The Key West Citizen Newspaper, November 29, 1947, Page 8

Bi linn tn hn nh bn hn fn tn tn tn nth VVVVVVV VV Ve A Little More to the Left (Copyright 1947, Mason Rossiter Smith) \ARAAAAAAAAAAALDA 4A Me be be be Oo be bn be he bon hn be he hn nt hn tn lr. Stockholm, Aug. 28 It's the same here, too. Even in Scandinavia, although the people of Denmark, Norway and Sweden have sprung from; the same racial stock, and in spite of the fact that all three coun- tries have at one time or another during past years been under | the samé government, the peoples are quite distinct now. In Denmark, they are all Danes, in Norway all Norwegians, in Sweedn all Swedes. \ , The’ Dane is pleasant, friendly, cooperative and known, throughout Scandinavia as a sharp businessman. This latter characteristic, in fact, tended before the war to make ill feel- ing between the Danes and ‘the Norwegians, who distrusted | Danish business practices. » But during the. occupation, the Danes shipped thousands upon thousands of food parcels into| Norway (for Denmark had plenty of food even during the Ger- man occupation) and the Norwegians have not forgotten. The Dane now is perhaps the most popular foreigner in Norway, for | his wartime generosity is deeply appreciated. The Norwegian, on the other hand, is easy-going, friendly, with the salty humor of the old sea dog. He thinks the Swede} is a bit stiff. The latter is friendly but a little distant until you come to know him. He is strictly formal, with all the business; acumen of the Dane and much of the cool efficiency of the Ger-| man. Except for his formality, the Swede is, I think, more like| the American than his Scandinavian cousins. He understands! and practices organization much as we do—in fact, generally | spaaiing, although he admires American products, he is quite sure that he has “nothing to learn from the Americans,” when it comes to production and organized business methods. He thinks, sniceene-atter post-war 4——_—_$_$_$___ visits to the States—that we). ", ” ties were. “About 50-50,” the are “over-organized”. hee porter replied, “Come back at 3 You note the difference rel , tween: the Norwegian and the °° ook and we'll’ see what we can do. } Swede the moment you meet the 7" , } customs officials aboard the train! _ “What I want,” I said, “is 75- from Oslo to Stockholm. The 50.” He looked blank for a mo- Norwegian is neatly dressed, and Ment, then began to grin. “That! speaks the same impeccable Eng- Makes 125,” he said, “but of lish—but he is more open and, Course it’s a better average.” And friendly, jokes with the passen-; then he roared with laughter. At gers as he moves through the 3 p.m. I got the room. | train. The Gwede is quite stiff,| Without exaggeration, I have) very formal, greeting you with a seen more new American cars in smart salute and going about the Stockholm than in any United} business of checking your pass-, States city of comparable size. port, instructing you on how to’ In addition to bicycle traffic so fill out your currency declaration, huge that public “bike” parking and examining your baggage racks are required, the auto and with cool efficiency. , truck traffic—nearly all U.S.-; ic We were about half an hour made—i sterrific. : out of Oslo when the train—haul-| The stores and shops are filled ed by an electric locomotive— with an amazing array of mer- stopped on a steep grade—insuf-. chandise—all handsomely dis- ficient power. After some time played. There are, I am quite} a steam locomotive arrived to sure, more goods available here { pull us over the hill. | luxuries as well as necessities . Meantime, we had opportunity —than in any other European | to glimpse at close hand a very city not excluding Switzerland ( beautiful countryside, just at and Belgium. There are furs, ex- dusk, the hills covered with ever- pensive gowns, jewelry and greens and birches, the night as watches. There are handsome still and romantic as any in the modern furniture, drapes, per-} Adirondacks of New York state. fumes, toilet articles and soap. Somewhere, far off a dog barked The restaurant menus offer a and-.from the opposite direction wide and pleasing variety of you could hear a boy whistle for goods. The streets are ablaze his dog. A distant “whssh” in| with colored neon signs at night the woods heralded the coming of| There is, in short, nearly every- a ear, whose lights finally could] thing one would expect to find in be. seen flickering through the!a large American city. Stock- trees along the road. The houses} holm, one of the world’s most —possibly mountain summer cot-| charmingly beautiful cities, is in- tages—cast a soft light into the} deed the one bright star in the gathering darkness, and some-' dark, troubled European firma- AGE EIGHT where a radio was playing. The,chap standing at my right ipokinds uit the corridor. window, and as chotianica by-‘the scene as I was, turned out to be a young Swedish film producer, who was returning from Oslo after mak- ing a travel film. Small world that this is, this man had served before the war as a copywriter in the Stockholm branch of a wide- ment. But there are signs that the star is beginning to dim. ‘ The currency situation offers an indication—also