Evening star., 1946-05-12

in the 1865, has just returned from
an air tour of eight European coun-
tries. AS representative of
large manufacturing company he
visited Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
Holland, Belgium, France, SWitzer-
land and England.
He found the people in Norway
and Holland in particularly, he said,
too busy trying to get from under
their terrific problems to be vast
ing time lamenting their fate or
looking backward. Instead with
grim determination they are try
ing to make the most out of the
present and immediate future.
Norway Halls Fresh Fish.
The day of Mr.. Steinmetz' arrival
in Oslo. Norway, was one of iubi-
liant rejoicing. Fresh fish, the first
in years. had been flown in by plane
from Trondjheim. To a country
that depends upon fish to the ex-
tent Norway does. with most of its
fishing fleet destroyed by the Nazis,
what this meant is hard for the
outsider to realize
There is no cheese, no butter. no
eggs in Norway. Breakfast in Oslos
best hotel consisted of ersatz coffee
and two slices of brown bread spread
with thin, sticky substance. A fell
low traveller who had brought eggs
from Sweden and had them cooked
was glared at by other guests in the
dining room, Mr.. Steinmetz related
Practically every pane of plate
glass in Oslo's business houses was
shattered by the explosion of two
German munition ships in her har-
Dor, mined by resistance agents, he
said. The openings have been mat
ter-of factly boarded up until glass
is available.
The courteous. busy and thrifty
Norwegians work from to 4 with
no time out for lunch. Mr.. Stein
metz observed. Executives and
workers alike MUNICH a noon-t time
sandwich while they work The main
meal is eaten after they reach
home in the afternoon. Many of
the women have no shoes of any
kind, only their ski boots. Those
who own mouse colored cotton
stockings are considered infinitely
lucky.
Lack of foreign exchange with
which to buy raw materials in world
markets is greatly hampering Nor
way, Mr.. SteinmetZ said. She is,
however, placing orders with which
to replenish her fishing fleet and
her merchant marine as rapidly
. as possible. The three great pre-
war industries in Norway were her
Woodpulp, fishing and her mer-
chant fleets
Swedish, Swiss Prices High.
/ Sweden and Switzerland are pros
pelous lands Of plenty with prices
high. NorWegianS with whom Mr.
Steinmetz talked though, were glad
that Sweden had remained a buffer
state, since in this capacity she had
harbored large numbers of their
/ underground Food in Sweden is
plentiful and marvelously cooked.
The atmosphere at the Grand Hotel
in Stockholm was that of Vienna in
the Gay Nineties. Business is ex-
cellent with nearly all of the in
dustrial plants still working three
shifts around the clock. Industry
on the whole isn't as efficient as in
the United States, in Mr.. Stein
metz's opinion. ManpoWer is still
used for heavy carrying and loading
operations in contrast to our utili-
zation of cranes. trucks and other
labor saving devices.
There is great admiration for the
genius of American production and
its output in all European countries.
American money. or any other
form of foreign exchange is avail
able only at the banks in Sweden
and Switzerland. The amount which
visitors may take in, or residents