CONDITIONS OP IvIFE AND WORK AMONG THE FORESTS 87 



Depart- Depart- Depart- Depart- Depart- Depart- Depart- Gene- 



ment ment ment ment ment ment ment ral 



of of of of of of of Ave- 



Varm- Koppar- Gavle- Vaster- Jamt- Vaster- Norr- rage 



land berg borg norrland land botteu botten 



Carters (horse and mau) 



Average daily wage accor- 

 ding to: 



Data ftirnished by comiuiuie 06.94 



» » » local enquiry 7.56 



» » » wages-list (8.69) 



Woodcutters 



Average daily wage accor- 

 ing to : 



Data furnished by commune 3.05 3.99 3.60 3.38 4.23 3.06 3.32 3.51 



» ^ » » localenquiry 3.23 3.91 4.51 3.22 3.62 3.17 3.49 3.68 



)) » » wages-list (4.16") (4.06) 4.89 3.15 3.96 3.00 3.62 3.97 



(i) All these figures express numbers of crowns, i crown of gold = about is lY^ d at par. 



From these data it must not be concluded that the earnings discovered 

 by local enquiries and from w^ages-lists for the season 1912-1913, which was 

 as regarded snow a bad season, were generally superior in amount to those 

 which seem from the data stipplied by the communes to be normal. The diffe- 

 rence arises chiefly from the fact that the latter data are of fairly comprehen- 

 sive derivation and thus represent general conditions in the respective de- 

 partments, while the enterprises which have been the object of special en- 

 quiry are chiefly situated in forest areas in which conditions of lodging and 

 provisioning are difficidt, and the price of work therefore reaches a higher 

 level than in agrictiltural areas. 



Where the forest to be exploited is at a distance, in the interior of the 

 forest areas, workmen can neither live nor eat at home. They must live 

 on the provisions they bring with them or buy on the spot, and these are 

 naturally limited to a small range of articles of diet, easily cooked and kept — 

 chiefl}' bacon, bread, butter, flour, coffee and sugar. With these they pre- 

 pare their own meals. The idea of engaging special assistants, generally 

 women, to cook and do housework has lately arisen, especially in the south- 

 ern parts of the zone of enquiry. The truck system, which obliges work- 

 men in one way or another to buy their provisions from their employer, the 

 foreman or a special dealer, may not now be followed in any of the woods 

 under exploitation. The lack however of a common organization for the 

 procuring of stores and the cooking of food, the waste of foodstuffs, the 

 defective cooking, the increased consumption and the increased prices due 

 to the distance over which transport is necessar}^ — all tliis causes the cost 

 of living to be fairly high while works of forestrj^ are being condcted. The 

 average daity cost is placed at 1.50 crowns for a man and 2.50 crowns for 



