Full text of "Denmark and the Danes; a survey of Danish life, institutions and culture"

See other formats

CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 




BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 



Date Due 




NO. 23233 



Cornell University Library 
DL 111.H34 

Denmark and the Danes; 




3 1924 028 497 968 




Cornell University 
Library 



The original of tliis book is in 
tlie Cornell University Library. 

There are no known copyright restrictions in 
the United States on the use of the text. 



http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028497968 



DENMARK AND THE DANES 




Frontispiece. 



Georg Brandes. 



\Pfioto : Elliott & Fry, London. 



DENMARK AND THE 
DANES 

A SURVEY OF DANISH LIFE, 
INSTITUTIONS AND CULTURE 



BY 

WILLIAM J. HARVEY and CHRISTIAN REPPIEN 



WITH A MAP AND 32 ILLUSTRATIONS 



LONDON 

T FISHER UNWIN, LTD 

AD£LPHI TERRACE 



_I3 ! 

111 ... 

H-3 4 



First Published in 1915 



(All rights reserved.) 



.1/. 









FOREWORD 

In the preparation of this book the writers have 
attempted to give an account of recent social, 
economic and political movements in Denmark, 
and a description of the origin and development 
particularly of institutions peculiar to that country, 
and which have won her the admiration of Europe. 
Denmark, during the last half century, has passed 
through the throes of a wonderful regeneration. 
Her peasantry has been emancipated from a 
condition of veritable serfdom ; her education has 
been liberalised ; her land system, agriculture and 
finance have been reorganised and brought to a 
pitch of excellence which is the envy of many a 
greater, yet less perfectly developed, state. 

One of the present writers is English, and the 
other, Danish. They may therefore justly claim 
for the book that it is an attempt to see Denmark 
from within and without. Quotations and sources 
of information have been given wherever possible 
throughout the text ; but the authors have to 
acknowledge much assistance generously ren- 
dered to them by friends, both Danish and English, 
whose names are too numerous to mention. Some 
parts of the work have appeared in article form in 
the periodical press, and in this connection we have 



viii FOREWORD 

to thank the Daily Chronicle, the Westminster 
Gazette, the Manchester Guardian and Charles 
H. Kelly for kind permission to reproduce. 

It would be too much to hope that a work of this 
character, dealing with such a range and variety 
of subjects, shall be entirely free from miscon- 
ceptions, or that some small errors shall not have 
crept into the text. For such and all other 
shortcomings we crave the reader's indulgence, 
trusting that the general accuracy of the 
information contained within these covers will 
sufficiently compensate, 

W. J. H. 

C. R. 



CONTENTS 

PART I.— THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE. 

CHAP. PAGE 

I. The Land 17 

IL The People 25 

HL Copenhagen and the Large Towns . 41 

IV. The Royal Family .... 58 

PART IL— HISTORICAL. 

V. General Sketch of Danish History. 65 

VI. Political History from 1849 to the 

Present Day .... 86 

PART III.— AGRICULTURE AND FARMING. 

Vll. The System of Land Tenure . . 103 

Vill. A Typical Danish Farm and Co- 
operative Dairy . . . .117 

IX. Pure Milk in the Large Towns . 124 



X CONTENTS 

CHAP. PAGE 

X. The Scientific Methods of the Danish 

Farmers ..... 132 

XI. Co-operation 141 

PART IV.— CULTURE. 

XII. Education 159 

XIII. The Popular High Schools . . 169 

XIV. Modern Literature .... 178 
XV. Thorwaldsen and Modern Art . 195 

XVI. Music and the Theatre . . . 212 

XVII. Recent Scientific Research in Den- 
mark 219 

XVIII. Royal Danish Porcelain . . . 246 

XIX. The Press 252 

PART v.— FINANCE AND INDUSTRY. 

XX. State and Municipal Finance . . 261 

XXI. The Banks 272 

XXII. The Credit Unions .... 279 

XXIII. Danish Commerce and Industry . 283 



CONTENTS xi 

PART VI.— GOVERNMENTAL. 

CHAP. PAGE 

XXIV. Administration 299 

XXV. Social Laws 308 

XXVI. Denmark's Overseas Possessions . 323 



Index . . 337 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



fACING 
rAGI 



Dr. Georg Brandes . . . Frontispiece 

Map 17 

Moorland Scenery in Jutland, with Ribe 

Cathedral 20 

Frederiksborg Castle 22 

A Labourer's Garden, Copenhagen . . 28 

Amalienborg Square, Copenhagen ... 40 

Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen ... 42 

Round Tower, Copenhagen .... 44 

The Raadhusplads, Copenhagen ... 48 
The Stock Exchange, Copenhagen . . .50 

Queen Alexandra's Villa, Copenhagen . . 60 
Interior of Palace Church, Frederiksborg 

Castle 74 

The Women's Franchise Demonstration . . 98 

Queen Louise Bridge and Gardens, Copenhagen 100 

A Heathland Cottage . . . . , 104 

The Flower Market, Copenhagen . . . 140 

Open-air Gymnasium, Copenhagen . . . 158 
The Royal Academy at Soro (A Secondary 

School) 162 

Thorwaldsen's Museum, Copenhagen . . 194 
Open-air Theatre, Copenhagen . . .212 



xiv ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACISO 
PAOB 

Niels R. Finsen 217 

Interior of Lupus Clinique . . . • 226 
"Towards the Light," The Statue of Niels 
R. Finsen. (In the Background, the Rigs 
Hospital) .... . . 230 

Dr. Valdemar Poulsen 234 

Prof. P. O. Pedersen 238 

Interior of Royal Porcelain Factory, Copen- 
hagen 246 

Old Copenhagen Porcelain Figure Group . 250 
The Fish Market and Fishing Boats in the 

Canal, Copenhagen 288 

The City Hall, Copenhagen, from the Tivoli 300 
The Danish Royal Guard, paraded before 

Amalienborg Castle, Copenhagen . . 304 
Korsor City Hall: a Typical Provincial 

Town Hall 306 

The King of Denmark watching Boy and Girl 

Scouts doing Red Cross Work . . . 310 
Icelandic Ponies being Disembarked at Copen- 
hagen 324 



PART I 
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 



CHAPTER I 

THE LAND 

Geological Origin — Physical Characteristics — Rivers, 
Lakes and Forests. — ^The Heaths — ^The Sand-dunes 
of North-west Jutland — ^Afforestation and Reclama- 
tion — Flora and Fauna of Jutland and the Islands. 

Geologically, Denmark has been produced by 
he Norwegian mountains in much the same way- 
is the Newfoundland banks are to-day being 
brmed by the icebergs from Greenland. It is 
)ften said that every stone in Denmark can be 
:raced back to its original resting-place in Norway, 
md that if it had not been for this long-continued 
md powerful glacial action, Denmark would 
probably have existed as a group of coral and 
;halk islands rising abruptly from the sea. In 
support of this theory there are those wonderful 
md unique formations which in many places have 
Droken through the clay strata, the most beautiful 
)f which is Moens Klint, a range of lofty, turretted 
liffs, standing perpendicularly out of the sea, 
overed with forest growth, andsphtup into peaks 
nd gorges, pinnacles and clefts. If one sees 
[oens Klint from the deck of a steamer in the 
'ening when the setting sun is behind it, it is 
place of lights and shadows ; a place for the 
inter ; in a sense symbolic of the character 
/D. B 



i8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

of the Danish people ; open and free, yet with a 
hidden strain of pessimism running through it. 

Denmark consists of three large and some smaller 
islands, and a great out-jutting promontory from 
North Germany. The large islands are Sjoelland, 
Fuhnen and LoUand, and the promontory is 
Jutland. Copenhagen, the capital, is situated on 
Sjoelland, often called Sealand. Taking the coun- 
try as a whole, it is one of the flattest in Europe ; 
Himmelbjerg, near Aarhus in eastern Jutland, is 
the highest point, and it is raised only 550 feet 
above sea-level. But it is not flat as Holland is 
flat ; it is pleasantly diversified into rolling moor- 
lands, cornfields and meadows, beech-woods and 
low hills. Only the small island of Bornholm, 
however, to the south-east, and far out in the 
Baltic, contains any really rugged scenery. The 
rest of Denmark is for the most part quietly rural 
in character. 

