SWEDEN'S WELFARE STATE

...Eighteen years of Social Democracy and 135 years of peace add up to most of the explanation...

...A great number of couples are moving into the $2,000 "chalets," thousands of which have mushroomed around Stockholm with the help of the city, which puts up to 90% of the cost as a loan to the tenants...

...The premiums, collected each year with the income tax, represent, roughly, 1% of a person's taxable income...

...Vougt, the Defense Minister of Sweden, put it this way: "Swedish policy is a contribution to peace since we want to avoid all measures which might upset the relatively stable balance now existing in this part of the world...

...Without resorting to strikes and demonstrations until all possibility of conciliation is exhausted, the Swedish worker has managed to achieve a standard of living which would make any Communist agitator sound plain silly...

...The new legislation, which went into effect in 1948, provides for a basic pension for everyone at the age of 67, whether or not he has paid premiums...

...In the low income group, it has been established that as much as 30% of the salary goes for what is called "miscellaneous"—which means entertainment, books, and other amenities of life...

...Russia has been trying in vain to regain the 30,000 citizens of the Baltic countries, now living as political refugees in southern Sweden...

...With four children, the discount is 40%, and so on, up to seven children...

...The farmers' cooperative societies, handling both production and processing as well as marketing, have a membership of nearly 100% in milk and dairy products, 75% in meat, and 70% in grains...

...Also, the Government is the co-owner of several of the chief resources, such as forests, 75% of which belong to the state, and mines, in which the State has an interest of 50% or more...

...For one thing, the Swedes reflected, the country had kept out of two World Wars and had lost nothing from clinging to its position of neutrality...

...It is hard to evade taxation because each year there is a book published which is the taxpayers' Who's Who, giving in great detail the amount of income and taxes of each individual...

...A conference between LO and the employers' organization established the broad framework of labor-management relations calling for negotiations in all disputes, with the occasional help of a Government mediator...

...Insulin was being supplied j| cost or less for diabetes sufferersj I heard of a brand new hospital...

...A balance of advantages and disadvantages was struck, and the answer came out no...

...But Sweden will do nothing to increase Russian fears, and the Government is careful, very careful, indeed...

...No impartial observer can overlook the fact that Sweden has had an unusual opportunity to build her social democracy because of the long period of peace she has enjoyed...

...If you buy a loaf of bread from a Stockholm grocery store, there is a good chance that it has been made with flour produced by a co-op mill, after the grain had been brought from land operated also on a cooperative basis...

...Today, the state or the city is still the biggest "boss" in fields such as communications, railroads, hydro-electric plants, and a large part of the forest industries...

...On the other hand, Sweden thought of Finland's peculiar position in the Russian orbit...

...The seven million inhabitants have to concede one-half of their 174,000 square miles to the forest and one-fifth to the mountains...

...Government circles in Stockholm do not, by any means, believe that their "honor system" will be sufficient to guarantee forever the integrity of Swedish territory...

...Finland could retain only the possibility of controlling her domestic policies through an honest attempt to follow a foreign policy friendly to Russia and through the backing of Swedish neutrality...

...When Enge becomes an expectant mother, she will pay the hospital only one crown a day—20 cents in U. S. money—if the couple can afford it...

...Whether they stride along the clean sidewalks or ride in their middle-aged, American-made cars, the Swedes look neither very rich nor terribly poor...

...A powerful system of defense has been set up in the north...

...Swedish workers, 40% of whom make their living in industry and manual work and 30% of whom work on farms or in the forests, have built strong unions and wrested excellent labor legislation from the government...

...A Swede with an income of 100,-000 crowns a year will leave 80,000 in the hands of the state and the city...

...But they also know that we are a capitalist nation, with which there can be no permanent understanding...

...You feel it, too, in the friendly conduct of the people, in their eagerness to help visitors without being obsequious or reaching out for a tip...

...Underground factories have been put into operation...

...The absence of extremes is apparent everywhere...

...Later this year, all hospitals will give free care in all of Sweden...

...During an interview, Mr...

...apartments, with a total of 20,000 rooms, a year...

...Roads, bridges, and railroad lines were built...

...But the Government does not always operate the industries it controls, as in the case of the Swedish radio, whose programs are chosen by an independent board...

...No "Western" military missions are allowed in Sweden, no bases granted for any use...

...He has not returned yet...

...Some cooperative societies own forest land from which they supply co-op paper plants and sawmills...

...In Stockholm alone, where women outnumber men by 62,000, and where most homes are for single people or childless couples, -45,000 new homes must be built before 1952...

...It is difficult to record, in terms of percentages, the exact amount of Swedish industry which has been partly or wholly nationalized...

...Swedish policy is, and must be, a masterpiece of diplomacy...

...Other large organs, such as Dagens Nyheter and its evening subsidiary, Expressen, belonging to the Bonnier trust, or such as Stockholms-Tidningen and Aften-bladet, controlled by the Kreuger family, of Swedish safety match fame, are mostly conservative...

...Although no laws govern wages, collective contracts are now in operation for about 75% of all industrial workers...

