Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-05-22

training, with all its contact with the
realities of life, and who has learned
il three years apprenticeship how to
farm, has an opportunity to learn how
to be citizen and patriot. But he
has not yet completed his school work
Upon the farm he has learned how to
do things. He has yet to learn why.
So he goes to an agricultural college
and learns the theoretical and scien-
tific why which is back of the prac-
tical how. This is the story of Den
marks farmer in the making, through
common school, apprenticeship, folk
high school and agricultural college.
One has put to travel through the ru-
raj sections of Denmark to satisfy
himself that the outcome of this
process of education is a finished
product of extremely high efficiency.
The State and the Farmer.
The Danish government is not chary
in the aid which it extends to the farm!
err The aid, however, is always ex-
tended upon the fundamental theory
that the best way to help the farmer
is to help him to help himself. Pos
sibly in no other way has the govern
ment SO greatly furthered the inter
ests of agriculture as in assisting in
the acquisition by each farmer of the
soil which he tills. Thanks to the
Joint activities of the government and
the cooperative credit societies, it is
easy to buy farm in Denmark.
If the would-be buyer has forty per
cent of the price to be paid for the
farm and all its equipment he may
apply to credit society for loan of
sixty per cent of the value, the loan
to run for from forty-five to seventy
nine years Each year the farmer pays
from four to six per cent of the prin-
cipal amount borrowed This, how
ever, is not wholly interest, but in
cludes small installment of principal,
so that at the end OF the period for
which the money was borrowed not
only has the interest been kept up, but
the principal has been automatically
discharged.
There are, however, other forms of
loans even more advantageous to the
borrower, particularly if he be one of
the poorer farm laborers. If such a
laborer is anxious to become land
owner on small scale he may under
certain conditions, procure loan for
nine-tenths of the purchase price of
the farm and equipment. The condi-
tions which he must meet are: He
must have been a farm laborer for
five years (the law applies to women
on the farm as well as men); the
land must not exceed ten acres in ex-
tent, nor $2,140 in value; he must
work the farm in scientific manner,
and must agree to follow a proper ro-
tation of crops and, by the use of
manures and otherwise, insure the
continued productiveness Of the land.
For the first five years the 1aborer
pays three per cent interest and moth
ing upon the principal After that he
begins to add small percentage upon
the principal in order to discharge his
debt. At no time, however, does the
total. annual payment for principal and
interest exceed four per cent Of the
amount borrowed.
The government is back Of these CO.
operative credit societies By benevo-
lent legislation it makes their organiza-
ton and operation possible; it assists
in supervision and inspection, and in
some cases it advances to the coop
eratiye society the funds out of which
the loans are made. There are in
Denmark about half million families,
including those in cities and villages.
Cooperative credit societies have a
membership of over two hundred thou
sand-that is to say, two out of every
five families in the entire country
seem to be represented in these CO.
operative credit Organizations. In
fact, it is because 1t is so easy to buy
land in Denmark that the tenant is
disappearing and the small land owner
is taking his place.
Other Government Assistance.
The government has also enacted
much other legislation calculated to
serve the interests of the farmer It
has regulated carefully the manu-
facture and sale of margarine, SO that
it is impossible to import or export
or sell 1t under any false representa-
ton that it is butter. It has regulated
|. the quality Of butter and has forbidden
the export Of butter containing more
than sixteen per cent water, of butter
for the preservation of which anything
other than common salt is used, of
butter colored with any substance de-
rived from coal tar. All butter must
have been made from milk or cream
which has been pasteurized; it must
! have been made in an inspected dairy;
it must have upon it the Danish label
guaranteeing its quality.
The sanitary condition in the cream
cries, the method of packing, and the
process of the sale of butter, are thor
oughly controlled by government au-
thority. If any dairy which. has peen
authorized by the government to use
a Danish label for its product violates
any regulation or law the minister Of
agriculture has the right to take away.
either temporarily or permanently,
| the authorization to use the national
trade mark. Butter from foreign
lands must not be marked in any way
| to imply that it has been made in
Denmark, and those wishing to import
butter must make a declaration and
be properly registered.
Cooperation Chief Factor.
Those familiar with the conditions
| in Denmark concede that the educa-
tion of the farmer has contributed
largely to the success of Danish agri-
culture. Every loyal Dane is proud
Of the government which has seen the
great Importance of furthering the in
terests of the farmer by every means
within its power. But no one who
knows, ever for a minute conceives
that Denmark could have taken her
present position as produced of the
worlds best farm products, without CO
operative organization. 1t is because
| of co-operatiOn that 1T pays to farm