16
TÍOMR ANI» FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Agricultural Prosperity in Denmark
Being an Analysis of H. Eider H aggard’s Great A gricultural
W ork on 'R ural Denmark and Its Lessons.”
Mr. Merchant!
I
BY IRA A. KIDDER, LIBRARIAN decreases, and the am ount for paym ent
Oregon Agriculture College.
increases so th a t the d eb t to the state
MONG th e recent books o f in terest
to farm ers is H a g g a rd 's * ‘ Rural
D enm ark and Its L essons.”
It
•hows how, by a proper system of farm
¡ng and general cooperation, th ey have
trium phed over the d ifficu lties of soil
and clim ate and low prices, until from
a nation on the verge o f ruin they have
become one of th e most prosperous of
th e ag ricu ltu ral nations. T heir cooper
ation is of the most practical kind,
and every ad v an tag e is taken of mar
k et conditions. In th eir cooperative
dairies, th e collection of th e milk is
made by the dairy, th a t is, th e individ
ual farm er does not brin g in big own
milk as in most of our cooperative d air
ies. E xcept fo r one day a week, in
m any of the large dairies no b u tte r is
made, th e cream being exported to G er­
m any, w here th ere is a d u ty on b u tte r
but not on cream.
is liquidated in 98 years. Jn e of the
argum ents ag ain st th e success of the
system as practiced a t present is th a t
the sale of land is not compulsory, and
th e land owners charge more th an the
value of the land. The purchaser being
eager to secure a holding, and g ettin g
th e money on such easy term s from tin-
state, purchases a t th is in flated price.
The second argum ent is th a t the sta te
receives only th ree per cent interest,
bu t cannot itself borrow a t less than
th ree and a q u arter to th ree and a half
per cent, and the loss comes out of the
tax p ay ers fo r the b en efit of a single
class. I t is generally fe lt th a t one-
ten th is too sm all a proportion for the
small holder to have in his possession
a t th e sta rt, and does not give him su f­
ficien t to stock his farm and stand the
stress of accident.
Starting Dairies.
The Danish farm ers buy and sell en
tire ly through cooperativo societies,
W ithout these th ey say it would be
impossible to get along successfully.
D enm ark has a system o f credit
unions or banks, which are p riv ate co­
operative in stitu tio n s, and are not g u a r­
anteed, though carefully inspected, by
the governm ent. The in terest paid on
loans is from three to four and a h alf
per cent. The sinking fund, ns a rule,
is one per cent.. These unions or banks
aro very successful.
In closing his book M r. H aggard
shows th a t the ag ricu ltu ral prosperity
of Denm ark depends upon tnree things:
F irst, th eir having turned from grain
farm ing, for which th eir co u n try is ill
f tted , to d airy and pig farm in g ; sec­
ond, th e ir alm ost universal system of
cooperation, lo th in b uying and selling;
and th ird , th e ir system o f small land
holdings, under w hich n in ety per cent
of th e farm ers own th e ir own farm s.
Mr. H aggard is in English farm er,
farm in g 500 acres, 250 o f which he
owns, 250 o f which he rents. H is com
parisons throughout th e book are with
English conditions. I t would be exceed
ingly in terestin g if we could have such
a co m p artiré study of D enm ark and the
U nited S tates. H owever, th is book
b rin g s to th e A m erican farm er many
most suggestive ideas concerning really
productive agriculture. I t is well worth
purchasing.
A
Cooperative Societies.
In sta rtin g th eir dairies the necessary
cap ital is borrowed and gu aran teed by
th e local farm ers in proportion to the
am ount of milk to be supplied by each
of them. As the fa ilu re of a cooperat
iv e d airy facto ry is alm ost unheard of,
th is g u aran ty is not a souree of anxiety
to the gu aran to r. The milk is tested
once a week by experts, and if a farm
er s milk is below th e te st he is warned
and if the deficiency continues he is
dropped, b u t th is very rarely happens.
M any o f th e dairy farm ers milk three
tim es a day, as it is said the increase
in q u an tity of milk obtained more than
com pensates for th e e x tra labor. The
farm ers in a neighborhood hire cooper­
ativ ely a highly educated, expert wom­
an, who v ists them once a fo rtn ig h t to
test th e milk for b u tte r fa t, and p re­
scribes the proper am ount of food fo r
the cows. The m ilking on m any dairy
farm s is done b y m achines and the
“ s trip p in g ” by hand.
Au U nusual SchooL
In D enm ark th ey have a ra th e r u n ­
usual kind of high chool, which helps
to account for th e high percentage of
education in D enm ark. This school is
n early self supporting, th a t is, it re ­
ceives very little governm ent aid, and
has some p riv ate '-apital, b u t its chief
support is th e tu itio n of the students.
