114 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



ownership. For the tenant is rarely a co-operator. 

 He has no permanent interest in his farm. He 

 moves from place to place and is interested only 

 in getting as much out of the soil as he can before 

 he moves to another farm. 



The Danish peasant has realized dividends from 

 his education, from home-ownership, from co-opera- 

 tion and the control of the state in his own interest. 

 In thirty years' time the export trade in farm prod- 

 ucts has increased 600 per cent., while the standard 

 of living and the education and culture of the peo- 

 ple has been raised to a higher general average than 

 that of any country in Europe. The annual exports 

 to England amount to nearly $90,000,000, of which 

 $51,000,000 is in butter, $30,000,000 is in bacon, 

 and the balance is in eggs. The total export trade of 

 the country is approximately $380 for every farm, 

 of which 133,000 of the 250,000 in the country are 

 of less than 13| acres in extent, the average of all 

 the farms of Denmark being but 43 acres. The ex- 

 port business alone amounts to $9 per acre in addi- 

 tion to the domestic consumption as well as the 

 support of the farmer himself. 



The peasant uses the state in many other ways. 

 Commissions are sent abroad to study foreign mar- 

 kets and foreign needs. Stock is bred from the best 

 animals. Chickens are selected for their qualities 

 as egg producers. The soil is studied and reports 

 are made upon it. Nothing is left to chance. Ma- 



