The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1908-03-19
r. O.. Richards Gives an interesting
Series Of letters Relating to His
Native Country and its People.

Christiania, Norway, Aug. 81, 1907.
To Brookings Weekly Register:
The government ownership idea of
all utilities that can be made to bene-
fit the individual by way of cheaper
transportation or lessen taxes is very
strong in Norway. The government
seems to own and control much,
which seems strange to a foreigner
at first glance; in fact to investigate
their institutions one cannot help be-
ing impressed with the idea that they
are drifting fast towards socialism in
centralising SO much in the govern
ment; but yet nothing is ever done
or proposed in the way of measures,
to in any way lessen the liberty of
the individual. Upon this point, they
seem clearly united; but the national
as well as the district (amt govern
ments engage in many seemingly
strange ventures, for instance, coast
steamers frequently belong and are
operated by the district Northern
Bergenhus Steamship company be-
longs to that district (amt) and oper
ates it's 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 communities in
the fjordS and interior valleys, and
this experiment is said to pay and to
have had very desirable effect 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 neces-
sary to develop and they are are look
| ing out for that feature IN every way
and they feel that no individual should
| look for large personal gain out of
such public necessity. The railways
as stated before, are also. owned and
operated by the government. The en-
| tire mileage including recent eXten-
sions is little less than 1000 miles.
| This seems small, but it costs money
to build railroads in a mountainous
country, indeed the average cost of
grading in Norway is $4,000 per mile,
and in comparison to the prairie
grade, eighty times as expensive. For
| instance. the grading contract on the
recent Madison-SiouX Falls system on
| the Milwaukee was let at 500 per
mile. The railways in Norway are
| operated well and accidents seldom
| occur, speed of the passenger trains
| is about the same as in South Dakota; !;
| the passenger coach Accommodations
are very good, commodious and COM
| Portable and great attention is paid
! to the sanitary conditions in every
way; for instance, splitting on the
| floor in any of the coaches is pro-
hibited with penalty of being ordered
| off the train, cuspidors are furnished
at every seat as i'm the sleepers of
| America, every toilet room on the Or
dinary passenger train Is provided
with piece of soap clean towel and
toilet paper, the depots as well as
the privys are thoroughly scrubbed
and cleaned daily. In the upholstered
| coaches, called second-class, the rate
of fare Is about 11a cent per mile
round trip and the wooden seat coach
es called third-class about ] cent per
mile round trip. There are no first
class coaches in Norway, except on
the trains going into Sweden. There
is no coal In Norway. so the fuel for
the railways comes largely from Eng
land. The railroad wages are compar.
itively low compared with the Ameri-
can scale of railroad pay.
Among the customs of the indi.
vidual. the peculiarly striking features
of the average Norwegian nome which
! impresses a stranger upon entering
| that country is the one-styled gable,
tile or slate rooted. plain zinc white
painted houses; a little flower garden
! in front OF every house. in the center
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