AN OBJECT LESSON ON THRIFT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 832, 30 July 1910, Page 9

AN OBJECT LESSON ON THRIFT.

T-. — -<t ~ A COUNTRY RULED'BY PEASANII FARMERS. AGRICUI/TUI;Jj, AND CO-OPERATION IN DEN3IAKK. 'Denmark is u farmer State. "It haa a farmer, Parliament, a farmer Ministry, a farmer point of view. Its legislation is that of the farmer, too. In Denmark the people really rule. The Danish peasant is the direct antithesis of the English peasant who wants to-be ruled by a lord. The State of Denmark, in snort, is a peasant democracy. It's ruling class is the small farmer possessing from forty to sixty acres of land,- and with an outlook on life that is exclusively agricultural." How entirely successful these peasant farmers oi Denmark have been is set forth in a most illuminating article by Frederic C. Howe in tho "Outlook" of New York. Tho 'facts which he gives constitute an objectlesson to our own country in thrift aud co-operation :■— Cause .of Well-Belnn. ' "The land," says Mr. Howe, "is fai from .rich, the climate is not of the best, and the winters are very long. But the Danish peasant owns his land. Denmark is a country of peasant proprietors.. This is the economic framework of his civilisation. The Dauish peasant is his own landlord, and he has-made use of tho Government to promote tho acquisition of land by the people. t . "About 1830 credit societies were or. ganised which supplied capital to the peasants with which to buy land.- .These societies took long-time mortgages, running from fifty to one hundred years.. I Under these contracts the peasants pay off both the principal ■, aud the interest in instalments; In 1899 and in 1904. the State stimulated this movement still further .by laws that enabled the small peasants to- borrow money from the Stats treasury with which to buy a holding. The value of the land is limited to about .£3OO, and the size of. the'. estate so purchased ranges from eight to twelve acres. ' Only one-tenth of the' purchase money need be found by the purchaser.. The State' advances the. other nine-tenths and charges the peasant four per cent., one nei' cent., of which'ix to repay the loan. The effect of-the law was to increase the value of the land of the largo estate owners, just as has tho. Small' Holdings Act' in Great Britain. Buff the general effect of tho legislation and of the mutual credit societies has been to check the movement" of the people away from the land. Denmark is almost the only country where this is true. Peasant' Proprietorship. "There is very little tenancy in Deri mark. Over 89 per cent, of the farmer J own their farms. They work their, own holdings. Only about 11- per cent. - are tenants. In America the percentage _of farm owuership is very much less. And ownership in Denmark is widely distributed. The total number of farms is 250.009, with a cultivated area of over ten million acres. The very large farms aro survivals of the old feudal estates. They comprise about one-tenth of the total agricultural area. "There are three, things which make Denmark unique: The first is the system of peasaut ownership; the second is the co-operative movement, which is wellnigh universal; and the third is the political supremacy of the peasant class. The second and third causes-, are, howover, due to the first. For home owner* ship lies at tho root of the Dane's su.a» ces3. Secret of His Success. "The Dane is the best farmer in-tn» world. The secret of bis success is intensive cultivation. The land is minutely divided, the average size of the farms, which comprise nine-tenths of the laud, being thirty-.'line acres. About a hundred thousand peasants with larger farms ranging from 131 to .150 acres, who own about seven-tenths of the land, live very much better than the farmers iust mentioned. They work their farms partly with' hired labour, are well educated,, and devote a lot of time to politics and the co-operative undertakings with which they are connected. They are the ruling class in the State,'and are as" wise as the traditional -Tew and as canity as the Soot. They control the politics of their district and are ascendant in Parliament as well. They know all about the'most technical agriculture, are familiar with prices current, are rather skilled mechmiics, and nood chemists. • They are saturated with a knowledge of agriculture, and are not consumed with the ambition to bo rich or to acquiro more land. Their only ambition is to lw qbod farmers. , Denmark a Market Garden. "The Dane has made his laud a dair) farm. . Denmark is-, cultivated liko u market garden. The chief . products are butter, eggs, bacon, poultry, and fine stock. A . generation ago, like tho farmers of England, the Dane was threatened with extinction by the wheat-fields of America, Russia, and tho Argentine Republic. But the Danish peasant is self-reliant, and he is a convinced Free Trader. He looked about for other markets. He found that England, was'buy. ing her butter, eggs, and bacon from Ireland. He sent a commission to that country to ascertain how Ireland produced * these things. Then . Parliament and the people set to work to convert Denmark into a market garden. That was only a quarter of a century ago. Soou the Danes -were producing better bacon, better butter, better eggs,' than tho Irish. Within -the last few years no less than four special commissions have been, to Denmark from Ireland and Scotland to find out how it is done. For the Danes .have captured the English market. And they have done it by improving upon Irish' methods. . ■ "Denmark is now exporting to Germany, to England, ■to South America, and even to tho Philippines. The Co-operative Movement. "The other great factor is co-operation. The Danish farmer gets all that he produces—absolutely all. The State owns the railways and protects the farmer from exploitation. And; he himself performs all of the processes of production, distribution, and exchange. The' co-opera-tive' movement began with dairying. -■ Op to about 1880 each farmer made his own butter. It was very costly, and there was no uniformity in the product. About this time a new device vias invented for butter-making. A number of farmers got together and purchased one of the machines. Its success was immediate. Other villages followed. To-day there are 1087 co-operative dairies, with a membership of 155.000 farmers. There are also 200 other private dairies. Nearly 95 per cent.' of tho farmers are members of the cooperative dairies, which ship nearly JJ200.000 worth of butter a, week to'Eng"The peasant is also his own banker. There are 53G co-operative savings banks in the country, ' Here the farmer places his savings. Here he goes when he wants a loan. The deposits in lllllii amounted to .£11,700,000, aud the number of depositors to 1,352,000 (over half of the population), with an average deposit of .£'3l. Bat the co-operative story does not. end here. The farmer does his own buying 'at wholesale. Through these ■ purchasing societies he buys food for his "attic. Almost everything that he consumes comes to him at cost. It is purchased by central agencies made up from representatives of local agencies. The goods are then distributed to the stores, one of which is to be found in every village. Thus he gets his agricultural implements. Thus he buys his food aud all his supplies. He saves the profits of the jobber and the retail dealer for him«elf. The turnover of the purchasing societies in 1907 was 4:2,500,000.

"What is the lesson of it all? In Iha first place, it demonstrates the controlling influence of a system of landowner«liip on the life of a people. Denmark is democratic, enlightened, and self-gov-erned because the great bulk of the people have an interest in the soil. France, Holland, and Switzerland prove the samo thing. It shows, too, that poverty can be reduced to a minimum and the wellbeing of all the people promr.tcd bj State aid and co-operation. Even wagoj in the city are determined by the agricultural situation. The ease with wMch, men live on the farm and acquire holdings of their nwn compels the employoi to compete with the land for his tabnar, The laud question thus lies'at the ru*T of the wages question. " '