72 DKNMAKK - MIvSCKl.LANKOUS 



of labourers, just at the moment when more were needed on account of the 

 increased cultivation. 



Then people began to consider the formation of small holdings as poss- 

 ibly the solution of the crisis. Various small enterprising farmers also were able 

 to show very good results of their farm work. I^et us add that co-operation, 

 which had made progress on many farms throughout the country, and also 

 the continually increasing advance of education facilitated the task to a 

 remarkable degree. 



In 1894 a commission was appointed to study the question and draft 

 a bill and five years later, in 1899, the first law on the formation of agricul- 

 tural labourer's holdings was promulgated, by way of experiment for five 

 years. The text was revised on April 22nd., 1904 and April 30th., 1909, and 

 will again be revised in 1914. 



This legislation, by which large credits are granted to the rural popul- 

 ation, has attracted much attention. With each new vote the holdings to 

 be formed have increased in number and the group of persons receiving 

 credit has been enlarged and, at the same time, the credit granted by the 

 State has increased. In the various provisions there can be seen the various 

 tendencies by w hich their proposers were inspired. The first law was draft- 

 ed entiiely on the suggestion of the large country land owners, who wanted 

 to assure themselves of a sufficiently large number of permanent agricul- 

 tural labourers. In the last two laws and above all in that of 1909, the de- 

 sires of the rural population are principally considered. That of 1899 was a 

 law on the formation of agricultural labourers' holdings, that of 1909 

 is rather one for home colonisation. 



The Danish Statistical Bureau has just pubHshed a very interesting 

 report on the results obtained up to the present. 



Before reproducing these results and in order that their importance may 

 be better understood, we shall first of all give a summary, in as few words 

 as possible, of the existing organization of home colonisation in Denmark. 



§ 2. Organization of home colonisation. 



For direction and supervision of the formation of labourers' holdings, 

 Commissions have been f 01 med in the district of each general council {Atnis- 

 raadskreds). They are composed of three members, one of whom, the 

 president, is appointed by the Ministei of Agriculture. The two other 

 members, as well as a deputy for each, are elected by a body consisting of 

 two delegates from each of the communes of the district. The members 

 of the Commission only receive a very small remuneration from the Trea- 

 sury. 



Any man (or unmarried woman) whose principal means of subsistence 

 is derived from ordinary agricultural or horticultural labour, performed 

 for other persons in return for wages, may benefit by the law of April 30th., 

 1909 and become a "State peasant farmer" {Statshusmand) . Rural lab- 