The country abounds in small lakes and meres, 
generally overhung by dense beech-woods ; the 
largest of these are the Arreso and Esromso in 
Sealand, and the Himmelbjerg lakes in Jutland. 
The coasts of Denmark are in the main low and 
sandy, the wiestem shore of Jutland in particular. 
In many places the sea, even during the present 
century, has made enormous inroads, but strenuous 
efforts are now being initiated to prevent any 
further incursions, by means of powerful groynes 
and embankments. 



THE LAND 19 

The surface of Denmark is made up of boulder 
ay and boulder sand. It is not stratified, 
lough certain stratified deposits have been formed 
y the action of water, which contain remains of 
rctic animals. Most of the chalk belongs to the 
ighest or " Danian " sub-division of the Cre- 
Lceous period. It is only in the island of Born- 
aim that older formations may be observed, and 
lere, as in Sweden, a series of strata appear which 
along to the Cambrian, Silurian, Jurassic and 
retaceous periods. It is believed by most geolo- 
:sts that Denmark was finally raised out of the 
!a in something like its present conformation 
Dout the close of the Glacial epoch. Certain 
arts. of the country are still slowly rising. 
The climate is a Uttle warmer in the summer and 
little colder in the winter than in England. The 
lean average temperature for the whole country 
45-14°, though the " islands " are, on the whole, 
>mewhat warmer than Jutland. The annual 
linfall varies between 21-58 inches and 27-87 
ches, according to the locality ; the heaviest falls 
xur on the west coast of Jutland, and they 
screase in a fairly even ratio eastwards. More 
lan half the rainfall occurs from July to Novem- 
3r ; the wettest month being September, and the 
:iest, April. Thunderstorms are frequent during 
le summer months. South-westerly winds pre- 
lil from September to March ; in April a search- 
g and bitterly cold east wind predominates ; 

B 2 



20 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

between May and August the winds are for the 
most part westerly. 

There are no large rivers in Denmark. The 
Gudenaa is the longest. It is in Jutland, and has 
a course of but eighty miles. Excelleilt salmon 
fishing can be obtained in this river, but it is 
practically unnavigable. The Kolding and the 
Veile, also in Jutland, are great estuaries which 
discharge into the Cattegat ; while the Konge and 
the Varde flow into the North Sea. In Sealand 
the Sus and the MoUe are the largest ; while in 
F\lhnen, the Odense-Aa is navigable by barges for 
about forty miles. 

The characteristic scenery of the northern and 
north-western districts of Jutland is boggy heath- 
land, sparsely populated and almost unproductive. 
Along the west coast stretches a belt of sand dunes, 
in plaices five or six miles wide. This arid desert 
is upwards of 200 miles in length, and extends from 
Blaavandshuk to the Skagerrack. Irrigation work 
has been begun, and by a gjsnerous use of natural 
manures and much planting of trees, the drift of 
the sand has been arrested, and some of this barren 
waste reclaimed. The process of reclamation is 
still proceeding. 

The sand dunes are continued far out into the 
sea by the Scaw, a long, low peninsula dividing the 
Skagerrack from the Cattegat. A small town of 
about 2,500 people stands on the edge of this great 
dune desert. It is the most northerly point of 



THE LAND 21 

)enmark. Its main streets are sand ; its houses 
ften old fishing boats ; its gardens patches of 
jclaimed beach boasting only a few flowers and a 
tunted, coarse kind of grass. A little to the north 
f the town is the great lighthouse, whose beams 
lark the meeting of the waters of the North Sea 
nd the Baltic. Notwithstanding the depressing 
liaracter of their surroundings, the people of the 
caw are thoroughly Danish — warm-hearted, 
enerous and clear-headed. 

Of forests, Denmark boasts but few. Only 8-3 
er cent, of the area is covered with trees. With 
lie exception of England and Portugal, all the 
ountries in Europe show a higher figure than this. 

The principal trees in the Danish forests are 
tie characteristic beeches. Thirty-nine per cent, 
f the wooded area of Denmark is occupied by 
aese noble trees. They are to be found over the 
'hole of the country with the exception of West 
utland and Bomholm, in both of which places 
le climatic conditions are too bleak and windy, 
brmerly there were many oaks in Demnark, but 
ley have been displaced by the beeches, the latter 
eing more shady. Only 6 per cent, of the forest 
rea now consists of oak, and the trees are for 
le most part small. There are very few real old 
aks such as we have in England, but the foresters 
ave recently begun to buy acorns in Germany 
ad Holland with a view to increasing the oak 
ercentage. 



22 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

Of other leaf trees in Denmark the principal are 
the ash, red alder, poplar, elm and maple, which 
together make up another 6 per cent, of the forests. 
The climate is a little too cold for them, however, 
and they do not flourish so well as in more southerly 
countries. Pine trees were first imported in the 
nineteenth century by von Langer, a famous 
Master of Foxhounds, who came from Hanover. 
Before 1770 there had been only leaf trees in 
Denmark. Now something like 49 per cent, of 
the Danish woods consists of pines, the principal 
varieties of which are the fir, spruce, larch and 
mountain fir. Two particularly valuable species 
are cultivated in plantations, the fir (^inus 
silvestris) and the larch (larix). 

In the north of Sealand there is the great Grib 
forest — ^reached from the town of Hillerod— 
where the trees are so dense that the branches 
intermingle and grow together, and the only 
sounds that break the deep silence are the songs 
of birds, and the movement of tiny springs half 
hidden in the undergrowth. Hillerod is often 
termed the Danish Versailles, as it contains the 
historic castle of Fredriksborg, and on the other 
side of the forest the palace of Fredensborg, one 
of the favourite places for the family reunions of 
many of the Royal Houses of Europe. 

Denmark has not much to offer in the way of 
sport. Game is scarce. There are some red deer, 
fallow deer and roebucks. In parts of the country, 




O 



o 



h 



THE LAND 23 

lare, fox, squirrel and duck may be found ; 
nore rarely still, pheasant, partridge and snipe. 
Only in one limited area are there any wild boar. 

In former times the red deer were very nume- 
rous ; so much so that, in the year 1610, Chris- 
tian IV. drove from Copenhagen to Kirsholm, a 
distance of about eight miles, and in one morning 
shot thirty-six red deer. It is computed that 
to-day there are not more than 300 of these animals 
altogether in the whole of Jutland, where they 
live wild, principally in the forests between 
Aalborg, Viborg and Aarhus. 

The fallow deer was imported in the seventeenth 
century, and has about the same range as its more 
inteUigent cousin, the red deer. Both are kept on 
the great estates, but are disliked by the peasants, 
as they make serious depredations among the 
potatoes, turnips and com. The red deer is shot 
with bullets and the fallow deer with small shot. 

The hare is fairly generally distributed. It does 
a great deal of damage to the farm properties, 
making free particularly with cabbages, com, 
young plants and acoms. It is difficult to extin- 
guish, though its numbers are said to be slowly 
decreasing year by year. It is the same variety 
as that found in England, Germany and France, 
but its ears and tail are shorter than the species 
found in Sweden and Norway. The range of the 
squirrel is not so extended as that of the hare. It 
is regarded as vermin, and slaughtered whenever 



24 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

opportunity offers. A curious point for natura- 
lists is that the squirrel in Jutland is red, in 
Sealand, brown, and in Fuhnen, black. Foxes, 
badgers and boars are exceedingly rare, the latter 
being only found in the preserved park of 
Ravnholt. 

Of game birds, the pheasant was imported about 
fifty years ago. It has spread very rapidly. Part- 
ridges, on the other hand, have been dislodged 
and are decreasing. The duck lives in many of 
the lake districts, but the Danish bird is unusually 
timid, and therefore very difficult to shoot. Snipe 
are to be had only between March and October, 
except on the small island of Amager, near Copen- 
hagen, where they may be obtained at any time 
of the year. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PEOPLE 

inological — Race Relationships and Characteristics — 
The Language — ^The Danes To-day — Industries — 
Suicides — Danish Statistics — ^The Abstinence Move- 
ment — The Moral Life of the Copenhagen Streets — 
Marriage and Divorce — ^The State Church — Social 
Customs — Court and Society — Ancient Nomen- 
clature — Folk-dancing. 

