Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1914-06-05

Denmark, a little country with less
than fifteen thousand square miles Of
area, established itself as one of the
best agricultural centers in the world =?
Why is 1t that Denmark produces the
best butter, the best bacon, the best
eggs, that have ever been placed upon
the markets of Europe? How can this
little country export each year fifty
odd million dollars worth OF butter,
over four million ,dollars' worth of
cream and milk. thirty odd million dol
lars worth of the finest bacon and
eight million dollars worth of eggs?
Nature Left Denmark Poor.
Denmark has no rich mines, no great
forests, no water power, The soil,
the one resource, is not naturally fer
tile. In fact, Denmark is a low-lying
expanse of wind-swept sand dunes,
with here and there small stretches
of richer soil. Much of its more pro
ductive soil is the result of scientific
drainage, fertilization and rotation of
crops. Chilling winds sweep over the
country the year around. and these,
with the prevailing fogs. render the
climate an inhospitable one, Copen-
hagen has each year only fifty days of
sunshine, and there are only three
months out OF this twelve during which
Danish cattle can be pastured. That
Denmark should be a leading agricul-
turaI nation does not seem the plan
which nature originally had for these
islands and this peninsula.
Repeated Hardshlps.
Man has been no kinder than nature
to this little country. In the eight
zenith century the nobility and the
crown owned all the valuable lands
while the peasantry were either serfs
or tenants under impossible condi
| tons. Export duties made foreign
commerce Improbable. Early in the
nineteenth century economic condi
lions had only begun to improve wher
the Napoleonie wars again spread dis
aster and poverty over the country
Still a little later Denmark's Ger
manic neighbors to the south tool
from the already small nation tbs
province of Schleswig- Holstein. TheI
Germany, in the early eighties, bull
up a high tariff wall which excludes
Danish products. The commerce upol
which the people depended for thei
revenues was gone, and the countr,
was still again grieyous1y stricken.
It's Present Prosperity.
Yet today, In spite of all these hand
caps, Denmark is in proportion to 1t
population the wealthiest country /
Europe Eighty-nine per cent Of tn
agriculturists own their own land. He
farmers have been called the bea
farmers and the most skilled rura
business men in the world. Rurf
Denmark produces the best bacon, Blu
} ter and eggs ever produced; their pig
turn feed into pork more scientifica
ly than the porkers of any other III
ton; their hens lay more eggs. an
their cows are more effective as mil
and butter producing machines. Thef
, | farmers have worked out a system |
r cooperative marketing SO effectiN
that 1t is estimated that over ninet
. per cent of what the consumer pa
3 for Danish farm products actual
; reaches the pocket-book Of the ma
|
i figure compared with the general
I accepted estimate that the Americs
/ farmer gets only from thirty-five
forty-six per cent of what the city co
e sumner pays for his product.
A How has Denmark reached this po
Il ton agriculturally Why is it that s.
il can produce the best bacon. butter al
, eggs? The answer seems to be: Fir
. because she has an efficient educ
d tional system; second. because
IL government Is giving aid which, VIII
Il effective, Is not unduly paternalisti
"a third, because Of cooperation.
Danish Farmer an Educated Man
a 1t takes brains to raise the M
se aristocratic sort of products that q
81 produced in Denmark. No ignora
II people could take the bleak, san
g. plains OF Denmark and make grt
or gardens OF them, gardens supporting
splendid aggressive. progressive. pr
] porous race 1t requires nat
IN shrewdness to do these things, but
&c requires something more. II requi
ay in addition scientific agricultu
% knowledge. big conception Of the Al
cultural possibilities of the country q
ID a generous loyalty TO state and c'
munity--an aggregate of qualities 1
At none but an educated man possess
And the Dane is indeed IA very tr
IN every sense Of the word an educa
Ell man. He has been trained 70 nj
the best use OF himself and OF his
W. vironment.
dy As boy he was compelled BY
I'm 70 attend school until he was fourts
er- His teachers we're mature. weil-trai
men Of good intellectual ability, :
10 paid. and. In most cases. commui
leaders and organizers.
Maurice Francis Egan. Ameri
"a.