EUROPE: SWEDEN. 243 



COST OF LABOR. 



The wages paid at the paper and wood-pulp mills vary from 75 

 ore (20 cents) up to 4 kronor ($1.07) per day. The lowest wages 

 20 cents are paid to boys. Foremen, engineers, and the like get 

 from 4 to 15 kronor ($1.07 to $4.02) a day. In certain places, the 

 skilled workmen also get free dwelling rooms, the money value of 

 which is difficult to fix. 



PAPER MACHINERY. 



Paper machinery, printing presses, etc., are as a rule imported 

 from Germany and England. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



The communications in the country are good, especially in the 

 southern and central parts; and new railroad lines are now under 

 construction, one north of the Arctic Circle. 



The Government owns about 3,270 kilometers (2,032 miles) of 

 railroads; and the one hundred and seven private railroads aggre- 

 gate in length some 6,220 kilometers (3,865 miles). The public 

 roads, turnpikes, and others amount to about 6,083 Swedish nymil 

 or myriameters (37,798 miles). There are also many rivers which 

 are more or less navigable, and several canals. 



The communications with foreign countries are fairly good, but 

 merchandise sent to or from the United States and other distant 

 countries must be transshipped in English or continental ports. At 

 present, there exists no direct steamship line between Sweden and 

 the United States, which renders it next to impossible to ascertain 

 how much is imported from the United States. American goods 

 sent via England, for instance, will appear in the statistics as im- 

 ported from England; the same applies to goods imported via Ger- 

 man ports. 



The telegraphic and postal facilities are good, and the telephone 

 system is very much developed in this country. Foreign mails arrive 

 at Gothenburg twice a day. 



BANKING FACILITIES. 



Besides the savings banks, there are more than fifty banks in the 

 country, twenty-seven of which correspond to our national banks; 

 to these should be added the Government Bank, which is under the 

 direct supervision of the Riksdag, or Congress, and has branch 

 offices in different parts of the country. The larger banks have 

 regular business connections with banks in foreign countries. 



FREIGHT RATES. 



The steamship lines, foreign or domestic shipping, have no fixed 

 tariffs. The freight rates depend on the demand for tonnage at the 

 time, amount of goods to be sent, whether the shipments are to be 



