i<>6 RURAL DENMARK 



that from the great farms, and what used to be called 

 second and third-class butter ceased to exist as a 

 Danish commodity of commerce. 



There is also an association called the Collective 

 Purchase Society of the Danish Dairies, which enables 

 those dairies belonging to it to buy everything they 

 need in the way of machinery, &c, as cheaply as is 

 consistent! with good quality. This Society, which 

 was formed in 1901, possesses a factory of its own. 

 In 1909, 840 dairies belonged to the Society, and did 

 business with it to a total value of over 1,000,000 

 kroner (or ,55,416). 



Further, there exist six societies which devote 

 themselves to the exportation and sale of butter 

 without the help of the middleman. Between 1900 

 and 1909 the business done by these societies rose 

 from 23,000,000 kroner (or ,1,274,583) to 32,000,000 

 kroner (or 1,773,333), a very heavy increase. 



In 1909 the Danish co-operative dairies were 

 valued at over 34,000,000 kroner, or about 28,000 

 kroner per dairy, while their debts in all added up to 

 17,000,000 kroner, that is 15,100 kroner per dairy. It 

 would appear, therefore, that they have a margin of 

 solvency amounting to about 50 per cent., which is a 

 satisfactory position in any business. 



Lastly, these dairies are managed by the votes 

 of their members. In all but 6 per cent, of them, 

 each member has an equal voice or vote without 

 reference to the quantity of milk that he supplies. 

 Thus a member who owns 10 cows is as influential 

 as a member who owns, let us say, 100 cows. 