The people of Denmark belong to the North 
rman family, their nearest in kin being the 
edes, the Norwegians and the English. The 
idominant type is yeUow-haired and blue-eyed, 
e language suggests to the ear an admixture of 
rman and English, with the former element pre- 
ninant. It is neither so musical as Swedish nor 
guttural as German. When spoken by a young 
I, its general intonation is not unlike the Scotch 
the Lx)wlands. It has often been said that the 
glish fishermen of the east coast emd the Jutland 
lermen of the west coast find no difl&culty in 
ierstanding each other when they meet on the 
gger or Fisker Banks. Indeed, nearly all the 
nmon objects ill daily use, as well as all the 
bs of action, and many of the impersonal verbs 
jsess identical soimds in Jysk — the dialect of 
tland— and in East Anglian. For English 



26 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

people the most difficult sounds in the Danish 
language are undoubtedly the soft " d," the " r " 
and the long vocals. 

The national characteristics of the Danish people 
are generosity ; slami^ss^j^— speech ; a good- 
humour which has become proverbial ; determina- 
tion almost amounting to truculence, especially in 
the case of peasants ; an immense capacity for 
hard work and sustained efEort ; extreme demo- 
cratic principles ; a strange fatalism which is a 
mixture of scepticism and hesitation ; and finally, 
a complete and wonderful fearlessness in throwing 
over traditions and prejudices. 

They are an intensely modem people, neither 
taciturn nor exuberant. The great Danes, those 
in power and authority, do not always give one the 
same impression of control and careful breeding 
that one gets from people occup5dng the same 
position in England. But there is a compensating 
allowance of warmth. They are neither great 
optimists nor extravagant idealists. Their dreams 
are of a very practical nature, and there is about 
them a certain atmosphere of clean and sane 
hmnanitarianism which is very attractive. They 
seem to carry out their reforms in a spirit of com- 
mon sense which is almost scientific. Perhaps this is 
because their temperament is genuinely, rather than 
sentimentally, democratic. It is this average- 
ness about them which doubtless prevents them 
from mounting to supreme heights, but at the 



THE PEOPLE 27 

me time saves them from slipping to colossal 
pths. They are a balanced people, their 
mocracy is broad and practical, and the type is 
obably nearer Enghsh than any other on the 
mtinent. 

In height the Danes are not quite such a tall 
ce as the English, the average being about one 
ch less. But they are a hardy and a constitu- 
Dnally strong people, admirable as farmers and 
friculturists, clever engineers and mechanicians, 
id fearless and capable seamen. The number of 
habitants per square mile is about the same as 
France, but only one-half the proportion found 
England. Yet in the last ten years the popula- 
Dn of Denmark has increased by 12*5 per cent., 
hile that of England during the same period has 
ily gained 8*8 per cent. The annual birth rate is 
^proximately 28*1 per thousand ; in England 
ri per thousand. The death rate in Denmark is 
57 per thousand ; and 157 per thousand in our 
ivn country. The most prevalent disease is 
iberculosis. 

The industries of Denmark, with one exception, 
not demand any great toll of life. There are 

mines, and but few dangerous trades. The one 
;cupation in which numbers of hves are yearly 
tst is fishing. Suicides, however, are somewhat 
reater in proportion to the total population than 

1 most other countries, the percentage being just 
ouble that of England in this respect. Only 



28 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

France, Switzerland and Saxony show higher 
relative statistics of suicide. Against this it must 
be mentioned that Danish statistics are so care-' 
fully compiled, and so much more complete than 
those of other and larger countries ; and thatj 
when one compares accurate figmres with those 
which are only approximate, it is generally to the 
disadvantage of the former. In this manner 
Danish blue books often unduly depreciate Den- 
mark. The proportion of suicides is notably 
diminishing, o'wdng in great measure to the extra- 
ordinarily rapid growth of the temperance and 
total abstinence movements. On an average out 
of every five suicides three or four are men, and 
only one or two women. 

The Abstinence Associations alone now number 
200,000 members. This movement is not, as in 
England, regarded as of a semi-religious character, 
but rather as a hygienic and scientific crusade 
against a demonstrated evil. Spirits are defined as 
such beverages which contain more than 2^ per 
cent, of their weight of alcohol. One of the princi- 
pal alcoholic liquors drunk in Denmark isbrsendevin 
(eau de vin), from which each Dane consumes i"i5 
gallons of pure alcohol per annum. But the amoun^ 
has diminished by upwards of 20 per cent, during 
the last twenty years, and the rate of diminutioiP 
is increasing."^! Of beer the Danes do not drink so 
much as the English^ the relative consumption 
b^ing represented by the numbers two to three. 



THE PEOPLE 29 

;re also a decrease is noticeable. Moreover, the 
hter and more harmless Pilsener beers are now 
iich more used than they were formerly. 
The temperance movement has been conducted 
a very popular manner, free from fanaticism or 
ejudice, and in a very praiseworthy scientific 
irit. The Danes, moreover, have proved that 
le legislative instrument is more effective than we 
e incHned to believe in England. 
A distinct line is drawn between inns and public 
juses, the first being defined as houses which 
iceive travellers and provide service for them, 
at which are not permitted to serve residents 
L the district ; the latter are the houses which 
iter for all-comers. A Ucence is given in the 
juntry by the Amt or county council, but it 
mnot be granted if the parish council, or two- 
lirds of the inhabitants in the parish, vote against 
;. As a rule one public house is permitted for 
ach 350 residents ; but new legislation is expected 
3 decrease the number of Ucensed premises in 
Toportion to the population. In most cases a 
cence remains vaUd for a period of either 5 or 

years. Licensed premises must be closed at 

1 o'clock ; in some places at 10 o'clock. In 
Copenhagen only is it permitted to remain open 
mtil I o'clock in the morning. It is forbidden 
o retail spirits to persons under the age of 18 
^ears. The local police have the option of 
prohibiting female attendance in bars, while 



30 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

licences may be withdrawn, without appeal, in 
cases where houses are badly conducted. 

Copenhagen compares rather unfavourably with 
some of the other capitals of Europe with regard to 
the moral life of the streets. An extraordinary 
number of natural children are born every year 
in Denmark. One child out of every four in the 
metropolis is born out of wedlock. In the whole 
country the figure is one out of nine. It is diffi- 
cult to explain these statements, while it is still 
more difficult to discover extenuating circum- 
stances. Too much freedom is generally permitted 
during engagements, and betrothals are more 
frequently broken than in other countries. These 
two factors undoubtedly tend to cause a slack- 
ness in views as to sexual relations, which we are 
convinced will ultimately work to the detriment of 
Danish character. 

Until 1906 prostitution was controlled in the 
same manner, as in other Continental countries, by 
means of licensed houses and regular medical 
inspection. In 1906 control was abolished, and 
prostitution no longer legally recognised. The 
results have been only partially satisfactory. No 
women are now permitted to earn a living solely 
by this method. They must demonstrate to the 
police that they have other means of subsistence. 
Severe punishments are inflicted in cases where 
persons suffering from venereal diseases are 
detected either soliciting or procuring. The 1906 



THE PEOPLE 31 

V, while it has cleared away the privileged 
fessionals, has led to a notorious increase in 

number of girls and young women who volun- 
ly engage in this tragic business, apparently 

pleasure ; and whereas before, prostitution 
i confined to certain streets of the town, it now 
mts itself generally, and in a more free and 
meless fashion. 

)ivorces can be obtained with a greater readi- 
s and ease in Denmark than in England. If 

two parties can agree as to its necessity, it is 
icient for them to appear before a magistrate. 

nusconduct on either side is required. The 
gistrate examines the case with the assistance 
L priest, and it is the main function of these two 
tlemen to endeavour to arrange the differences 
the parties, not to judge upon the merits of 

case. Assuming that the husband and wife 
not be persuaded to a reconciliation, a decree 
separation is granted for three years, during 
ich they must not re-marry. The decree is 
de absolute at the end of the three years, 
ompatibihty of temperament is a sufficient 
se for divorce, and the result of this system has 
wn that divorce actions in Denmark neither 
ite the great public scandals which follow 
ilar cases in our own country, nor are accom- 
lied by the morbid and sensational details 
h which we are familiar in England. 
:he State Church in Denmark— officially desig- 



32 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

nated " Evangelically-Reformed " — ^is Lutheran, 
and 98J per cent, of the populace belong to it.. 
Only one-third per cent, remain outside the pale of 
any religious body. There are therefore few civil 
marriages, as these are only allowed by Danish law 
when one of the parties to the marriage is not a 
member of either the Lutheran or one of the other 
churches. Notwithstanding these figures, there is a 
great deal of agnosticism and freethought in the 
shadow of the Church itself, for the Danes are 
not naturally a religiously-incUned people. 

