SWEDEN. 



CONDITIONS OF LIFE AND WORK AMONG THE FORESTS 

 OF VARMLAND, DALECARLIA and NORRIvAND. 



OFFICIAIv SOURCE: 



Skogsarbeiarnas levnads och arbetsforhAllanden : Varmland, Dalarna och 

 NORRLANTJ. (Conditions of Life and Work among the Foresters in Vdrmland, Dalecarlia, 

 and Sorrland, Stockholm, 1916. 



Introduction. 



On the occasion of a proposal made during the session of 1912, the 

 Riksdag asked the government to have a report drawn up, as soon as pos- 

 sible, on the position of foresters and the conditions of their life in Norrland 

 and in districts similarly circumstanced from the point of view of forestry. 

 The government was further requested to take such subsequent measures 

 as the report rendered advisable, laying the necessary proposals before 

 the Riksdag if appeal to this body should be necessar5^ 



The government commissioned the Administration of Commerce to 

 make this report and bring forward the necessar)^ proposals. 



To discharge such a task it was requisite first to make a profound and 

 impartial enquiry into the social and econoirdc conditions in which this 

 numerous class of workmen live and work. This enquiry was prepared and 

 begun b}' the Administration of Commerce after consultation with compe- 

 tent persons, specially summoned ; and was completed by the Ro5^al Ad- 

 ministration of Labour and Social Thrift, on which body the earher duties 

 of the Labour Office, a department of the Administration of Com- 

 merce, were incumbent after 1913. 



The report embraces not only Norrland but also the northern districts 

 of Dalecarlia and Varmland, in which the conditions of the foresters' lives 

 are analogous to those in Norrland ; and it concerns not only the foresters 

 proper but also the men employed on floating timber, charcoal burning 

 and such tasks. Its material has been collected by means of several diffe- 

 rent statistical enquiries. In order to obtain an inclusive \4ew and to dis- 

 cover the general conditions of life and work among the men employed in 

 the forests within the whole sphere of the enquiry, a system was organized 

 of consulting a large number of official doctors, inspectors of forests, asso- 

 ciations of employers and of labourers in the forest industry, and delegates 

 of the comnumes nominated by the societies of rural economy. From this 

 combination of official authorities, associations and competent persons 615 

 answers were received to a special form of questions. On the basis of the 



