Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-02-21
Norquay
Its Geography, Climate, Govern
ment, Social Institutions
and Resources.
BY HON. r. o, RICHARDS OF HURON.
Christiania, Norway.

Dakota Farmers Leader: The. gov
| ernment ownership idea of all utili-
ties that can be made to benefit the
individual by way of cheaper trans
portatiOn or lessen taxes is very
strong in Norway. The government
seems to own and control much,
| which seems strange to foreigner at
their institutions one cannot help be-
| ing impressed with the idea that
they are drifting fast towards social
| ism in centralizing so much in the
government; but yet nothing is ever
done or proposed in the way of meas
ures, to in any way lessen the liberty
of the individual. Upon this point,
| they seem clearly united; but the ma
tional as well as the district (amt)
governments engage in many SEEM
ingly strange ventures, for instance,
coast steamers frequently belong and
are operated by the district. North
ern Bergenhus Steamship company
| belongs to that district (amt) and op-
crates its steamers in among the local
fjords and will carry an individual
and as much of his produce as he can
carry with him personally for 100
miles at so cents. This is said to be
done for the purpose of developing
the dairy and fruit culture in the
many far away lying little communi-
| ties in the fjords and interior valleys,
and this experiment is said to pay
and to have had very desirable ef-
feet in developing the country and
getting it in touch with the larger
market towns of that district. The
| Norwegian people seem to thoroughly
| understand that cheap transportation
is necessary to development and they
are looking out for that feature in
every way and they feel that no in
dividual should look for large personal
gain out of such public necessity. The
railways as stated before, arc also,
owned and operated by the govern
ment. The entire mileage including
recent extensions is a little less than
$4,000 miles. This mileage seems
small, but it costs money to build
railroads in mountainous country,
/ indeed the average cost of grading in
Norway is 900 per mile, the most
costly railway in the world, and in
comparison to the prairie grade,
eighty times as expensive. For in
stance, the grading contract on the
recent Madison-Sioux Falls extension
was let at S7OO per mile. The rail-
ways in Norway are operated well
and accidents seldom occur; the speed
of the passenger trains is about the
same as 'in South Dakota; the passen-
ger coach accommodations are very
4 good, commodious and comfortable,
and great attention is paid to the
sanitary conditions in every way.
For instance, splitting on the floor in
any of the coaches is prohibited with
penalty of being ordered OFF the train,
cuspidors are furnished at every seat,
as in the sleepers of America, every
toilet room on the ordinary passenger
train is provided with piece of soap,
a clean towel and toilet paper, the
depots as well as the privys are thor
oughly scrubbed and cleaned daily.
In the upholstered coaches, called sec
ond class, the rate of fare is about L !
cents per mile round trip and the
wooden seat coaches called third d-class
about one cent per mile round trip.
There are no tirstrclass coaches in
Norway, except on the trains going
into Sweden. There is no coal in Nor
way, SO the fuel for the railways
comes largely from England The
railroad wages are comparatively low
compared with the American scale of
railroad pay.
Among the customs of the individ-
ual, the peculiarly striking features
of the average Norwegian home which
impresses stranger upon entering
that country is the one-styled gable,
tile or slate rooted plain zinc white
painted houses; little flower garden
in front of every house, in the center
of which is invariably flag pole from
which the flag floats every Sunday
and upon festive days or at half mast
upon deaths. Painted floors and lace
curtains are found in every house
rich or poor: those well off may have
linoleum for the dining room anG
large center rugs for their sitting
room and library, but most homes
are without. Cheap pianos are kept
in most homes, but organs are seldom
seen. Their beds are, as rule, of
the old fashioned feather kind. The
barns are, as rule, red and trimmed
in white and at first sight, impresses
one as large and comforta BILE. On,
|, of the first impressions formed is the
: noticeable politeness of the people il
I tipping their hats in passing eacl
2 other, sometimes with a word o
: smile, but the hat must not fail t.
s come off to an acquaintance at al
events, or one is considered rude an6
uneducated.
The custom of taking their hats of
on entering public places such as
: : bank, drug store, ETC., thanking tn
r host for the food upon rising from tn
table at every meal, seems strang