A VISIT TO DENMARK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 8

A VISIT TO DENMARK.

THE DANISH FARMER. HIS SUCCESS AS A PRODUCER. -

(Bi F. M. Btkke.)

11. Why, it may be asked, is the Danish farmer able to do successfully what his competitors in more temperate climates are professedly incapable of attempting? The answer is obvious to those who know anything of the conditions on which success in modern farming, as in most other pursuits of the present day, depend. He is able to do so because of his more perfect command of the scientific and practical knowledge that underlies the successful pursuit of his business. Farming is with him a positive science. His education as a boy is co regulated and specialised as to familiarise him not omy theoretically, but in some considerable degree in practice, with ail those aspects of agriculture which will engross the whole of the years of his future life. In that little country of 15,000 square miles, with a population of only 2,630,000, there are 21 agricultural schools, conducted by i;taiis of highly-trained teachers apd equipped with ail the modern accessories for efficient practical training; and at Copenhagen there is a veterinary college which is maintained by an annual grant from the Government of £21,000. In these schools is laid a solid educational groundwork, on which a superstructure is afterwards raised, largely through the assistance of the 1076 co-operative dairy associations, one of whose most important functions is the education of the individual producer in everything that makes for greater skill, for a higher proficiency, and a fuller ,and more intimate knowledge than he could possibly obtain if left to his own initiative, for everything of interest or practical concern in every department of the great industry in which he is engaged. The societies instruct him in the feeding of his cows, in the crops he should grow, end how they should bo grown and subsequently treated so as to produce the test results. He is put in possession of everything of value relative to the methods of his competitors in other countries, of the market movements and their causes, and the means by •which they can be most effectually met, and of a score of other things that the plodding dairy-farmer in other countries, mechanical and stereotyped in his methods and lacking intelligence and enterprise, most likely never hears of. But to ray mind the most invaluable quality of the Danish farmer is the desire, which has become a form of patriotism, to maintain at its highest point the splendid reputation which the country has achieved as a producer. Every individual farmer feels that the good .name of his country is in his keeping, and it has not been known, as -I was told, that one man among the 160,000 members of the co-operative dairy associations has been base or blindly selfish enough to do anything to bring disciedit on his fellow-members, to injure the national trade, or hurt the national pride. This end is attained simply by adhering to the rules laid down by the society.

But it was not always as it is now. There was a time when cleanliness was* not in the .-'scendant. when the rulP3 laid down for feeding and milking were not followed, when slovenliness and carelessness had to be corrected, which was done by the imposition of a fine, in obedience to an unwritten law among the members of the co-opera-tive societies. The oneration of s'.ich a spirit has naturally in time exalted the industrial ideals of the agricultural population, strengthened and elevated tho national character, and tended to produce, in my opinion, one of the finest races of country .oottlars in the world This result is largely due to the influence of the co-oporative associations on a people who are naturally of a composed and serious habit of mmd — a characteristically leinp^rats frugal, and industrious people, for whom life holdj no attraction, apart from thp inteiesis of t.he occupation in n-hich ihev am "ngaged. In addition, there is thp careful supervision exercised by t;ie Government inspector. which is a final ruarantee against either imposition or carelessness.

The co operative dairy movement in Denmark dates from the year 1882. when tho first dairy was established in the west of Jutland. Since then the expansion of the movement has been very ramd, something like an average of 100 co-operative creameries having been established annually, until, as I have already stated, there are now 1076, with a membership of 160,000. During the year 1906 the milk supply amounted to 4590 million pounds, producing 176,000,0001b of butter, the value of which is returned at £9,500,000. As en instance of the progress made since the institution of the co-operative system, it may be stated that in 1881 the value of the butter export amounted only to a million pounds sterling. Un to that time only »he butter mane on the larger holdines was deemed to be fit for evnort, and fetched 4d per

lb maie than the article made by the cottars and small owners. To-day all classes of producers are on the same plane; the small man commands the same price as the large proprietor, with results of a national and individual character that may in some small or inadequate form be realised from a consideration of the figures just given. But it is not in the dairying industry alone that the advantages of co-operation have so strikingly manifested themselves. Under the co-operative system the increase in the export value of bacon and eggs has also bsen very great. A little over 20 years ago the annual value of bacon exported was not much over a million pounds. Last year it was close on five million pounds sterling. Sixty thousand pounds represented the value of the eggs exported then; last year it had risen to £1,800,000. For the year 1906 the value of the butter, bacon, and eggs exported from Denmark amounted to the enormous sum ot £15,560,000. As an instance of what may be accomplished by a highly-trained agricultural population, even under the most depressing condition? of climate, of compaiative poorness of soil, and in the teeth of the fiercest competition from countries highly favoured by natural and artificial conditions, I have no hesitation in saving that Denmark has no parallel in the industrial history of the world. To the farmers of New Zealand especially, still in the initial' stages of the training by which alone they can do justice to their great natural advantages, it provides an object lesson of the most instructive and stimulating kind.

