RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 147 



roads on this continent are proof of this. He also claims, in regard 

 to the effect of co-operation on education, that the natural education 

 of the countryman is better than that of the townsman and that 

 co-operation will help in the organization and practical working of 

 education. 



The business men of the city may consider that they are best 

 fitted to control the politics of their provinces as well as the machin- 

 ery of distribution, but they cannot be regarded as being free from 

 the temptation of using both in their own interests. An increase of 

 weight on the rural side would only be equitable and proper, but it 

 will only be expedient in the public interest if it is accompanied by 

 improved education and the spirit engendered by co-operation. 



Denmark is one of the best examples of a country which has suc- 

 cessfully developed its agriculture under co-operation, although it 

 has always to be borne in mind that Denmark is essentially a dairy- 

 ing country, and that there is a comparatively small area of land used 

 for grain growing. Between 1890 and 1901, the agricultural popu- 

 lation of Denmark more than doubled. From 27.1 per cent it in- 

 creased to 48.2 per cent. *The farmers of Denmark co-operate to se- 

 lect the best farms and to improve stock and husbandry, as well as 

 to organize collection and distribution of farm products. 



Irish co-operation was started in 1829, during a period of depres- 

 sion. There are now about 1,000 co-operative societies at work, 

 with a membership of 100,000. Co-operation in Ireland, as in Den- 

 mark, has been stimulated by land ownership and the two together 

 have greatly assisted in increasing production. 



Mr. Vernon E. Fox, in an article in the Farmers' Advocate, says 

 the European system would not be satisfactory in Canada, because 

 farmers' homesteads are too scattered; the farmer does not hold 

 his land for life he is ready to sell; and he is opposed to long term 

 mortgages. The first difficulty can be largely overcome by reducing 

 isolation and the others by lessening the tendencies to land specula- 

 tion and making farming more profitable and attractive. But in 

 Ireland, in Denmark and in Flanders, co-operation succeeds all the 

 more because of the fact that facilities for obtaining rural credit and 

 for carrying on rural industries are provided, and successful co-opera- 

 tion in Canada will never be attained unless we can simultaneously 

 provide means to obtain cheap money and to build up rural industries 

 as part of our co-operative organization. 



* In 1911 the town population of Denmark was 1,109,726 while the rural 

 population was 1,647,350. Statesman's Year Book, 1913. 



