Chimney dust-up

Germans are bristling at the chimney-sweep monopoly. Some would rather clean their own chimneys to soot themselves or engage someone else who charges less -- say an enterprising Pole.

It doesn't work that way. Germany is divided into 8,000 districts, each assigned to a sweep and his one or two assistants. Engaging their services once or twice a year is required by law at about $100 a pop.

Training and apprenticeships are long and there are waiting lists for the prized slots. A sweep business can gross $170,000 a year. Technically, non-Germans might get the jobs but don't.

After receiving complaints, the European Union entered the dust-up to break the current monopoly, which dates from the 1930s.

Chimney sweeps loyal to the Third Reich and necessarily German were installed in districts protected from competition. In exchange, they spied for the government.

Perhaps they no longer perform such ancillary services. But the anger in some quarters over the monopoly has produced an urban legend blaming drunken chimney sweeps for starting the Reichstag fire in 1933, a watershed in the ascendancy of the Nazi state.

Sweeps also inspect heating systems for proper function. While the work requires technical skill and serves public safety, it isn't rocket science.

And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Germans have the right to decide on their own business relationships.