an example of the sudden change which can occur in money values over here. In Switzerland during July I was told that the soundest cur- rencies then were the American dollar, the Swiss franc, the Brit- ish pound and the Swedish kron- received during the previous year. On March 15, import con- trols Went into effect—but since goods ordered before March 15 were not covered by this order, and since much of this goods is still to be delivered, the drain on foreign exchange continues. While you see huge pitchers of milk on the restaurant tables, with plenty of American dry cereals at breakfast, plenty of bread and butter, Sweden faces a bad winter. This hot summer has cut down the anticipated harvest so greatly that imports of grain and cereals will be nec- essary. This likewise cuts into foreign exchange balances. Although there are now pienty of luxuries, clothing and neces- ities in the shops, many busi- nmessmen expected that _ their shelves will be bare by Christ- mas. Food is rationed, even in restaurants, and. clothing may soon be. Fuel is short. Although Swed- en produces much of her power from hydro-electric sources, she uses a great deal of coal as well. Normally this came from Poland, the Ruhr and England. Some coal is now received from these countries, but the supply mall and uncertain, so coal is also im- ported from America. Even this is not enough, so that fuel for hotels, public buildings and pri- vate homes, is provided in fire- wood—which one can see stacked up for use almost everywhere. An additional difficulty, in the view of many Swedes, is the re- cent one billion kronor credit to Russia. This agreement provides that Sweden will undertake to provide one billion kronor in goods to Russia over a period of five years. About 20% has so far been delivered, but there is some question as to whether Swedish industry can fulfill the agreement. Labor is scared, coal/ is scarce and raw materials are scarce. This situation bodes no good for production for domestic use, and is likely to limit exports under the Russian agreement. Many a Swede ocnsiders the treaty a “bad deal”. Travel by air to Helsinki, the} capitol of Finland, on Swedish airlines is also subject to certain| agreements with Russia. If you| use this line, you may get a seat on a plane, but if it happens that} a Russian comes along at the time} of departure, you may be requir-! ed to. surrender it. American Overseas Airlines, who maintain a three-times-a-week schedule to from Helsinki, can guarantee that you will keep your seat, once it has been assigned, for they are not affected by the Russian’ agrec-' SET. OS ae THE KEY WEST CITIZEN , 5 ment. “You Americans,” a Swed- ish travel office agent told me, “are better business men than An American official in Stock- holm, however, does’ not share this view. The air transport agreement between Sweden and Russia, he explained, makes it possible for the Swedish plane to meet the Russian Helsinki-to- Moscow at Helsinki. It also al- lows the Swedes to send many of their people into Russia. The American line, on the other hand, he said, is not permitted to make as good a connection, and not as ; many Americans are permitted to enter Russia. “It depends on how you look at it,” he smiled, “as to who's the better business- man. I don’t think the Swedes have done too badly.” : Among some Swedish business- men there is fear that Sweden is on her way toward state social- ism,.and eventual nationalization of all industry. “You are,” one young Swede told me, “now the only really free people in the , World. Here restriction sare in- H asing, and I think we will ; have nationalization of industry |in the end. In America,” he add- ed, “you can operate any kind of business you want to, with a jruaimumn of red tape and re- triction—as compared with our tuation here.” He had spent six months in America earlier this year. The Scandinavians generally are a handsome people—with a greater percentage of blonde hair and features than any other country in Europe. They enjoy outdoor sports, swimming, sail- ing, rowing and athletic events and are deeply tanned from a healthy outdoor life. (Stockholm, a city of several bridge-connect- ed islands, has 65,000 motorboats and innumerable sailboats in a population of 700,000.) In Stock- holm, the people are the best- dressed, best fed of any I have seen in Europe. Their architecture and art are magnificent, but sculpture and beaches, and adult bathing attire! There WAS a possibility, they is scanty indeed. said, that a visa would be grant-; Yet, from the Scandinavian ed. At no time was I given a re-| viewpoint, there is no immorality fusa lor anything more than a! in display of the human body.' «maybe. ” . pe . There are at least as moral in} I called nw Seales their relations between the sexes! ie si at the Pecos as we are in America. The dif- Sulate in Stockholm, where aj ference is simply one of frank- | consular official took my person-| ness. jal card, and asked me to wait.