290 



DENMARK. 



ish possessions in Greenland, 46,740 square 

 miles, population 9,757. The only colonies of 

 commercial importance are the Danish An- 

 tilles. St. Croix has an area of 74 square miles, 

 and 18,430 inhabitants; St. Thomas an area 

 of 23 square miles, and 14.389 inhabitants; 

 and St. John an area of 21 square miles, and 

 944 inhabitants. 



Navigation. The number of sailing-vessels in 

 the merchant fleet in 1884 was 3,009, of 194,- 

 208 tons, a decrease of 18,993 tons since 1878; 

 the number of steamers, 258, of 81,042 tons, 

 an increase of 35,918 tons during the same pe- 

 riod. The number of vessels entered at Dan- 

 ish ports in 1883 was 26,526, tonnage 2,973,- 

 070, of which 1,484,030 tons were under the 

 Danish flag; the number cleared, 25,132, ton- 

 nage 2,944,082, of which 1,418,556 tons were 

 Danish. There were besides 25,778 coasting- 

 vessels entered, and 24,106 cleared. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. The railroad mile- 

 age at the beginning of 1884 was 1,106, of 

 which the state owned 932 miles. The length 

 of telegraph lines belonging to the state in 

 1883 was 2,283 miles; of wires, 6,316 miles. 



Finance. The budget for 1884-'85 estimated 

 the revenue at 53,718,409 kroner (1 krone= 

 27 cents), and the expenditure at 46,996,552. 

 kroner. Of the revenue, 27,217,000 kroner 

 are derived from customs and excise duties ; 

 9,267,900 kroner from direct taxes; 5,557,303 

 kroner from interest of the reserve fund, rail- 

 road surplus, etc. ; 2,475,000 kroner from 

 stamps; 2,014,000 kroner from legal fees; 1,- 

 702,869 kroner from the revenue of the sinking 

 fund, pensions, deposits, etc. ; 1,673,000 kroner 

 from duties on inheritances and the transfer of 

 property; 1,136,230 kroner from the surplus 

 of the domains, and the remainder from other 

 sources. Of the expenditures, 9,724,400 kroner 

 are applied to the service of the national debt; 

 9,240,317 kroner to expenditures on the army; 

 5,769, 694 kroner to the navy ; 4,765,452 kroner 

 to public works; 3,486,052 kroner to pensions; 

 3,186,903 kroner to financial administration; 

 2,571,463 kroner to extraordinary state ex- 

 penditures; 2,572,952 kroner to the adminis- 

 tration of justice; 2,253,746 kroner to the 

 expenditures of the Interior department; 1,- 

 427,077 kroner to public worship and educa- 

 tion; 1,225,760 kroner to the civil list, and the 

 remainder to the expenses of legislation, diplo- 

 macy, and the administration of Iceland. 



The public debt amounted on March 31, 1883, 

 to 200,343,243 kroner, having been reduced 

 from 234,740,700 kroner in 1870. On March 

 31, 1882, it stood at 201,664,701 kroner, di- 

 vided into 187,907,034 kroner of internal and 

 13,757,667 kroner of foreign debt, and was off- 

 set by assets amounting to 84,306,206 kroner, 

 consisting of a surplus of 40,728,814 kroner, a 

 reserve fund of 19,276,262 kroner, provided 

 against sudden emergencies, and various assets 

 amounting to 24,301,130 kroner. The capital 

 expended on the state railroads amounted at 

 the same date to 130,052,923 kroner. 



Army and Navy. All able-bodied citizens are 

 liable from the age of twenty-two to serve 

 eight years in the regular army and reserve, 

 and eight years more in the extra reserve. 

 The infantry are drilled six months, the cav- 

 alry nine and a half months, and the artillery 

 and engineers five months. A part of the re- 

 cruits, those who have learned the least, are 

 called up for a second and longer period of 

 training. Every corps has to drill besides 

 from thirty to forty -five days every year. 

 The war effective in 1883 was as follows : In- 

 fantry, 29,992; cavalry, 2,180; artillery, 4,- 

 755 ; engineers, 1,366 ; total, 35,293 men, be- 

 sides 1,176 officers. The extra reserve could 

 furnish 14,000 men in addition. 



The navy in the beginning of 1885 consisted 

 of 8 ironclads and 3 armored torpedo-boats, 

 besides 25 or more unarmored steamers, mostly 

 small. The most modern of them were the 

 Helgoland, with 12-inch plates and a 36-ton 

 and four 22-ton guns, and the Tordenskjold, a 

 gunboat protected with iron and cork, carry- 

 ing a 50-ton Krupp breech-loader of 15 inches 

 caliber, a 6-inch Krupp and three smaller guns, 

 also two swift torpedo-launches, besides appli- 

 ances for shooting Whitehead torpedoes. An- 

 other torpedo- vessel of the same type was 

 building in 1885 ; also a floating battery. The 

 fleet is manned by 132 officers and 1,218 men. 



The Politieal Crisis. The long constitutional 

 conflict between the Government supported 

 by the Landsthing, on the one hand, and the 

 Folkething on the other, became acute in 

 1885. The people grew dangerously impatient 

 of the pertinacious resistance to the national 

 will made by the King and his unpopular min- 

 isters. For a dozen years the electoral majority 

 has demanded, not merely the restoration of 

 the franchises of the Constitution of 1849 that 

 were curtailed in 1866, but popular sover- 

 eignty and the parliamentary system as it ex- 

 ists in England and France, with a Cabinet 

 responsible to the legislature. At first, under 

 the advice of ministers chosen from the old 

 National-Liberal party, the King made various 

 concessions to the democracy, and the Lands- 

 thing showed a disposition to compromise; 

 but in 1875 the reactionaries gained the ear of 

 the King, who turned to the Conservative party, 

 and called to the helm the so-called " Landown- 

 er Ministry," with the energetic and obstinate 

 Estrup for its chief. The ministry took a firm 

 stand for the strict construction of the Consti- 

 tution of 1866, which makes the King a free 

 agent in the selection of his ministers, and be- 

 stows the legislative power jointly and equally 

 upon the two branches of the legislature. The 

 finance law, or budget of state, must be pre- 

 sented first by the Government to the Folke- 

 thing directly after the opening of the session, 

 and must have three readings in each cham- 

 ber. If, after it has been passed up to the 

 Landsthing, amendments are made by that 

 body, it comes before the Folkething again; 

 and, in case the popular chambeV does not 



