Northern Europe After Fifteen Years Ill.—Scandinavia
•W HAT a relief it is to find one part of Europe where war has been outlawed, where independent nations can work out their individual destinies with the knowledge that they have nothing to fear from one another ! In many ways Denmark, Norway, and Sweden arc the happiest nations in Europe, and they are certainly among the most enlightened. These three countries, each with its intense national consciousness, have decided as far as inter-Scandinavian relations are concerned to banish war for ever. When they have disagreements they settle them round the conference table. I do not wish to suggest that the Scandinavians are .supermen with none of the frailties of less fortunate human beings, but in their relations with each other they give us an example which one can hope all Europe will one day Wherever you go in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden you are impressed with the fact that these countries look to the English-speaking world for cultural and political ideals. English is spoken by all the educated classes, and English literature is obtainable in all the large towns. I noticed that a typist in the Norwegian Foreign Office at Oslo had been reading the Forsyte Saga on her way to and from her work.
Mr. Galsworthy is even more popular here than in Germany. Comparing the book-shops with those pre- War times I noticed a greatly increased display of English books and fewer German works. I also found a popular Dr. Johnson Club at Oslo which meets three times a year. Since the War British prestige has undoubtedly grown, and there is an almost universal desire to do more trade with Great Britain and to attract more British tourists..
On many occasions I was asked why so few British visitors came in comparison with the large and increasing number of Americans. Most of the British visitors to Norway come on the summer cruises organized by the large shipping companies, and the fact that they sleep on board and only spend a day ashore at each port of call was deplored. "Can you not get your countrymen to come and stay on shore and thus get to know us ? " I was frequently asked. Both in Denmark and Sweden the hope was also expressed that more British tourists would visit Scandinavia. In few parts of the world can a pleasanter summer holiday be spent.
No British farmer ought to consider his education .complete till he has visited Denmark and seen for himself the wonderful efficiency of the Danes. I went to see a prosperous pig-breeder, whose strain is famous at local shows and who had just sold several sows to the Bolshevik Government for breeding purposes. Our host, a well-to-do farmer of about 27, who had spent two years in Western Canada, met us at the station. He wore neat dark clothes. On arrival at the farm he asked to be excused while he changed, and in five minutes returned dressed in top-boots and workaday clothes, just like one of his men. He took us round the pig sheds for his afternoon inspection. He knew the record, condition, requirements of all his pigs, and jumped into each stye to see whether they were being properly looked after. We came to one Jitter of ten which had been born that morning ; it was the sow's first one and her offspring seemed hungry. Our host soon realized what was the matter and he iiroceeded methodically to massage the sow till the flow of milk came and her youngsters were satisfied. The same thoroughness pervades the whole establish- ment. One of the drawbacks of pig-breeding is the large number of sucklings killed by overlaying. The Danish farmers have a wooden crate contrivance, a little larger than the sow, which is put over her during the first few days after the birth of a litter, and which prevents her from shifting her position, although she can stand up ; by this means the mortality in each litter is reduced to a minimum. Scrupulous care is taken in the grading of butter, eggs, and bacon at the local co-operative centres, and the Government sees to it that only the highest quality is exported. Small wonder that Danish dairy products have such a good name abroad. When you see what has been achieved by a poor country like Denmark by good education, hard work, and co-opera- tion, you wonder whether similar methods would not be equally successful in England. The only note of interro- gation in my mind was whether the average English farmer would be prepared to work as hard as the Dane, and to devote so much attention to detail.
Both Denmark and Norway, like most of Europe, have been passing through periods of post-Wax depression. In the former there are about 70,000 unemployed, a large number for a country with less than 4,000,000 inhabitants. Norway has also been passing through hard times and there was a general desire to reduce expenses. Ten per cent. has recently been taken off all Government salaries, and I was told that many banks and large commer- cial houses have done the same. With the exception of America, Sweden is the most prosperous country I have visited since the War, and she seems to have escaped the flood of economic depression which has settled on most of Europe.
The Scandinavian countries pride themselves on their advanced social legislation, and in this respect they reminded me of New Zealand, which is always exploring untrod legislative paths. Although, capital punishment is still legal I was told that it had not been put into operation for over thirty years in Denmark, and the general opinion was that the suspension of the death penalty had not had the effect of increasing crime. There are much greater facilities for getting divorce in these northern countries, but opinion was divided as to the results. My impression was that easier divorce makes for a more frequent breaking of the marriage tie, though it was impossible to gather sufficient data as to whether it made for more general happiness. One of the things sociologists are devoting anxious thought to is the relation- ship of the young of both sexes. Undoubtedly there is a very notable lack of restraint, and I was told by several social workers that promiscuous sexual relationships were on the increase. I imagine that Scandinavia in this respect is little different from the English-speaking world, and that with the emancipation of the young there is much more mingling of the sexes. We are living through a difficult period of readjustment, when youth is getting accustomed to its freedom, but I do not believo that the ultimate results will be bad.
