The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-05-22

Denmark, a little country with less
than fifteen thousand square miles o
area, established itself as one of the
best agricultural centers in the world
Why is IL that Denmark produces the
best butter the best bacon the best
eggs that have ever been placed upon
the markets of EurOpe2 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
eNpanse Of windswept 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
70 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- .
tions. Export duties made foreign
commerce Improbable Early in the +.
nineteenth century economic condi- |.
tions had only begun to improve when /
the Napoleonic wars again spread dis .
asJer and poverty over the country. |
Still a 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 its
the wealthiest country in
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 consumer pays
for Danish farm products actually
reaches the pocketbook 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-
BEmer pays for his product.
How has Denmark reached this posi-
tion 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
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
to do these things, but it
requires something more. 1t requires
In addition scientific agricultural
a big conception Of the agri-
possibilities Of the country and
q generous loyalty to state and com
aggregate Of qualities that
none but an educated man possesses.
And the Dane is indeed in very truth
Ia every sense Of the word an educated
man He has been trained to make
The best use Of himself and Of his en-
gironment.
AS a boy he was compelled by law {
10 attend school until he was fourteen. {
His teachers we're mature, well-trained {
men Of good intellectual ability, well
paid, and, in most cases, community (
eaders and organizers.
Maurice Francis Egan, American