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tain other places by 60% and so was the number of persons suffer- ing from alcoholism. Much opposition from the side of those who regard the restrictions introduced as altogether excessive was brought to bear against the system; on the other hand, a tendency arose among the temperance associations to believe that total pro- hibition was the only way towards the solution of the alcohol problem. Smuggling and illegal manufacture of spirits developed to a disquieting degree in the years 1917-8. There were signs, how- ever, in 1921 of a return to a better state of things.

Finance. In 1910 the state budget amounted to 265,200,000 kr., in 1915 to 415,400,000, in 1920 to 929,400,000, and in 1921 to 1,131,100,000. For 1920 and 1921 the so-called " tillaggsstater," i'.e. supplementary military budgets, are included. The tax revenue in 1921 amounted to 579,200,000 kronor. The consolidated national debt amounted at the end of 1920 to 1,280,600,000 kr. ; in 1910 it had been 543,400,000 kronor.

Apart from the national bank, the Riksbank, which alone issues bank-notes, there were in IQIO 17 private and 63 joint-stock banks, which in 1920 had decreased to II and 30 by amalgamations. Their total paid-up capital and reserve funds amounted in 1910 to 562,600,- ooo kr. and in 1920 to 1,084,000,000 kronor. At the end of 1920 the Riksbank balanced its revenue and expenditure at 1,017,500,000 kr. and the other banks' balance stood at 7,662,300,000 kronor. The leading private bank is Stockholme Enskilda Bank; the largest joint-stock banks are Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget, Svenska Handelsbanken (formerly Stockholms Handelsbank) and Aktis- bolaget Goteborgsbanken.

The circulation of paper money increased from 206,500,000 kr. in IQIO to 759,900,000 kr. in 1920. During the war years the Riks- bank was relieved from its liability to meet notes with gold, and also to receive gold in ingots (see EXCHANGES, FOREIGN).

The Swedish savings banks in 1910 numbered 477; their deposits amounted to 1,870,800,000 kr. and their capital to 107,100,000 kronor. The post-office savings bank, a State institution, had de- posits amounting to 84,400,000 kr. at the end of 1920.

Constitution. The Swedish Parliament, the " Riksdag," consists of two elected Chambers, the First Chamber being composed of communal representatives. A constitutional change of a radical kind took place in 1907 and was confirmed by the Riksdag of 1909. The communal suffrage was on a scale proportionate to income, the graduation was now limited so that no person could have more than 40 votes, the bulk of the middle classes thus acquiring a preponder- ance. Absent voters could delegate their voting rights to others. Women had the communal suffrage in proportion to the degree in which they themselves were liable to taxation. Proportional representation was introduced in the case of both Chambers. Mem- bers of the First Chamber, in common with those of the Second, were paid. The suffrage in the case of the Second Chamber became universal and remained, as before, equal for all.

By Riksdag resolutions in 1918, 1910 and 1921 the constitution was further developed in a markedly democratic direction. Under these reforms the First Chamber consists of 150 members, elected by proportional representation by the provincial assemblies, i.e. either by " Landstingen " or by specially formed bodies of electors, chosen also by proportional representation by those possessing the communal suffrage. The communal suffrage is universal and equal ; it is no longer graduated and it is personal. When it was graduated in proportion to income, business companies possessed the com- munal suffrage. Anyone who fails to pay his taxes for three successive years forfeits his right to vote. Women have the same voting rights as men. The age at which the voting right is acquired is 23, but the age is 27 for the right to vote for the members of the provincial assemblies which elect the First Chamber. The right to vote by proxy is abolished, but a husband may deliver a wife's vote in a closed envelope, or a wife a husband's. Similarly, in the case of both the communal elections and the elections to the Second Cham- ber, soldiers on active service, absent seamen and fishermen, and employees of railways, ports, customs and pilot services may send in their votes by post.

The number of the voters in the communes has been more than doubled. After the reform the communes' lists of voters contained nearly 3,300,000 names, i.e. more than 56% of the pop., and of these about 1,600,000 were men and 1,700,000 women. In March and April 1919 took place the new communal assembly elections: in two ' Landsting ' out of 25, and in 20 towns out of 107 (among them Stockholm), the Social Democrats and Socialists of the Left together won absolute majorities. In ten ' Landsting ' and 38 towns the Social Democrats were the strongest party. The election periods are eight years for the members of the First Chamber, one-eighth of whose number are elected each year; and four years for the Second Cham- ber's 230 members, who are all elected at one time. Women as well as men are eligible as members of both Chambers. The age at which a person becomes eligible, for the First Chamber is 35, for the second 23. To be eligible for the First Chamber a person must have a cer- tain specified income or property. If a member can no longer per- form his duties, his place is taken by a substitute elected at the same time as himself. The Riksdag is called together every year on Jan. 10 for its ordinary meeting.

