1916 was 701,099, of cattle 2,913,159, and of
pigs 1,065,396. It was the agricultural policy of the country before
the war to import a considerable amount of the corn required and
large supplies of maize, oilcakes and other fodder stuffs, and in
their place to export live stock, butter and cheese. The balance was
not in Sweden's favour if seen merely from an agricultural stand-
point. In 1913 there was an exportation surplus for live stock of
16,500,000 kr. and for butter and cheese of 46,700,000 kr., but there
was an importation surplus for other animal products of 25,400,000
kr. ; for grain, potatoes and seed corn of 58,600,000 kr. ; for fodder
stuffs of 22,800,000 kr. and for manure of 14,800,000 kr. The bal-
ance showed an importation surplus of 58,300,000 kr. Some decades
earlier the country was as good as self-supporting, but the great
industrial population has come into being since then and conditions
of life have been radically changed thereby.

A more intense cultivation of the soil has been carried out with
great energy. The splitting up of the land for the most part into
small holdings has been a disadvantage to a certain extent. The
large farms lead the way, and in localities where modern methods of
agriculture sufficiently prevail the small farmers join together in
cooperative societies. The scientific study of plant-growing and of
manures is carried on in different parts of the country under the
guidance of a central institute in Stockholm. Seeds have been greatly
improved under the influences of the seed society in Svalov (in
Skane), which also exports seeds. The Swedish moss cultivation
society, which has its headquarters in Jonkoping, has taken the lead
in the systematic cultivation of the country's wealth in bogland.

Fishing contributes considerably towards the support of the
population. The value of a year's catch may be estimated at between
20,000,000 and 30,000,000 kronor. Export of fish provides a balance
of gain to the country of some millions of kronor a year. During the
years of the World War measures were taken to promote the con-
sumption of fish in Sweden itself.

Forestry. Out of Sweden's total land area, which amounts to
41,000,000 hectares, 21,400,000, or nearly 52%, constitute forest-
bearing land, whereof about 4,900,000 hectares, or 23-1 %, are public
property. In 1913 the output of sawed or planed timber was
estimated at 7,800,000 cub. metres, mechanical wood pulp 326,000
tons, chemical wood pulp 860,000 tons, charcoal 4,300,000 cub.
metres, and other products 18,500,000 cub. metres. In the same year
the exports of plain sawn and planed wood were valued at 186,900,-
ooo kr., of partly worked wood at 28,600,000 kr., and of wood-
pulp at 99,700,000 kr., or 315,200,000 kr. altogether. These exports
amounted to 38-6% of the total exports of the country. In certain
years the exports of the products of the forests have amounted in
value to half the total exports of Sweden. The economic world
crisis after the war naturally caused a great diminution in export.

Industry. Sweden is also rich in iron ore, and her water-falls
make her well equipped for industrial enterprises. But coal is to be
found in only one province, Skane, and she is obliged to import
large supplies of both coal and coke. The great distances for trans-
port, moreover, entail heavy freight costs. Workmen enjoy a cor-
respondingly high standard of living.

In 1915 the products of manufactories and mines had a value of
something over 3,000,000,000 kronor. The extent to which Swedish
industries had developed may be seen from the fact that the amount
of horse-power in machinery per 1,000 workers had increased to
3,532 in 1915, from 2,841 in 1911 and 1,980 in 1906. The most
important wood-sawing industries are found on the coast of Norr-
land, notably around Sundsvall and Hernosand. The timber is
floated down the big rivers from the forests. Paper pulp is one of
Sweden's most important exports. Paper is another. The exports
of mechanical wood-pulp (dry weight) in 1915 amounted to 150,103
tons, of which 80,783 went to Great Britain. In the same year
Sweden exported 721,786 tons (dry weight) of chemical paper-pulp,
of which 298,056 went to Great Britain. The iron industry is to
be found within a broad belt of land nearly level with Stockholm and
a little farther to the north. The use of charcoal has helped to make
practicable the manufacture of Swedish high-quality steel. In 1915
there were 135 iron-works (with 28,868 workmen), of which 78 had in
all 120 furnaces in use, producing 748,928 tons of pig-iron and 1 1,773
tons of castings. The exports of iron and steel in 1915 had a
value of 97,600,000 kr., as compared with imports of 27,800,000



630



SWEDEN



kroner. Foundries and mechanical engineering works in 1915 had an
output of 339,600,000 kr. ; exports were valued at 115,600,000 kr.,
as compared with imports of 41,400,000 kronor.

