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commercial policy.
537
With the year 1905, there sets in quite a considerable fall; for the following
years the figure for all duties fluctuates between 17 % and 18 %, for the protective
duties solely between 15 and 16 %, which is equivalent to an average fall of
V10 in the rates of the duties, and this in spite of no appreciable reductions
having occurred. This must be ascribed to the way in which prices kept going
up from the end of the nineties. The duties are, as has already been mentioned,
levied on the quantity, not on the value of the goods. Thus, when a certain
rate has been fixed for a certain quantity, but that quantity continually rises in
price, the duty forms an ever diminishing portion of the value; a period of
rising prices like the one in which we are now living ought thus to entail a
continuous fall in the protective effect of duties. On account of the reform of
the tariff, rising and falling markets, unsatisfactory statistical data as to value,
and other factors, this tendency certainly receives but imperfect expression in
the figures, but we see from the above inquiry that it is nevertheless distinctly
perceptible.
For the year 1911, the figure thus obtained was 17 %. The average rate of
duty ought, however, to be put at something slightly higher, as, besides the group
of raw materials, there are some goods which, in Sweden as well as in other
protectionist countries, are exempt from duty; if we deduct these also, the figure
obtained will be 18 %. The new customs tariff of Dec. 1, 1911, has not
entailed any change in this respect; the figure calculated for the year 1912
according to this principle also works out at 18 % and for the year 1913 at 17 %.
In this regard Sweden comes very close to Germany, where the corresponding
figure for a number of years has been 19 to 20 %, and with Norway, where it
is about 19 %. For Denmark again, which is mainly a free-trade country, the
figure is about 8 %. On the whole, it may be said that customs duties in
Sweden stand at about the normal figure for protectionist countries, and rather
below than above it.
These figures, however, do not constitute a reliable index of the effective
protection, as they include both revenue and protective duties, which for this
purpose must be separated. In the case of Sweden, matters stand as follows.
The revenue duties are, as a rule, higher than the protective duties. In
Sweden they average about 30 % of the value. They are imposed principally
on three different kinds of goods. The most important is the duty on tobacco,
which, however, like the duty on alcohol, may be looked upon, to some extent,
as a protective duty. This duty is 1 krona per kg for unmanufactured tobacco,
which may only be imported by a concessionaire under the State Monopoly,
1 krona 80 ore for pipe-tobacco, snuff and the like, and 6 kronor for cigars
and cigarettes; on an average, the duty is about 50 % for manufactured goods
and over 80 % for unmanifactured. Next in order comes the duty on wine
and spirits, which amounts to about 55 to 60 % of the value. The third, the
duty on coffee at 12 ore per kg, is, on the other hand, one of the lowest
duties, amounting to only about 10 % of the value.
The protective duties are on an average about 15 % of the value, which was
also the case when the earlier tariff was in force; the new tariff has therefore
not entailed any change in the rates of the protective duties. The protective
duties may be divided into duties on articles of food and industrial duties.
Amongst the duties on articles of food the most important are undoubtedly
the duties on cereals. These latter are, for all kinds of cereals except oats and
maize, which are free of duty, 3’70 kronor per quintal for unmilled grain and
6’6o kronor for milled. This makes, in proportion to the value, (still following
the figures of the trade statistics), for unmilled wheat 25 %, and for rye 30 %,
for flour again 32 and 43 ^ respectively. Both wheat and rye flour fall under
the category of goods on which the heaviest duties are imposed. For sugar the
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