In 1921 the Riksdag passed an Act to provide that a consultative referendum shall be had recourse to when the Government and the

Riksdag think it desirable to take the opinion of the people direct by plebiscite on some important question before its decision by the Riksdag. The proposal decided on must be submitted once again after a new Second Chamber election, before it becomes binding. Another constitutional change was involved in the creation of a foreign affairs committee, which the Riksdag shall elect every year, and with which the Government shall take counsel regarding foreign affairs. The Riksdag's right to share in decisions regarding agree- ments with foreign countries has been extended. Yet another con- stitutional novelty is the right given to women to hold office under the State where no special hindrance lies in the way.

HISTORY. On the death of King Oscar on Dec. 8 1907 he was succeeded by his eldest son Gustav V. Rear-Adml. Arvid Lindman had been at the head of the Government since May 1906, with Erik Trolle, former Swedish minister at Berlin, as Minister of Foreign Affairs; Carl Swartz, a manufacturer, as Minister of Finance; Maj.-Gen. Lars Tingsten as chief of the Department of National Defences, and Alfred Petersson i Paboda, a landowner, as Minister of Agriculture. In 1907 this Ministry had carried a measure of constitutional reform, embodying universal suffrage in regard to the Second Chamber and propor- tional representation in regard to both Chambers; and this measure, in accordance with statute, was confirmed by the Riks- dag of 1909 after the election of members of the Second Chamber in the autumn of 1908. Owing to a divergence of opinion within the Ministry upon an important point bearing upon the extent of the Riksdag's powers, Trolle, Petersson and one other minister resigned in 1909. The new Foreign Minister was Count Arvid Taube, who had succeeded Trolle as representative of Sweden at Berlin. Some time afterwards Maj.-Gen. Tingsten also resigned. Moderate Conservatism was the note of this Ministry. The ministerialist party in the Riksdag had a majority in the First Chamber and a minority in the Second.

The National Defence Question. At this period the problem of national defence was in the forefront of Swedish politics, inasmuch as the foreign affairs of the country were in a condition calculated to arouse anxiety. The union with Norway had been dissolved in 1905 and Sweden now stood alone in respect to foreign politics. Finland, which in 1809 had been taken from Sweden and united to Russia, had been having its autonomy more and more reduced, and Russia's foreign policy seemed to show a forward tendency westwards. A great variety of new mili- tary measures in Finland seemed to point to something more than a desire on the part of the Russian Government to prevent a German invasion of Southern Finland in the event of a Russo- German war. Right up to the north of the Gulf of Bothnia a network of railways was being spread out for military purposes, and new strategic lines were constructed of a kind necessitated neither for purposes of defence against Germany nor for purposes of trade. Barracks sprang up at the railway junctions. In Sweden Russian spies were ubiquitous, and a Russian military attache had to be recalled on the ground of having pushed inquisitiveness beyond all limits. A handbook was produced for the use of the Russian military service containing information about the conditions of life in Sweden, and with Swedish maps in it, as well as a short vocabulary of military terms in Russian and Swedish. Swedes had an uncomfortable feeling that the attention of Russia was being directed altogether too closely upon their inadequately defended country.

A careful enquiry into the question of national defence had been undertaken in 1907. The Liberal members of the com- mittee of investigation which was appointed were dissatisfied with its estimate of the defence expenditure required, and signified their attitude by withdrawing from it in 1910. This militated somewhat against the efforts of the committee, and it proved to be impossible, as had been intended, to submit a new scheme of national defences to the Riksdag of 1911. Instead of this, the Government brought forward a proposal for a new naval programme, and, in the face of opposition from the Liberals and Social Democrats, carried a bill, as a first step, for the construction of a powerful new battle cruiser.

Liberals in Office. In Sept. 1911 the general election for the Second Chamber of the Riksdag, under the reformed methods which had almost doubled the electorate, resulted in increasing