NOT ONLY THE COWS EAT WOOD IN SWEDEN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 273, 15 September 1944, Page 10

NOT ONLY THE COWS EAT WOOD IN SWEDEN

NE of the first things we talked about when we interviewed Dr. Mason was how Sweden uses her timber resources. "Sweden is one country where paper is just a glut on the market," he said. "Since the Kattegat was closed, the industry has been working at about 20 per cent capacity, and even so, the papers are still carrying about 30 pages daily. But the Swedes have been most ingenious in devising all sort of ways of using the surplus wood-pulp. They even have paper sheets for about sixpence; so of course if you go away to spend a week-end with friends, you can take them with you." "And just use them once?" "Oh, well, you can use them about two or three times really, but they’re so cheap there’s no need to spin them out. They are coming into use in hospitals quite a lot, too, I believe. Then there’s wood alcohol — you've heard about that. There is no petrol at all for private use, and very little used in any

Daf motor-cars, Most of them use producer gas, but some are run on alcohol got by fermenting cellulose. Not only do-they make methylated spirits and motor fuel but they also make quite a good line of gin. Yes, it was good gin! And cattle fodder. Sweden’s dairy industry was built up on imported feed, and when they couldn’t get it any more, they had to slaughter a lot of cattle, but ‘even then they had a job to feed the others, so they tried synthetic fodder, made out of wood. I was told that the way you make the beast eat it is to give her nothing else for a week or so, and at the end of that time she just eats it!" "What does it look like?" "Well, a bit like greyish paper, torn up!" "Presumably that’s exactly what it is?" : "More or less. It’s cellulose, partly broken down into complex sugars. Part of the cow’s digestion is already done for her. It isn’t fattening, but it keeps the cattle alive through the winter. The Swedes make substitute beef, too, also from cellulose. I think it’s done with yeast, something after the style of marmite, and when you only get a pound of meat a month, I can tell you a piece of ‘fried beef’ is quite acceptable, even if it is only a piece of wood."

From beef we turned to beer, a subject a Swede would be ashamed to know nothing about. In three years of living as a Swede among Swedes, Dr. Mason found out enough about the licensing laws as they effected the ordinary citizen to give us a lively account. "The Swedes always were and still are heavy drinkers. They can still stand an awful lot of spirits. Still, before the last war, public opinion began to take a stand-the Swedes are a very logical people — and everyone saw that the problem must be taken in hand. So the State took over all wine and spirits as a State monopoly. "Beer is not regarded as an intoxicating liquor. You buy it in Sweden just as you buy soft drinks here, and I could get a dozen bottles from the dairy on Sunday morning if I wanted them, It’s very light beer, about three per cent, I think. "However, about the wine and spirits: the State took over the buying and selling of all wines and, spirits, and issued ration-books. A man gets his book when he turns 21, and a woman gets hers at 25. You're intetviewed by the issuing authority, and provided there doesn’t seem to be any reason why you shouldn’t have it, your book allows you to get'a basic ration of a litte (about a quart) of spirits a month -a woman gets a litre every three months; they seem to think women can do with less. "Businessmen who can establish that they entertain a lot, can get up to four litres a month. Then there’s the allowance for married men. When I got married my basic ration was doubled. Not so that. I could drown my sorrows necessarily, but because it was assumed that I would have guests to entertain from then on. There are special issues for parties, too. When Sir William ‘Bragg came over to Sweden, my professor éntertained him, and was allowed 10 litres of whisky. They naturally thought an Englishman, and a knighted one, would expect whisky. The whisky was English. No whisky is made. in Sweden, and it was a yery sad day when the Wine and Spirit Monopoly announced that stocks of imported whisky were exhausted." "What about wine?" (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "Wine is subject to no restriction. You can get as much as you want, but you must be able to produce your book." _-~ "Very Little Drunkenness" "And what’s the effect of the whole system? What about drunkenness?" "Well, the only time when you see it is on.the first week-end of the month, when the topers get through the month’s ration, and then go thirsty till next time, But there is very little drunkenness. Drunks. can be warned, or their allowance can be reduced, and after three offences (I think it is three) their books can be taken away-no spirits, no wine. There’s no getting anyone else’s book, either — there’s very little exchanging done. "The one exception to the wine and spirit restriction is that you can get it in restaurants without your book. Only it must be with food, and in a glass, not taken away. That means you can have a meal and go on drinking all night if the restaurant is open all night! There are no such things as hours, "For this system the Swedes claim all sorts of advantages. The State, though it handles the whole wine and spirit trade, has no interest in promoting sales-it does no. advertising. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any, though. A German or French manufacturer can

advertise in Sweden in the hope of making more Swedes ask for his brandand a Swedish manufacturer can advertise his brand, too-but he has to sell it to the Monopoly. In this way the Swede gets good stuff at low prices. The Monopoly can send a buyer to France and buy up the best wine of a whole district. The system is used’ as a form of taxation, too, and the prices go up according to the needs of the Treasury. Swedish schnapps, for instance, used to be about 5/- a litre-now it’s 12/-. "Beer, you said, is not controlled?" "No. But there are three kinds, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. No. 1 is our temperance beer, or hop beer-no alcohol at all. No. 2 is ordinary pilsener-the general drink; it’s very light, and you can drink four or five bottles on a hot summer’s day without any ill effects.

