MR. SCHOU ON STATE SMALL- 

 HOLDINGS AND CO-OPERATION 



As a pendant to the views of Mr. Waage I will give 

 those of Mr. Rudolf Schou, Conseiller du Gouverne- 

 ment, another high official of the Danish Department 

 of Agriculture. With Mr. Schou, a gentleman whose 

 well-known ability was very apparent to me, I had a 

 long and interesting interview on matters connected 

 with the land in Denmark, and more especially with 

 the small-holding movement in that country. 



He stated at once that he approved of this move- 

 ment, although in his opinion the law of 1909 provided 

 that too small a proportion of capital should be in the 

 private possession of the State small-holder. He 

 considered that a tenth of the total amount required 

 was not sufficient to enable such a man to stock his 

 farm properly and to stand the stress of accident or 

 misfortunes. The fight was too hard. He pointed 

 out that a man and his fiancee could save 400 kroner 

 (or ^22, 3s. 4d.) in two years out of the proceeds of 

 their ordinary labour, which was all that the Act 

 required. (There is a slight mistake here, as under 

 the provisions of the 1909 Act, which allows property 

 to be bought to the total value of 6500 kroner (or 

 ^360, 4s. 2d.), the tenth owned privately by the 

 small-holder must be 650 kroner (or ^^ os - 5^-)- 

 Still, the same principle applies pro rata?) In his 

 view the small-holder's contribution (on the 4000 kroner 

 basis) should be raised to 1500 kroner (or %i), that 



