HOME COLONISATION 71 



INDISTH-LING FRA DEN TIL REVISION AF JORBINK JOBSFONDETS OG HUSLAANEFONDETS REGLER TIL 

 BEHANDLING AF SPORSMAAI.ET OM DYRKNINGSPRAEMIER. M. V. NEDSATTE DEPARTEMENTALE 

 KOMTrt; II. FORSLAG OM LAAN TIL OPRETTELSE AF ARBEIDERBRUG FOR I,ANDARBEJDERE OG 



TIL OPFORELSE M. V. OF BOLIGER FOR ANDRE UBEMIDLEDE (Report of the Ministerial 

 Committee Instituted for the Revision of the Regulations relating to the Funds Assi ned 

 for Purchase of Land and Loans in favour of Small Farmers and the Examination 

 of the Question of Prizes, Cultivation etc. IL Proposals in relation to Loans for the 

 Formation of A iricultural Labourers' Holdin s and the Building etc. of Dwelling Houses for 

 other Persons without Means). Christiania, 1900. 



ScHou: L' Agriculture en Danemark (A",riculture in Denmark), Copenhagen and Paris, 1900, 



Stumpfe (E): Kleinsiedelungsbautcn in Danemark {Buildins on Small Holdin :s in Denmark). 

 In the " Archiv fur Innere Kolonisation." Berlin, Volume II, Number 3. 1909-10. 



Tegninger til husmandsboliger MED VEILEDENDE TEKST. Udgvet af det af l^andbrug min- 

 istcriet nedsatte Udvalg til Tilvejebringelse af Bol ger for Statshusmaem i {Plans and De- 

 scriptions of Cheap Dwelling Houses. Published by the Commission Instituted at the Department 

 of Agriculture for the Construction of Cheap Dti;ellin Houses). Odense, 1909. 



Waage (H): Dansk Agrarpclitik i Nutiden {Danish Land Policy of Today) In the "Gads danske 

 Magasin, " 1907-08. Copenhagen. 1908. 



Do : Vor Agrarpolitik og Indvandringen til Byeme {Our Land Policy and the Rural Exodus). 

 In the "National okonomisk Tidskrift ", Copenhagen. Year 1908. Number 3. 



Warming (G): Haandbok i Daumarks Statistisk {Handbook of Danish Statistics) Copenhagen, 



Wette (D): Das landwirt?chaftlicher Gencsseiisch; flswiftn und die Landarbeiteran=iede'img 

 in Danemark (A iricultural Co-operation and the Formation of A ricultural Labourers' Hold- 

 in;sin Denmark), In the " Wcidewirtschaft " Husum, Jvine, 1912. 



§ I. Introduction. 



Denmark was the first country in Europe in which the Governmentt ook 

 measures for the constitution of small agricultural holdings. Already to- 

 wards the end of the i8th. century, the laws by which the great land reform 

 was effected provided for the formation of such holdings together with the 

 usual peasants' holdings. Indeed the foresight of the Danish legislators 

 is to be admired in that more than a hundred years ago they understood 

 and practically demonstrated the importance of firmly attaching the agri- 

 cultural labourer to the soil. 



Thanks to the measures then adopted, a large number of small rural 

 holdings were formed. Unhappily, the time was not yet ripe for such 

 a step ; some generations ago, it was even found there were too many 

 labourers' holdings and the formation of a peasant proletariate began 

 to be feared. The influence of these fears is met with even in official 

 reports, like that of the large agricidtural commission of 1849 ^^^ that of 

 the commission appointed in 1875 to study the labour question. 



However, towards 1880, manufactures on a large scale began to extend 

 in the country causing a very considerable rttral exodus. At the same time 

 emigration was increasing. The country was threatened with a dearth 



