48 RURAL DENMARK 



Act generally works only for himself. Therefore he 

 becomes entirely dependent upon his holding, which 

 does not always produce enough to support him and 

 his family and to pay the instalments due to the State. 



Further, although the law provides that the State 

 small-holder must possess in cash one-tenth of the 

 value of the holding, whereof nine-tenths are advanced 

 by the State, a difficulty of the situation is that it is 

 hard to discover whether he does really own this sum. 

 In this connection it must be remembered that the 

 State mortgage is over all the small-holder's posses- 

 sions, as its advance pays not only for the land but 

 for the house, equipment, stock, and implements. 



With reference to the labour question as connected 

 with State small-holdings, Mr. Waage said that in the 

 beginning the large landowners feared lest the result 

 of the Act should be that the State " houseman " might 

 become too independent to do any outside work. 

 Their views on this matter had, however, changed 

 greatly in the course of the last ten years. He con- 

 sidered that the creation of these small-holders had 

 helped rather than hindered the supply of labour, as 

 many of them were glad to work for others in their 

 spare time. Also young people grew up around the 

 small-holder, who acquired a taste for and remained 

 upon the land. Another advantage in the position of 

 such a man is that he becomes a freeholder from the 

 moment he takes possession by aid of public money. 

 Still, Mr. Waage seemed to think that those individuals 

 who succeed as State small-holders would have suc- 

 ceeded in any case through their own energy and 

 efforts without the help of such public money. 



On the occasion of my second interview with Mr. 

 Waage, held to elucidate certain points that had arisen 