The divisions in the State Church are neither 
many nor serious. There is, as in England, a 
High Church party, which had its origin at the 
same time as the English High Church party and 
the Oxford movement. Then there are the Grundt- 
vigians or Merry Christians, a sect founded by 
Bishop Grundtvig, whose writings and sermons 
inspired the creation of the Popular High Schools, 
about which details have been furnished in another 
chapter. Finally, there are the EvangeUcals or 
Missioners, whose views would place them in 
England somewhere between the Low Church 
party and Wesleyan Methodism. There are prac- 
tically no Nonconformists, and hence reUgious strife 
has not been imported very much into educational 
questions, the State Church still retaining a large 
hand in the guidance and control of all schools. 

If a number of people attending one of the State 
churches desire to have their own clergymanj they 



THE PEOPLE 33 

y leave' the church in question and found 
)ther, without thereby ceasing to become mem- 
s of the Lutheran body. Similarly, a resident in 
2 parish may, should he so desire, regard himself 

a member of the church in another parish, 
e internal affairs of a church are managed by 
congregational council, chosen democratically, 
d consisting both of men and women. 
At the head of the Church are the seven Bishops 
Copenhagen, Fuhnen, LoUand, Aarhus, Aalborg, 
boirg and Ribe — ^who are all theoretically equal, 
ough in practice the Bishop of Copenhagen takes 
ecedence, inasmuch as he alone is the advisor of 
e Ministry. Next in authority to the Bishops are 
,e Deans, and finally the Vicars. There are not 

many ecclesiastical ranks as in England. The 
;ans who serve in the seven cathedrals are termed 
iocesans. The State Church is liberal both in 
jctrine and practice, permitting its priests 
fferences which in England would certainly 
eate serious trouble. A movement for dis- 
itabhshment and separation has greatly increased 
L strength in recent years. 

The services in Danish churches are neither so 
npressive nor so beautiful as in England. There 
re no psalms or canticles ; ecclesiastical music is 
ot of the same, high order ; prayers are fewer ; 
nd sermons are considerably longer. One ob- 
srver has declared that " the people seem to come 
nd go just as they please during the whole of the 

D. C 



30 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

licences may be withdrawn, without appeal, in 
cases where houses are badly conducted. 

Copenhagen compares rather unfavourably with 
some of the other capitals of Europe with regard to 
the moral life of the streets. An extraordinary 
number of natural children are bom every year 
in Denmark. One child out of every four in the 
metropoUs is born out of wedlock. In the whole 
country the figure is one out of nine. It is diffi- 
cult to explain these statements, while it is still 
more difficult to discover extenuating circum- 
stances. Too much freedom is generally permitted 
during engagements, and betrothals are more 
frequently broken than in other countries. These 
two factors undoubtedly tend to cause a slack- 
ness in views as to sexual relations, which we are 
convinced will ultimately work to the detriment of 
Danish character. 

Until 1906 prostitution was controlled in the 
same manner, as in other Continental countries, by 
means of licensed houses and regular medical 
inspection. In 1906 control was aboUshed, and 
prostitution no longer legally recognised. The 
results have been only partially satisfactory. No 
women are now permitted to earn a living solely 
by this method. They must demonstrate to the 
poHce that they have other means of subsistence. 
Severe punishments are inflicted in cases where 
persons suffering from venereal diseases are 
detected either soliciting or procuring. The 1906 



THE PEOPLE 31 

IV, while it has cleared away the privileged 
ifessionals, has led to a notorious increase in 
i number of girls and young women who volun- 
ily engage in this tragic business, apparently 

pleasure ; and whereas before, prostitution 
3 confined to certain streets of the town, it now 
mts itself generally, and in a more free and 
imeless fashion. 

Divorces can be obtained with a greater readi- 
is and ease in Denmark than in England. If 
; two parties can agree as to its necessity, it is 
ficient for them to appear before a magistrate. 

misconduct on either side is required. The 
gistrate examines the case with the assistance 
I priest, and it is the main function of these two 
itlemen to endeavour to arrange the differences 
the parties, not to judge upon the merits of 
: case. Assuming that the husband and wife 
mot be persuaded to a reconciliation, a decree 
separation is granted for three years, during 
ich they must not re-marry. The decree is 
de absolute at the end of the three years. 
;ompatibility of temperament is a sufficient 
ise for divorce, and the result of this system has 
wn that divorce actions in Denmark neither 
ate the great public scandals which follow 
ilar cases in our own country, nor are accom- 
lied by the morbid and sensational details 
h which we are familiar in England, 
'he State Church in Denmark — officially desig- 



32 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

nated " Evangelically-Refonned "— is Lutheran, 
and 98I per cent, of the populace belong to it. 
Only one-third per cent, remain outside the pale of 
any rehgious body. There are therefore few civil 
marriages, as these are only allowed by Danish law 
when one of the parties to the marriage is not a 
member of either the Lutheran or one of the other 
churches. Notwithstanding these figures, there is a 
great deal of agnosticism and freethought in the 
shadow of the Church itself, for the Danes are 
not naturally a religiously-inchned people. 

The divisions in the State Church are neither 
many nor serious. There is, as in England, a 
High Church party, which had its origin at the 
same time as the English High Church party and 
the Oxford movement. Then there are the Grundt- 
vigians or Merry Christians, a sect founded by 
Bishbp Grundtvig, whose writings and sermons 
inspired the creation of the Popular High Schools, 
about which details have been furnished in anoliier 
chapter. Finally, there are the Evangelicals or 
Missioners, whose views would place them in 
England somewhere between the Low Church 
party and Wesleyan Methodism. There are prac- 
tically no Nonconformists, and hence reUgious strife 
has not been imported very much into educational 
questions, the State Church still retaining a large 
hand in the guidance and control of all schools. 

If a number of people attending one of the State 
churches desire to have their own clergyman, they 



THE PEOPLE 33 

may leave' the church in question and found 
another, without thereby ceasing to become mem- 
bers of the Lutheran body. Similarly, a resident in 
one parish may, should he so desire, regard himself 
as a member of the church in another parish. 
The internal affairs of a church are managed by 
a congregational council, chosen democratically, 
and consisting both of men and women. 

At the head of the Church are the seven Bishops 
— Copenhagen, Fuhnen, LoUand, Aarhus, Aalborg, 
Viborg and Ribe — ^who are all theoretically equal, 
though in practice the Bishop of Copenhagen takes 
precedence, inasmuch as he alone is the advisor of 
the Ministry. Next in authority to the Bishops are 
the Deans, and finally the Vicars. There are not 
so many ecclesiastical ranks as in England. The 
deans who serve in the seven cathedrals are termed 
Diocesans. The State Church is liberal both in 
doctrine and practice, permitting its priests 
differences which in England would certainly 
create serious trouble. A movement for dis- 
estabhshment and separation has greatly increased 
in strength in recent years. 

The services in Danish churches are neither so 
impressive nor so beautiful as in England. There 
are no psalms or canticles ; ecclesiastical music is 
not of the same high order ; prayers are fewer ; 
and sermons are considerably longer. One ob- 
server has declared that " the people seem to come 
and go just as they please during the whole of the 
D. c 



34 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

period of worship ; the women frequently remove 
their hats ; and the pastors exhort much, explain 
little." 

The best preachers are undoubtedly to be found 
in the " Indre " Mission or EvangeUcal section of 
the Church. For the benefit of the statistics 
hunter we may say that the High Church party 
numbers seven-twelfths of the members of the 
State Church among its adherents ; the Grundt- 
vigians or Merry Christians, three-twelfths ; and 
the EvangeUcals or " Indre " Missioners, the 
remaining two-twelfths. This latter section is 
distinguished both by its old-fashioned and narrow 
theology, and by the sincere, earnest lives of its 
members. " Indre " means " home," but the 
Missioners, in addition to their diversified work in 
Copenhagen and throughout Denmark generally, 
also support certain men on the mission field in 
other countries. The pastors of this section, 
although still counted priests of the State Church, 
openly preach the much-criticised and abandoned 
doctrine of eternal condemnation for unrepentent 
sinners, but they are so unworldly and self- 
sacrificing in their social and religious work that 
their popularity does not suffer in consequence. 
The energy of the " Indre " Missioners, and the 
successes which have attended their efforts, are as 
amazing as they are unprecedented in the religious 
history of Scandinavia. During the past twenty 
years they have built no fewer than thirty new 



THE PEOPLE 35 

churches in Copenhagen alone, three hospitals, a 
home for fallen women, and numbers of Sunday- 
schools. Moreover, they control hotels in all the 
principal towns in Denmark, Norway and Sweden ; 
run five or six newspapers, including one daily ; 
and possess their own printing establishment. 
They regularly employ over loo colporteurs and 
i6o lay preachers ; and it has been computed that 
in any single year the section holds upwards of 
35,000 meetings. 