During the war some industries throve exceedingly, as, for
instance, those of iron, paper-pulp and paper; others suffered ap-
preciably at times from the lack of raw materials, as, for instance,
the textile industry. During the second half of 1920 and in 1921
industry was hit hard by the economic crisis.

Commerce. Sweden's foreign trade in 1916-20 presented a
curious picture, inasmuch as the value of her exports during the
war period exceeded that of her imports. In 1910 her imports
amounted to 669,200,000 kr. and her exports to 592,900,000;
the corresponding figures for 1914 were 726,900,000 and 772,400,000.
The figures for the subsequent war years were as follow 1915,
imports 1,142,500,000 kr. and exports 1,316,400,000 kr. 1916,
imports 1,138,600,000 kr. and exports 1,556,400,000 kr. 1917.
imports 758,600,000 kr. and exports 1,349,600,000 kr. ; 1918, im-
ports 1,233,300,000 kr. and exports 1,350,400,000 kr. After the war
the picture changes. In 1919 the figures were : imports 2,534,000,000
kr. and exports 1,575,700,000 kr. ; in 1920 imports 3,373,500,000 kr.
and exports 2,293,600,000 kr. It will be noted now goods were
regularly drawn out of the country during the war, while the im-
ports were inadequate. The circumstance that home-grown wood
was to a great extent used instead of imported coal also counted.
When the war came to an end the country lacked reserve stocks
and needed many articles of consumption. Importation increased,
in part on speculative lines, from Germany and Russia, and with
results which for the most part were unfortunate.

It may be interesting to give figures illustrating Sweden's com-
mercial relations with the leading belligerent Powers. In 1913 im-
ports into Sweden amounted to 846,500,000 kr. ; exports from
Sweden to 817,300,000. Her imports from Great Britain amounted
to 206,800,000 kr. and those from Germany to 289,900,000 kr. ;
her exports to Great Britain amounted to 237,300,000 kr. and
those to Germany to 179,100,000. Her transactions with Germany
were somewhat in excess of those with Great Britain, but the latter
country came first as purchaser of Swedish products. During the war
a great reduction came. Imports into Sweden from Great Britain
amounted to 183,800,000 kr. in 1914; 213,500,000 kr. in 1915;
164,400,000 kr. in 1916; 65,100,000 kr. in 1917; 148,700,000 kr. in
1918 and 668,900,000 kr. in 1919. Imports from Germany came to
238,600,000 kr. in 1914; 251,500,000 kr. in 1915; 420,200,000 kr.
in 1916; 288,200,000 kr. in 1917; 447,900,000 kr. in 1918 and
269,100,000 kr. in 1919.

Exports to Great Britain amounted to 258,300,000 kr. in 1914;
329,600,000 kr. in 1915; 320,100,000 kr. in 1916; 216,100,000 kr. in
'917; 252,600,000 kr. in 1918; 509,900,000 kr. in 1919. Exports to
Germany came to 174,800,000 kr. in 1914; 486,400,000 kr. in 1915;
437,500,000 kr. in 1916; 352,100,000 kr. in 1917; 292,800,000 kr. in
1918 and 130,800,000 kr. in 1919. During the war years British
coal imports into Sweden declined, and Germany largely made good
the deficiency, being naturally anxious to secure imports from Swe-
den. The figures for the Swedish importation of coal and coke, in
thousands of tons, during the years 1913-7 were: from England,
4,916; 4,683; 2,816; 1,707 and 604; and from Germany, 431; 335;
2,174; 4,281 and 1,708. It will be seen how energetically Germany
came forward in Great Britain's place as exporter to Sweden.

Shipping. The Swedish commercial fleet in 1910 included
1,214 steamers and motor-boats, of 842,460 total tonnage dead-
weight; in 1915 1,278 vessels, of 984,799 tonnage; in 1018 1,238
vessels, of 894,260 tonnage. The figures for sailing vessels were in
1910 1,635, of 204,624 tonnage ; in 1915 1,422, of 161,650; and in 1918
1,295, f I 4 1 .396. The diminution was due partly to war-losses.

Communications. The Swedish railway system had in 1910 a
length of 13,829 km., and in 1919 of 15,154, whereof 4,418 and 5,496
respectively were State railways. Through the thinly populated
inner region of Norrland there runs a State railway line which has
been opened for traffic between Ostersund and Vilhelmina. A single-
line railway along the coast of Norrland has been planned out and
begun with aid from the State. During the war the railways were
sometimes quite overloaded, so that locomotives could not be re-
paired to the extent they needed, and lubricants and good coal ran
short. The increased costs drove up passenger and goods rates.

