Evening star., 1949-03-15
Danes Press Hard for Recovery,
But Problems Are Formidable
DoIIor Shortage Is Chief Trouble. but
Industry Is Up, Forms Increase Output
THE Second OF Fire Articles.
ey William N. Morrison

The Second o. Fipe AyttciesJ
ey william n. hessisoM
on frst arriving In Copenhagen
the Paris OF the North"-an
American gets the impression that
nearly everybody In Denmark
rides O bicycle. The impression
Ia sound enough. The land Ia low.
fat. short OF oil and gasoline. and
with its lovely countrywide and
wealth of. historic piaees-includ.
ins Hamlet's Elsinore--it Ia q kind
OF constant temptation 70 oil who
live there, or visit there. 70 set
out and pedal.
But Denmark. Of course. In much
more than O tourist attraction or
o place where most Of the citizens
ride bikes for both business and
pleasure. Asriciuiturally, II Ia In
O class by itself.
In Europe, with the exception Of
Russia. 10 10 the only country that
produces o net exportable surplus
Of farm commodities. And In the
world at large, a. q result Of OK.
ceptionaliy intensive cultivation
with the help Of fertilizers, io
wheat. barley and oats output
normally averages more per acre
than any other land anywhere.
Moreover. although II Ia pre-.
dominantly an exporter Of butter.
eggs and bacon. Denmark. despite
having precious little raw ma.
terials In its is.eoo square miles
of area. can take proper pride In
the fact that u has developed q
highly skilled labor force and ah
outstandinaiy good diversified.
tIon of UNCONSTITUTIONAL productive
plants. These include the world.
famous dlesel.ensine and ship.
building works of Burmeister and
VAIN. the great Portland cement
factory. the obei tobacco com.
pany. bis dlstllleries turnins out
akvavit and industrial alcohol. me
breweries, food processins. textile.
leather. wood. metal and techni.
eal.ehemicai industries, and such
other smaller but well.known en-.
terprises a. the makins OF beau.
tlful porcelain and silver and the
liaueur Cherry Heerins.
LIvlng standard Was High.
Before the var this combined
farm. factory economy gave Den.
mark one of the highest standards
OF living In Europe. with the war,
however. the picture ehansed. Al.
though the country escaped heavy
physical damase and continued 10
have plenty 10 eat. the German
oeeupa ton worked havoc on DAN
ish finances. resulted In great wear
and tear on industrial equipment,
caused o disastrous drop In live
stock holdings because feeding.
stuffs could not be imported. and
In general profoundly upset the
whole pattern OF Denmark's eco
nomlc existence. with We day.
therefore. the Danes found them.
selves neck deep In q crisis.
To understand the severity OF
that crisis. u 10 necessary TO un-
derssAnd the ipaportance OF aRteer.
esss and bacon .~the PROBES oEI6h OF
which Ia the ,nxAme objective Of an
penikh agriculture. Before the
usf, the srester part OF the pro.
duction vas exported, with Britain
taklns the n,est Of II and payins
IN u In stertsg readily sensert-
lbIe lsto doliai with whIck the
,paitss could !, bus. oilcakes and
other feedinastuns, toeether with
industrial items, from American
suppliers,
Before the war. too. Germany
vas en- important outlet for Dem
marks hess, poultry and beef.
supplying In return finished and
semif,nished goods vital 10 the
eountry's economy. When We
day came, however. the German
market was lost altosether. and
the British sterling ceased being
convertible into dollars.
no Denmark thus was faced with
the grave problem Of how TO
finance imports from the Western
Hemisphere imports essential not
only 20 its farming but also 10 the
continued operation Of It's indus.
trial and handicraft setup. which
ordinarily supplies about two
thirds OF the nations consumer
demands and which provides Q
livelihood for Q third Of the T..
900 coo population. There In no
exageeration In saying that were
Il not for the Economic Co-opera.
ton Administration's initial allot-
ment Of si00. 900 900 In loans and
grants. the Danes would have been
economically paralysed.
NesterinG Livestock.
But instead Of beine paralyzed
today. Denmark Ia restoring It's
livestock numbers. increasing It's
agricultural output and working
at O level of industrial production
about 2S per cent above prewar.
The problems ahead OF it-par-
ticularly the dollar problem-re.
main formidable. but II has hopes
that its long term recovery pro.
gram will work well enough TO put
the country back on q sound basis
by the time the Marshall Plan
ends.
The major assumptions OF that
program include l that between
now and 1898 the country viii
receive an additional $500 900 900
In ECA aid: az that there will be
a considerable increase In trade
with Eastern Europe and Ger
many: 81 that q solution will be
found 10 the problem Of convert.
Ing Denmark's British sterling In.
come into dollars. and 90 that
the United States will lower tarin