One curious fact may be observed here. The 
" Indre " Missioners steadily refuse to co-operate 
with the Grundtvigians, although they are quite 
wiUing, and often do, join forces with the High 
Church party. The reason for this is rather 
difficult to find. Perhaps the stem Cromwellian 
pietists who animate the newer evangelical move- 
ment find in the freer and more tolerant atmo- 
sphere of the Merry Christians a serious hindrance 
to their work. Certain it is, however, that in 
spirit Bishop Grundtvig, the founder of the Merry 
Christians, was not opposed to the essential piety 
of the Missioners, although he might not have been 
in sympathy with their narrow theology. Grundt- 
vig died in 1872 at the age of eighty-nine, after 
having fought a strenuous and hfe-long battle 
against the Rationalism then prevalent in the 
Danish Church. He took a clear-headed and 
bright view of life, was a man of sunny tempera- 
ment, broad-minded, a patriot and a lover of the 

c 2 



36 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

people. His genius found its noblest expression 
in the composition of hymns of wonderful depth 
and beauty, and fired with enthusiasm both 
rehgious and national. Before he died he became 
known throughout Denmark as the " lonely 
champion of the Bible." His followers are still 
extremely national in their outlook, and it was 
largely due to Grundtvig that the popular High 
Schools were founded, and that the peasants and 
small farmers became the leaders in the struggle 
for LiberaUsm. The Missioners, on the other hand, 
affect rather to despise the national and Hberal 
sentiment and to consider themselves cosmo- 
poUtans. This constitutes another bone of con- 
tention between the two sections. 

We may conclude our shght review of the 
rehgious hfe of Denmark by saying that the High 
Church party, as in England, lays its principal 
stress on questions of doctrine. There are only 
about 4,500 Roman Catholics in Denmark, and 
about the same number of Jews. Salvation Army 
work among all sections and classes is greatly on 
the increase. 

The social hfe of the Danes, particularly in the 
metropoUs, has in recent years undergone a notable 
change, developing very much along French Imes. 
Cafe, Salon and restaurant habits are increasing 
in a pronounced manner. Despite these facts, 
however, the Danes still remain a charming and 
hospitable people. Their customs, especially those 



THE PEOPLE 37 

associated with their great national and religious 
festivals, assume the existence of the family as the 
basis of all social amenities. There is practically 
no recognition of " grades " in society. Sets — 
artistic, literaryi theatrical, political — are inevi- 
table in any organised social system, and they are 
of course to be found in Denmark, with this 
essential difference, that when seeking admission 
to them, birth or position count for nothing a^d 
cleverness for everything. 

Christenings, confirmations, weddings, funerals 
are all conducted with more elaborate ceremony 
than in our own country. Practically every 
Dane is a confirmed member of the Lutheran 
body ; and family celebrations in connection with 
the various stages of the religious life of each of 
its members involve the profuse giving of feasts, 
presents, and congratulatory or condolatory cards, 
as the case may be. The Danes also make a great 
deal more of Christmas and Easter than we do in 
England. 

It is the custom for both sexes to wear rings 
when betrothed. The engagement rings are plain 
gold circlets, and are worn on the third finger of 
the right hand. These rings are not changed on 
marriage, the same one sufficing both for an engage- 
ment and a wedding. Dress rings and other 
jewellery are much affected, the young Danish 
girls especially being fond of display of this kind. 

The Danes dress well : the men follow the 



38 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

English modes, while the women are noted in 
northern Europe for the beauty of their figures 
and the taste of their attire. Copenhagen tailoring 
is generally counted superior to that of all other 
cities, with the sole exception of London. 

At the present moment English manners, cus- 
toms and ideas are in great demand in the Danish 
metropolis. An Englishman finds a readier wel- 
come than any other national. The Germans, 
largely owing to the Sleswick-Holstein trouble, 
are, as elsewhere on the Continent, not held in any 
great esteem. EngUsh is very generally spoken 
in the homes, the shops, the clubs, and in business, 
social, poUtical and literary circles. 

The Danes, like most small nations, possess a 
unique facility in acquiring foreign tongues, and 
the purity of their English accent is excelled only 
by that attained by their near relations and 
neighbours, the Norwegians. In the music halls 
English artistes often fill a very large share in the 
programme ; in athletics, English cricket, tennis, 
football or boxing teams annually visit Copenhagen 
and compete with the best that Denmark has to 
offer in these several sports ; finally, and perhaps 
the most convincing test of popularity, several 
of the most important booksellers in the Danish 
capital rely for a large proportion of their profits 
upon the sale of the best works in modern English 
literature. 

The Court does not affect society in Denmark so 



THE PEOPLE 39 

much as it does in England. There are a few balls 
during the winter and one or two dinner parties 
at the Royal palace every week. These constitute 
almost entirely the official functions of the Danish 
court. In no capital in Europe do the members of 
the Royal family move about in a less formal or 
more unostentatious manner than in Copenhagen. 
The reason for this is that the Danes, notwith- 
standing their genuine spirit of democracy, possess 
an instinctive reverence for the monarchical insti- 
tution. They are not republicans, and the King 
of Denmark is probably safer among his people 
than any other monarch in Europe, our own not 
excepted. 

At all social functions in Denmark people of 
all grades or spheres are on an equality. At 
dinpers ladies and gentlemen leave the tables at 
the same moment, this being due to the fact that 
practically all Danish women smoke. Hereditary 
titles are no longer conferred, either by King or 
Government, and the roll of the old nobihty may 
therefore be regarded as closed. There are, how- 
ever, very many orders of merit and decorations 
which may be honourably gained in the political, 
diplomatic, scientific or commercial worlds. 

The traveller in Denmark will be struck by the 
extraordinary prevalence of personal names ending 
in sen — Hansen, Petersen, Jensen, Sorensen, and 
the like. This is due to an ancient custom where 
a man was known by his father's Christian name. 



40 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

with the suffix sen or son added ; thus Christian 
the son of Peter Jensen was not called Christian 
Jensen but Christian, Peter's son (Petersen). In 
this manner a great deal of unnecessary confusion 
has arisen, and the State has now recommended, 
and is actively encouraging, the discarding of these 
old family names, and the invention of new ones. 
The Genealogical Institute helps all those who desire 
it in the choice and legitimising of new names. 

The Danes are superb dancers, both in the form 
of ballet and folk dancing. The Royal Theatre 
in Copenhagen produces ballets second only in 
beauty and importance to those of Petrograd. 
But the finest and most characteristic of the 
national dances may be seen during the various 
annual festivals, especially in the country. During 
the May celebrations, on Valborg Eve, at Whitsun- 
tide and on Midsirainier's Eve the best of these, 
folk dances are held ; the Midsummer festival, with 
its bonfires and fireworks, being the most animated 
of the four. 



CHAPTER III 

COPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 

The Danish MetropoUs — Its Situation, Aspect, Qimate 
and History — Christian IV., the Building King — 
The Churches, Monuments, Open Spaces, Museums 
and Art Collections of the City — The Tivoli — Ama- 
lienborg and the Royal Palaces — ^The University- — 
The " City of Spires " — ^The Raadhus — Sanitation 
and Health — Populations of the Principal Towns in 
Denmark — Elsinore and the Castle of Hamlet — ^The 
Sound — Rosldlde — Aarhus — Count Frij s — Frij sen- 
borg — VeUe — Horsens — Randers — Aeilborg — 
Esbjerg — Fano — Viborg — Ribe — Odense — 
Svendborg. 

The Danish metropolis, finely situated on the 
Oresund, the stretch of water which separates 
Denmark from Sweden, possesses a quiet, subtle 
grace and a rare charm, both of position and archi- 
tecture, which entitle it to rank among the beauti- 
ful cities of the world. It is a town of waterways 
a:nd canals, lakes and inlets, islands and bridges. 
Its streets are regvilar and straight, though there 
are many quaint, narrow byways which remain as 
relics of an earlier age. In the winter it is a grey 
northern city shrouded in mist, wind-swept, cold 
and damp. In the summer it puts on a frivolous 
southern garb, fills with German tourists, and is 
one of the most dehghtful pleasure towns in the 
world. 



