Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Side 92
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LE NORD
compelled to resort to the use of barkbread or other food sub-
stitutes.
It is possible that the agricultural development would have
been more favourable, if the enclosing movement had been vigor-
ously pursued. That enclosing, which had been carried through
since the eighteenth century, however beneficial to agricultural
development, suffered from certain deficiencies, and there was
great need of more efficient methods. But after 1809 the reform
work was for a long time more or less held up, owing partly to
the legislative difficulties referred to above. This reacted un-
favourably on agricultural developments and on the progress of
agricultural technique.
Still conditions would not have taken such an unfavourable
turn if industrialization had gained ground somewhat earlier
than was now the case. This applies in particular to the wood-
working industries, i. e. saw milling and — at a later time — the
pulp and paper industry. The forest assets of Finland are about
as great as those of Sweden. In both countries the progress of
industrialization was for a long time largely determined by the
growth of the export trade, and this applies still more to Finland
than to Sweden. In both countries the rise of the saw mill trade
to a large scale industry ushered in the industrial revolution and
determined its early course. This also applies still more to Fin-
land than to Sweden, where the development of the metal indu-
stries played a very considerable part in the economic history of
the country. A Finnish historian, G. Nikander, very appropriately
remarks that it was only the application of steam power to sawing
operations, i. e. the rise of the timber trade to truly international
importance, which definitely put an end to the use of bark-bread
as a regular nourishment in the less favoured parts of Finland.
In Finland, however, the rise of the timber trade was retarded
by unfavourable circumstances. The Crimean War had very ad-
verse influences on the Finnish export trade, and the dis-
advantages of the Russian dominion became very manifest during
those years. But the growth of the timber trade was still more
hampered by some of those circumstances which have been _dis-
cussed above. Finland inherited from Sweden a system of rigid
regulation in regard to the saw milling industry. The production
of the mills was restricted to fixed quotas, which did not admit
of large scale operations. The effectiveness of the system in re-
straining the growth of the saw mill industry was by no means as