DENMARK: AN EXPERIMENT STATION 111 



middleman after another has been eliminated, until 

 to-day the peasants form a producing, distributing, 

 and banking organization, handHng through their 

 thousands of co-operative organizations eveiy line 

 of business which affects their life. The railroads 

 are owned by the state and are run for the farmers. 

 Freight rates are adjusted so as to place Danish 

 produce in Germany and England at the lowest pos- 

 sible cost. Before the war steamships plied from 

 Danish ports to England with the regularity of ex- 

 press service, so that Danish butter and eggs could 

 be laid fresh in the British market. Earnings of the 

 railroads are kept low in order to encourage agri- 

 culture. The express, telephones, and telegraph 

 business are also under state management. 



But the Danish peasant is not a sociahst although 

 he works in harmony with the radical parties. 

 The Dane thinks in terms of self-help. He rehes 

 upon himself rather than upon the state. He is a 

 co-operative. Co-operation began in the early 

 eighties with dairying. Prior to 1881 each farmer 

 made his own butter. In that year a few farmers 

 got together and organized a co-operative daiiy. 

 The venture proved so successful that other farmers 

 organized similar dairies. To-day there are 1,087 

 co-operative dairies with a total membership of 

 158,000 farmers, who own three-fourths of the cows 

 of the coimtry. Nearly 95 per cent, of the farmers 

 are members of these dairies, which shipped nearly 