42 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

Kobenhavn, the native name for the city, 
signifies the " merchant's harbour." Although it 
had existed as a fishing village for many centuries 
in the earUest times, it first became important in 
1 167, when Valdemar the Great and Bishop 
Absalon fortified it against the frequent attacks 
of pirates. In 1254 it was granted a municipal 
code by Archbishop Erlandsen. Valdemar Atter- 
dag made the rising city his residence for some time, 
and in 1422 Eric of Pomerania invested it with 
special privileges. It then rapidly developed into 
the trade centre of the country, and after 1478, 
when the University was founded, it became at 
the same time the seat of government and the 
centre of culture in the north. 

In the middle ages the town had a stormy 
history. It was sacked by the Germans from 
Lubeck in 1248, and conquered by Jaromar of 
Rugen eleven years later. In 1294 a revolt of the 
citizens was only quelled after much blood had been 
shed. The town was captured by John the Mild 
in 1328, and again pillaged by the Lubeckers in 
1368. Sieges, religious and feudal strife, visita- 
tions of plague, bombardments, fires and epidemics, 
these constitute the history of the Danish capital 
from the time of its foundation to the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. 

Much of the old town may be said to have been 
planned by Christian IV., that great building king, 
and, perhaps, the most popular of the Danish 



COPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 43 

monarchs since the time of the Valdemars. The 
present city is divided into three parts : Old Copen- 
hagen, which is contained within the ancient ram- 
parts ; the Void districts, which extend between the 
boulevards and the lakes ; and the outer city. A 
narrow channel divides the old town into two 
parts. 

Kongen's Nytorv (King's New Market) and 
Raadhuspladsen (Town Hall Place) are the main 
centres both for traffic, and for that delightful 
open-air caf6 Ufe characteristic of the Continent. 
The first named is a large, irregular space sur- 
rounded by hotels and offices, and dominated by 
the Royal Theatre and the Thott Palace, the 
latter a fine old seventeenth century building 
belonging to Baron Reedtz-Thott. The Royal 
Theatre is in the Renaissance style. It was built 
in 1874 to seat about 1,600 people, and is famous 
throughout Northern Europe for its fine per- 
formances of classical comedies, opera and ballet. 
Over the proscenium is inscribed the suggestive 
legend Ej blot til Lyst {" Not for pleasure only "). 

If one were asked to select the three most inte- 
resting buildings in Copenhagen from an historical 
standpoint, the choice would b edifficult. Prob- 
ably the majority of Copenhageners, at any rate, 
would suggest the Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our 
Lady), the Round Tower, and Rosenborg Castle. 

The Frue Kirke, although originally founded in 
the twelfth century, has been destroyed on so 



44 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

many occasions by fire, lightning and bombard- 
ment that nothing now remains of the original 
building. It is, however, still one of the most 
interesting edifices in the Danish capital, if for no 
other reason than that of its intimate association 
with the hfe of the city through so many centuries. 
The kings of Denmark have been crowned beneath 
its dome for many hundreds of years. It has been 
to Copenhagen what Notre Dame was to Paris, the 
centre both of its civic and religious hfe. In 
recent years the church has been rendered more 
memorable by the acquisition of some of ThOr- 
waldsen's masterpieces. The statues of Christ and 
the Twelve Apostles placed in the interior are 
among the greatest works of the immortals. 

The Rundetaarn, or Round Tower, is one of the 
many edifices raised by Christian IV. It was 
originally an observatory, but is now a show-place, 
notable chiefly for the extremely fine outlook over 
the city, the islands, and the Sound, which may be 
obtained from its summit. It is ascended in an 
unique manner by means of a very wide spiral 
road, up which it. is possible to drive a horse and 
carriage. Peter the Great and the Czarina 
Catherine are said to have performed this feat in 
a conve37ance with four horses. 

Of all the monuments to the architectural skill of 
Christian IV., none' surpasses in chaste and 
harmonious beauty the castle of Rosenborg. It 
was commenced in 1610 and finished in 1625. It 




j [Copyright : 

The Round Tower, Copenhagen. 



& Underwood. 



;OPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 45 

5 a blending of Dutch, Italian and Renaissance 
tyles of architecture, and is filled with the art 
oUections of all the kings and queens of Denmark 
ince the time of its royal builder — gold, silver, 
snamels, furniture, jewellery, porcelain, amber, 
ace and ivory, Venetian glassware, tapestries and 
jronzes. It is a wonderful collection. The 
iamous " Flora Danica " service in porcelain is 
perhaps the gem of the treasures to be seen here. 
The choicest specimens of pillar-work, panelhng 
md decorative ceiHngs to be found in Rosenborg 
ire in the Marble Hall, the Knight's Hall, the 
Rose Apartment, and Frederik IV.'s Bedchamber. 

Copenhagen contains many beautiful churches. 
The Frue Kirke has already been described. Of 
the others, the most striking are the Marmor Kirke 
(Marble Church), the Russian and English churches, 
Vor Frelser's Kirke (Church of Our Saviour), 
Helligaand's Kirke (Church of the Holy Ghost), and 
Trinitatis Kirke. 

The Marble Church possesses a great copper 
dome which is but a few feet smaller in diameter 
than that of St. Peter's in Rome. The foundation 
stone was laid by Frederik V. in 1749, but the 
building remained unfinished for over a century 
and a quarter. In 1874, a rich financier, Herr C. F. 
Tietgen, had it completed at his own expense, 
though upon a somewhat smaller scale than origi- 
nally designed. Vor Frelser's Kirke was erected 
between 1682 and 1696, and is surmounted by a 



46 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

tower, than which there is but one loftier in 
Northern Europe, The view from the " ball " at 
the top of Vor Preiser's tower takes in the harbours, 
the old and modem towns, the royal dockyards, 
the island of Amager, the distant forests of Sealand, 
and the blue waters of the Sound. The Russian 
church, with its three great golden cupolas, was 
built by the Czar Alexander III., and opened in 
1883. The Enghsh church (St. Alban's) stands in 
a most charming situation upon the banks of a 
diminutive lake. The site was granted on per- 
petual lease by the Danish Government, and the 
consecration took place in 1887, the foundation 
stone having been laid by the Prince of Wales 
(Edward VII.) two years earlier, in 1885. The 
church was designed by Sir A. Blomfield, and 
possesses several beautiful stained-glass windows, 
one of which was presented by Sir Edward Monson, 
formerly British Minister at Copenhagen. 

Helligaand's Kirke contains a handsomely deco- 
rated interior. It was originally the chapel of a 
famous convent. Trinity Church is one of the 
Christian IV. buildings. Many of Tycho Brahe's 
instruments were formerly kept here, but in the 
fire of 1728 they were unfortunately destroyed, 
together with a number of invaluable books and 
documents. 

Copenhagen, the Athens of the north, is remark- 
able for the number of museums, art collections, 
and public statues which it possesses . The principal 



:OPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 47 

)f these is, of course, the Thorwaldsen coUec- 
:ion, which is at one and the same time the tomb 
)f the great sculptor and the abiding place of 
nany of his finest works. The great building 
tself is modelled dfter an Etruscan tomb. 

After the Thorwaldsen collection the Glyptotek 
s the most important in Scandinavia. It was 
Duilt in 1888 by Herr Carl Jacobsen, a wealthy 
viewer. It is a museum devoted both to the 
mtique and modem, and is housed in a handsome 
pranite building, built from designs by Dahlerup 
md Kampmann. The antique section contains 
Egyptian> Greek and Roman works in marble and 
terra cotta, important early Christian relics, 
ivooden statues from Japan, and a specially fine 
collection of ancient bronzes. The modern section 
comprises works by the best Scandinavian, German, 
[talian and French sculptors, most notable of all 
Deing the superb Rodins acquired by Jacobsen at 
mmense prices. 

The State Art Museum contains the royal coUec- 
■ion of engravings, casts, paintings and sculpture, 
md is a valuable addition to the city's pubUc art 
measures. The Folke Museum, one of the most 
nteresting and unique of its kind in the world, is 
iesigned to illustrate the Ufe and customs of the 
people from early times to the present day by 
neans of specimens of their houses, and collections 
)f furniture, household utensils, carvings, and old 
:extile fabrics. 



