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898
X. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES OF SWEDEN.
of Government to amend the gnild statutes remained unfulfilled. The only thing
done during the reign of Kristina (1644/54) was the appointment (in 1653) of
a commissioner to inquire into the reform question, to inspect all kinds of
fabrics, and, in general, to exercise a superintendence on the artisans. The decree
was renewed in 1662, and the activity of the »company commissioner» was now
put under the control of the Board of Trade. A new general statute for the
guilds was also issued in 1669. In it close guilds were expressly forbidden; any
one who honestly and well had learnt his trade ought to be admitted as a master.
On masterpieces and most other concerns of the guilds »the company» should not
decide alone but together with the burgomaster and the council. No meetings
were to be held without the permission of these authorities, and at each session
one of the municipal officers, »the company councilor», should be present. In
1672, the right was granted to artisans to settle down as freemasters at
Kungsholmen close to Stockholm.
The reign of Charles XI (1672/97), on the contrary, seems to mark a
reaction as far as the guilds are concerned. During his time, close guilds were
even sometimes allowed, and the prohibitions — having come out of use in the
regency during the King’s minority (1660/72) — against the interference of
»protected men», were now re-enforced. As to the country districts Charles XI,
however, maintained a more liberal opinion; to each parish was awarded the right
of keeping one tailor and one shoemaker; the larger parishes were allowed to have
several. Against a fixed payment to the Crown, these artisans were also relieved from
all taxes hitherto accruing to the towns and from the duty of applying for
burgher-ship in them, as also from any action being brought against them by the guilds.
The decline of industry and the high prices of craftsmen’s goods during the
last years of Charles XII (1697/1718), were essentially ascribed to the guilds.
One among the first measures of the new political era also was the statute of
1719 about freemasters. Every one who had learnt a trade should be allowed
to drive it after giving notice to the magistracy and being vested with the rights
and privileges of the city. The reform, however, was too radical to become of
any duration; already the following year, the right of freemastership was by the
new guild ordinance limited to immigrating foreigners. In spite of protest from
the burghers, the ideas of liberty evidently flashed out again in the statute of
1724 about freemastership for natives as well as foreigners, but the reaction was
soon in full sway, and in 1731 it was decreed that no home-born freemasters
of such trades as stood under a guild could be admitted in the towns. In
opposition to the explicit direction of the guild ordinance, the closeness of the guilds
then followed in 1734; to the avoidance of poverty and unauthorized carrying
on of the crafts, no larger number of craftmasters should be admitted than
magistracy and the respective »companies» considered expedient and necessary.
In 1739, the retrogressive exertions were crowned by a prohibition against the
freemastership of foreigners also. With this, legislative activity concerning
handicraft was for the time brought to a close; henceforth, it is the regulation of the
great industry that attracts the principal attention.
During the just mentioned year (1739), a new hall-statute was issued (to
replace the one of 1722) as well as new manufacturers’ privileges. Released
from the duty of belonging to any company but submitted to the Court of industry
(Hallrätt) should be: all silk, woollen, and linen-manufactories together with all the
works and factories belonging to them, »as well as other manufactories and artificers, of
whatever denomination they may be, who choose to place themselves in subordination
to the Court.» In the contests, called forth by this most undecided wording, between
guildcraftsmen and manufacturers, the authorities sided with the latter, whereas the
former continued to be favoured at the expense of the rural artisans. Already in
1723, the old difference between town and country trades — essentially blotted
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