The method of initiating co-operative enterprise in Denn-crk differs somewhat fiom that in vogue in New Zealand. In Denmark, when it is designed to start a co-operative creamery, the farmers of a district simply stipulate to be responsible for a loan from the local bank at a low rate of interest, the expenditure on buildings and machinery being usually from £1200 to '£lsoo. There is, therefore, no issue of shares and no individual expenditure of money, nothing beyond the voluntary liability of each member of the society for the repayment of the loan in proportion to the number of cows he has. After the liability to the bank has been discharged the dairy becomes the property of the society, after which new members joining pay something like 10 shillings per cow for the privilege. The primary object of the society is not the t di6tribution of dividends, but rather the payment of the highest possible price for the farmers' milk, which is paid for by weight and quality, any profits at the end of the year/ after expenses have been met, being divided among the members. As I Ifave already stated, rules are laid down by each society for the feeding and general treatment of cows, and instructions are given to each farmer as to the crops to grow for this purpose. In addition to this the Government exercises through its splendidly-organised and equipped official agencies a close and stimulating supervision over those co-perative associations. Nothing is left to chance or to the possibly fluctuating effort of the societies, the industry in all its branches being treated as if it were the financial life breath of the country, as indeed it is. In the Government laboratories at Copenhagen competitive butter exhibitions are held fortnightly. From 100 to 150 creameries in various parts of the country are represented at these fortnightly competitions. The judging is admitted to be uniformly reliable, and as true as the highest scientific knowledge and the widest experience will admit of. Nor can thsre be any suspicion of unfair discrimination, as the judges are not permitted to know anything of the societies or the districts from which the exhibits have come. But pei haps the most valuable feature of these competitions is the fact that no creamery is aware of the moment it may be officially notified by wire to be represented in a competition. No tim-; is therefore allowed for the preparation of a special sample of the society's manufactui-e, and consequently the results of the tests afford reliable guarantees of the actual standard of production throughout the country. And as the results of the competitions obtain the widest publicity it can easily be understood that ther-3 must be a keen and healthy rivalry, tending to the best results, among the cieamory managers throughout the country. But official assistance and supervision do not end here. Provision is made for practical lectures, expert advice and instruction in everything affecting the manufacture and marketing of butter, and individual dairy managers may rely on receiving prompt and full particulars on any point of importance on which they may desire information. Another excellent detail of this wonderfully organised industrial" system is that the creameries over a large area are connected with each other by telephones, which provides for ready communication on all matters affecting their mutual interests. They are also conected by the same means with the capital, which enables them to keep in touch with the daily happenings in the markets of the world in which they may be interested.

Tho marvellous successes echieved by the Danish farmer in. the manufacture of butter have also been repeated in other departments of the great industry of which lie is so distinguished a representative. In the creation of the butter industry he has, I sir pose, furnished the most signal instance on record of the industrial power of cooperation. And in providing: this striking object' Jo^cnn h~ h-,* p-i;iblerl other countries to understand the form that enlight cned State direction may take in the attainment of a lugh industrial ideal. But above and beyond all things else he has demonstrated the value of character as a factor in the success of individual and national enterprise. He has also shown what a larpe place the personal characteristics of a people must always occupy in the opeiatmn of all successful industrial movements. What he has accomplished in regard to the butter industry lip has also succeeded in doing in the egp; and bacon export trade. The application of the same principles of co-or»eration has pioduced precisely similar results.

The first co-operative bacon factory was started in Denmark in 1888. In that year in a single factory 23,4-00 pigs were slaughtered for export. In 1906 there were 33 factories showing an output of 1,051,358 pigs of the value of £4,460,000. The proceedings in connection with the establishment of a co-operative bacon factory are practically identical with those already described in the case of a co-operative crea'nery. There is no issuing or purchasing of sharos. Those who intend becoming members of the society give a written guarantee to send their pigs only to that factory, and also give a written understanding to be responsible for the money

advanced by the bank, which usually T amounts to from £8000 to £10,000. The ! society, in addlti.-t to its other functions, ! provides an expert for the instruction of the members in the breeding and feeding and general treatment of the pig. This official also exercises a careful supervision over the health of the animals, and in the case of an appearance of infectious disease the animals are at ence destroyed. In such circumstances, however, the owners sustain no loss, being indemnified unde- a system of insurance, which is also co-operative in character. As in the case of the co-operative creameries the society exerts itself to promote a spirit of healthy rivalry among its members, and there are distinctions for the man who forwards the largest number of pigs and obtains the highest award for the quality of his produce. And as in the case of dairy associations, so in the bacon factories, theie is a central federation, which has its agents in London. This federation is informed weekly by the various societies throughout the country of the number of pigs killed. Of this the agents in London are made acquainted by wire, and therefore know with approximate exactness and before the bacon is even yet ready for shipment what the supply will be for each week. It is hardly necessary to say -that the Government inspection both as to bacon and butter is of a kind that effectually prevents a dishonest trader from doing anything that may tend to damage the industrial honour of the country.