48 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

Copenhagen is well provided with parks and 
promenades. Between three and five o'clock in 
the afternoon "Stroget," the popular name for the 
series of fine shopping streets connecting Kongen's 
Nytorv and the Raadhusplads, is thronged by an 
animated and typical Danish crowd. On Sunday 
mornings and on fine summer evenings the 
Langelinie is the favourite promenade. It was 
built in 1906, fronts th^ harbour, runs for some 
distance out into the sea, and ends in a small pier 
and lighthouse. At the entrance to this esplanade 
is a famous fountain statue by Bundgaard of 
" Gefion with her oxen ploughing up Sealand." 
Near this statue stands the pretty St. Alban's 
Church of the English. From the Langelinie the 
view is very fine, embracing the shipping in the 
roadstead, the citadel with its ancient ramparts 
and moats, the celebrated shipbuilding yards of 
Burmeister and Wain on the Refshale Island 
opposite, the Trekroner Fort, the island of Hveen, 
and in the far distance, if the weather is fine, the 
blue coasts of Sweden. In the neighbourhood of 
the Langelinie is the Free Harbour, opened to 
shipping in November, 1894. 

Of open spaces S6ndermarken,0rsted's Park, and 
Frederiksberg Gardens are the principal. The 
first of these is prettily laid out in the English style, 
and lies close to the handsome residence of Herr 
Carl Jacobsen, to whose generosity the city of 
Copeiihagen owes so many of her finest art 




0^ 
O 
O 






lOPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 49 

reasures. Orsted's Park is situated on the site of 
he old ramparts, is beautifully kept, and contains 
, good statue of H. C. Orsted, the discoverer of 
lectro-magnetism. Frederiksberg Gardens, with 
ts lake and canals, is not unUke the Green Park of 
^ondon. They are in close proximity to the Zoo- 
ogical Gardens, which, although neither so large 
lor so representative as other collections in more 
avourable climes, are nevertheless remarkably 
food, and the only real collection of animals north 
if Hamburg. Perhaps the most popular of the 
Copenhagen "lungs" is Kongen's Have (The King's 
jarden) . It belongs to Rosenborg, and is the great 
)lace for open-air meetings. The Botanical 
j-ardens in the vicinity contain a very fine palm- 
louse and an aquarium. 

The city has an excellent aerodrome, situated 
)n the island of Amager. The ground has a 
iplendid surface, is bounded on one side by the 
iea, and measures one kilometre each way. Its 
jquipment is quite modern, first-class hangars and 
efreshment pavilions providing for all the wants 
)f aviators and visitors. 

The Tivoh is the most famous of all the pleasure 
esorts of Denmark. One Danish wag has said 
hat " Denmark is Copenhagen, and Copenhagen is 
he TivoH." This exaggeration contains an ele- 
nent of truth. If there is one thing the Dane 
mows how to do it is to enjoy himself. And there 
;an be no doubt that the Tivoh occupies a very 

D. D 



50 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

large place in the heart of all real Copenhageners. 
The gardens were laid out in 1843, on the lines of the 
old Vauxhall Gardens of London. Indeed, its first 
name was " Wauxhall Ha ve . " The Tivoli achieved 
success immediately, and has outlived its EngUsh 
forerunner. To-day it is quite as much an 
institution in Denmark as the Parliament or the 
Law Courts. It attracts visitors not only from the 
other Scandinavian countries, but also from 
Germany, Holland and Russia, while English 
travellers arriving in Copenhagen for the first time 
go to the Tivoli before they know their way to 
their rooms at the hotel. There are theatres for 
revues, operettes, and musical comedies, in which 
the best Danish actors play ; restaurants and 
cafes ; bands, dancing halls, concerts, bazaars, 
amusements and fireworks. 

In absolute contrast to the hfe and gaiety of the 
Tivoli, one passes along the " Stroget," across 
Kongen's Nj^torv, and through Bredgade, where 
many of the embassies [are, to the aristocratic 
portion of the city. Here in Amahenborg we find 
a quiet old-world square of four grey, rococo 
palaces. The royal family live here when in 
Copenhagen. When the guard is changed at mid- 
day the uniforms and the crowd and the music, 
with the old palaces of Christian VII. standing out 
against the sky, combine to make a scene from a 
Hans Andersen tale. Near Amalienborg are the 
High Courts of Justice ; and in Bredgade, a 



:OPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 51 

hort distance from the palaces, lies the present 
)uilding of the Rigsdag. It was formerly a 
)arrack. The Parliament will shortly occupy a 
luarter of the new palace — Christiansborg — now 
n the course of erection. 

The University of Copenhagen lies in the Hol- 
jerg district. The house of the great Danish 
ilohere is adjacent. The University buildings are 
n Gothic style, and quite modem, having been 
erected between 1831 and 1836. Many of the 
)ther structures in the neighbourhood belong to 
:he University and are used as laboratories, or 
:or special purposes connected with the Univer- 
sity work. 

The Stock Exchange is a particularly handsome 
Duilding built by Christian IV. in the Dutch- 
Renaissance style. It is surmounted by a curious 
i^et characteristic spire, decorated with ornate 
gables. One of the first things which compel 
1 visitor's attention on arriving in the Danish 
netropoUs is the extraordinary number of tower- 
ng steeples. Copenhagen has been termed the 
' City of Spires," a title for which there is 
imple justification. Nearly all the churches and 
Dalaces and some of the other buildings possess 
:owers capped with tapering spires. The loftiest 
)f them aU is to be found on the Raadhus, or City 
Jail, whose fine proportions, original style of 
irchitecture, and beauty of outhne, make it the 
loblest pile in Scandinavia. This building was 

D 2 



52 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

begun in 1892 and completed in 1902 by Martin 
Nyrop. Jhe copper-sheathed spire is 347 feet 
above the level of the street, and the great four- 
dialled clock, with its magnificent peal of bells, is 
worked by electricity. The large covered court- 
yard is decorated in the style of the Italian 
Renaissance. On three sides the first story has 
open galleries supported by pillars ; and fine por- 
tals lead into the open courtyard at the back, in 
which the low arched gallery immediately under 
the eaves is one of the most striking features. 
The beauty of the main fagade is enhanced by 
the great castellated wall which rises above the 
roof and is flanked by two small towers. In 
front of the wall is a flat open space, prbtected by 
a balustrade supporting a row of life-sized bronze 
figures of the city watchmen of days gone by. 
Among NjTTop's original ideas is a dove-cot in the 
form of a round tower on the side facing the Tivoli. 
This is meant for a flock of white doves, which will 
hover as " emblems of peace over this civic palace." 
Martin Nyrop's Raadhus is undoubtedly the finest 
specimen of rriodem Danish architecture. 

The city of Copenhagen claims to be one of the 
healthiest of the world's capitals. For the quin- 
quennial period 1881 — 1885 the crude mortality 
rate was 22*3 per thousand ; for the period 1906— 
1910 this had decreased to 15 •! per thousand. 
The death-rate in London during the same quin- 
quennium was I4"9 per thousand, in Paris 17*5 



COPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 53 

per thousand, in Vienna 17-1 per thousand, 
and in Petrograd — ^the highest of all — 25-6 per 
thousand. 

One of the reasons for this low death-rate is the 
fact that the Danish capital is, owing to its strin- 
gent medical precautions, almost entirely free 
from " dirty diseases " ; cholera, exanthematic 
typhus, typhoid and small-pox are of such rare 
occurrence that it has been seriously stated that 
few physicians in Copenhagen have had the 
opportunity either of seeing or treating them. 

The water suppUed for drinking in the Danish 
capital is exceptionally good, being wholly obtained 
from artesian wells. Surface water is not per- 
mitted to be used, and all the sources of supply 
undergo a weekly bacteriological examination. 
Copenhagen water contains a heavy percentage of 
iron, and it cannot, therefore, be conveyed direct 
from the wells into the mains ; it is first exposed 
for a considerable period to the oxidation of the 
atmosphere and then filtered. 

The sewerage system is one of the completest and 
most efficient on the Continent. Underground 
canals convey the sewage under the harbour and 
the island of Amager, where it is pumped into the 
Sound some three or four miles from the outskirts 
of the city. Cesspools such as are still used in 
Paris, Vienna, Munich and other important cities 
on the Continent, have not been employed in 
Copenhagen for over thirty years. The milk supply 



54 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

is under the control of sanitary officers. No meat 
may be offered for sale unless it has first been 
inspected and passed by the municipal veterinary 
surgeons, and then only in shops which are con- 
trolled by the Board of Health, which also super- 
vises the sale of sausages and other articles pre- 
pared from meat. 

