Page:Economic Development in Denmark Before and During the World War.djvu/93

Rh allotments. Five years later an act was passed by which the state might lend to applicants who fulfilled the conditions for becoming state cottars an essential part of the total value of the holding at a very moderate rate of interest. About 9,000 small holdings have thus been created, and at the same time other ways of furthering allotments have been devised. In 1906 an act was passed granting government loans to societies or associations which would buy large properties for allotment purposes; and an act of March 20, 1918, created a fund of 5,000,000 kroner to be loaned to small farmers and traders for the defrayal of operating costs. But public opinion was not satisfied with this. The desire for further changes, such as the abolition of restrictions, such as entails and fiefs, on the sale of land, the forced sale of land held by the Crown or by the established church, etc. had become very strong, and a new agricultural commission was accordingly appointed in 1910. Its proposals will be dealt with below.

The above-described revolution in the status of the agricultural classes has greatly broadened the base of the social pyramid. As the lower classes have increased in numbers far more rapidly than the upper classes, not a few who might have preferred to gain their livelihood on their own farms have flocked, as in other countries, into the towns, with many petty trades, men and manufacturers. Many philanthropists would fain see them back on the farms again.

To form an idea of the condition of the lower classes of the agricultural population, we must have recourse first to the statistics of wages. In 1872 the annual income of an agricultural labourer who paid for his own food was about 407 kroner ($109). Food was dear, though certain other necessaries of life, such as lodging, were comparatively cheap; but on such an income it was practically impossible for a family to live, unless the head of the house had some land of his own, or unless his wife and children were able to eke out his earnings. But far worse was the condition of a labourer who boarded at the farmhouse. The supporter might live