The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1946-06-13
CARL HERNES WRITES
FROM NORWAY

CARL HERNES WRITES
FROM NORWAY
The following letter will be of
interest to many of Carl Hernes's
old friends and schoolmates.
Elisa st. Norway
May lst, 1916
Dear Mrs Fagerberg:
Thought I'd write a little letter
so you could see how we are get
ting along here in Norway. It will
be Is yrs. in November since we
came to this country, but I still
think of Libby, my school teachers
and school mates very often and
would like to be there again, but
l suppose many of my old friends
are gone and many new people have
moved in, so 1 suppose it would
not seem like home anymore. l
have not heard from anyone in
Libby for many years so now l
do not know if my old friends are
i'm Libby or not If you should meet
someone who would care to write
to pe please give them my address
| as | would like to receive some let
ters from Libby.
Well, I suppose you will be Won
dering how we had it during the
war? It was some mighty hard
years. Everything has been ration
ed here since Sept, 1899. The food
rations were pretty low during the
war. The sugar ration was and
still is, 4 ounces per person a week.
The last year we had just brown
&c
No coffee or tea during the war,
now we receive small rations per
week. We received l ID. of butter
every Is days many times there
was no butter at all for 6-8 weeks.
1t is still rationed but now we get
enough. The bread rationS were
" bread a week, per person or
4 lbshz flour. The bread and flour
was very poor, black and nearly
UNBEATABLE; now we have white bread |
and flour, it is still rationed but
not hard Such a thing as cheese
was very scarce, we could receive !
a small ration once in a while, such !
as before Christmas. Easter and {
so on. Meat, Pork, Eggs and Milk
were hard rationed, those who lived
in cities, sometimes received l pint
a week but mostly it was just to
children who received milk Eggs
were Just for sick and not enough
of them either Pork was some
thing people dreamed of but never
tasted if they were not lucky as to
have some relation or good friend
on a farm or could 60 to the BLACK
Market" and buy or trade there.
Meat was very scarce too, there
was some tiny rations once in a I
while and then it was mostly horse
meat or whale The Germans took
the best of all things. All farmers
were ordered to deliver so and so i
much of meat, pork, potatoes, eggs,
milk, hay and grain a year. Those 1
who didn't fill the orders were fined ,
and some put in Jail Most of them I
delivered as little as possible as the :
Germans took everything and the |
prices were SO low that they had to 7
sell on the Black Market" to make I
a living. Such things as fruit, cocoa
and chocolate were not on the mar I
zet during the war and are still (
scarce and rationed We have re- Z
,eived Az lbs. of oranges per per- I
ION since the war ended. Every 3
hing is high priced here so many
people cannot buy their extra rat =
ons of fruit, chocolate and canned
neat (English).
The ration of shoes and clothes
vas good as nothing under the war,
learly nothing in the stores, poor
,valitie (quality) and high priced.
1ostly everything here is rationed
ret but we get enough of most
Kings. Were the rations small in
J. S. A.? l suppose everything is
eleased there by now
My father has little farm here,
ince 1912. / am helping him on
he farm most of the time, in the
winter time we usually chop or
rive timber. We live a good 80
niles northeast from Oslo the
apitol of Norway We are about
5 miles from Sweden. The seen
ry here is very beautiful with lots
nd lakes. The main work around
ere is farming, wood chopping in
lmmer, timber chopping and driv- |
lg during the winter. There are
few very small farmer saw mills
round here but most of the tim
er is floated down the river to the
rger saw mills and factories lying
ut by the coast. +
The Norwegian money is of small
alue because everything one must
ny is so high priced. The taxes
e very large, the income tax is y