Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/346

 33 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

8. Economic conditions. After the disastrous war of 1864 the Danes beat their swords into plowshares. Their every nerve was strained toward recovering within what had been lost with- out. How well they have succeeded may partially be judged from the following data :

The population has increased until now it is equal to that of the whole monarchy before the loss of the duchies. Besides this, a surplus contingent of some 200,000 has during these years sought new homes across the ocean, where they have become a thrifty, progressive element in the community wherever they have settled, in fullest accord with American sentiment and insti- tutions, through a process of natural, elective adaptation.

A tract of heaths and moors equivalent to one-tenth of the entire area of the country has been converted into grain-fields and plantations. Methods of agriculture have been modernized, processes rationalized, new markets opened up. The co-opera- tive system has almost entirely supplanted individual enterprise, tending to make the farmers independent of outside capital. Co-operative dairies, slaughter-houses, consumers' societies, sav- ings banks, insurance associations, experiment farms, stock- improving centers, literally litter the land all managed by the farmers themselves. It is the boast of the Danes that they lead the world in agriculture. "There is no country in Europe that produces so much food as Denmark in reference to population or to area, the ratio being higher than that of the United States and more than double the general European ratio." 1 Danish dairy products hold a supremacy on the English market, 8 and everywhere command the highest prices. Only 8 per cent, of the land is owned by landlords, and the number of landless cot- tagers is decreasing year by year, thanks to a judicious system of parcellation supervised by the government.

Next to England, Denmark has the greatest per capita wealth of any country in the world. Practically half the popu-

'Mulhall. Most of the figures on which the statements in this section are based have been taken from MULHALL, Handbook of Statistics.

"The value of the export of Danish butter to Great Britain alone rose from $3,836,000 in 1870 to $40,146,000 in 1900 ( = $18 per capita of the population).