Montana labor news., 1937-01-28
(00pERATIVES IN
DENMARK

Denmark is a country Wnlch, all
students agree, has gone farther IN
getting an equitable distribution OF
national income and a universal dis
tribution of education than any 9TH
er. The percentage of adult Hitter
acv in Denmark is 0.001 per cent
which simply means that only those
horn with incurable mental defects
fail to learn to read. The Danish
crime record is one of the lowest in
the world; million-dollar incomes are
unknown in the little country, and
pauperism in the sense that England
had it for centuries is unknown in
Denmark, likewise.
Every American interested in pub
lie affairs wants or should want to
read how Denmark does it; and now
he has the chance. Democracy in
Denmark" is a book in two parts,
for which America can thank two
women. Miss Josephine Goldmark
wrote Part 1, Democracy in Action"
which is at once an account of Dan
ish cooperatives and a social history
of the last 70 years of the country.
Mrs. Alice Goldmark Brandeis, wife
of the Justice of the Supreme Court
and sister of Miss Josephine, has
rendered into English" a scholarly
German work on the Folk High
School" in Denmark. The book, of
nearly 400 pages, well printed and
nicely bound, sells for rs cents.
Of the total area of Denmark, rs
per cent is used for agriculture.
About 95 per cent of the farms are
worked by their owners. There are
100000 farms; more than half of
them less than rs acres, and 20 per
cent of them under eight acres. Den
mark exports more agricultural
products in proportion to population
than any other country in the world.
In 1881, Danish bacon exports were
40 per cent greater than those of all
other countries. Collectively, she is
the worlds largest dairy; yet 80 per
cent of the herds have less than Is
cows.
1.-THE Danish SYSTEM" says Miss
Goldmark, "has won its world emf
nence by its remarkable combination
of two factors; the small farm unit,
essential for its intensive animal in
dustry; and the large scale coopera-
tive farm associations responsible for
the maintenance of uniformly high
quality of production and also for
marketing and finance"
Denmark has a network of coop
erative agencies unmatched in the
world. Nine out of ten Danish farms
are members of dairy c~ooperatives,
and Denmark leads the world in
cattle breeding-there is a special
cooperative for this. C~ooperatives
process and market the vast bulk of
bacon; handle eggs, pack poultry,
buy fertilizer, run enough cement
factories to keep cement cheaper in
Denmark than anywhere else in the
world, and this is just a starter at
the list of Danish c~ooperatives.
They r the essence of industrial
democracy. Each member of a Dan
ish cooperative has one vote, no mat
ter how big his share. Denmark has
accomplished by cooperation almost
everything that America has done by
corporations-except the p~erversion
of laws, corruption of courts, manu-
facture of millionaires, promotion of
strikes, breeding of panics, and
wholesale injustices in the distribu-
ton of national income. And though
the Danish government has backed
the cooperatives, nearly all of them
r of voluntary neighborhood orr
gin.
The story of the folk high schools
is as fascinating as that of the CO.
operatives-and even harder to pack
into small compass. A German
scholar, A. H. Holman, made a study
of these schools in 1909; but not
until Mrs. Brandeis gave us this
rendering into English" was it
available to American readers.
1T is barely half a century since
the first folk high school was opened
in Denmark" says the introduction
to this study. "Seventy-five such
schools have already been estab-
lished in that little country with a
population of 100000, and 80 per
cent of the rural population (men
and women) have been enrolled.
For this practical democratic peo-
pie, the term peasant education
stands for something widespread and
significant. The time has come to
give it due recognition. This educa-
ton now being enjoyed by SO large
a part of the rural population aims
to give solid general training, based
on Danish traditions. 1t has become
a vital cultural force. It's influence