Ô10 V ili. COMMERCE.
silk trade up to Narva and Riga, which attempts, however, stranded, owing to
insurmountable difficulties.
Charles X II, too, attached much importance to trade, but during the constant
wars all trades were ruined.
During the so-called “Period of Liberty”, the Government and the Estates
devoted much attention to material development. The mercantile theories of
the day were stringently applied. In order to protect home shipping, the
so-called “Products Proclamation”, an imitation of the English Navigation Acts,
was promulgated in 1724, by which every foreign nation was forbidden to
import into Sweden any products other than its own. Moreover, increased
customs and other import prohibitions were established.
During the period 1731—40, Swedish trade already began to experience considerable
expansion. From this time England replaces Holland as the greatest
purchaser of the products of Sweden. Large, privileged companies still continued
to be formed for more far-reaching and risky enterprises. The most
important of these was the East India Company, which lived more than eighty
years (1731— 1813) and maintained a regular and profitable commercial connection
between Sweden and the Far East.
The clogging fetters and the arbitrary privilegies, under cover of which many
abuses were introduced, led to many inconveniences, however, and after the
great crisis towards the end of the decade 1701 70 more liberal ideas began
to prevail. Through Gustavus IH ’s reform of the currency and the armed
neutrality during the American War of Independence, our foreign trade entered
upon a period of prosperity, and it is probable that our shipping has never
been more profitable than during that period. Failures of the harvest and the
Russian war of 1788— 90, however, gave our trade a great set-back. Then,
in the beginning of the reign of Gustavus IV Adolphus, favourable trade conditions
followed, owing to the neutrality which Sweden observed during the great
Napoleonic wars, but soon the country was visited by fresh crop-failures, trade
dwindled on account of the insecurity of the seas, and finally the war with
Napoleon paralyzed our foreign commerce. and shipping, in spite of the fact
that the profitable smuggling trade with England (who sent her goods here ¡'to
be forwarded to the continent) produced temporary profit; Gothenburg in particular
enjoyed a brief period of splendid prosperity,.
During the unbroken peace that Sweden has enjoyed since 1814, our foreign
trade has made great general progress. Even during the reign of Charles XIV
it expanded noticeably, particularly through the regulation of the finances and
the more extended freedom of commerce and trade which slowly worked its
way through. More thorough still were the reforms ■ in commercial legislation
carried out in the reign of Oscar I. By means of new commercial treaties and
more especially by the annulment of the Öresund Customs, concerning which an
agreement was made with Denmark in 1857, Swedish foreign trade was advanced.
That the progress of the communication system, as well as the increased capacity
of production and consumption, was also a powerful lever is a matter of course.
Through the commercial and maritime treaty with France of 1865, Sweden
accepted the free-trade system to a wider extent'than before. In 1888 and 189.2,
the raising of many old customs and introduction of new ones marked a return
to the old system. Subsequently the customs have been further revised in the
direction of prohibition by resolutions of the’ Riksdags of 1910 and 1911. (An
idea of the extent to which the new customs tariff differs from the old may
be gained from the figures in the articles Customs and Commercial Policy.)
At present, however, the commerce of Sweden can he considered to he
of considerable importance in comparison with the size of the population.
HISTORICAL. 511
The progress within several departments of civilization and culture
which has characterized the last decennium in Sweden has also made
itself felt ih the sphere of commerce. With constantly increasing commercial
activity, modern commercial methods have gained an increasingly
firm footing, and thanks to a growing spirit of combination, Swedish
merchants have been able to make their influence felt even in the outer
world. Insofar as political conditions have placed no hindrances in the
way, the State has put into execution a number of the wishes submitted
to it since a considerable time back by the representatives of the commercial
world.
Amongst the measures that have thus been taken to promote „foreign
trade may be mentioned the following, some of which have been formulated
by the Commerce and Shipping Committee, whose activities date
from 18901^1900. By means of state-assisted steam ship lines to distant
countries, direct trade has been considerable facilitated, and a considerable
proportion of our trade has been snatched from the hands of powerful
intermediaries. So, for example, nearly all our coffee is now imported
direct from Brazil under the Swedish flag. Further, international traffic
has been facilitated by arrangements come to with regard to co-operation
loith foreign railways. For the promotion of transit-trade, regulations
have been issued providing for refunding of customs charges on certain
favourable conditions, and for free stores and free ports. Increased state
grants have been made for studentships for the study of export- and trade-
conditions, and at the same time the State has made grants to institutions
intended for the communication of commercial intelligence and for the
spreading of information on trade questions. The consular service has
been modernized, and the administration, together with trade legislation,
has been reformed in the direction of facilitating foreign commerce.
The state now awards two kinds of travelling bursaries, with the object of
promoting trade, namely “export bursaries”, intended for young men who wish to
work for the widening of the market for our articles of export, and “travelling
trade bursaries”, which are intended to facilitate practical training. For each
group the State grants 20 000 kronor annually, which sum is suitably distributed1
among the applicants. The stipendiaries are nominated by the Government,
and applications, accompanied by plans of the journeys proposed and the
work to be undertaken, and by calculations as to the amounts required, have
to be returned to the Board of Trade.
For information with regard to other arrangement mentioned here
see below and in special articles (cf. Index), viz: for regular steam ship
lines; for railway co-operation; for refunding of customs charges, free
ports, and free stores; for commercial information; for commercial education;
for the consular service and administration; for commercial legislation.
Administrative matters to do with trade are dealt with by the Board
of Trade, of whose departments two deal with matters connected with
commerce and shipping, namely, one with home commerce and shipping,