DENMARK AND ITS AGRICULTURAL 

 DEVELOPMENT 



The story of Denmark's industrial revival has often been told. 

 It forms one of the most instructive chapters in the economic 

 development of European States. Here there is no need to do 

 more than indicate the main features, by way of casting a little 

 historical light on the observations of the Commissioners. Broadly, 

 what we see in Denmark is the successful application of intelligence, 

 partly of popular initiative, partly State-directed, to the problem 

 of converting a poor country into a rich one ; a country with almost 

 no external trade into a country whose exports in 1903 were valued 

 at £19,585,558. The fact of immediate importance is that of this 

 amount the agricultural exports form £17,500,000. Thus Denmark 

 may not incorrectly be called an industrial unit — the industry being 

 agriculture. 



According to the census of 1901, Denmark, with an area of 

 14,848 square miles, was bearing a population of 2,449,540, of 

 which 476,806, or nearly one-fifth, are absorbed by Copenhagen 

 and its suburbs. Stated in another way, 936,565, or 38*24 per 

 cent, of the total population, were living in towns; and 1,512,975, 

 or 61*77 per cent., were living in purely rural districts. The de- 

 pendence of the towns upon the rural parts is marked. Copen- 

 hagen lias become a great entrepot for the north of Europe, 

 receiving at its free port for transhipment several millions' worth 

 of imports in addition to the £24,702,778 of imports for Denmark 

 proper, and carrying on numerous flourishing home industries, 

 some of which are protected by a moderate tariff. But its 

 prosperity is mainly based upon rural prosperity. Its most dis- 

 tinctive energies are exhibited in the collection, working up, and 

 distribution of rural produce. It is the principal port of issue, 

 Esbjerg being second, for the £16,594,565 worth of agricul- 

 tural and other Danish-made goods for the British islands. The 

 banking and legal houses, the commercial establishments, all the 

 features that constitute it a capital, busy, affluent, and handsome, 

 owe their chief strength to the activities of a race of farmers. The 

 significant thing, however, is that the growth of Copenhagen and 

 other Danish towns has not been achieved at the expense of the 

 rural parts either as regards population or wealth. A migratory 

 movement, both to the towns and to foreign lands, which excited 

 alarm during some decades of the nineteenth century, seems to 

 have been successfully arrested ; while to the most superficial 

 observer it is obvious that the farmer has contrived to retain a 

 reasonable share of the fruits of his labour. Hard-working, thrifty 



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