DENMARK AND THE DANES 



163 



the war by a small circle of profiteers 

 have disappeared. The Danes took meas- 

 ures early to prevent the dumping of 

 cheap German goods into their country, 

 and, at least, they have gained one ad- 

 vantage from the war — an advantage not 

 so great as it ought to have been, how- 

 ever — the return of a part of Schleswig, 

 stolen by Prussia in 1864, to the mother 

 country. 



the united states can learn much 

 erom Denmark's social reeorms 



Denmark is intensely interesting to the 

 student of social reforms, because it has 

 put most of them in practice. Even the 

 most liberal of its Liberals is constructive. 

 There is no anarchy in Denmark and 

 little chance for the progress — much less 

 than in Sweden — of the Bolsheviki. 



The United States might learn much 

 from the example of this little country 

 as to the care of that Danish machine for 

 giving milk — the cow. As to the abroga- 

 tion of those grafters who deprive the 

 farmer and the ultimate consumer of their 

 just rights, we have many lessons to 

 learn. 



But some of the enthusiastic advocates 

 for our imitating the Danish methods go 

 too far. A country formed of forty- 

 eight different States, each with its own 

 peculiar problems, cannot be guided in 

 the same way as a small country which is 

 almost purely agricultural and where the 

 industries concern themselves largely with 

 export facilities. 



Denmark, it must be remembered, ex- 

 ists practically for the production of cer- 

 tain necessaries of life, and therefore all 

 its laws are made for the protection of 

 the farmer, but not for the monopoliza- 

 tion by the farmer of rights that belong 

 to other people. 



The farmer in Denmark is never a 

 speculator. It is impossible that a "cor- 

 ner" should be made in any of his pro- 

 ductions. These truths might well be 

 considered by our farmers themselves in 

 rural communities and not left to the 

 vagaries of professional legislators. 



In the art of painting and sculpture, in 

 literature, in science, Denmark has no 

 mean place. It is true that all her sculp- 

 tors have not the reputation of the fa- 

 mous Thorvaldsen. There, for instance, 

 are Jericheau, Bonnesen, Kai Nielsen, 



and Einar Jonsson. Cellini has no rivals 

 in Denmark; but A. Michelsen, the court 

 goldsmith, has executed some very ex- 

 quisite gold and silver vessels and orna- 

 ments designed by the disciples of Cellini. 



A Danish lady, as a rule, does not care 

 to wear a piece of jewelry unless it is 

 especially made for her. In our country, 

 at a great ball or a banquet, one will see 

 a score or two of "sunbursts," or brace- 

 lets, or pendants almost all alike. No 

 matter how simple the buckle, or the 

 bracelet, or the necklace of a cultured 

 Danish woman may be, she will not have 

 it resemble the ornaments worn by an- 

 other person. 



This spirit assists very greatly in the 

 production of artistic handicraft. 



NOTABLE EIGURES IN THE WORLD OF 

 LITERATURE 



Of all the Danish authors, Georg 

 Brandes has the greatest international 

 reputation. Next to him comes Harald 

 Ho'ffding. Georg Brandes has a remark- 

 ably synthetic mind. He is the first and 

 most important of Danish internationalists 

 in the literary sense ; but his hedonistic 

 philosophy has had a deplorable effect on 

 the Danish intellect, an effect which has 

 been combated by the constructive phi- 

 losophy of Harald Ho'ffding. 



Johannes Jorgensen is, as to form, the 

 most exquisite poet in Denmark, and his 

 Clock of Roland, a cry of despair and 

 triumph for Belgium, is one of the most 

 justly celebrated of all the books inspired 

 by the late war. 



Johannes V. Jensen is a novelist who 

 deserves his great literary reputation. 

 Pantoppidan and Martin Nexp' have a 

 large following. 



Of the painters, Kroyer is the most 

 lucid, the most luminous, and probably 

 the one who will be in the future better 

 known and long remembered. Laurits 

 Tuxen is best known in England as a 

 modern historical painter. Julius Povlsen 

 deserves a high place ; and Zahrtmann, 

 whose coloring is strangely misty and 

 individual, deserves to be well known in 

 our country. Zahrtmann's pictures flame 

 with color, seen through a mauve haze. 



The most charming painters of delicate 

 interiors are Hammershoi and Helso; 

 Skovgaard is an intensely religious 

 painter, with much of the quality of Fra 



