20 4 RURAL DENMARK 



agricultural State meant that his country must go 

 under. So he took to co-operation and conquered 

 them. Also he changed his methods, replacing his 

 grain-growing, for which the country was never really 

 suited, by the production of milk and the rearing of 

 pigs. 



Let us see what this co-operation means by help 

 of a concrete instance. The small Danish farmer has 

 an animal to sell, a fat beast or a hog. He sends it to 

 his co-operative factory, and there, so far as he is con- 

 cerned, is an end of the matter. Unless it is unhealthy 

 or in some way not fit for sale, the factory receives it, 

 kills it and credits the consignor with the value at the 

 best market-price. In due course, as a co-owner of the 

 place, he receives also his proportion of the profits 

 earned by the animal, after making allowance for 

 interest on the debt incurred in starting and working 

 the co-operative institution and for other expenses. 



Here in Britain the tale runs otherwise. First of 

 all the farmer probably tries to dispose of his beast to 

 a dealer or a butcher, whose object naturally is to pay 

 him as little for it as he possibly can in order that 

 he may make a good profit on its re-sale, living or 

 dead. 



A conflict of wits and interests follows. The 

 vendor strives to conceal the shortcomings of his 

 merchandise, the purchaser strives to exaggerate them. 

 As the latter is skilled at the business which is his daily 

 occupation, the probability is that in the end he has the 

 best of the bargain, especially as in most instances 

 the beast is sold not by weight but by guesswork. 

 Often enough also the vendor finds out subsequently 

 that he has been over-reached or outmanoeuvred, 

 a circumstance that does not engender confidence 



