8 
Bille—A History of the Danes in America. 
fact man. At any rate his love of personal advantage is liable 
to be greater than his love of country, home and friends, for he 
is willing to part with them to better his fortune. He does 
not as a rule leave his native land because he suffers actual want 
there, but most usually because he feels unable to maintain 
what he considers a proper standard of life; and it is only in 
cases where emigration is prompted by religious or political 
persecution that he is liable to be a man of as much patriotic 
sentiment as those who stay at home. 1 The record of the Danes 
in America furnishes a most striking illustration of this theory; 
indeed it is impossible to otherwise explain their peculiar indif¬ 
ference toward all that might connect them with the land of their 
birth. 
THE DANES IN AMERICA. 
The emigration from Denmark has been more recent and the 
number of emigrants smaller than from the other Scandinavian 
countries. 2 * * * * * 8 
Norwegians. 
Swedes. 
Danes. 
1860 . 
43,995 
18,625 
9,962 
1870 . 
114,243 
97,332 
30,098 
1880 . 
181,724 
194,337 
64,196 
1890 .. 
322,665 
478,041 
132,513 
The fact that emigration from Denmark began so late and 
never assumed any considerable proportions would naturally 
1 An extended inquiry among my own countrymen who have emigrated, 
and among those in the same circumstances in Denmark, bears out this 
theory. In answer to my question to the former, “ Why did you emigrate? ” 
the invariable answer was, “ I did not want to be a common laborer in my 
own country,” or “ I did not care to live such a life of drudgery and pov¬ 
erty as my parents lived; I can’t do worse in America, and I may do bet¬ 
ter; ” while my question to the latter, “ Why do you not emigrate? ” was 
answered as follows: “ I can’t bear the thought of leaving home with the 
chance of never coming back again,” “ I can’t get any pleasure out of life 
in any other place,” or “I would like to go, but when I think of all the 
dangers and troubles of it I feel I might as well stay at home, and take 
what little comfort I can get out of life here.” 
8 The cause of the smaller emigration from Denmark than from Norway 
and Sweden is undoubtedly due mainly to the better economic conditions 