What an industry of this kind means in a country where the land is held in such small holdings may be easily understood. Indeed, the majority of the members of those associations are men holding from one to six acres of land, by whom as many as 15 to 20 pigs are sent to the factory annually. Is there any reason why such an industry on co-operative lines cannot be established in many parts of New Zealand by men who might, under suitable conditions of land tenure, be in a position to supplement the proceeds of irregular or uncertain employment from those unfailing sources which those 'small industries affiliated with the soil provide? There should be none, and, in fact and reality, there is none, except it be the lamentable want of foresight that has distinguished successive Governments in their agrarian legislation, and perhaps also something in the character or temperament of the people themselves whose interests are concerned.

As in bacon-curing and butter-producing, the co-operative system has been employed in the organisation and upbuilding of another small-farm industry — the export egg trade,— and with a success relatively that has distinguished the other industries. In 1881, when the production of eggs was first brought under the co-operative system, their export value amounted to £60,000. In 1906 the value of the export trade was £1,600,000. In the year just mentioned the value of the butter, bacon, and eggs exported under co-operative stimulus and direction represented a sum of £15,560,000. And this, be it remembered, after a 6tart from very small things at a time not much farther back than, a quarter of a century. In this we have a record of industry, skill, enterprise, and resource that any country might well 1 be proud pi. I have in passing indicated what I deemed to be the causes that have combined to produce Denmark's unrivalled agricultural prosperity, but I may again repeat that I believe it to be the outcome of many years of patient andi persevering effort towards a clearly defined end, of tho industry and intelligence of the peopie, and of legislation, education, and co-opera-tion, and in an especial degree of an agrarian system based on small holdings and freehold tenure. If you want to find the most striking instance in the history of recent times of the efficacy of the freehold system of land tenure as a stimulus to industry and the achievement of great purpose you must go to Denmark for it. On every hand I was told that nothing but the hope of ultimate and absolute ownership could have held the large body of small occupiers in Denmark to a purDO69 involving so many years of self-sacrifiee-and of labour poorly requited. What England is attempting to do to-day by ite belated Small Holdings Act Denmark did in the early dawn of the nineteenth century. The mass of the people of Denmark were at that period emerging from a condition of absolute serfdom and of ignorance of the grossest kind. The time that has elapsed since then does not usually count for much in the life of a peop.e. Yet at the present day there is not a peasant who is to be found who has not gone through a course of training in one or other of the excellent agricultural or technical schools established throughout tihe country. General advantage also is taken of the* continuation schools, where instruction is given not only in the special subjects meeessary in farming but in other branches of learning, particularly m the history and literature of the country. And tho dominating idea in everything is thoroughness. There are in th© Danish schools no overladen educational programmes, necessitating hurried and superficial training. A smattering of any subject is not deemed to bo worth the sacrifice of time it involves. Besides, it is considered to be detrimental to the national character and to the habit of thoroughness whioh is rightly considered to be the most potent factor "of industrial or business success. , Thus we see that the way was made clear for the successful introduction of the cooperative system by the educative influences at work among the people and the operation of a beneficent system of land tenure. The general effect is> the existence of a large body of small cultivators, industrious and contented, not the possessors of great wealth certainly, but yet in a state of comfort and hardy independence that does not exist, I believe, among the mas? of the population in any other country of Europe, nor perhaps of tfhe world. And the fact that their circumstances give them a steady purchasing power affords a permanent guarantee of employment to those engaged in other industries and trades. There is to-day 6uch a multitude of contrasting proposals in the air as specifics for unemployment and as cures for poverty that one hesitates about increasing the volume of controversy that confronts a bewildered and despairing world. But' in th« case of New Zealand, at least, on© cannot help pointing to Denmark as a country that furnishes many useful lessone to our statesmen and legislators, and some solid hope for those of our people who are wise enough to eschew the illusory and the impossible, and practical enough to apply themselves to the realisation of a. oondi-

tion of general comfort and independence that is much easier of attainment in our highly-favoured country than in any other country in the world.