COMMENTS ON CO-OPERATION 



As I think that I have now quoted such statistics 

 as are necessary to enable the reader to understand 

 the present position of co-operation in Denmark, it 

 only remains for me to make a few general remarks 

 upon that great subject. 



First I would ask, Where would Danish agriculture 

 be to-day if co-operation had not been introduced into 

 that country ? 



Some decades ago agricultural depression struck 

 Denmark as it has struck Great Britain. Corn-grow- 

 ing ceased to pay, and Denmark being, like ourselves, 

 practically a Free Trade country, at any rate in the 

 case of the majority of food-stuffs such as meat, grain, 

 and flour, it was not possible to stimulate the industry 

 into an appearance of innate prosperity by the aid of 

 Protection. 



We met our trouble in the corn-growing districts 

 by laying down a good deal of the land to indifferent 

 pasture, by continuing to grow wheat at small gain 

 or at a loss on the rest of it, and by demanding and 

 obtaining reductions of rent from the owners of the 

 soil. Or perhaps we gave up altogether, with the 

 result that the unwonted spectacle was seen of English 

 landlords farming their own acres because they could 

 find no one to do it for them at any price. 



But the Dane, being the owner of his land, had 



no squire to give him assistance. Either he must 



conquer his own difficulties or go under, which in an 



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