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are fully up-to-date. Their manufactures may on the whole be described as of singularly good quality, as Sweden in regard to testing voltage and other factors which are of critical importance to the quality, occupies a leading position.

Telephone and telegraph apparatus with accessories come next in order of importance among exports of Swedish electro-industrial products. This branch is represented by a single concern: Allmänna Telefon A.-B. L. M. Ericsson, a pioneer firm in this branch whose influence on the telephone industry has extended to the whole world. Its manufactures are literally spoken spread to the most distant corners of the earth and have been the patterns for nearly all manufactures of this kind. The development in telephone matters is now proceeding towards automatic working of telephone exchanges. The apparatus of the above mentioned firm for this purpose have also given rise to export. The Swedish cable industry has during the last decade captured for itself a leading position in regard to the manufacture of strong-current cables. Foremost in this branch of work is Sieverts Kabelverk, whose underground and sea cables, on account of their unrivalled quality, have become an important export commodity. It is characteristic for the high standard of this Swedish production that the factory holds world's records in regard to several deliveries, also for export. It is particularly by the making of underground cables in large manufacturing lengths and of sea cables for great depths of laying that the Swedish cable industry has obtained its unique reputation, but it has also in regard to deliveries of cable for high working tensions reached very respectable achievements. Insulated wires and cables on also manufactured by Allmänna Telefon A.-B. L. M. Ericsson, A.-B. Liljeholmens Kabelfabrik and Fabriks A.-B. Eris. Another branch, where the production in Sweden has attained a particularly high level of quality, is the manufacture of electrical lifts, of which considerable exports have taken place even to very distant markets. The oldest firm in this branch is Graham Brothers, but electrical lifts are also made by ASEA and Luth & Rosén. It has in practice often actually been a disadvantage to Swedish manufacturers of lifts, in competition in new markets, to keep to so superior a quality, as the requirements in regard to reliability in use and security against accidents have sometimes been of so low a standard that the Swedish production has been regarded by the purchaser as over qualified.

Within the accumulator branch the Swedish »Nife» accumulator, manufactured by Svenska Ackumulatorfabriks A.-B. Jungner, has been successful also in the export trade, especially by its insensibility to careless treatment and changes of temperature and further by its small weight and volume, whereby it has found special uses for portable and traction purposes.

The manufacture of trams and locomotives and other material for electric tramways and railways was early taken up by the Allmänna Svenska Elektriska A.-B. which have built a large number of such installations in Sweden. Among these the electric >>Riksgräns » Railway deserves mention, as this railway works under climatic conditions which are probably not found in any other part of the world and which therefore require a very high standard of quality in the material used. It is therefore not surprising that Swedish products have found uses in foreign tram- and railway systems. A special Swedish manufacture, to which attention deserves to be drawn, is the so-called Dieselelectric motor wagon which has been employed in light railway traffic.

In regard to electric welding Sweden has been a pioneer country. The Swedish systems for welding both with alternating current and direct current have also been introduced abroad and a further development of this export trade is to be expected on account of the large advantages combined with electric welding, when good and suitable apparatus is used. The representatives of this branch of industry are Elektriska Svetsnings A.-B. and A.-B. Wex.

Swedish incandescent lamps have at times been exported to quite a large extent. This manufacture, of which the most important representatives are A.-B. Skandinaviska Glödlampfabriken and A.-B. Elektraverken, stands from the technical point. of view fully on a level with the incandescent lamp manufacture in the large industrial countries.

For the use of electric heating the abundance of water power in Sweden offers great possibilities which have fostered the manufacture of apparatus for this purpose. Exports have taken place and will no doubt in future be increased, especially in the case of electric steam-boilers and stoves and other household goods. The largest firms in this branch are Nya Elektriska A.-B. Volta and A.-B. Elektraverken.

The manufacture in Sweden of electricity meters and electrical measuring instruments is of a comparatively recent origin, but the production has nevertheless become an object for export which is a good recommendation of their quality. Among factories in this line may be mentioned Allmänna Telefon A.-B. L. M. Ericsson, Graham Brothers and A.-B. Elektraverken.

Electric light fittings have been quite a large export commodity which may not least be ascribed to the high artistic merits of the Swedish products. The principal representative is A.-B. Arvid Böhlmarks Lampfabrik.

This review of the Swedish electro-industries from the export point of view may now be regarded as concluded. The space has not allowed a description of detail, but what has been mentioned should be sufficient to show the versatility in this branch of industry and its endeavours to reach qualitative perfection and also it should give a good idea of the results of this endeavour in the form of an important export trade. Building on its forty-year old traditions in this respect, the electro-industries of Sweden look hopefully towards the future in the certainty that the electrification of the world may hardly yet be considered to have more than begun and that in connection with the continued work with this development there will always be a demand for products which by first class material, technical perfection and careful manufacture really deserve the description high class goods.

Bertil Traneus

Historical.

