Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1914-01-30
From the battle-ground Of Thought
How il is Done in Denmark.

How it is Done in Denmark.
We are taught to believe that eff
cheney can ouly be secured by mon
opoly. II is assured that any cooper
alive cdltrol Of industry must be
wasteful Yet the million and half
farmers Of Denmark disprove this. On
their own initiative they have organ
lied themselves into every kind Of CO.
operative business. to carry on trans
actions which run into millions Of dol
lars every year. They DO it with the
economy and efficiency Of the most
mighty organized private business.
ana they 90 it through cooperation,
ana not through Socialism. They buy
what they need at wholesale and they
sell to themselves at retail in the same
way. Thus the farmer gets all that
ne makes. He has got rid Of one
mildieman after another. and deals
almost as directly with his custom
ers as did his ancestors a hundred
years ago at the village fair.
found cooperation everywhere
The movement is only thirty years
old, but in that time Denmark has
been changed from a barren country,
in which the peasants were not differ
ent from those Of Germany, into the
worlds agricultural experiment sta
ton. Little by little I learned the
story Of the transformation; story
that makes poverty seem a crime in
a country with the resources Of our
own; story that suggests a vision
Of the unfathomed possibilities and
talents If the ordinary man. Further
than this, it shows how easily poverty
can be cured by law rather than by
charity, and this it the big thing this
little country teaches TO all the world. 1
Frederic c. Howe. in the January
Metropolitan.
Animals Of a Backyard.
December in our back yard is
cruel destroyer Of illusions. The /
green draperies. with which nature /
clothed it, have worn out and blown .
away. All is bare and brown. Every /
rut and hollow shows in the lawn. /.
the old pear tree lifts crooked and /
decrepit branches like figures knotted /.
with pain; every place in the fence I
that needs repair obtrudes Itself upon .
my guilty gaze; the green screen Of F
the clematis has disappeared disclos- /
ing every little coqC.try Of leaf and /
flower and has surrendered uncondi- 1
tionally to the drab unlovliness of /
middle age The grace of growing /
things has departed and left the ugli-
ness Of decay.
Then comes the snow winters
white sister Of charity, TO clothe the
naked end to coverthe face of the
dead.
What a wonderful transformation
our back yard undergoes during the
first real snow storm. All the little
holows and inequalities are filed. and
a white lawn lies smoother than any
greensward. Every harsh and awk-
ward angle in fence and ash bin and
wood pile is made smooth and round.
English starlings. those whistling lit
lie brothers Of the blackbird. come to
he yelled garden in search of seeds.
Even the gnarled old pear tree takes
IN a sort Of venerable beauty. sucn
Is soft white hair gives to an old
nan. Busting Boreas has left behind
lin a gentle peace.
Il hope old age is going to be like
hat If youth is feverish and fretful ,
nd if middle age is a. disillusionmeut
M a bore Csome say it is, though ]
on't believe it,. there should come d
ime at length when the struggle is
yer and peace settles down upon the
oul.
Down under the snow my bulbs
re sleeping. the rose bushes in their
inter coverings are dreaming Of =
une. Already I am beginning 10 look
orward to my crocuses and bluebells
nd snowdrops, and the first green
.aflets on the lilacs. I hope old age
ill not be deprived of like vision -
{ springtime. with blossoms and .
reen somewhere" w. A u"
yer, in the Craftsman"
Future of the Desert.
The difference that is put on the
llue Of land now and ten years ago -,
an indication of the transformation
the country. Twenty years ago
was selling at from twenty-five to %
ty dollars a quarter; ten years ago VI
from fifty to one hundred dollars W
quarter. and today at about one II
ousand dollars a quarter. eli
Our problem for success out here is ai