Import difficulties necessitated still more stringent State meas ures. In Oct. 1916 sugar was rationed. In 1917 bread cards were introduced together with State control of the whole grain trade. Before the war an average of 183 kilogrammes of wheat and rye were consumed per head. The harvest of 1917-18 produced only 84.4 kilogrammes per head. Finally, potatoes and many other commodities were rationed. There was a great shortage of meat and bacon, and milk was reserved for children and invalids. The price of food rose rapidly and large sums of money were set aside to provide the poorer classes with goods at cheap rates. As the import of coal decreased, special arrangements were made for procuring wood from the forests. All kinds of raw materials, especially lubricants, were scarce.
The Hammarskjold ministry was formed against the wishes of the Liberals and the Social Demo crats, and these parties commanded a majority in the second chamber of the Riksdag. The Government only remained in power so long thanks to its firm neutral policy. Criticism of its trade policy increased, however, and in spite of a huge vote of confi dence from 750,000 people, it was unable to co-operate further with the parties of the Left and resigned at the end of March 1917. A new Conservative ministry carried on up to the new elections to the second chamber in the autumn. Carl Swartz, a manufacturer, was prime minister and Admiral Arvid Lindman, a former prime minister, was minister of foreign affairs. The food shortage caused considerable unrest and led to a demand for a constitutional reform of a democratic nature. At the autumn elections the Conservatives suffered several losses and Swartz resigned. The Liberal leader, Prof. Nils Eden, formed a ministry. He himself became prime minister and Lord Justice Johannes Hellner, minister of foreign affairs. The ministry included five other Liberals and four Social Democrats. Among them were Hjalmar Branting as minister of finance, and Baron E. Palm stierna, afterwards Swedish minister to London, as minister of marine. Branting soon resigned on account of illness.
In Jan. 1918, Sweden rec ognized Finland as an independent State. The civil war in Fin land created a critical situation. There was a demand for military support of the lawful Finnish Government ; yet Sweden feared she might be drawn into the war if she assisted the Finns against the Russians. The Government acted with a circumspection which was rather resented by the Finnish "Whites." When the con flict was transferred to Aland, whose inhabitants had voted for adherence to Sweden, Sweden sent a warship to the islands, and a small body of troops to maintain peace. These were recalled when the Germans made the islands their centre for sending assistance to the "Whites" in Finland (see ALAND ISLANDS).
The Swedish Red Cross was active in the adjacent belligerent lands, and Prince Charles, a brother of the king, took a prominent part in the work. Swedish dele gates inspected the prison camps of Russia, Germany and Aus tria and distributed numerous gifts to the prisoners from their respective countries. Arrangements were made for the exchange of invalided prisoners and their transport over Sweden. After the war large numbers of German and Austrian children spent some time in Sweden renewing their health and strength, and Swedish help was given to the impoverished countries. When the great famine broke out in Russia a Swedish relief expedition was sent to Samara. The sum total of relief given by Sweden to the various countries amounted to 36,500,00o kroner.
The repercussions of the revolution in Central Europe reached Sweden. The Riksdag was sitting when the war ended and in order to keep in power, the Government hastened to put forward a programme embodying a far-reaching constitutional reform, which was carried, thanks to the close co-operation of the Gov ernment parties (1918-1919). The graduated scale at the com munal elections was abolished and equal and universal suffrage introduced. As the first chamber is based on the communal vote, it became automatically more democratic. Women received full political franchise. The Social Democratic party acquired a relative but not an absolute majority in each Chamber.
The advance made in the political democratization of Sweden is shown by the following table, in which the number of qualified voters and their proportion to the population together with the number of actual voters and their proportion to the number of qualified voters are given for the years 1905, 1911 (after the Lindman Suffrage Reform bill) 1921 (after the application of the suffrage system of 1918, including the introduction of votes for women) and—for the sake of compari son-1924:— It will be noticed at once that an immense democratic wave has swept over the country and carried public opinion with it. Dissensions among the middle-class parties—the Conservative, Liberal and the new BondefOrbund (Farmers' League)—further increased the power of the Social Democrats ; but lacking an absolute majority, they were obliged to act rather as a Radical middle-class party. The Eden ministry remained in office until March 1920. The liquidation of war-time restrictions and the work of reform continued. A provisional law adopting an eight hour day in industry and certain other branches of labour, not including agriculture, was passed. The Liberal and Social Demo cratic members of the Government disagreed on the reform of communal taxation, and the ministry resigned after Sweden's entry into the League of Nations.