DENMARK AND THE DANES 



123 



Work for work's sake is not the aim 

 of the Dane. He works well, but he 

 neither works restlessly, nor nervously, 

 nor constantly. Work with him is not the 

 end of life, but a means of living ; and the 

 Danes, as a rule, enjoy the work in which 

 they are engaged. 



If the Danes eat a great deal, they do 

 not drink more than other people, and 

 they seldom drink without eating. Al- 

 though Denmark has not made prohibi- 

 tion a law, yet the government has man- 

 aged to raise the price of alcohol, and 

 even the Danish schnapps, which was 

 formerly almost as cheap as water, is now 

 worth about four dollars a bottle, accord- 

 ing to the present rate of exchange. This 

 is a good thing, for schnapps was the 

 bane of many a working man's family. 



As a rule, the evils brought about by 

 the saloon in this country do not exist, 

 and while beer was looked on as a neces- 

 sary article of diet, it was consumed in 

 moderation. 



It must be admitted that the Danes are 

 sometimes unjust to the Swedes. One 

 was invariably informed that there were 

 really no drunkards in Denmark, and if 

 one pointed out occasionally a staggering 

 figure or two, the explanation was made 

 at once, "Oh, he's a Swede !" 



Sweden and Denmark are very close 

 together, being separated only by the 

 Sound ; and the virtuous Danes generally 

 attributed any exuberant gaiety induced 

 by spirits on Saturday nights to the inva- 

 sion of Swedes, in whose country the 

 laws governing the use of alcohol were 

 very strict. 



DANES THINK AMERICANS TOO CONSERVA- 

 TIVE) ON DIVORCE QUESTION 



There is a general impression that 

 divorce and remarriage are very easy in 

 Denmark. It is true that the radical gov- 

 ernment, especially when Alberti was 

 Minister of Justice, made the annulment 

 of marriage too facile. But there is no 

 reason to believe that, in proportion, 

 there are more divorces and remarriages 

 in Denmark than in this country. 



Among the radicals who have thrown 

 off the traditions of the Lutheran Church, 

 marriage is not looked on as a serious 

 matter ; and Americans are regarded as 



entirely too conservative in regard to 

 marriage. 



Difficulties, owing to what may be 

 called "trial marriages," sanctioned by the 

 state, do occasionally occur. In one case 

 a distinguished lyric poet, for whose work 

 I had a great admiration, died. I sent 

 two telegrams and a wreath for his grave 

 to his wife. The first telegram reached 

 his first wife, the second his third wife, 

 and the wreath the second wife. 



The Danes will brook no corruption in 

 their government if they can possibly pre- 

 vent it. They are extremely jealous of 

 the national honor ; no political power or 

 prestige will save a man in office from 

 punishment if he has betrayed his trust. 



The case of one of the cleverest men in 

 Denmark — Alberti — is an example of 

 this. No man was more admired, no man 

 more trusted, in spite of what may be 

 called his unmoral ideas as to the conjugal 

 relation. The time came, however, in 

 1908, when he was accused and found 

 guilty of the misuse of money. The axe 

 fell ; he was imprisoned and no mercy was 

 shown him, although a month before his 

 incarceration he had been covered with 

 decorations and stood very high in the 

 estimation, not only of the Danes, but of 

 those European statesmen who had come 

 in contact with him. 



SOCIAL, BASIS OE UEE IN AMERICA NOT 

 UNDERSTOOD 



It is regrettable that in none of the 

 three Scandinavian countries is the Con- 

 stitution of the United States and its 

 workings, or the social basis of our life, 

 well understood. The American-Scandi- 

 navian Foundation, which has been in ex- 

 istence for nearly fifteen years, has done 

 much to make the culture and the point 

 of view of the United States known in 

 Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; but, 

 unfortunately, only the sensational arti- 

 cles in our newspapers are reproduced in 

 the Danish press. Our cultural life, our 

 economic life, and the moral canons which 

 guide us are scarcely known at all by the 

 body of the people. 



When former President Roosevelt came 

 to Denmark, the ultra-radicals expected 

 that he would announce opinions which 

 were socialistic, communistic, or at least 