During 190916 the Trollhatte canal was reconstructed and
deepened to four metres. The Sodertalje canal was in 192 1 in process
of reconstruction and of deepening to five metres. Through the
former operation navigation was made possible to the great Lake
Venner and thus between Gothenburg (Goteborg) and the Western
mining district, and through the latter a good waterway was being
created to the harbour of Lake Malar.

Social Conditions. Democracy has a strong hold on the Swedish
people, owing to the high degree of education reached by the masses
and to their inherited respect for the sanctity of law. Familiarized
from an early date with self-government, Sweden had begun already
in the closing decades of the igth century to build up a kind of net-
work of nonconformist religious associations, Anglo-Saxon in their
character, temperance unions and friendly societies. When, as the
outcome of advances in industrialism, the labour movement began
to take shape, it was able to utilize these habits of organization and
thus secure a position of considerable power comparatively quickly.



Now more than 60% of Sweden's wage-earners belong to trade
unions; at the beginning of 1921 these had over 400,000 members,
of whom 280,000 combined to constitute the so-called " Lands
Organisationen," which may be translated as " The National Or-
ganization," while simultaneously the political side of the labour
movement, Social Democracy, became a force of the first order.
Swedish Social Democracy has relied more and more on parliamen-
tary methods of reform, thereby awakening opposition on the part
of the labour extremists, with the result that in 1917 a new Socialist
party of the left came into existence, formed for the most part of
young men. a large number of whom were strongly influenced by
Russian Bolshevism. In the spring of 1921 these latter formed a
Communistic party connected with the Third International in
Moscow. The bulk of Swedish workmen, however, hold aloof
from revolutionary tendencies, thanks to the great extension which
has been attained by cooperation. While workmen constitute a
typical class party, another class party formed by the association
of farmers and countryfolk, under the title of the Bondeforbund,"
dated its origin from 1917.

In 1913 a law was passed instituting compulsory old-age and dis-
ablement insurance for the entire population. In 1916 a similar
accident insurance law was passed. The law passed in 1919 for an
eight-hour day was the most advanced of any in Europe. The
national administration includes a special social department, as
well as a number of boards for dealing with social questions.

The communes also, especially the large towns, have instituted
important social reforms; for instance, by creating public labour
exchanges, which have been State-endowed since 1907 and are
under State guidance and control. In common with the State,
moreover, the communes contributed to the general pensions in-
surance. The guardianship of the poor used to rest on the primary
communes, but, through a new Poor Law, passed in 1918, this
burden is now in certain cases transferred to the provincial assemblies
(Landsting) and the State.

The first decade of the 2oth century was marked by the creation
and swift growth of employers' associations (notably that known
by the name " Svenska Arbetsgivare Foreningen," whose members
in 1920 employed nearly 300,000 workmen) and also of associations
of landowners ; and in several great conflicts, as, for instance, in a
five-weeks' general strike in the summer of 1909, in which 300,000
workmen took part, the victory fell to the employers. For a long
time the State's only action in the matter remained the passing of a
law in 1906 for the intervention of a Conciliation Court in labour
disputes. By reason of the high standing, however, of the trade-
union organizations, and as the result of frequent collective agree-
ments on both sides, certain conventional methods of treaty came
into vogue in the field of labour disputes. In 1920 the Riksdag passed
a law instituting a central State conciliation and arbitration court,
as well as local courts of the same kind, to pronounce judgment in
labour disputes on the basis of their collective agreements.

