The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-01-22
DENMARK AIDS HER
SMALL FARMt RS
Waste Lands Reclaimed aud
Agriculturi,ts Are
Helped.

Edtor Advertiser For the accompany
ins attcn ! am indebted 20 NJ Carl
Jensen. th. local contractor and railroad
man, Who has Just returned from a TIN
to Europe. II furnishes a striking Illus.
tration Of what even small country
may accomplish with b,hencont land
lave ana liberal education, and not sui
fcrinE b...l The yoke o. l.Da. ordlsm,
trusts and Cytortloulic transp lrtatlcu
companies. and " Is small wonder that
Denmark has been for long time an
object OF interest to tho student OF po~
litical economy. \ his same small prin-
cipality which since the German con-
quests has been reduced to an area OF
only little more than double that of
the Territory of Hawaii nevertheless
sustains n popuAtiun Of 100000 In afrlu-
ence. 1t has an annual revenue OF over
S2O.OO0.0OO with an export trade of do
nestle produce of not less than SI50OO,-
600, the value of butter shipped to the
United Kingdom alone In 1898 being
nearly onc-half of the latter amount
When one considers that the tillers of
the soil are each and all freemen, l think
that these figures teach their own sig
nificant lesson.
So strongly was Mr.. Jensen impressed
with the progressiveness, the prosperity
and the happy conditions of life among
the agricultural classes in Denmark that
being wise in his generation and seeing
an opportunity to enjoy the rest of his
life in comparatively much greater COM
fort in his mother country, he invested
most of his accumulated wealth on the
spot and intends shortly to return thth-
er for good. And who shall blame him?
VIGGO JACOBSEN.
Following is the article referred to:
In a leahet issued by the Howard AS
sociation. how the Government of Den
mark has assisted its farmers is shown
in detail, together with the eXtraordi-
nary successful results of such aids, says
a London newspaper. Rural education IS
said to be the main secret of Denmark's
success, and IT is stated that the con-
trast between the British and Danish
rural districts is somewhat humiiating
to Englishmen.
How deficient, compared with Den
mark, are the rural schools of England,
and how backward are the conditions of
rustic society? 1t is hardly too much to
say that the British agricultural inter-
ests and population are a century or
more behind Denmark. If energetic in
dividuals and societies in both the rural
and urban districts of Great Britain and
Ireland will initiate the example of the
Danish pioneers to the land a rural en-
odus" may be reversed by strong cur
rent of back to the land Then ii
may be no longer needful, as now, for
Great Britain to spend some Gl5O,oo0,OOO
for foreign produce which might
be grown at home.
Denmark has within a few years re-
claimed some 1000 square miles of pre- ,
viously waste land which had been re- .
garded as almost valueless. About five .
sxths of her territory is possessed by
small freeholders and peasants. The =
have established some 400
banks, chiefly under their own manage
ment. They have set up cattle-breeding
cooperative steam diaries, balS-
cries, factories and mills. Today Den
mark is the second country in the world
in regard to wealth per head of its popu-
ation.