Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1945-09-01
THE SCANDINAVIAN AMERICAN
DENMARK: A Sketch Of The Land,
The Character and the Faith
Of The Danish People
BY G. III. w. HASSELRIIS

land over,
Where sheep nibble at the
heather lean,
Till their acres stand with grass
and clover,
Cattle grazing upon pastures
green.
Fill up holes of ignorance and
bury
Narrow selfishness beneath the
sod,
Of the weark and soft evoke a
people
That will bend it's will alone to
God.
And so they drained their soft
marshes. They fortified the moor
and the heath. They reforested the
barren land of the west coast of
Jutland and stayed the flight of
the sands of the Northern dunes.
They gained over half-a-million
acres of new timberland and more
than a million acres of new farm
land. Danish farms are not large.
There are 100000 of them, and
$4,000 are of less than Is acres.
But 90 percent of Danish farmers
are owners.
But for cultivation of the soil
they did not neglect cultivation of
the soul. That is where balance
enters. Twenty years before the
need was recognized and before
the people asked, N. F. S. Grundt-
Wig had answered with the Danish
Folk School idea. That system of
adult education stresses education
in character, in civic responsibility
and service. These rural folk
schools also extended to
Workers-became schools for De-
mocracy and developed an inner
capacity for working together. In
agriculture cooperation turned out
well. Production increased many
fold. Cooperation proved more
profitable than competition and
just as fascinating. Agriculture,
with industry, is the backbone of
Danish economy. Of 1870 diaries,
turning out the famed Danish but
ter, 1405 are cooperative. There
are 5000 other agricultural cooper
| atiVeS and 1900 consumers Coop
eratives.
The Danes have a proverb say
ing 1T comes again, the farmer
said, as he gave his pig pork. "
The large yield and the high quail
ity of his agricultural products,
derives from the manner in which
the Danish farmer applied science
to his agricultural and animal hus-
bandry and maintained the disci-
pline required for true coopera-
ton.
But the Danes are not all farm
ers. Inventiveness, engineering
skill, craftsmanship and CONNER
cial enterprise have made possible
the development of Danish indus
try despite lack of raw materials
Thus 700 cement factories in
many parts of the world are
equipped with machinery built or
blueprinted in Denmark. Danes APP
ply the same high standard to
seamanship shipping and ship
building. The first diesel driven
ocean-going motorship, the Sc
landia' was built in Denmark
Danish industry features quality
and precision rather than mass
production. Almost 800 years ago
a Dane, Ole Roemer, established
the finite velocity of light. His dis
coveries made possible the preci-
sion instruments of today. The
Danish mind runs to things wei
done, things of beauty, things to
last long time. Danish porcelain
and silverware lead in industrial
art.
There is no illiteracy in Den
mark. Education, from grammar
school until graduation from uni
versity, is free. The University OF
Copenhagen was established be
fore Columbus. Denmark now ha:
about 20 Folk Schools. While these
are cultural schools, many agri
cultural and technical schools fill
the vocational need. All cities hav,
commercial and technical COntinu