Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1938, Page 285

SOME ECONOMIC PROBLEMS IN THE NORTH 275
abundant deposits of ore, a high level of agriculture and highly
developed industry; Norway in earlier times subsisted on her
forests and fisheries, to-day more and more on shipping, whaling
and electrochemical industry; Denmark on her highly developed
agriculture which has been partly industrialised; Finland on her
forestry and agriculture.
Thus we see that the economic pictures of the four Northern
countries have differing features. On the other hand, however,
they are to a large extent engaged in the same spheres of activity,
in which they even compete with each other. In the principal
articles of export, in the sphere of woodworking products, Swe-
den and Norway, as well as Finland, are important producers.
More than half the forests of Europe grow on their land, if the
large forests of Russia are omitted. Sweden, Denmark and Fin-
land are exporters of agricultural produce, competing mostly
in the same markets. But important as the foreign trade of all
these countries are, they could yet in many respects secure an
entirely different position for themselves than the one they oc-
cupy at present.
The population of the Northern countries, taken as a whole,
constitute a considerable factor in world trade and are an im-
portant marketing area for various goods. As buyers are very
much sought after at present in the world, this fact places them
in a very favourable position. If the purchasing power of the
Northern countries were in one hand, if the countries represented
a united economy in this respect, this circumstance would weigh
heavily in the scales. At present, however, they go their ways
separately. They are not able to score all the benefits which the
combined strength of such buyers might crave, and their influence
abroad is therefore smaller than it should be.
So we see that the idea of co-operation between the Northern
countries in the economic sphere is not merely a beautiful thought,
but a very important practical problem. Since the Great War,
in particular, the significance of this fact has become more
and more evident, for there is a tendency everywhere to com-
bine small areas into larger and more powerful units of produc-
tion and consumption. By recognising this tendency many states
have obtained greater power to act.
What, then, ought we to do in order to establish a closer
co-operation and to achieve better results?
Though we cannot visualise the formation of the “United