The Liquor Question. For close on a century past the alcohol
question in Sweden has been a subject for the most serious considera-
tion and for constant measures of reform. The unhappy results of
the excessive consumption of gin at the beginning of the igth
century called forth an energetic temperance movement, led bjr
a clergyman named Peter Wieselgren (1800-1877), a " domprost, '
or dean, of the Lutheran Church; and in 1855 a law was passed
which abolished the right to manufacture gin for home consumption
and which granted concessions to companies, with no financial
interest in the traffic, to sell alcoholic drinks under public control.
This " Gothenburg System," as it was designated, brought about
considerable improvements in many respects, and the great tem-
perance societies, with a total membership of 450,000, have worked
in the same direction. It was, however, only by the new law re-
garding the sale of liquor which was passed in 1917, and which came
into force in 1919, that the underlying principle (" disinterested
management ") of the Gothenburg System was consistently put
into general practice. By this law the selling to individuals of drinks
containing more than 3-6% of alcohol was confined exclusively to
the so-called " systembolag " (" system company "), with about 150
branches, over the management of which the State authorities have
decisive control and which pays over all its profits to the State
Treasury except for 5 % interest on the capital invested. The con-
trolling of this " system company " is entrusted to a central in-
stitution known as " Kontrollstyrelsen." All persons who wish tc
purchase such liquors for home consumption are registered and
receive a pass-book ; the total amount of liquor allowed to them being
limited to a maximum of four litres a month. The abuse of alcohol
is attended by further restrictions or by the absolute withdrawal of
the right to purchase. The amount of liquor which may be sold to a
customer in a restaurant is also strictly limited and confined to
meal-times. This system of liquor-dealing, which was set on foot
in Stockholm in 1913 and organized by Dr. Ivan Bratt (coming to be
known as the Bratt system), was supplemented by a special measure
regarding the treatment of alcoholists. The system had remarkable
results, proportionate in large degree to the activity of the leading
members of the various companies. The consumption of spirits
decreased in many places, for instance in Stockholm, by nearly 50%.
The number of cases of drunkenness, which was formerly somewhat
high, was reduced throughout the country in Stockholm and in cer-



SWEDEN



631



tain other places by 60% and so was the number of persons suffer-
ing from alcoholism. Much opposition from the side of those who
regard the restrictions introduced as altogether excessive was
brought to bear against the system; on the other hand, a tendency
arose among the temperance associations to believe that total pro-
hibition was the only way towards the solution of the alcohol
problem. Smuggling and illegal manufacture of spirits developed
to a disquieting degree in the years 1917-8. There were signs, how-
ever, in 1921 of a return to a better state of things.

Finance. In 1910 the state budget amounted to 265,200,000
kr., in 1915 to 415,400,000, in 1920 to 929,400,000, and in 1921 to
1,131,100,000. For 1920 and 1921 the so-called " tillaggsstater,"
i'.e. supplementary military budgets, are included. The tax revenue
in 1921 amounted to 579,200,000 kronor. The consolidated national
debt amounted at the end of 1920 to 1,280,600,000 kr. ; in 1910 it
had been 543,400,000 kronor.

Apart from the national bank, the Riksbank, which alone issues
bank-notes, there were in IQIO 17 private and 63 joint-stock banks,
which in 1920 had decreased to II and 30 by amalgamations. Their
total paid-up capital and reserve funds amounted in 1910 to 562,600,-
ooo kr. and in 1920 to 1,084,000,000 kronor. At the end of 1920 the
Riksbank balanced its revenue and expenditure at 1,017,500,000 kr.
and the other banks' balance stood at 7,662,300,000 kronor. The
leading private bank is Stockholme Enskilda Bank; the largest
joint-stock banks are Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget, Svenska
Handelsbanken (formerly Stockholms Handelsbank) and Aktis-
bolaget Goteborgsbanken.

The circulation of paper money increased from 206,500,000 kr.
in IQIO to 759,900,000 kr. in 1920. During the war years the Riks-
bank was relieved from its liability to meet notes with gold, and
also to receive gold in ingots (see EXCHANGES, FOREIGN).

The Swedish savings banks in 1910 numbered 477; their deposits
amounted to 1,870,800,000 kr. and their capital to 107,100,000
kronor. The post-office savings bank, a State institution, had de-
posits amounting to 84,400,000 kr. at the end of 1920.

Constitution. The Swedish Parliament, the " Riksdag," consists
of two elected Chambers, the First Chamber being composed of
communal representatives. A constitutional change of a radical
kind took place in 1907 and was confirmed by the Riksdag of 1909.
The communal suffrage was on a scale proportionate to income, the
graduation was now limited so that no person could have more than
40 votes, the bulk of the middle classes thus acquiring a preponder-
ance. Absent voters could delegate their voting rights to others.
Women had the communal suffrage in proportion to the degree
in which they themselves were liable to taxation. Proportional
representation was introduced in the case of both Chambers. Mem-
bers of the First Chamber, in common with those of the Second,
were paid. The suffrage in the case of the Second Chamber became
universal and remained, as before, equal for all.