| ap ieee ! After half an hour I was ushered | Although wages are high, and in to see another official—appar- merchandise likewise expensive,/ently the consul himself—who from the well-dressed appearance spoke little English. “I am sor- of the people one would judge, ry,” he said slowly, smiling and that income from wages and the measuring his words, “I have no cost of living are pretty well in! instruction: balance. In addition, Sweden has| see i recently overhauled her social se- ,. The 47 million persons em-} curity system, which will now be ployed in the United States in| much like the American plan, 1940 are estimated to have work- with perhaps greater benefits. ed a smaller number of aggre- Some Swedes are doubtful wheth- gate hours than the 37 million er taxation can produce the funds employed in 1910. { required. ‘ | Although about one-fifth of | | U. S. people live on farms, it | was estimated that in the 1947} ‘ boom season they received only Hands hos unl recent on WAS. one-ninth of the U: S. income. “A little more to the left, your, Sampie of Stockholm humor: An American tennis profession- al was instructing the Swedish IN MEMORIAM Majesty,” the instructor kept saying. Finally the king stopped | In loving memory of our dear- the game. est mother, Emma Louisa Lowe, | “You remind me,” he smiled,: who departed this life November “of my last prime minister—al- 28, 1942. | ways saying ‘a little more to the, Gone but never forgotten. left, your Majesty’.” LEOTA HOLT and FAMILY. esas nov29-1tx The Swedes love their king. “A great democrat,” as one chap d¢- —_ TEE scribed him. The king, he de-' clared, has never been formally, JANE and SHINE crowned—at his own request. 1502 BERTHA STREET “He said that a formal ceremony Holiday Speciale—FREE! | @osts too much.” Spray Job with every Grease and | a : . Oil Change job. We will also! I am not going into Russia. check your battery, fan belt, rad-! After waiting nearly two months jator, tires, transmission and rear | 3 ee . - es for checking carburetors, batter- sulate in New York, I was ad- ies, spark plugs, ignition, com- vised by the consulate officials pression and timing in your car for perfect running . . . DON’T DELAY, PHONE 1178 NOW!II! there, on my departure from Eu- rope, to inquire at the consulates in London, Paris and Stockholm. painting here are frank in the extreme ,and what would be con- sidered nudity in America is not uncommon over here. For ex- ample, one hot day in downtown Oslo, in the center of the city, I saw a well-dressed young moth: er leading her four-year-old daughter across the street. Ex-| cept for a pair of sandals, the child was completely unclothed her heels to her bobbed blonde hair. “I have not seen anything like this in Sweden. Children in all three countries. however, play naked ‘on the APPELROUTH'S' z ‘The Store Of Fashion : «, Season’s Newest Styles = in Lovely All-Wool DRESSES and SUITS You will find in our new showing of Dresses and Suits just the garment you will want—in Solid and High Colors. Come in and see them!! or. The pound has since slipped badly, and the Swedish kronor is now not nearly as strong. It is all a part of an extremely complicated foreign exchange sit- uation. A Swedish businessman | explains it this way: When the war was over, Sweden was rich. Although life had been a bit pre- carious during the war, the Swedes had profited well. When hostilities ceased, they began to import, in huge quantities, all ly. known American advertising agency, preparing layouts in English describing Swedish prod- ucts advertised and sold in Amer- iea. His English now he explain- ed, was poor for lack of practice. “You see, we were, shall we s cut off from the English-speak- ing people for quite a long time.” Some weeks ago in Brussels 1 had talked with i clergyman, on his way home from { an international church conven- Children’s Dresses e ‘ ° e kinds of merchan Impor grew so large, as compared with exports, that Sweden’s foreign exchange was on an unfavorable basis. In December 1946 the banks announced that the situa- tion was serious and that “steps | must be taken.” With the warn- ing, merchants and shopkeepers placed orders for three times as much merchandise as they had; ed tion in Scandinavia. He had / 2 pressed the opinion that Ameri- cans were disliked in Sweden, that the clerks in the stores were rude arid that a conversation he had had with a student indicated i an unfriendly feeling toward the “Yank”. My own = experience has been quite the opposite, and on putting the question directly to well informed Swedts, I have invariably received the answer that Americans are not only well liked, but universally admired for their cordiality and their pro- ductive technique. F My hunt for a hotel room in Stockholm provides an example. The city hotels were crowded, because the Stockholm trade fair has attracted thousands to the city. My travel agent had receiv- ed only ‘Maybe’ from one hotel. We went over the morning of my arrival to see what the ‘possibili- a The World’s Most Complete Store AT YOUR FINGERTIPS STRAND THEATRE Now Showing “THE UNFAITHFUL” Ann Sheridan - Zachary Scott ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING ON EASY PAYMENTS Sca0s, Roebuck and Co ORDER OFFICE Starting Sunday “DARK DELUSION” Lucille Bremer @ MONROE THEATRE Now Showing “TRAILIN’ TROUBLE” Ken Maynard |Simonton and Fleming Sts. 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