Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-01-24
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Monopolisrn

Norway has Little government
managed industry, as such. The only
things wholly owned and operated by
the government are the post Office.
telephone and telegraph, electric
power, and railroads. There seems
to be no agitation for extension Of
government ownership and manage
ment. In fact, some leaders feel
the trend is in the other direction
and that the government has shown
no ability to provide efficient serv-
ice.
However, cooperatives are numer-
GUS in Norway. Entirely different
from government management, they
nevertheless control the buying and
selling Of almost everything and are
monopolistic in nature. The effec-
tive organizations of the co-ops,
while individually owned. have been
used in some instances for extern
sion Of government control. Subsi-
dies have been offered to trainers
cooperatives in an effort to please
everybody: the producers with high
err prices and the purchasers with
low prices.
Wait Til You're Old
The completeness Of the coopera-
tive monopoly may be seen in the
association of drug store opera
tors, to which all operators be-
long. To open q new drug store a
man would first have to become a
member Of the association and get
its approval, after which he would
appeal to the government for IL
cense. The government could never
grant a license unless the applicant
were admitted to the association.
Drug store operators admit no
new members except at their own
pleasure, and then seldom except to
replace a member who has died.
was told that an aspirant to the drug
industry can seldom be admitted to
the association and obtain permits
sion to operate his own store before
he is As years old.
Plenty Of Frontiers
A successful business man in Oslo,
who was prominent leader of the
resistance during the war, is in
charge of an old firm with an excel
lent reputation. Said he: 1.-THE reg
ulations have come to interfere with
everything. am no longer really
doing business. just sit here and
do what they tell me I can do. In
my opinion, the controls are a fail
ure. They make production more
expensive and prices higher"
Under The right kind of economic
climate, the Norwegian people could
raise their standard of living. And
this right climate Communism can
never provide. Norway does not
lack for frontiers. Their farms pro.
duce as many bushels Of grain per
acre as our farms. The fishing wa
tiers of Norway are not surpassed.
Possibilities for electric power are
the best in the world. Manufacture.
ing and numbering offer only the or
binary difficulties. The country is
not over populated. Yet their stand
ard of living is not more than halt
as high as that in America.
There Is Q Way Out
When forward looking Norwe gians
try to modernize an industry, they
are met squarely with the deadening
hand Of monopoly, either private or
public. If one fishing company
manages to find a way to sell its
products at good price, while an
other company exports its fish to
Europe for a lower price, the for
Iner company pays a tax which goes
to the second company for the sake
of equalization.
This policy invariably discourages
excellence and tends to mediocrity.
A premium is thus placed on inef-
f1ciency and on failure to make mon
ey. But realistic incentive sys-
tenn, based upon honest competition
throughout, could soon make little
Norway one Of the most prosperous
oil -,