...Moreover, couples with small incomes get a loan when their first child is born, and in Stockholm one out of every four women received financial aid from the city after childbirth...

...Most of the iron mines in Norr-land are partly owned by the Government, but the steel industry, on the whole, is independently held and operated...

...In serving the mass of Sweden's population, these cooperative societies not only make for low prices but also prevent price-fixing maneuvers by monopolies, since they offer stiff competition...

...Modern apartment buildings with large windows, terraces, and balconies, surrounded with greenery, and with central heating and bathrooms, have sprung up throughout the city...

...In the '30s, a low of 13 births per 1,000 was reached...

...In the spring and summer months it is customary to see whole families living under tents while their homes are being put up behind a neat patch of garden...

...Notes are exchanged periodically between Moscow and Stockholm, and the national state of mind goes as the diplomatic language does...

...All these cooperative enterprises are not only concentrated in retailing but they also are developing new manufacturing processes and cutting production costs...

...This movement deals with foodstuffs and many consumer goods, such as shoes, electrical equipment, rubber goods and chinaware...

...So are the construction industry, the navigation companies, most of the banks, electrical companies, insurance companies, chemical plants...

...It would be a mistake to think that the Swedes, who have managed to keep out of European and world conflicts for 135 years, are engaged exclusively in the manufacture of harmless gadgets: Swedish heavy industry, the glassware industry, and the furniture industry have not only won the country an enviable part of the export markets...

...Here was this courageous, traditionally democratic but small country tied to Russia by a drastic peace treaty, yet engaged in every possible means of activity in order to stop and suppress communism within its own borders...

...On the whole, relations between the two countries are correct, if not warm...

...Much remains to be done...

...The latter can bring the cost down by helping to build these little houses...

...Sweden has now the fourth ranking airforce in the world, with more than 1,000 modern combat planes and a reserve of several more thousands...

...Anderson believes that the solution for Stockholm is to build more and more small communities around the city, with a virtually self-contained economy...

...no one who seemed inadequately clad...

...The Swedish regime, having benefited from a longer period of power, without an opposition as determined as that faced by English Labor, is now acting more like the good-natured "Daddy" of the nation than its stern Father...

...There is a great deal of difference between the forms of Socialism in England and Sweden...

...The state is easygoing, up to a point, in its relations with the people, and while it collects huge taxes from the very rich, it is careful to remain on good terms with the big trusts and monopolies, for the latter underwrite the cost of the Socialist experiment, whether they like it or not...

...Having chosen neutrality, a policy approved by 60 to 70% of the Swedes, the Government is constantly treading on its tight-rope policy...

...For every crown the Swedish government spends on defense, it spends two on social measures...

...I know of no other country in the world, barring Soviet Russia, where the cooperative movement is as strong and as efficient as in Sweden: 900,000 families (half the total population) are members oi the consumers' co-op movemtnjt, fctwi the Wholesale Co-op Society has a membership which represents #% of family units...

...What is left makes for hard work...

...But modest wage-earners have little to pay...

...If not, the city or the state will pay...

...Here is honest comfort—no luxury, but satisfaction and security...

...I visited a small hospital in the Stockholm suburbs where VD was treated absolutely free, and will free consultations were given |1 the prevention and cure of tubercf| losis...

...In Stockholm alone, some 150 foreign correspondents are waiting desperately for the big story about something involving the Soviet Union, which seems so close to their dateline-city and yet is so far away because of the mystery which envelopes it...

...The city and state administrations are taking an even greater part in the financing of housing projects...

...Some new gadgets have been tried which add to the perfection (or horror) of truly aseptic life: one does not blow one's nose in this new hospital, but uses a contraption called the "suction hose," which you pull out from the wall...

...Thus, basic items on the family budget, being in many cases obtainable in co-op stores where prices are rigidly maintained at their lowest level, can be bought by the majority of the people...

...and a light veil of mist wraps the city and its strollers in a cozy cloud of isolation...

...This military region covers the territory around Boden, a fortress city where no foreigner is allowed to stop without a special permit...

...A great faith is also vested in an uncompromising defense program...

...Sweden's Welfare State By Lionel Durand Stockholm TOE REALIZATION that here * is a nation at peace is the traveler's most striking impression when he reaches Sweden after a long stay in Western Europe...

...The trend since has been upward, and the mark stands now just under 20 per 1,000...

...When the Social-Democrat Party took control in 1932, with as comfortable a majority as could be expected within a parliamentary monarchy, its first task was to launch a vast program with the major aim of giving work to the unemployed...

...I might add that Sweden is also a democratic socialist state, and there is nothing that Russia distrusts more than a Welfare State that works...

...Twenty to 25% of the grocery stores in Stockholm are co-ops...

...The president of the Municipal Council, Karl Albert Anderson, a blond giant with a soft heart, told me that Stockholm was embarked on a program to build 7,000 new LIONEL DURAND, foreign editor of the French daily, Le Paris Presse, has just completed an intensive survey of conditions in Sweden...