I notice that a correspondence has been taking place in the Times on the subject of the noise caused by motorists in our cities, but in comparison with Northern Europe we live in a state of permanent peace and quiet. Whatever the cause, the private motorists and taxi- drivers in the countries round the Baltic, without excep- tion, think that it is incumbent on every driver never to decrease speed at cross streets, but rather to use the hooter continuously. The result is a din which makes the travelling Londoner think longingly of the quietude of Piccadilly and Regent Street. Motoring on a large scale is a comparatively re'cent practice, and no doubt in the course of time the municipal councils will introduce by-laws to deal with the nuisance. In the meantime travellers are advised to ask for back rooms when staying at hotels on leading thoroughfares.
In the three Scandinavian countries I never saw a beggar, and slums as we know them do not exist. In Copenhagen and Stockholm I saw large rehousing schemes being carried out. In the former small houses similar to those in England were being built, but for the most part the working-class are being rehoused in great red-brick four-storey apartment buildings as in Germany. The rehousing problem is of course a much simpler one in these northern countries than with us, for each of them has but a small population. Nevertheless, the Englishman returns home with serious misgivings about the housing conditions of large sections of our town-dwellers. How is it possible for a healthy civilization to exist when there is cancer eating away the heart of the body politic ? The reason why Communism is so little feared in Northern Europe is that the majority of the people are too well off to desire any change.
While in most of the Baltic countries Great Britain heads the list of countries importing local produce, without exception she is comparatively low down on the list of the nations which sell their goods to the North. In each ease there was a heavy trade balance against us. In Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic Republics I tried to find out why our exports to these _countries are so low. The lack of British goods is all the more astonishing when it is recalled how universally esteemed they are, and what a high reputation for dura- bility they have. Time after time I was told that the small trade in British wares was due to the lack of enter- prise on the part of our manufacturers and merchants. For one British commercial traveller there are twenty Germans, with catalogues in the language and currency of the country. One leading Danish banker said to me, "We send our ships to you laden' with Danish produce and we want to do more business with you, but we can get no encouragement and our ships come back compara- tively empty."
In the case of Germany no doubt proximity has some- thing to say to the large trade she is doing, but this does not apply to America. Why should one find American motor-cars, tools, and tooth pastes everywhere in Scandinavia ? It is not only the cheap American cars that one finds but also those of higher price. While breakfasting one morning at the Grand Hotel, Stockholm, I noticed three Packard taxis on the rank outside the hotel. In the ten countries I recently visited I do not think that I saw two dozen British cars. I was told that the American export trade in motors has been built up by means of special export trade corporations, which finance the operation, and permit the cars to be supplied on the instalment principle. One leading business man told me that the way some enterprising American motor manufacturers create trade is to give three or four cars to leading residents. Another friend told me that an extra smart car I had noticed on the taxi-rank at Helsingfors must have been given to its owner to start the fashion in this particular brand ! He suggested that the giving of half-a-dozen cars to carefully selected taxi-drivers in each of the large northern towns would be the best way to introduce British makes which are now unknown. But the American car manufacturer has not a monopoly, for I noticed many French, Belgian, Italian, and German cars. It was only the British which were missing.
In the matter of humane legislation Sweden has long led the world, and British animal-lovers should acknow- ledge their indebtedness to the work of the Central Union of Swedish Animal Protection Societies at Stockholm. Is there any reason why our various humane societies should not copy the Swedish example and form a central organization ? In Sweden there are no private slaughter-houses, and the use of the humane killer is practically universal, except for the Jews and in certain slaughter-houses which export meat to England, "because the British importers insist on meat killed by the old inhumane method," I was told. I was shown an ingenious device, a kind of pen exactly fitting one pig, which is now largely used for pig slaughtering. The pig is driven into this and a V-shaped window at the end exactly fits his head and keeps it still while the humane killer is used. These instruments cost about £10. I hope to bring one to England and to ask one of our large abattoirs to give it a fair trial. My Swedish friends told me there was no reason why the humane killer should not be used for all animals, including sheep and pigs. This autumn, in conjunction with the well-known Swiss humanitarian, M. Stadelhof, they hope to concentrate their attention on the question of the transport of living animals, where reforms are long overdue which, they think, call for international action, .T.
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