178 RURAL DENMARK 



whether any is available. If it were it might be dis- 

 covered that our land is on the whole as heavily 

 burdened with debt as that in Denmark. Only there 

 is this difference between the British and the Danish 

 charges. The former involve the payment of an 

 interest as high, or often higher than the latter, and 

 do not include any provision for sinking-fund. Nor 

 in Denmark can the advances suddenly be called 

 in to the great inconvenience and expense of the 

 borrower, who in such circumstances will certainly 

 be faced with a lawyer's bill. 



It is easy, therefore, to form a too pessimistic con- 

 clusion as to the indebtedness of the Danish land- 

 owner, when compared with that of the landowner 

 at home. All mortgages of lands there are, I believe, 

 recorded in a State register, so that any one in- 

 terested in a particular property can learn the facts 

 concerning it without trouble. The dues payable 

 on the purchase of a property, except State small- 

 holdings, where they are nominal, appear to amount 

 to about 2 per cent. 



Still the existing state of affairs has its critics in 

 Denmark. Thus I have received a long letter from a 

 gentleman who imports and exports hay, straw, and 

 potatoes. As he does not wish his name to be 

 mentioned, for the sake of convenience I will desig- 

 nate him by one which indicates his attitude towards 

 the modern Danish agriculture, that of M Jeremiah." 



Jeremiah, from whom I shall have occasion to 

 quote on various matters, says upon this point : " I 

 do not remember the mortgage figures that represent 

 the indebtedness of Danish agriculture, but I know 

 that these figures are enormous and that they show 

 that we have gone back economically. I think that 



