The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 30. DENMARK'S OBJECT LESSONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 95, 30 July 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 30. DENMARK'S OBJECT LESSONS.

Denmark is a farmer State. It has a farmer Parliament, a farmer Ministry, a fanner point of view. Its legislation is that of the farmer, too. In Denmark tile people really rule. The Danish peasant' is the direct antithesis of the English I peasant .who wants to be ruled by a lord.: The State of Denmark, in short,' is a peasant democracy. Its ruling class is the small farmer possessing noin fortv 1 to sixty acres of land, and with an out- | look on life that is exclusively agrieuij tural. How entirely successful these peasant farmers of Denmark have bora is set forth in a most illuminating article by Frederic C. Howe in the OutlooK of New York. The- facts wih-ich he give# constitute an object lesson to New Zealand in thrift and co-operation. "The land," says Mr, Howe, "is far 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 i» the economic framework of his civilisation. The Danish peasant is V his own landlord, and he has made use of the Government to promote the acquisition of land by the people. About 1850 credit societies were organised which, supplied capital to the peasants with which to buy land. In 1899 and in 1904 the State stimulated this movement still further by laws that enabled the small peasants to borrow money from the State 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 per cent, of which is -to repay the loan. The effect of the law was to increase the value of tihe land of the large estate owners, just as has the Small Holdings Act in Great Britain, [and the Land for Settle- | ment' Act in New Zealand.] But j the general effect of the legisJlation and of the mutual credit ; societies has been to cheek the moveI ment of the people away from the land. | Denmark is almost the only country j where this is true. There is very little ■ tenancy in Denmark. Over 89 per cent, i of the farmers own their farms. They | work" only their own holdings. Only i about 11 per cent, are tenants. The total number of farms is 250,000, with a cultivated area of oven ten million acres. The Dane is the best farmer in the world. The secret of his success is intensive cultivation. The land is minutely divided, the average size of the farms, which comprise nine- tenths of the land, being .thirty-nine acres. About a hundred thousand peasants witli larger farms ranging from 13% to 150 acres, who own 'ibout seven-tenths of the land, live very much better than the farmers just mentioned. They work their farms partiy with hired labor, and devote a lot of time to politics and the co-operative undertakings witihi which they are connected. The Dane has made his iana a dairy farm. Denmark is cultivated lrke a market garden. The chief products are butter, eggs, bacon, poultry and fine stock. A generation ago, like the farmers of England, the Dane was threatened with extinction by the wheat fields of America, Russia and the Argentine Republic. But the Danish peasant is selfreliant, and he is a convinced Free Trader. He looked about for other markets. He found that England was buying her butter, eggs and bapon from Ireland He sent, a commission to that 'country to ascertain tow Ireland produced these things. Then Parliament and the people set to work to convert Denmark into a market garden. That was onlv a nuarter of a century ago. Soon the Danes were producing better bacon, better butter, better eggs, than the 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 Irish methods. Denmark is now exporting to Germany,; to England, to South 'America, and even to the Philippines. The other great factor is co-operation. The Danish fanner gets all that he produces—absolutely all. He performs all of the processes of production, distribution, and exchange. The co-operative movement began with dairying. Up to about 1880 each farmer made his own butter. To-dav there are 1087 co-operative dairies, with a membership of 158,000 farmers. There are also 200 other private dairies. Nearly 95 per cent, of the farmers are members of the co-operative dairies, which ship nearly £200,000 worth of butter a week to England. The Danish Co-operative Egg Export Society was the next organisation. It was organised in 1895. It now has 57,000 members. The eggs are colleotci and stamped each day in a local circle. Then they are sent to larger circles for export. In 1908 the export egg business amounted to £1,320,000. Danish eggs bring fancy prices, for they are always fresh and carefully graded. The peasant is also his own banker. There are 536 co-operative savings banks in the country. Here the farmer places his savings. Here he goes when he wants a loan. The deposits in 190G amounted to £41,700,000, and the number of depositors to 1,352,000 (over half of the popuwwon), with an average deposit of £31." What is the lesson of it all? In the first place, it demonstrates the controlling influence of a system of landownership on the life of a people. Denmark is democratic, eni lightened, and self-governed because the ' great bulk of the people have an interest in the soil. France. Holland and Switzerland prove the same thing. It shows, too, that poverty can be reduced to a minimum and tihe well-being of all the people promoted Iby State aid and cooperation. Even wages in the city are

determined by the agricultural situation. The ease with which men live on the farm and acquire holdings of their own compels the employer to compete with the la«Kl for his labor. 'The land question thus lies at the root of the wages question. Further than this, the Danish farmer appreciates that he is a consumer as well as a producer. He has learned that his success in agriculture is the result of his own efforts. He is not afflicted by trusts or monopolies. There >s sufficient competition in the world which

seeks him out to enable him to pick and choose, and he is able to get the best that the world offers and at his own price. The little Stat? of Denmark shows that the old philosophy of individualism has broken down, and • that there are many activities which the State itself must assume in order to protect the people and promote their common welfare.