Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/655

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
SUTTON—SWEDEN
629

SUTTON, SIR HENRY (1845-1920), English judge, was born Jan. 10 1845. He was educated at Rugby and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1868. He was called to the bar in 1870, in 1890 was made junior counsel to the Treasury, and in 1905 was raised to the King's Bench division, being knighted in 1906. He retired in 1910, and died in London May 30 1920.


SVENDSEN, JOHANN SEVERIN (1840-1911), Norwegian composer (see 26.175), died at Copenhagen June 14 1911.

SWAN, SIR JOSEPH WILSON (1828-1914), English physicist (see 26.179), died at Warlingham, Surrey, May 28 1914.

SWAYTHLING, SAMUEL MONTAGU, 1ST BARON (1832-1911), British financier, was born at Liverpool Dec. 21 1832, and came of a Jewish family named Samuel, but afterwards took by royal licence the name of Montagu. Beginning in early life in a very humble way of business he gradually acquired great wealth by enlarging its scope, and he rose to the head of the most important arbitrage house in London. A strong Liberal in politics, he sat in Parliament for the Tower Hamlets from 1885 to 1900; he was a member of the Gold and Silver commission of 1887-90, being himself a bimetallism He was created a baronet in 1894, and raised to the peerage in 1907. Throughout his life he was a zealous promoter of Jewish interests, founding the loan fund of the Jewish board of guardians, the Jewish working men's club and several synagogues, and for his work on emigration schemes for the persecuted Russian Jews he made many journeys in Europe and America, succeeding Sir Julian Goldsmid as chairman of the Russo- Jewish Committee. He also helped to establish a modern secular school for Jews at Jerusalem in 1875. He died in London Jan. 12 1911, being succeeded in the title by his eldest son, Louis Samuel Montagu (b. 1869). His second son, Edwin Samuel Montagu (b. 1879), entered politics, and, after having been Under-secretary for India (1910-4), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1915), Financial Secretary to the Treas- ury (1914-6) and Minister of Munitions (1916), was made Secretary of State for India in 1917. His fourth daughter, Lilian Helen (b. 1873), became a well-known social worker and was appointed J.P. for the County of London in July 1920.


SWEDEN (see 26.188). The Swedish census of 1910 showed an increase since 1900 of 7-5%, from 5,136,441 to 5,522,403 inhabitants. The pop. on Jan. i 1920 was 5,847,037 (2,868,395 males and 2,978,642 females), of whom 1,701,249 were living in cities, distributed as follows: Norrland (northern division) 1,018,009, Svealand (central division) 1,879,146 and Gotaland (southern division) 2,949.882. The density of pop. is rather low; in Gotaland 34, Svealand 23 and Norrland only 4 inhabitants per square kilometer. The chief towns with a pop. exceeding 20,000 inhabitants (Jan. i 1920) were Stockholm (415, 201), Gothenburg (200,577), Malmo (111,931), Norrkoping (57,377), Helsingborg (45,805), Gavle (36,092), Orebro (35,096), Eskilstuna (30,103), Vasteras (29,530), Jonkoping (28,875), Upsala (28,041), Karls- krona (27,029), Linkoping (26,300), Boras (23,941) and Lund (22,827).

The excess of births over deaths is low: 10-6 per 1,000 in 1910, 6-9 in 1915 and 5-2 in 1919. The birth-rate for 1919 was 19-6 per 1,000. There were 24,704 emigrants in 1906, 27,816 in 1910, 7,512 in 1915, 10,571 in 1916, 6,440 in 1917, 4,853 in 1918, 7,337 in 1919. During the war emigration was naturally difficult. The immigration figures were: 6,357 i n I 9 I S> 6,713 in 1916, 5,811 in 1917, 4,932 in 1918, 7,809 in 1919. The United States received the largest contingent of the emigrants, but Norway, Denmark and Canada also received considerable numbers. Swedes resident abroad number between 2,120,000 and 2,245,000, of whom 1,500,000 are in America and 370,000 in Finland.

Occupations. Agriculture, fishing and forestry provided 48-4% of the pop. with their livelihood in 1910; in 1900 the percentage had been 54-4, and in 1890 61-51, the decline having been progressive since 1840, when the percentage was So-g.

Those dependent on employment in industry, mining, trade and communications represented 45-8 % of the pop. in 1910, as against 38-8 % in 1900, 31 % in 1890 and 10-7 % in 1840. Those following the so-called " free crafts " (fria yrken) or engaged in the public service (oilman tjanst) represented 5-8% in 1910 (6-8% in 1900, 7-5% in 1890 and 8-4% in 1840). The most significant feature in this de-

velopment is the increased importance of the industrial section. The census figures for 1920 in this respect were not available in 1921, but this section now represents half the population.

Agriculture. Cultivated soil included 3,723,000 hectares in !9I5, I ,7 l 5,ooo hectares being used for grain, 1,411,000 for fodder stuffs, 26,100 for root crops, 3,000 for other crops, and 333,000 being left fallow. Gardens in 1915 occupied 47,533 hectares. The total value of the harvests in 1914 was estimated at 1,112,000,000 kr. and in 1920 at 2,012,000,000 kronor. The annual consumption of wheat increased from 47-7 kgm. per person in 1891 to 87-8 in 1915. The consumption of rye diminished from no-6 in 1891 to 98-1 in 1915. The country's own production of corn has not been sufficient, and large supplies have been imported. During the decade previous to the war about 50% of the wheat was imported, and from 10% to 15 % of the rye. The ease with which corn could be imported mili- tated against all attempts to make the country self-supporting in 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 correspondingly 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 Norrland, 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 11,773 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