Aftenposten
- The final result for Oslo.
- The accumulation of money in the banks is degenerating to a worrying degree.
- It is harder to get the better of home distilling than of smuggling,
Aftenposten of 21 October 1926 reported the closing meeting of Oslo's election board under Mayor Høe, which confirmed the capital's final count in the prohibition referendum: two absentee votes from abroad raised the total against prohibition to 103,527. The paper also warned that money was piling up in the banks to a worrying degree, quoting a bank circular that told a depositor no interest at all would be paid from the 18th of the month. A third, badly legible report argued that home distilling was harder to stamp out than smuggling and said a position would be taken on a reduction for control and supervision, also mentioning the next budget year.
Translation
The final result for Oslo.
The election board in Oslo held its concluding meeting yesterday afternoon in the executive committee's chambers, chaired by Mayor Høe. The meeting, which lasted barely half an hour, brought only one change to the provisional fine-count result reported in Aftenposten last evening: plus 2 in the number of votes against prohibition. These were 2 absentee votes from abroad that had come in. The final fine-count result is: Against prohibition 103,527
The accumulation of money in the banks is degenerating to a worrying degree.
"— — as matters stand, we regret that we are unable to pay you any interest at all on your balance with us from the 18th of this month." The accumulation of money in our banks is now degenerating into a problem of a worrying kind. We reproduce here a circular that puts the situation in a glaring light [?] on [?]
It is harder to get the better of home distilling than of smuggling,
[?] will in its [?] take a position on [?] a reduction of [?] for control and supervision, [?] the current [?] not be any [?] next budget year will [?] gained some experience [?] to smuggling, [?] has been released. One [?] more overview of, in [?] it [?].
Context
The 18 October 1926 referendum and the end of prohibition
Aftenposten's final Oslo count belongs to a nationwide consultative referendum on continuing prohibition, held in Norway on 18 October 1926, three days before this issue. Norway had lived under partial prohibition since 1917, and after a 1919 referendum spirits and dessert wine had also been banned. Pressure from France, whose exports of alcoholic beverages had fallen, was one reason the question was put to voters again. Voters rejected the ban overwhelmingly in and around Oslo and in other towns such as Bergen, and as a result the law was abolished and prohibition brought to an end. The 103,527 votes against prohibition that the Oslo election board confirmed are the paper's own report of the capital's tally, which formed part of that urban rejection.
Norway's par policy, 1920–1928
The bank circular quoted by Aftenposten appeared in the middle of Norway's par policy, the effort to return the krone to its pre-1914 gold parity. In Norway this policy lasted especially long, from 1920 to 1928, and was especially contested both at the time and afterwards. It aimed to limit the amount of money in circulation, which would lower prices and strengthen the currency, and its main instrument was the central bank's interest-rate and lending policy. Norges Bank's history says that in 1925–1928 the second challenge facing governor Nicolai Rygg was to bring the krone back to its pre-war level. A bank telling depositors in October 1926 that it could no longer pay any interest was therefore writing in years when monetary conditions were being deliberately tightened. The excerpt used here does not include the article's own explanation of the cause.
A banking sector under public administration until 1928
Norwegian banks in 1926 were still feeling the effects of the most extensive banking crisis the country had yet experienced. Norges Bank's own history says that handling this crisis dominated Rygg's working days from 1920 to 1925. In 1923 the Storting passed an administration law that allowed banks to be placed under public administration, and between its passage and 1928, 47 commercial banks and 19 savings banks were put under such administration. Aftenposten's alarm about money piling up in banks that refused to pay interest on deposits therefore described a sector in which many banks had spent years under public rescue and supervision.
Original
Slutresultatet for Oslo.
Valgstyret i Oslo holdt igaar eftermiddag under ledelse av borgermester Høe avsluttende møte i formandskapslokalet. Møtet, som varte en knap halvtime, bragte med hensyn til det foreløbige fintællingsresultat, som meddeltes i» Aftenposten «igaar aftes, kun en forandring paa plus 2 i stemmetallet mot forbud. Det var 2 utenrikske forfald, som kom til. Det endelige fintællingsresultat er: Mot forbud 103, 527
Pengeophobningen i bankene utarter i en betænkelig grad.
» - - som forholdene ligger an, ser vi os desværre ikke istand til overhodet at betale Dem renter av Deres tilgodehavende hos os fra og med 18de ds «. Pengeophobningen i vore banker holder nu paa at utarte til et problem av betænkelig art. Vi gjengir her et cirkulære, som stiller forholdet i en grel belysning [?] paa [?]
Det er vanskeligere at komme hjemmebrændingen tillivs end smuglingen,
[?] vil i sit [?] ta stilling til [?] en indskrænkning av [?] til koutrol og opsyn, [?] indeværende [?] ikke bli nogen [?] næste budgetaar vil [?] gjort en del erfaringer [?] til smuglirgen, [?] er blit frigit. Man [?] mere oversikt over, i [?] det [?].