Sweden (1949)

these young Swedes are on their way to an outing in the country but now they have their minds on things like camping and swimming all the same they're also on their way what is it like this country of theirs well for one thing it has a history so long that medieval castles are comparatively a modern touch Sweden has 4,500 miles of coastline a fact of tremendous importance in the work and play of the people folks as expert technicians but she's adjusting is an anti-aircraft gun sight professor run strong a distinguished biochemist of Stockholm University and his laboratory assistants it is in the farming country that we still find Sweden's most important industry in spite of her North graphical position and a small area of farmland in proportion to the entire area of the country Sweden has done so much in agricultural research and experimentation that she is self-supporting as to the principal foodstuffs about 1/4 of all the Swedish people derived their living from agriculture with mining machinery prepare yourself now for a slight surprise it is from the museum Matt Holland which honey such models of the mining equipment of former days at Karuna and the Swedish province of Lapland is one of the greatest iron ore deposits in the world here nearly a hundred miles above the Arctic Circle is the source of an industry vital to the country durable iron mountains with generous yields of high-grade ore the supply is so huge that it will last for centuries to come the Swedes have been smelting iron ore for many years about 1/4 of all the country's workers have jobs in the metal and machine industries iron workers on their days off are among Sweden's best soccer players this sport is a prime favorite as it is nearly everywhere in Europe the men who fell trees in the Swedish forests are engaged in something which apparently will go on forever because the national reforestation law is rigidly enforced all cut over land is promptly replanted and the forestry reserves should last indefinitely real time for the Foresters and anyone who has ever chopped down a tree knows what he does to the appetite the Swedish rivers seem to have been specially designed by nature for floating logs down to the sawmills which are usually at the mouths of the streams every year millions of logs make the journey the foresters have somewhat perilous work to do when the logs jam up in the streams that has happened now and these men are on their way to do something about it this amiable veteran is a sort of traffic policeman sorting the logs as they entered a nil this man has one of the few sitting down jobs in the lumber industry he and his fellow workers are parts of an immensely important activity for lumber and wood products form about half of Sweden's export trade the Swedes have had centuries of experience with trees and lumber and wings whatever it's possible to do with wood our friend here represents a peasant craft which has a long tradition in a Stockholm store the little wooden figure acquires a new owner on another floor their glass Department Swedish glass has become famous the world over from the moment when the artist sets out to make the design on through various processes all of them in the hands of highly trained workers Swedish cut glass represents a handicraft carried into the realm of art in the evening the glassblowers still blowing and some of their fellow workers make this their recreation over on the west coast at Gothenburg these Swedes are sightseeing in a very pleasant way along the waterways of their country's second city and principal port Gothenburg was planned in 1619 by experts from Holland summoned for the purpose by King Gustavus Adolphus hence the system of canals on the Dutch model now they are approaching the yards which make Sweden one of the world's important shipbuilding countries not much tip building going on at this hour it's lunchtime from the earliest times the Swedes have been sailors and builders of ships and boats here they are at work on the largest passenger liner ever built in Sweden their fathers of these men and their grandfathers and their great-grandfather's all did this work - or something like it we're still on the west coast so let's visit some of the folk in a fishing village it's Sunday no fishing today even though it's the Sabbath they spend some time getting ready for tomorrow's work out where the fish are waiting for them Monday morning back to work these men earned their living in another of the important Swedish industries every one of their fellow citizens man or woman must have fish to eat often in order to be a normal happy sweet and the export trade in fish and fish products is large the sea to the west of bounds in cod and herring sometimes the fishing boats range as far from home as the fishing grounds around England in Iceland is that the same fish in any case this one is now approaching its ultimate destiny because it's for sale in this taco fish market the open-air market is typical the Stockholm housewife does a good deal of her shopping for food out of doors that fish is now bound for the kitchen it'll be cooked just right too the Swedes know how now that we're in Stockholm suppose we take a ride in the elevator of the Katharina Tower Stockholm errs use the tower as a convenient way to reach the heights in the southern part of the city and tourists use it for sightseeing purposes when we get up there we'll have a good general view of the Swedish capital there she is the queen of the Baltic of Sweden 7 million people about 1 million live in Stockholm in its suburbs they have one of the world's pleasantest cities as the place in which they live and do their work here we meet some of the Swedes who keep the city's wheels turning surely that describes the traffic policeman there his post is on chunks gotten stock homes Main Street it's all right to observe the famous Town Hall in the distance but in this typical street scene the thing to notice is the cyclists hundreds of thousands of stock owners peddle their way to and from their jobs for those who have no bikes or who don't like bikes or whose bicycling days may be over there are other ways of getting about transportation in Stockholm seems very comfortable doesn't it these girls are on a streetcar which is bound for the suburbs the Swedish demand for reading matter of all kinds is tremendous near the Royal dramatic theatre is this popular newsstand where magazine buyers find not only the many Swedish publications but as you can see if you look closely some that come from America the cyclists again only this time it's Saturday and these stockholders are on their way out of town to meet some of the Swedes you have to go where the odds are the coastal waters are ideal for this port which is immensely popular whether he's well-to-do or of modest means every true Swede owns a boat of some sort if he can possibly manage it it's in the blood horse racing in Sweden has a pleasantly informal air we even found on the day of our visit that one of the jockeys was a woman once every year the people of Stockholm converge upon their handsome stadium for the colorful celebration of Flag Day this is their chance to express their devotion to their country and it's our chance to meet the Swedes upon a significant and heartwarming occasion military at essays of foreign countries join the stockholders in watching the March past and the salute to the Kelly's the marchers represent the Armed Services and various civilian organizations from many parts of the country with pride in Sweden's long past and with high hopes for future