Prices & Crisis

Square-faced Hermann Jonasson, Premier of Iceland, last week decided he could no longer face the problems brought on by foreign occupation of Iceland. His Cabinet had split wide open.

Last year thousands of British soldiers (some estimates run as high as 80,000) descended on Iceland. This year thousands of U.S. Marines and soldiers followed.

Iceland's 118,000 hard-working farm and fishing folk did not like the strangers.

Moreover, the diversion of farm labor to military construction reduced food sup plies.

Civilian stores of staples were drained.

Recently a U.S. officer found he could not buy a can of beans. Preoccupation Ice land had a supply of fairly cheap silk stockings, but woman-wise British and U.S. soldiers snapped them up, used them as men do everywhere. By last week Ice land's women could not buy silk stockings at their own stores.

Premier Jonasson's Progressive Party has watched price levels kite to 70% above normal (TIME, Oct. 13), has long wanted a price-fixing law to hold them down. But the other two parties in Iceland's Coalition Cabinet have refused to consent to a measure which they said meant "State Socialism." So Premier Jonasson last week presented his Government's resignation to Regent Sveinn Bjoernsson, let others try to form a Cabinet that would tackle Iceland's problem.

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