...I am reliably told, however, that in most receptions, the eastern bloc usually keeps to itself on one side of the buffet...

...It happened to me, and I did manage to wring from my neighbor the admission that Stockholm was a rather nice city...

...It was not a terribly hard choice for Sweden when the time came to join, or not, the Atlantic Pact...

...III Various public organizations provide for cheap vacations in camps and resorts, and reduced traveling expenses...

...When Olle decides he will marry Enge, he applies for and gets a Government loan of from $100 to $200, with which to buy the first pieces of furniture for their new home...

...In addition to this direct aid from the administration, the Health Insurance Program, which will make subscription compulsory for everyone within the next two years, will provide for three-fourths of the cost of medical treatment and for daily compensations for the time spent out of work...

...Government participation in industry seems not to have prevented labor from organizing solidly...

...I was authoritatively told that the Swedish Government misses no occasion to show some of these defensive arms to visiting Russian experts...

...If the Swedish domestic policy can be characterized as bold, the foreign policy of Sweden is nothing but cautious...

...Sweden has only the population of Illinois...

...In most cities, collectivism has improved the home life of thousands through cooperative kitchens, washing machines, and kindergartens...

...Sweden is not a naturally rich country nor a land enjoying the blessings of good climate and friendly neighborhood...

...An extensive radar network has been built around the country...

...II I have met some Swedes, mostly in the higher brackets, who were bitterly opposed to Socialism, and some who were fanatically in favor of it...

...LO now controls one of the largest evening newspapers in Sweden, Aftontidningen...

...More than 100,000 persons now live in these "garden-cities...

...More than 10,000 couples have benefited from this new legislation...

...Shops, playgrounds for children, schools, parks, and playing fields are included in the same unit, within easy reach of offices and factories in downtown Stockholm...

...The largest single item in the social expenditures program has been the cost of old-age pensions...

...The Confederation of Trade Unions, known under its Swedish initials LO, with a membership of over 1,200,000 represents the majority of organized workers, while the farmers' interests are vested in the Rural Federation...

...It is thoroughly debatable, of course, whether social welfare legislation has contributed to the recent increase in Sweden's population rate, but the Government believes there is no harm in pursuing that course...

...IV The steps taken in the field of welfare, while they have given Sweden the best all-around standard of living in Europe, have bred a benevolent sort of state control which a highly vocal minority calls "the beginning of Bolshevism...

...The size of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois together...

...With the average income in Sweden, the worker can have a decent place to live in and enough to eat...

...In striving to improve living conditions and reduce the financial burden that goes with the raising of families, the Swedish Government may be indirectly trying to solve a serious social problem...

...Obviously, its sympathy is with the West...

...The population of Sweden, already too low, has sharply decreased in the first decades of the 20th Century...

...Problems of etiquette which would embarrass the most expert Washington hostess have to be solved daily, for Stockholm is one of the few places on earth today where a "western" reporter can sit at dinner next to a Soviet diplomat...

...In the case of Stockholm, for instance, the city contributed funds in 10% of all housing projects during 1942, but by 1949, the city was helping in financing 60% of the homes built...

...Much has been done already, as evidenced by the clearance of slums in Kungsholm Island, Vasa, and Soder, the sections of Greater Stockholm where most of the manual workers live...

...A Swedish diplomat explained: "The Russians know that we will not do anything that might jeopardize their security...

...Having no particular territorial claims, no international disputes to settle, and being rather allergic to adventure, the average Swede saw no possible gain in exposing himself to the risks of a participation in the Western coalition, while the geographical danger was evident...

...However, the Swedish state controls entirely some industries like water supply, railways, telegraph and telephone systems...

...Durand was stationed in the United States for several years, as Washington and New York correspondent of the Paris paper...

...I have seen no one who looked hungry or cold...

...serving a community of about 5,000, where a new approach is being made to medical care: A maximum of four patients to a room, cooking done individually for each room, to replace the vast anonymous concoctions usually served in cheap or free hospitals...

...Families with three children under 16 years of age, when renting an apartment built with city or state help, get a 30% rent discount...

...The Soviet ambassador left Stockholm in 1948, before the negotiation of the Swedish-Russian commercial agreements, in order, said he, "not to influence the Swedish decision by his sheer presence...

...They have also contributed directly to the general welfare by introducing into Swedish homes mass-produced, functional implements of life within the financial reach of the majority of the people...

...In his latest movie script, Graham Greene notes that 500 years of peace in Switzerland have produced jonly the cuckoo clock...

...This has worked so far, as the latest elections in Finland clearly demonstrated, but there is no doubt in Stockholm that if Sweden were to joint the Western coalition, Moscow would feel bound, and justified by the peace treaty, to occupy the territory of Finland...

...But no one is indifferent to what the Socialist Government is trying to achieve...

...As he goes through the daily routine of life, the average Swede is sensitive to every development which might upset Swedish neutrality...

...Some have textile plants whose products are sold in co-op markets or stores...

...You feel peace in the air as you walk along the streets of Stockholm where darkness sets in shortly after 3 P.M...