The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-05-20

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,
tural nation does not seem the plan
which nature originally had for these
islands and this peninsula.
Repeated Hardships.
Man has been no kinder than nature
to this little country. In the eight
eenth century the nobility and the
crown owned all the valuable lands,
while the peasantry were either serfs
or tenants under impossible condi-
lions. Export duties made foreign
commerce Improbable. EARLY in the
nineteenth century economic condi-
tons had only begun to improve when
the Napoleonic wars again spread dis
aster and poverty owe the country.
Still q little later Denmark's Ger
manic neighbors to the south took
from the already small nation the
province of Schleswig-Holstein Then
Germany, in the early eighties, built
up a high tariff wall which excluded
Danish products. The commerce upon
which the people depended for their
revenues was gone, and the country
was still again grievously stricken.
Its Present Prosperity. :
Yet today, in spite of all these handi-
caps, Denmark is in proportion to it's
population the wealthiest country in
Europe. Eighty-nine per cent of the
agriculturists own their own land. Her
farmers have been called the best
farmers and the most skilled rural
business men in the world. Rural
Denmark produces the best bacon, but
ter and eggs ever produced; their pigs
turn feed into pork more scientifcal-
ly than the porkers of any other ma
ton; their hens lay more eggs, and
their COWS are more effective as milk
and butter producing machines. These
farmers have worked out a system Of
cooperative marketing SO effective
that it is estimated that over ninety
per cent of what the onsum pays
for Danish farm products actually
reaches the pocket-book Of the man
who produces it-a rather significant
figure compared with the generally
accepted estimate that the American
farmer gets only from thirty-five to
forty-six per cent Of what the city con-
sumner pays for his product.
How has Denmark reached this posi-
ton agriculturally? Why is it that she
can produce the best bacon, butter and
eggs? The answer seems to be: First,
because she has an efficient educa-
tional system; second, because the
government is giving aid which, while
effective, is not unduly paternalistic;
third, because Of cooperation.
Danish Farmer an Educated Man.
1t takes brains to raise the most
a~ristocratic sort of products that are
produced in Denmark. No ignorant
people could take the bleak, sandy
plains of Denmark and make great
gardens of them, gardens supporting a
splendid aggressive, progressive, pros
porous race. 1t requires native
shrewdness to do these things, but it
requires something more. 1t requires
in addition scientific agricultural
knowledge, a big conception of the agri-
cultural possibilities of the country and
a generous loyalty to state and COM
munity-an aggregate of qualities that
none but an educated man possesses.
And the Dane is indeed in very truth
in every sense of the word an educated
man. He has been trained to make
the best use Of himself and of his en-
vironment.
AS a boy he was compelled by law
to attend school until he was fourteen.
| His teachers were mature, well-trained
men Of good intellectual ability, well
paid, and, in most cases, community
leaders and organizers.
Maurice Francis Egan American