242 PEASANT PROPRIETARY ABROAD 



The position to-day is that, while large estates can 

 be bought in Denmark at (in English currency) 27 

 per i^ acres, and medium-sized farms at 43 per i-| 

 acres, small holdings cost 55 per i|- acres, or double 

 the amount charged for a large estate. Thus, apart 

 from any other considerations, the Danish small holder 

 who becomes a peasant proprietor starts by having to 

 pay an altogether artificial price for the land he 

 purchases; he sinks in the ownership of that land 

 present capital which would otherwise be available 

 for the purchase of stock and for other expenses ; and 

 he incurs, in place of rent, a rigid mortgage debt unduly 

 swollen by the excessive price he has agreed to pay for 

 his farm. If, in addition, he borrows money in other 

 directions to work the land he has thus acquired, he 

 still further increases the weight of the millstone of 

 debt he has hung round his neck ; and he may 

 ultimately find the financial position in which he is 

 placed a serious set-off to the advantages he otherwise 

 derives from his co-operative societies without which, 

 indeed, it would be hardly possible for him to pay his 

 way at all. 



