SOCIAL CONDITIONS— OCCUPATIONS. Oî) 



easy circumstunces, with comfortable dwellings, well ventilated, and furnished 

 with a certain luxury. The national wealth is officially valued at £240,000,000 

 to £300,000,000, or £120 to £150 per head, with a mean annual increase of 

 about £8,000,000. Nowhere else is the capital of the savings-bank relatively 

 so large, and, to judge from this test, the Danes would seem to be the most thrifty 

 people in Europe. Their average savings per head are about £G 8s., while those 

 of Englishmen are not more than £2 2,s. In Denmark, as in other Scandinavian 

 lands, the party of progress consists mainly of the peasantry, whereas the rural 

 element is generally the least advanced in France and the rest of Europe. 



The fisheries do not contribute as much as might be supposed to this general 

 state of prosperity. The natives of the islands and of East Jylland find a 

 readier livelihood in agriculture than in the perils of deep-sea fishing, while 

 the young men of the seaboard show a preference for the certain and regular 

 profits of the merchant service. Still fishing is far from being entirely neglected, 

 especiully on the less productive west coast, where the waters teem with marine 

 life. At Nyminde-gab, at the mouth of the E,ingkjobing-fiord, over 700,000 

 whiting and 25,000 cod were taken in 18G2, and large quantities of herrings and 

 salmon arc brought by the Bornholni fishcimen to Svvinemiinde, whence they are 

 forwarded to Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. 



Denmark is not a very industrial country. Except in Copenhagen and some 

 towns of Fyen and Jylland, the manufactures are mainly restricted to coarse 

 woollens and distilling. Both coal and water-power are scarce, except at 

 Frederiksvoork and a few other places where the streams have a rapid fall. But 

 their extensive trade brings to the people all the manufactured goods they require. 

 Compared with the respective populations, the exchanges of the Danish market 

 are more considerable than those of France, and foreign trade has almost doubled 

 between the years 180(3 and 1875, though the increase is shown chiefly in the 

 imports, amounting to £12,000,000 in a total of £22,000,000. Previous to 1875 

 the bulk of the trade was with Germany, but since then England has occasionally 

 taken the lead, though Germany still continues to be the outlet for nearly all the 

 Danish traffic with the rest of the continent. 



The commercial movement being necessarily carried on mainly by sea, the 

 shipping has acquired a considerable development, and vessels of a tonnage of 

 4,000,000, the greater part of which is still represented by sailing vessels, annually 

 enter and clear. The mercantile marine amounts altogether to 3,150 vessels, of 

 about 253,000 tons burden, all sailing vessels except 188 steamers, of 45,000 tons. 



Thanks to the numerous straits and fiords, water communication is easy, while 

 good roads and numerous ra^lwa3^s connect Copenhagen with all the Sjiilland 

 ports. The postal and telegraph services have also kept pace with the general 

 development. 



Public instruction is also in a flourishing state, attendance at school being 

 obligatory on all from the seventh to the fourteenth year. In all the large towns 

 there are public gymnasia, classical and scientific as well as technical schools, 

 and all the villages are provided with lower and higher primary schools, inde- 



