ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CONDITIONS The Pre-War Position.—For more than 3o years the economic life of Norway had developed on an increasingly industrial scale when the dissolUtion of the Union between Norway and Sweden, in 1905, gave it a fresh impetus. Very soon an extraordinary expansion set in, which continued practically undiminished up to the outbreak of the World War. The use of the waterfalls became an urgent question in politics.
Agriculture was, as it had been for centuries, the principal resource of the country by which, roundly, 890,00o persons gained their livelihood out of a population of two and one-third millions. The total number of farmers was 188,000, of which hardly one tenth were tenants and leaseholders ; the remainder freeholders. The chief cereals were oats, barley, rye and wheat, and the prin cipal root crop potatoes. Cattle breeding was also developing on a satisfactory scale, and as an article of export of growing importance, condensed milk appeared in the statistics.
Next to agriculture, forestry is the most important trade of Norway, owing to the mighty industry which has grown up in connection with it. In 1913 about 85% of the forests were owned by private persons or companies, and 121% by the State, while the remaining 21% was owned jointly. From the latter half of the 16th to the latter half of the 19th century, sawn and planed timber constituted the chief articles of export derived from the forest industry, but within the last 40 years prior to the war, the development of the mechanical and chemical wood-pulp indus tries as well as of the paper industry, had increased to an extent which made the timber industry lag far behind.
The mining industry, which in Norway dates from the be ginning of the i 7th century, experienced a renaissance, especially between 1897 and the outbreak of the war, owing to the in creasing number of mines, mostly of iron ore, opened up in north Norway. From an annual output at the turn of the century val ued at £26o,000-27o,000 the output expanded to a value of ap proximately L1,388,000 in 1913. A fishing fleet of steam vessels,
larger sailing vessels supplied with auxiliary engines, and decked motor boats had to a great extent replaced the former old fashioned fleet, while modern implements and methods had given the fisheries quite a new turn all round. As another important economic conquest within these years, allied to the fisheries, should be mentioned the whaling in the Antarctic, which, initiated in 1906, very soon proved a remarkable success. In 1913 the fisheries and the whaling yielded a profit of approximately i6,861,000 and £2,080,000, respectively. In connection with the fisheries should be mentioned the foundation of the canning industry which within the 3o years prior to the war became one of the most flourishing industries of Norway.
In 190o, the net register of steam and motor vessels was tons. In 1914, it amounted to 1,223,009. Simultaneously, the net tonnage of sailing vessels decreased from 930,442 to 561,462; in fact only Great Britain, the United States and Ger many had at the time larger mercantile fleets than Norway. About one-tenth of the fleet is engaged in regular trade along the coast of Norway, while another one-tenth is engaged in transport to and from foreign countries; the remainder have to seek employ ment in trade between foreign countries, which, in practice, means that the great bulk of Norwegian tonnage in pre-war days, as at present, was engaged in ordinary tramp trade all over the world.
Increased use of water-power has developed manufactures, for instance, the saltpetre industry, based on the principle of manufac turing nitrogen from the atmosphere, which was worked out in practice between 1906 and 1914. Owing to this extraordinary development in practically all fields, the trade balance of Nor way also improved materially within the period, say from about 132,740,000 in 'goo to L52,994,000 in 1913.