Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-06
SWEDEN ALARMED
OVER STAND OF U. s,
Economic Situation Already
Grave and CurtaiIment of
American Exports Feared.
GERMANS NOT AIDED, CLAIM
BY the Associated Press,

BY the Associated Press.
STOCKHOLM. July 6.-Washington
dispatches Of the last few days fore
casting the sharpest limitation or pos.
sible dfscontinuance of" all exports to
neutrals caused anxiety in government
circles and among the people generally.
The situation is already grave and the
prospect pictured by news from Amer
lea renders 1t still more disquieting.
Crops are likely to be below the
average. Many factories in various
lines are closed by lack of raw material.
Others cannot maintain production
much longer. Benzine and petroleum are
and so dear that pair of ordinary
shoes costs from ten to twelve dollars.
Automobile tires bring $500 apiece. the
cost of living is steadily increasing.
The stocks Of coffee in the Kingdom
will be exhausted in month. Long
lines of people standing outside the
stores waiting to buy coffee may al
ready be seen.
Prepares for Unemployment.
The government already has taken
extraordinary measures to deal with
extensive unemployment, which Is con-
Sidered inevitable il the war lasts an
other winter and it becomes impossible
to import needed commodities. In. view
OF the assertions in some quarters that.
Swedens imports We're not intended
solely for Swedish consumption. the
Associated. Press asked Herr B. Troile.
formerly, minister of foreign affairs and
now president of the government war
trade commission, for a statement: He
said:
portations for 1916, which now are
nearly complete. demonstrate con-
.clusively the absolute erroneousness
of assertions that we are bringing. in
American products for the purpose Of
passing them on to the central powers.
Decrease Under 1918:
I'm several instances our total im-
portations from America show a de-
cided decrease compared with 1913. the
last normal year. and in many in
stances where our imports from the
United States increased this increase
fell considerably short Of making
good the deficit caused by the decrease
or total discontinuance of our pre-
war importations from beiligerent
countries.
"A Paris paper recently declared
that exports to Scandinavia and
Switzerland rose from $4O.O00.O00, In
1913. to s1S5,00o.008 in 1916. Leading
American papers have published SIM
liar statistics and asserted that the
increase was largely due to the fact
that Sweden had been re-exporting. to
Germany This assertion will not
stand the test Of examination.
IT may remind you that a consider
able part, of the merchandise mentioned
in the American export statistics never
reached us. having been detained by
the British, and hence this cannot be,
considered. Let US consider first they
group showing the greatest increase
This embraces agricultural products.
and, in particular, cereals.
Importation Of Grain.
'It is a fact" Herr Trolle continued.
that our importations of cereals from
the United States in 1916 showed an in
crease of 72,S46.000 crowns over 1913,
but it must not be forgotten that in
1913 we imported. 55,000.000 crowns of
cereals from Germany. whereas we
did not bring in a crowns worth
last year. Nor must it be for
gotten that an increase in the value OF
products imported by no means indi-
Gates an increase in the quality. in view
Of the tremendous rise in prices. As a
matter of fact, our total imports Of
cereals in 1916 amounted to only $4,000
tons, against $4,000 in 1913.