No. 3 is export beer-much stronger. You can get it only on a doctor’s. prescription, from a chemist, and it comes with a label ‘Take a small glass three times a day after meals.’ " . Swingpjatt From beer the conversation turned to dancing. Had Dr. Mason seen a recent cable message on Swedish "jitterbugs." If so, what was the position? "I wondered if you’d bring that up! It amazed me that in the middle of all the important news we're getting they found room for a cable about Swedish jitterbugs. American swing music has a big attraction, of course, and the Swedes see American films, but the jitterbugs amount to about the same proportion of the population as they might here, They go by another nameswingpjatt. The nearest word I can think of for pjatt is pansy. They go about in ‘zoot suits’ with long hair, long sports coats, and knee trousers, copied | from the Americans, and I saw them on the streets only once or twice. Radio in Sweden We asked Dr. Mason to tell us about radio in Sweden. "Well, for one thing, there’s no commercial broadcasting, and no demand for it. The Swedes have heard commercial programmes from other countries, and don’t like them. There is a State service, but it provides only one programme, and they don’t have nearly such long hours. They start with morn- . ing prayers and gymnastics, then give the news. Then they close down till 12.30, when they come on with more news. Then they’re on the air from 2 till about 10 p.m., and 11 p.m. on Saturdays with dance music. Of course you’ve got a big choice of music from other countries, and you get good music from Germany." "Do you get talks from the Swedish radio?" "Yes, but the talks are tame, partly because they are never controversial. Nor do they ever have serials, or imported recorded programmes." "What is the licence fee?" "One pound a year-I think." "Does the service maintain musicians or does it use exisiting groups?" "It hires the existing orchestras, The Stockholm Orchestral Society, for instance, with about 70 players, gives three concerts a week, and always to packed houses. Of course they have guest artists and guest conductors. Backhaus came once, and Sargent flew from London by "a Legation Courier plane. All the seats were sold out in about an hour then. Mengelberg came twice, and Furtwangler three times, to conduct; once with the whole. Berlin Philharmonic! The Cinema "What about films? Is there any system there?" : "The cinemas are run as private businesses, just as they are here, but of course with State censorship. No children under 16 are allowed in at all, but there are special Sunday matinees for them. "The programmes, then, are really suitable for children?" | "That’s a matter of opinion, I suppose they are all right-Wild West and Laurel and Hardy, and all the kind of things that Swedish children like. During the week there are two evening shows, 7-9 p.m., and 9.-11. There are no afternoon pictures at all. The: adult (continued on next page)

THREE YEARS IN SWEDEN (continued from previous page) shows are censored in the knowledge that they are for adults. The censors are not prudes, and most Continental films are pretty stark and realistic. "We had Danish, French, German, Italian films, and Czech ones in the old days; occasionally Hungarian ones, and Finnish. I liked the Danish ones particularly, They did a lot of good contemporary stuff. Swedish films are a good deal interested in current problems. There was one very good Swedish novel on the problem of the illegitimate child that was made into a film." "Is the illegitimate child a problem, then?" "One birth in eight-about 125 per thousand-is out of wedlock, but there’s not the same stigma attached to it in Sweden as there is here, Naturally a child without a father does have a bad start, but the mother is not disgraced. The problem is partly economic -- the way the income tax is administered, on the income of man and wife together, for one thing. Most young married women go on working. "But sex is treated more frankly than with us. Birth-control clinics are subsidised by the State, and give information without asking whether people are married or not, Venereal disease is notifiable, and treatment is not merely free but compulsory. The result is that: new cases of syphilis are almost unheard of-old cases are still there, of course, but the Swedes have shown that syphilis can be stamped out in 25 years or so. The Place of Religion "Where does religion come into all this?" "The Swedes are not religious — or only formally so. Almost every Swede is a member of the Lutheran church, but many go to the church only three times in their lives-for baptism, confirmation and burial, Perhaps half get married there, too. The church is supported by the State, and the pastors are civil servants, They act as registrars of births, marriages and deaths, and during the week they are public officials, As far as I saw there was no visiting or anything: like the pastoral work of our ministers. But hére’s a point, Every birth, marriage and death, whether Lutheran or atheist, Mohammedan or Buddhist, must be registered in the parish records, and this has been so since about 1620, So there are complete records of ‘every family going back 300 years, except where they have been burnt or ‘accidentally destroyed. The result is that bigamy is an unknown crime, because it is impossible to commit. When I myself got married, I had no papers to prove I had not been married before, and in the end they simply had to take my word for it, but that was most unusual, Politics "What is the Swedish attitude to England and America?" "Well, there’s no propaganda like success, but it would be true to say that those who hated the Nazis from the start-and they are the majoritynever lost faith that the Allies would eventually win, and Sweden’s only concessions to Germany were made by force of circumstances. On the other hand, some Swedes are nationalistic in their outlook, and say ‘A plague o’ both your houses,’ They’ve escaped the last two wars, and hope to go on without being dragged in on either side."