M:\.MAKK. 



li measures nt involved in the inler- 

 : ,iMni-r>y between the majority in the 

 ;|iinj: ami tin- Kstrup ministry. One of 

 :he cMablislmii nt of a free purl uf 

 penhiigen. a project thai first came 

 .-M'.II 11: INS;. An area i- set apart 

 nil. I ireale.l as foreign territury, not siilijeet to 

 u duties ur ivLMilalion^ until the j;oods 

 ..r inanufaetured therein are actually sold 

 :iter into the commerce of tin- cuiinlry, 

 hey are treated a.s imported wares. The 



E: i> expected to eoM. 10,(MK),(MM) kroner, 

 ith (he mercantile and the industrial depart- 



\\ ill lie commit ted to a joint-stock company, 

 \\hi< h \\ill carry the scheme into operation with- 

 in two years after receiving the cession of the 



lie area for the free-port domain. The 

 company must pay to the harbor department a 

 -perilled proportion of its income, to take the 

 place of navigation dues, which were abolished 

 _ sdag. The Government reserves 

 ,-ht to prohibit the manufacture within the 

 free port of art icles that are duty free, but the ma- 

 terials of which are dutiable, such as books, oleo- 

 margarine, and artificial fertilizers. Thedutieson 

 suirar. which have been heretofore 4$, 8^, 9^, and 

 re per pound, or approximately from 1 to 

 8f cents, were reduced to 1, 2, 3, and 6 ore, and 

 the lax on the domestic manufacture of beet-root 

 suirar was lowered to 2 6're from &J 6re. The 

 ii n port duty on chocolate was also lowered, and 

 that on petroleum was fixed at 2 Ore per pound, 

 half the former rate. To compensate for the 

 f revenue excise and import duties were 

 placed upon beer, to go into effect on Oct. 1, 1891, 

 at the same date as the reduction in the customs 

 tarilTs. It was intended to abolish the rice duty, 

 but. owinir to the opposition of the agricultural 

 interest and the reluctance of the Government 

 to make any greater sacrifice of revenue than it 



impelled to, the duty was retained for the 

 present. The question of the beer tax caused so 

 serious a split in the ranks of the Left as to give 

 the Government party a hope that it could gain 

 a majority in the Folkething. though it also was 

 divided on the same question. On one side it 



nt ended that the tax would fall almost 

 entirely on the poor, whoaro the chief consumers 

 of licer. and on the other that it would promote 

 temperance by discouraging beer drinking. There 

 has been heretofore no excise duty on beer. The 

 duty was fixed for the first four years at 7 kroner 

 ami' after Oct. 1, 1895, at 10 Ore per tonde of 29 

 gallons. Imported beer pays 10 Ore per pound 

 in bottles and 4 Ore in the cask for four years, 

 and thereafter 15 and 6 Ore respectively. The 

 jioor laws, have been very liberal in Denmark. 

 Tin' parish authorities must provide the neces- 

 saries of life to all who can not maintain them- 

 selves, either in theirown houses or in the public 

 poor-houses, or by putting them out to be cared 

 for. No one is permitted to starve or to go with- 

 out clothing or shelter. Whoever accepts aid as 

 a pauper for himself or his family forfeits his 



Klit ical rights. If at any time he becomes able, 

 is obliged to pay back* to the municipal au- 

 thorities the sum they have expended for his 

 maintenance as a pauper. The custom has been 

 f"r the authorities to give out the care and 

 maintenance of the town poor to the lowest bid- 

 der. By the law passed in the session of 1890-'91 



IK TIONAKIKS. NKW. 



'.'I!. 



the practice of farming them out is prohibited. 

 Husband and wife must not be -eparaled if iht-y 

 conduct themselves properly ; aged per>on.- must 

 not !.< Mihjei-tcd to annoying or disturbing sur- 

 roundings; and children mu-t not b<- placed 

 undiT immoral influences. If person* who have 

 received aid are able afterward to support thcin- 

 sehrs and their families entirely by their own 

 efforts, their debt to the parish Is canceled, and 

 they are restored to all the rights of citi/.enship. 

 The poor law was supplemented by an act to 

 provide superannuation pensions for the indu 

 trious poor. All persons lacking means of sup- 

 port are to be provided for and maintained from 

 the completion of their sixtieth year till their 

 death, not as paupers, but as pensioners on the 

 state, provided they are of good character, have 

 never been convicted of crime, have not impov- 

 erished themselves by improvident living or by 

 bestowing their property on their children, and 

 have not received poor relief for the ten years im- 

 mediately preceding their superannuation. The 

 communal authorities are directed to carry out 

 these provisions from July 1, 1891, and the Gov- 

 ernment will contribute 1.000,000 kroner a year 

 for the first four years, and after that 2,000,000 

 kroner a year, to be divided in proportion to the 

 expense entailed by the act on each commune. 

 It is calculated that this will divide the cost 

 equally between the parishes and the national 

 treasury. 



The division between the democratic groups of 

 the Left and the Moderates became more clearly 

 defined when the followers of Berg and Ilorup 

 joined with the Socialist party led by Holm in a 

 protest against any compromise or dealings with 

 the unconstitutional ministry. The Moderates 

 were as firm as before in their opposition to the 

 fortification of the capital, and to the right 

 claimed by the ministry to remain in office with 

 the support of the Landsthing alone, or to decree 

 a provisional budget and spend the public funds 

 without the consent of Parliament. As both 

 King and people are weary of the quarrel, there 

 is a prospect that, unless a majority is found 

 that accepts the Conservative view, the ministry 

 will give place to one owning responsibility to 

 Parliament. Minister Scavenius resigned on 

 July 6, and Minister of Justice Nellemann took 

 charge of the Department of Public Worship ad 

 interim. 



DICTIONARIES, NEW. In October, 1891, 

 appeared the twenty-fourth and last number of 

 " The Century Dictionary," an encyclopaedic lex- 

 icon of the English language, prepared under 

 the superintendence of William Dwight Whit- 

 ney. Professor of Comparative Philology and 

 Sanskrit in Yale College, and the managing 

 editorship of Benjamin K. Smith, late of Johns 

 Hopkins University. It contains 7,046 pages 

 in t he body of the work, and costs $60 unbound. 

 It has the largest vocabulary of all the diction- 

 aries now complete. Todd's " Johnson " has 

 58.000 words: "Worcester's" latest edition. 

 116,000; "Webster," 118,000; "The Imperial," 

 130,000; "The Encyclopedic," 180,000; "The 

 Century," about 215,000 words and 50.000 

 phrases. It takes up all the words of literature, 

 science, and art, professions and trades, and also 

 provincial and colloquial words, abbreviations, 

 and foreign words and phrases which are in 





