Page:Economic Development in Denmark Before and During the World War.djvu/27

Rh 33,000 labourers. Everywhere it is to be noted that the lower classes greatly increased in numbers. If we glance at the statistics of trade and industry for the last four generations, we note a similar change. In 1911 there were throughout the country about 72,000 male employers over eighteen years of age, about 10,000 office-workers and 138,000 workmen proper. Labour tended to concentrate in the capital of the country, Copenhagen, in a proportion of about five workmen to one employer; in other towns there were approximately three workmen to one employer; in the country, scarcely one. But while the industrial development of Denmark has been slight in comparison with that of other countries, it has, nevertheless, been sufficient to form a gulf between employers and employees. The strong class feeling of earlier periods still exists, but in a new form; its basis is no longer trade rivalry, but the antagonism of capital and labour, which often develops to the point of open conflict.

It would not be correct to consider the changes in the structure of society as chiefly responsible for our present social ideas, since the latter would certainly have sprung up even if the classes had remained in the apparent relative conditions of 1787. But these changes must necessarily have influenced our present problems and their solution, giving them a different character and greater dimensions.

The Rise of the Lower Classes

The class distinctions of to-day are essentially different from those of the past, and the difference is manifest in all countries. The social gap separating the peasant and the noble in the eighteenth century was enormous; and under lying it was a deep-rooted conviction that every man was born into his class, whether that of noble, peasant, or plain citizen. There might be a feeling of dissatisfaction among the poor, and this feeling might even, under special circumstances, lead to revolt. Almost all countries have known peasant 