By Riksdag resolutions in 1918, 1910 and 1921 the constitution
was further developed in a markedly democratic direction. Under
these reforms the First Chamber consists of 150 members, elected
by proportional representation by the provincial assemblies, i.e.
either by " Landstingen " or by specially formed bodies of electors,
chosen also by proportional representation by those possessing the
communal suffrage. The communal suffrage is universal and equal ;
it is no longer graduated and it is personal. When it was graduated
in proportion to income, business companies possessed the com-
munal suffrage. Anyone who fails to pay his taxes for three successive
years forfeits his right to vote. Women have the same voting rights
as men. The age at which the voting right is acquired is 23, but the
age is 27 for the right to vote for the members of the provincial
assemblies which elect the First Chamber. The right to vote by
proxy is abolished, but a husband may deliver a wife's vote in a
closed envelope, or a wife a husband's. Similarly, in the case of
both the communal elections and the elections to the Second Cham-
ber, soldiers on active service, absent seamen and fishermen, and
employees of railways, ports, customs and pilot services may send
in their votes by post.

The number of the voters in the communes has been more than
doubled. After the reform the communes' lists of voters contained
nearly 3,300,000 names, i.e. more than 56% of the pop., and of these
about 1,600,000 were men and 1,700,000 women. In March and
April 1919 took place the new communal assembly elections: in
two ' Landsting ' out of 25, and in 20 towns out of 107 (among them
Stockholm), the Social Democrats and Socialists of the Left together
won absolute majorities. In ten ' Landsting ' and 38 towns the Social
Democrats were the strongest party. The election periods are eight
years for the members of the First Chamber, one-eighth of whose
number are elected each year; and four years for the Second Cham-
ber's 230 members, who are all elected at one time. Women as well
as men are eligible as members of both Chambers. The age at which
a person becomes eligible, for the First Chamber is 35, for the second
23. To be eligible for the First Chamber a person must have a cer-
tain specified income or property. If a member can no longer per-
form his duties, his place is taken by a substitute elected at the same
time as himself. The Riksdag is called together every year on Jan. 10
for its ordinary meeting.

In 1921 the Riksdag passed an Act to provide that a consultative
referendum shall be had recourse to when the Government and the



Riksdag think it desirable to take the opinion of the people direct
by plebiscite on some important question before its decision by the
Riksdag. The proposal decided on must be submitted once again
after a new Second Chamber election, before it becomes binding.
Another constitutional change was involved in the creation of a
foreign affairs committee, which the Riksdag shall elect every year,
and with which the Government shall take counsel regarding foreign
affairs. The Riksdag's right to share in decisions regarding agree-
ments with foreign countries has been extended. Yet another con-
stitutional novelty is the right given to women to hold office under
the State where no special hindrance lies in the way.

HISTORY. On the death of King Oscar on Dec. 8 1907 he
was succeeded by his eldest son Gustav V. Rear-Adml. Arvid
Lindman had been at the head of the Government since May
1906, with Erik Trolle, former Swedish minister at Berlin, as
Minister of Foreign Affairs; Carl Swartz, a manufacturer, as
Minister of Finance; Maj.-Gen. Lars Tingsten as chief of the
Department of National Defences, and Alfred Petersson i Paboda,
a landowner, as Minister of Agriculture. In 1907 this Ministry
had carried a measure of constitutional reform, embodying
universal suffrage in regard to the Second Chamber and propor-
tional representation in regard to both Chambers; and this
measure, in accordance with statute, was confirmed by the Riks-
dag of 1909 after the election of members of the Second Chamber
in the autumn of 1908. Owing to a divergence of opinion within
the Ministry upon an important point bearing upon the extent
of the Riksdag's powers, Trolle, Petersson and one other minister
resigned in 1909. The new Foreign Minister was Count Arvid
Taube, who had succeeded Trolle as representative of Sweden
at Berlin. Some time afterwards Maj.-Gen. Tingsten also
resigned. Moderate Conservatism was the note of this Ministry.
The ministerialist party in the Riksdag had a majority in the
First Chamber and a minority in the Second.

The National Defence Question. At this period the problem
of national defence was in the forefront of Swedish politics,
inasmuch as the foreign affairs of the country were in a condition
calculated to arouse anxiety. The union with Norway had been
dissolved in 1905 and Sweden now stood alone in respect to
foreign politics. Finland, which in 1809 had been taken from
Sweden and united to Russia, had been having its autonomy
more and more reduced, and Russia's foreign policy seemed to
show a forward tendency westwards. A great variety of new mili-