The Swedish Timber Industry

Like the majority of the world's great industries, the Swedish timber industry dates its origin from the latter part of the nineteenth century. That Sweden was a country rich in forests and ore was a fact well known in the outside world even in ancient times; but up to about the middle of the nineteenth century circumstances tended to make the Swedes themselves and a good many others regard the forests less as an economic asset than as a hindrance to the development of agriculture, the means of livelihood and national prosperity that lay nearest at hand in those days. The export by Sweden of wood products, such as planks, masts, balks, and tar, was certainly of some importance in the foreign trade of Sweden; but this trade was altogether too insignificant in proportion to the resources of the forests, which were in consequence for the most part not turned to account.

This brings us down to the latter half of the nineteenth century, a period of rapid economic expansion in Europe, which endowed the Swedish forests with a greater importance not only to the Swedes themselves, but also to the international softwood trade. The sawing and other treatment of the timber in Sweden had mainly been carried on at water-power sawmills up till the middle of the nineteenth century. These were more or less distant from the ports of shipment, to which the sawn wood was usually floated, but occasionally carted on the highroads. When steam-power sawmills came into use, they were located at suitable harbours along the coast or near the mouths of the rivers. The first Swedish steam sawmill was erected in 1848, at Wifsta Varv in the Sundsvall district. The first steam sawmill in the Härnösand district was erected at Kramfors in 1853, in the Söderhamn district at Ala in 1854, in the Gävle district at Korsnäs in 1856, and in the Umeå district at Sandvik in 1860. During the eighteensixties and eighteen-seventies a great number of sawmills were put up in rapid succession. At the present day the sawmills of note number about 400, with something like 1200 saw-frames; but there are in addition some 3000 to 4000 smaller sawmills which are in the main engaged in sawing for their own or local requirements.

The graphic exposition on the following page gives an outline of the expansion of the export of woodgoods from the year 1832 to the present time.

The export of woodgoods in 1922 was 1,032,000 standards, from which it will be seen that a recovery has taken place after the depression of 1920–1921.

The rapid development of the timber industry from about 1850 onward ought not, in all likelihood, to be ascribed solely to the technical improvements represented by introduction of steam sawmills; it was due, no doubt, in an equally high degree to the favourable commercial-political situation. In 1863 the export duties in force in Sweden till that time were abolished. Great Britain, the principal consumer, gradually lowered the imposts on woodgoods, and in 1866 removed such duties altogether. The interchange of commodities between France and Sweden was facilitated by the commercial treaty of 1865, which provided for the free entry of woodgoods into France.

As shown by the above diagram, the wood export as early as the nineties of last century reached the quantity which, subject to certain fluctuations, has since remained stationary, viz. 900,000-1,000,000 standards.

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The contribution of Sweden to the international requirements of woodgoods during several decades turned out insufficient as time went by. The need of wood by the rest of Europe increased steadily on account of the growth of the population and the expansion of industry, and gradually the wood trade turned eastward for fresh sources of supply. Finland and Russia followed Sweden in utilizing their forests, but only when the Swedish production had reached the upper limit and settled down did the wood industry of those countries advance at a more rapid rate. (So far as Russia is concerned the timber industry was completely disorganised during the war.) The commencement of this period may, on the whole, be dated to the turn of the century. The subsequent period has brought about changes in the Swedish timber trade of a very significant character. Most characteristic, perhaps, for this period are the technical improvements introduced with a view of saving raw material and labour in order to gain better economic results from the working. Another feature of the reorganization of the industry are the efforts made to ship woodgoods in as highlyworked a state as possible. Much has been done, too, in the matter of afforestation and general care of the woods, and such questions are beginning to arouse interest on all sides.

Value of exported forest products (woodgoods, wood
pulp, paper, etc.) from the principal countries in 1913

U. S. A.: 510.050.000 Sw. Kronor

Sweden: 358.250.000 Sw. Kronor

Russia:

330. 210.000 Sw. Kronor

Finland:

216.070.000 Sw. Kr.

Canada:

212.050.000 Sw. Kr.

Norway: 122.110,000 Sw. Kr.

The Forests.

In order that a country shall be able to carry on a successful timber trade it is not enough that it possesses forests; the forests must also be so constituted and situated that they can be economically utilized. Sweden is very well favoured in this particular. Of the total area of Sweden, 41 million hectares, about 22 million hectares are covered by forests. The commercially so valuable coniferous trees, pine (Pinus silvestris) and spruce (Picea excelsa), form the major portion of the Swedish woods; but deciduous trees like birch, aspen, oak, beech, ash, alder, elm, etc. are also common, particularly in the southern districts of the country.

The fact that so comparatively small a country as Sweden, though well provided with forests, has been able to contribute a larger share of wood products to the worldconsumption than any other European country is due to the favourable natural dispositions for utilizing the forests, and also to the highly developed and organized Swedish wood industry.

The river Dalälven may be regarded as the southern boundary of the real timber district. Two thirds of the entire forest region is to be found north of this line, in Norrland and Dalecarlia. The saleable wood resources of these districts, apart from smaller dimensions, have been estimated at 132 million cubic metres.

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