These are young men and women of
from seventeen to tw in ty -fiv e years of
age, who f a y fo r the six m onths session
F ran ce has 20.994 m utual b en efit so­
>75.00 tu itio n and fees. The school is
in session for six m onths for th e w inter cieties with an ag gregate m em bership of
term , which is largely atten d ed , and 5,040,735 and annual receip ts of $18,-
for th ree m onths in sum mer, w hich is 000,000.
atten d ed anually by -a small num ber of
I SH A LL BE WORTHY.
very young women. T his term of six
I max not rear th e heights [ seek ;
m onths perm its young people to work
My untried stren gth m ay fail ma
h alf the y e a r to pay fo r th e schooling, Or halfw ay up the m ountain peak
th e o th er half. T here are no exam ina-j F ierce tem p ests may assail inc;
though nty goal I never aee,
tions, and no degrees which open doors T Rut,
his thought ahal alw ays dw ell with a »
to a career. They go to school for
I w ill be w orthy of it.
lta rn in g , and for learning only, and
I
may
not
triumph in success
th e su rprising th in g is th a t ten per
D esp ite my earnest labor;
eent of the population go through these I may not prasp reau ts that b less
high schools. I t is no uncommon thing
The efforts of my neighbor;
in D enm ark to fin d a farm hand th a t But. though i f e ' s dearest joy I miss.
T here lies a nam eless strength in th is—
speaks French and G erm an, and reads
I w ill be worthy o f it.
English. A nother p artial cause of the
— fc'.’a W heeler W ileox.
high sta te o f education 'n D enm ark is
th e fa c t th a t books are sent out post
GOLDEN EGGS.
age fre e from several of the large li­
I w ith I owned the falbled gooaa
W hich laid an egg < f gold,
braries.
A shinin g nugget ere / day.
D enm ark has also an in terestin g sy s­
To make her m aster glad and gay.
tem of schools for farm ers, especially
For if I did I'n not turn loose
•
On her iny axman bold
th e sm all land holders.
T here is a
Instead I ’d christen hnr “ M acduff”
sum mer and a w in ter session of si«
And quote* her Mr. Sh akespeare’s stuff.
months each. The pupils are adm itted
w ithout exam ination, a t any age above
And when she would “ lay o n " to p rtiso
And pet her I would seek.
eighteen years. I t costs a little over
And 1 would g s th o every day
$11.00 a month. T his covers instrne
And treasure up her golden lay.
tion, board and w ashing. These schools
And at th e end of each four days
aro very popular, and atten d ed often
(O r niLybe every w eek)
I*d trade her product for one treat—-
by persons of advanced age.
A cquiring Sm all Farm s.
The D anish system of acquiring small
farm s by ta tc aid is in terestin g , but
is still in the experim ental age. The
system is as follows: The farm ers are
allowed to borrow of th e sta te nine
te n th s of th e value of the sm all farm
to be purchased, th e farm er being io
possession of th e rem aining one te n .h |
before he m akes application fo r state
aid.
He pays th ree percent in terest
fo r th e firs t fiv e years. A f’er th at
be pays fo u r per cent • ite re st to the
state. A t firs t th ree per cent o f this
is in terest and one per cent fe e s to th e
liquidation o f his d ebt, b u t as th e d ebt
dec reason th e am ount paid Lai in terest
Since “ T IM E S ARE H A R D ,” now is th e tim e for von to
realize a p ro fit on your old bundle of freig h t bills th a t you have
perhaps regarded as nothing more than w aste paper.
Do you know th a t the fie ig lit and express charges th a t yon
pay are many tim es in error, due to oversight on the part of the
clerk in assessing proper charges, or to errors in classification,
w eights, etc., and th a t which you pay to the tran sp o rtatio n com­
panies in excess of w hat actually belongs to them for th eir services
under th eir legally published ta r if f rates am ounts to considerable
money t h a t you m ight count as profit? in the conduct of your
b usiness! It is a fa c t th a t unless business concerns, how ever
small, employ expert ra te and tra ffic men to look a fte r th eir tr a n s ­
p ortation a ffa irs they lose annually a large am ount of money th a t
could be saved. OUB B U SIN E SS IS TO SA VE T H IS MONEY
FOR YOU FROM YOUR OLD FR E IG H T B ILLS.
We can g reatly b en efit you and your business as a mem ber of
this association, our s ta f f of tra ffic experts are the best th a t
money can produce, and we are saving m erchants throughout the
country thousands of dollars yearly in overcharges found on ex­
pense bills w hich were erroneously charged by the railroads and
express companies. A m em bership in th is association e n titles you
to these savings, to g eth er w ith such fu rth e r services as q u o ta­
tion of rates, routing of freig h t to receive lowest rates, collection
o f loss and dam age claims, In ter-S tate Commerce C om plaints, and
many other services beneficial to m erchants.
The cost of m em bership is only $10.00 fo r the firs t y e a r ’s
service; the second y e a r ’s service does not cost you an y th in g in
cash, as we tak e $7.50 to cover the second y e a r 's service from
the overcharges found in the expense bills only, and we fu rth e r
g u aran tee to 'e fu n d to you under our co n tract moro th a n the
am ount ot cash th a t you originally pay fo r the mem bership.
L et us have your application today.
TH E T R A N S C O N T IN E N T A L TR A FFIC ASSOCIATION.
411-415 Panam a Building,
Portland, Oregon.
Gentlemen:
1 hereby apply for m em bership in tho above named A ssociation to receive
all of the benefits under your general m em bership contract, and I enclose here­
with check for $ 1 0 .0 0 to cover m em bership fee
• Name.
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