Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1903 — VISITORS NOT WANTED. [ARTICLE]

VISITORS NOT WANTED.

People Who Want to See Greenland Must Get a Royal Permit. Greenland is governed in a grandmotherly way by Denmark; but, as it consists of a group of colonies which would not under ahy CtrCTHßßtances.attract many tourists or traders, no outsider complains of the exclusiveness of the ©&oish authorities. Trade always has been and still is monopolized by the. state. and only government vessels are allowed to sail in Greenland waters. For foreign travelers also Greenland is a closed country unless the traveler in question has beforehand obtained the rare distinction of gaining the permission of the Danish government. The monopoly of the trade is said to protect the Greenlander from being deceived by unscrupulous merchants. The administration settles a fixed price both for the goods the Greenlanders purchase and for the products they sell. In this way all are treated In the same manner, and the business being carried on by the state is a guarantee that the natives are not imposed upon. Furthermore, the members of the administration are enjoined to take care that/the natives «do not leave themselves short of produce by selling more than they can dispense with, so that they are destitute of needful food and clothing whel the slack time arrives. The native Greenlander never has been, neither is he now, able to purchase a single drop of spirits from the administration. The exchange of goods between Greenland aird Denmark is, as a rule, carried on exclusively by means of the nine vessels belonging to the Greenland company viz, five brigs, three barks and a small* steamer having a total register of about 2,000 tons net. Several of these vessels, which are suitable for sailing through the drift ice, make two voyages a year and the steamer, as a rule, three voyages.— Montreal Herald.