Denmark Author:Frederic Clemson Howe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER in A PEACEFUL REVOLUTION Measubed by the well-being of the people Denmark is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. There is a telephone in ne... more »arly every good-sized farm and upon all the cooperative premises. Farm machinery is widely used. The deposits in the savings banks are high. The number of depositors is 51 out of every 100. Seventy-eight per cent of the savings banks are in rural districts. They are largely cooperative and are managed by the farmers themselves. Manufacturing is of recent origin and minor importance. Farming is the all-important industry and the state is consciously organized to promote the well-being of the farmer. The most distinguishing thing about Danish agriculture is the large number of small farms and the high state of cultivation that prevails. There are 250,000 farms in the country, of which 180,000 are of less than 40 acres, while 133,000 are of less than 13l/2 acres in extent. Thereare 68,000 farms less than 1)4 acres. Like France, Holland and Switzerland, Denmark is a country of intensive farming and of widely distributed farm ownership. The old feudal 'system which still prevails in England, in parts of Germany and Italy, has been almost completely destroyed and the great estates distributed among the peasants. In spite of the wide subdivision of the land, the Danish farmer is prosperous. He makes a comfortable living on a very small acreage. The average farm produces $600 a year for export, in addition to household use and domestic consumption. The annual exports of farm produce amount to $150,000,000. This indicates the possibilities of farming when the economic foundations are right and the farmer is protected from exploitation and is aided by the state. The Awakening. A little more than a generation ago, conditions...« less