Formation of Settlements . 
9- 
tend to make the social and religious organizations of the Danes 
smaller and weaker than those of the Norwegians and Swedes. 
But this fact does not account for the difference existing, es¬ 
pecially between the Danes and Norwegians, in the matter of 
forming settlements, supporting churches and schools, and gen¬ 
eral social and political co-operation, — a difference so striking 
that it must of necessity unsettle the present belief in the simi¬ 
larity of character of these nationalities. 
The Norwegians, according to their number, show a stronger 
tendency to concentrate in large settlements on account of 
preference for their own countrymen, than any other European 
nationality, while the Danes go almost to the other extreme in 
this matter. The table below is an attempt at showing in figures 
the correctness of this statement. In the second column the' 
highest percentage in any one state is given, because state 
lines, though not always physical barriers, nevertheless act as 
a check to close co-operation, especially in a political way. Be¬ 
sides, in the minds of the people in Europe, the state stands for a. 
compact piece of territory of a limited extent, and with this notion 
is naturally associated the idea of easy and close communication 
among those living within the state. For these reasons, the im¬ 
migrants who concentrate largely in one state show thereby a. 
desire for remaining in touch with their own nationality. 
The numbers in the third column, indicating the percentage' 
in settlements of more than five hundred, are obtained by add¬ 
ing the numbers of persons of a given nationality in counties' 
where five hundred or more of this nationality are found, and 
existing in the former country. In fact, want is a thing almost wholly un¬ 
known in Denmark. The condition of the common people has been im¬ 
proving rapidly and almost constantly during the present century. At ther 
beginning of the century the land was nearly all in the hands of the nobil¬ 
ity, while at present only one-seventh of it is in their possession, the rest, 
of it being in the hands of the peasants, who constitute the bulk of the 
population. (H. Weitemeyer, Denmark , p. 100.) Besides this, the im¬ 
proved methods of cultivation have increased the productive power of the. 
country nearly ten-fold. No such decided change in property-holding or 
in producing power has taken place in Norway or Sweden, while the popu¬ 
lation has been increasing as rapidly in these countries as in Denmark „ 
