RESULTS OF ECONOMIC ADVANCE 39 



subjects, by the opening of savings banks, and 

 by helping the labourers to obtain employment 

 in case of need. Of such societies as these there 

 are in Denmark 270, with a membership of 

 12,000. The smaller societies form groups 

 among themselves, and these groups in turn are 

 connected with large central federations, so that 

 there is maintained among the agricultural 

 labourers of the country a bond of union and 

 of combined effort which compares with that 

 existing among the farmers themselves. 



For technical details as to the actual working 

 of these varied forms of agricultural combination 

 the reader who is interested therein cannot do 

 better than consult a Report on Co-operative 

 Agriculture and Rural Conditions in Denmark, 

 prepared by the members of a deputation sent 

 to that country by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, and 

 issued by the said Department from its head- 

 quarters in Dublin in the autumn of 1903. 

 Here I can now only add to the general outline 

 given above the assurance that the resort to all 

 this co-operative effort has brought about in the 

 economic conditions of Denmark changes that 

 have been almost revolutionary in their character. 

 Not only has it effectually checked the serious 

 consequences that seemed to be impending as 



