The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-02-18
WEEKLY CALENDAR OF ORGANIZED LABOR

despair the Engli=h have new
theories bout the payment of debts
and the FreAch and BeIgians in their
financial lunacy, are secretly whis-
pering reputation. Here in Denmark
the people are buying and selling
and getting gain from their farming.
manufacturing, shipping. and mer-
chandising as they have in the past.
They are taxed a bit more. and have
had to raise their wage level to meet
the high cost of living. They are
paying their debts in good golden
kronen, and, though afflicted now by
the business depression throughout
the world. are thrifty and cheerful
and expect to continue upon the won
derful course of prosperity they have
had during the past two generations.
Country Rose From the Ashes
The story of this country's rise
from the ashes should bring hope
to every nation OF Europe now in the
dumps of despair. AT the close of
our Civil war the conditions of
Denmark was so desperate that no
nation in Europe was poor enough
to do her reverence. Like the Cor
many of today. she had long since
fallen from her place as one of the
richest and most powerful nations
of the world. More than one hun
bred years before Columbus dis
covered America, Denmark had swal-
lowed Norway which she kept until
she sided with Napoleon and the
Battle of Waterloo sounded what
seemed to be her death knel1. In the
revolution that followed, Norway was
taken from her and given to Sweden.
The wars had ruined her trade and
her debt was enormous. Her people
half slaves, as then were tho peas
ants all over Europe, and the King
and Nobility ruled.
As time went on matters grew
worse, and--1S64 Russia. that
glutton of kingdoms, gobbled Schles-
wig Holstein, which, by the treaty of
Versailles, she has had to ,disgorge.
The country grew poorer and poorer.
and at the time of the Francho-
Prussian war, 1t seemed hopelessly
bankrupt. The land was suited to
nothing but farming, and the United
States was sending to Europe great
quantities of her farm products.
Germany had shut out Danish exports
by a high protective tariff, and even
God seemed to frown for He sent
droughts and floods and diseases of
cattle. The condition of Denmark
then was really almost as bad as
that of Austria and Hungary now.
Indeed, 1t was worse, for these coun-
tries are rich in good soil and other
resources.
Denmark of Today
All that was less than fifty-three
va &c n OF n nf
today. They are one of the richest
healthiest people of the whole world.
They stand high in education and
culture. Their women have equal
rights with the men. They hold a
place In every profession and they
are part of every university. Their
King has lost his power and become
a figurehead. and the people have a
democracy as free as that of the
Union, although their country is only
a patch compared to ours. 1t would
take two hundred Denmarks to equal
the United States. Including the new
lands of Schleswig- Holstein, 1t Is
half the size of Indiana and little
moro than twice that OF Massachu-
sets. 1t exceeds Belgium and Hol-
land by only a state or so as large
as Rhode Island, and is has less
available good soil than either. The
country is low and flat. 1t floats,
as 1t were, on the sea, almost block
Ing the entrance to the Baltic.
Denmark naturally belongs to Nor
way. Nine or ten thousand years ago
at the time of the glacial period.
the site of Copenhagen was a part
of the great reef of chalk and lime
toh H. a
of Denmark. Then the whole coun-
try lay under the sea, but the huge
ice sheets, as thick as those that
cover the Greenland OF today, moved
down from Norway, carrying earth
and stones with them. They were
several miles thick and, when they
struck this chalk reef, they dropped
the earth and stones upon it and
thus built this land. Today the
scientists can follow the burrows
plowed by the rocks In the beds of
the glaciers all the way from Nor
way to Germany; and in my motor
travels across country, have
looked down through the green
waters of many of the lakes and
seen the original white chalk of that
mighty reef of the past.
A land formed in that way could
not have very good soil. and were
1t not for the fertilization and in
tensive cultivation adopted by the
Danes. many of their farms would
be producing as little as the worst
patches of our Rocky Mountain
highlands. For long time the coun-
try was like the marshes between
New York city and Newark and it
was about the worst of all the starve-
crow farms of continental Europe.
Much of the soil was too poor to
grow trees and even now only about
one twelfth of it is wooded. 1t has