The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-24

have such agreements in effect and the law provides that all guarantees and shipping arrangements shall be made through tine national trade com mission. This commission holds that Great Britain Is not entitled to guarantee on goods coming te Swed- en from another neutral country. The British, it is said here, feel the act was aimed at them, although Ameri- can importers in Stockholm found it really worked against American trade. Temporarily the Swedish authorities are winlxing at certain evasions of the act, but immediately after it's passage there was noticeable stiffening of the British attitude.
 As a matter of fact 1t Is common ly reported here that Great Britain has been heldlng since early in May an entire cargo of foodstuffs consign- ed ,te the Swedish government itself, because this government as a matter of principle would not sign the form of guarantee demanded by the British authorities. The details of this alleg- ed seizure have not been made pub lie in any manner,
 
 long ago, that the Activist and pro Ger1nan groups in Sweden might cre- ate a situation which would force this country into war as an ally of the Central Powers. England is believed here to have fully realized lthis situa- ton and it was then that the "ra- tions" basis was finally determined upon. England decided that neither | |t,.-- Arso os of Denmark and Scandinavia should accumulate stock of supplies which could bs of war advantage. So these countries are not allowed any imports to carry them more than sixty to ninety days ahead of their normal ds- Mand3 Sweden, the one soandlnav,~n coun- try without an agreement with Great Britain does not feel she is any worse of than her neixhbors, for Denmark recently was left practically without coal or easoline. Gasoline 90 nearly reached the point of depletion that it sold for 30 cents . quart The short lAge of coal seriously threatened all inaastriea To sAvs electric power all
 street and advnrtising signs were for
 bldden.
 sweden stin Is able to get large
 quantities of ooal and briuuette fuel
 from Germany, and 1t Is In exchange for tAls very essential Import that the Swedish guvernment allows the ex- port of iron oras and various food
 supplies to Germany. German conn
 neres stil flourishe es In the south 1 Baltic waters although the recent ac-
 tivities of English and Russian sub marines and destroyers sent thrill
 of apprehension through the various
 trading interests. Coal is by far the
 chief import of Sweden, s-s 1t Is the
 other Scandinavian countries,
 The Swedish system covering ex. ports of food to Germany has beer very carefully thought out, No food
 can be exported without kpecial Ii.
 cense from the government. In or. \ der to obtain this license the export, Ter of butter, eggs. pork. etc. mus agree to put on the home market al a specified price an amount of foot equal to that he is sending to Ger, l many. The produce thus placed or 1.-the home market is known as ''com. Ipensation food" and Is sold well be.
 low the prevailing market. For { long time the better classes of con
 sumers were able to gobble up al the rcompensation food" immediatel, 1t was offered. Now cards have beer
 issued to the poorer classes and the, have special privileges at all sales. .I In the pro-English circles of Stock holm 1t is asserted that Sweden ha; } brought upon herself most sof the vex i: ations of the blockade. They declar, that if Sweden had submitted in tn, , first place to certain dictates of Grea } Britain all of the Scandinavian coun
 tries would have been given specia treatment. Now England canno , give Norway and Denmark all tha she would for fear such supplies woul, Z eventually pass into Sweden.
 At the time the trade agreement were negotiated with Denmark an, : Norway; Great Britain also sent spe cial commissioner to Sweden. Tn proceedings got to the point wher Great Britain demanded the right t. place British agents in all Swedisl lcustoms houses. This was too mucl ; for the Swedes and negotiations wer abruptly broken off. The English as : sert that the Swedish commissioner concerned in the conference insiste that England should grant certai, concessions to Germany, which, o [ course, was out of the question. l ! further is asserted that the Swedis ] delegates refused to permit minute
 to be kept of the discussions
 The rupture over the propose ' trade agreement came just at a tim : when 400 tons of rubber, in transl ! through Sweden to Russia, was allow : ed to fall into the hands of the Ger Q mans. This incensed the English. ] . happened this way The rubber wa Q shipped from England and had reach 2 ed the Russian frontier at 'Torne
 when 1t was stopped by the Swedis Il government because no license fo : the transit had been obtained. Tn : rubber was brought to Stockholm Finally the export license was arrans v ed and the previous consignment ( = contraband was started for it's Rus n sian destination. This time howeve t it did not go forward by the protect e ed railroad line. It was placed LIDO a small steamer. This tidy littl r "lugger" had not progressed a hur y dred yards outside the three mi | limit of Swedish territorial waters be t fore it was bodily I"captured" by r German destroyer and taken as Is prize to Germany.
 Or course there were immediat '- charges of collision, but the ,Swede
 claimed the re-shipment was arrans r ed by Russian agents and if thel '- was "crookedness'' in the transactio j. 1t was the act of an unpatriotic Rus t sian