There are only four towns of any size in Den- 
mark. They are Copenhagen, which, with the 
adjacent municipality of Frederiksberg, now has a 
population of just over 575,000 ; Aarhus, with 
65,000 ; Aalborg, with 35,000 ; and Odense, with 
40,000. The rest of the country is occupied by 
small communes, hamlets, villages and outlying 
farmsteads. The total population does not exceed 
2,750,000, of whom it will be seen about one-fifth 
live in the capital. 

In Sealand, north of the metropolis, there are 
several ancient and historic cities, of which perhaps 
Elsinore is the most interesting to English people 
by reason of its supposed connection with Hamlet. 
The grave of the prince and the brook in which the 
luckless Ophelia was drowned are pointed out to 
tourists by enterprising guides ; but there is no 
truth whatever in their assertions. Hamlet was 
born in another part of the country, and it is 
doubtful if he ever even visited Elsinore. His 
burial-place is unknown. Shakespeare is reputed, 
however, to have visited the town prior to writing 
his famous tragedy. 



COPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 55 

Near to Elsinore is the celebrated fortress of 
Kronborg. The environs of the fortress are 
exceedingly beautiful— lofty hills, well-timbered 
parks, the view of the Swedish coast close at hand, 
and the crowded shipping in the Sound. It is often 
said that nowhere in the world can so many vessels 
be seen together and in such constant movement as 
in this narrow channel between Denmark and 
Sweden — ^the connecting link between the Baltic 
and the North Sea. 

Due west of Copenhagen hes the old cathedral 
city of Roskilde, at one time the capital of the 
country, and next to Copenhagen the most 
historic site in Denmark. It was successively the 
residence of Harald Bluetooth, Svend, and Canute 
the Great. Most of the Danish kings lie buried 
here. The cathedral, standing on a lofty eminence, 
is the finest and largest ecclesiastical building in 
Denmark, and its grey twin towers form landmarks 
which can be seen for miles around on all sides. 

The second town in Denmark — Aarhus — lies at 
the end of a fjord on the east coast of Jutland. 
Its old cathedral of St. Clement is the longest 
church in Scandinavia. This city is growing in 
importance. It has become a great shipping 
centre, and its wealth is mainly derived from large 
oil and margarine factories. Near Aarhus is the 
present King's summer residence, Marsehsborg, 
presented to him on the occasion of his marriage 
by the population of Jutland. The surrounding 



56 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

:ountry is the most varied in Denmark — lakes and 
[lower-covered heaths and wooded hills. Fifteen 
niles to the north-west lies Frijsenborg, the seat of 
Ilount Frijs-Frijsenborg, the largest landed pro- 
prietor in the country. The Count, who is one of 
;he leaders of the Conservative Party, was a great 
personal friend of the late King Edward. 

Other important towns on the east coast of 
futland are Vejle, celebrated for its beautiful 
dtuation on Vejle Fjord ; Horsens, an important 
nanufacturing town ; Randers, remarkable for its 
beautiful women, its great glove factories, and the 
jxcellence of its salmon ; and Aalborg, the cement 
:own. 

The only town of any size on the west coast is 
isbjerg, which lies in an almost direct line between 
^ondon and Copenhagen. It is sheltered from the 
vinds which blow over the North Sea by the little 
sland of Fano. The harbour, built between 1868 
md 1888 at a cost of £140,000, is the fourth 
n the kingdom, and since the opening of direct 
iteamship communication between Denmark and 
Ingland has sprung into a position of importance 
ixceeded only by Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg. 
in the interior of Jutland the two quaint old 
;athedral cities, Viborg and Ribe, are mainly 
nteresting to historical students. The churches 
n each of these cities are notable, and the visitor 
vill be delighted with the numerous storks who 
test on the house-tops or solemnly parade the 



COPENHAGEN AND THE LARGE TOWNS 57 

marshes and on occasions even the village streets 
of this old-world neighbourhood. 

On the island of Fuhnen the only two towns of 
note are Odense and Svendborg. The former is 
the third city in Denmark, and one of the oldest 
places in Scandinavia, being sacred to the memory 
of the ancient Norse god Odin. Svendborg occu- 
pies a fine situation on the south-east coast of 
the island, and is a favourite summer resort of the 
Danes from all parts of the country. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ROYAL FAMILY 

The Children of King Frederik VIII.^ — Popularity of the 
Danish Royal House — Democratic Characteristics — 
Members, Customs, Ramifications — The Clannishness 
of the Gliicksburgs — The Present Ruler — A Character 
Sketch— The King's " Wife " and " ChHdren." 

The late King Frederik VIII. of Denmark left 
behind him seven children, of whom the present 
King is the eldest. He was born in 1870 — the 
year of Sedan — at a time when Danish relations 
with Germany were severely strained, and although 
the royal house of Denmark is German in its 
origin, Frederik and his son Christian soon demon- 
strated that their sympathies and interests were 
essentially Danish. The result is that no royal 
family in Europe to-day is more securely entrenched 
in the heart and imagination of the people it rules 
than is the Gliicksburg family of Denmark ; and 
certainly no ruling house is more remarkable for 
its genuine simplicity, its love of democratic 
customs and institutions, or the real talent and 
abihty of its members. 

The second son of the late King Frederik married 
his cousin. Princess Maud of England, and in 1905 
was elected to the throne of Norway. Two 
younger sons, Harald and Gustav, hold commis- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 59 

sions in the Danish army, having, in accordance 
with the estabhshed custom in Denmark, worked 
their way up from the rank of private soldier. 
The present King has two unmarried sisters, Thyra 
and Dagmar, who Hve with their mother, and 
one sister who is married to a Swedish prince. 
The King's uncle, the celebrated Prince Valdemar, 
is an admiral in the Danish navy. He married the 
late Princess Marie of Orleans, who is often said 
to have been the most popular Frenchwoman 
who ever came to Denmark. Prince Valdemar 
generally represents the King abroad, and during 
his long and distinguished career has been offered 
several crowns, including that of Bulgaria. He 
has four young sons, one of whom. Prince Axel, is 
a daring aviator ; while another, Prince Aage, 
recently contracted a marriage with the beautiful 
daughter of the late Italian ambassador in Copen- 
hagen, thereby renouncing his royal position and 
rights. Prince Valdemar's only daughter has re- 
cently matriculated at the University of Copen- 
hagen, probably the first royal lady in history to 
be scholastically examined in the ordinary way, or 
to be entered as an undergraduate at a university. 
King Frederik, as all the world knows, had three 
distinguished sisters ; Princess Alexandra, who 
became Queen of England ; Princess Dagmar, who 
became Empress of Russia ; and Princess Thyra, 
who married the Duke of Cumberland ; while their 
brother, Prince George, became King of Greece. 



6o DENMARK AND THE DANES 

In that one generation, therefore, the Gliicksburg 
family was related to more than half the royal 
families of Europe ; and it has been computed 
that the descendants of the old King Christian IX. 
of Denmark at the present time rule over three- 
fifths of the inhabitants of the world. 

The clannishness of the Gliicksburgs is notorious. 
Queen Alexandra and the Dowager Empress of 
Russia have jointly purchased a beautiful villa on 
the Danish coast, some miles north of Copen- 
hagen, in which they reside together during a large 
part of every summer. Although the children 
and grandchildren of old Christian IX. are now 
scattered from one end of Europe to the other, it 
is a characteristic of them that they never forget 
the land of their birth ; and Fredensborg Castle 
was until quite recently the scene of more notable 
royal reunions than any other palace in Christen- 
dom. The heads of the reigning houses of England 
and Russia, Norway, Sweden and Greece, with their 
families, came to this historic castle almost' every 
year, in order to participate in the simple, dignified 
and almost bourgeois life of the modern Danish 
court. 

The present ruler of Denmark, Christian X., is 
often termed affectionately by his people the 
Citizen King on account t»f his unaffected and 
natural manners, his bluff, slangy method of 
speech, his clear conception of his constitutional 
position, and the genuine pleasure he evinces 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 6i 

when mixing up with his subjects, and especially 
when being treated as one of them. He is a fine 
public speaker, possessing a cultured voice of great 
power and range. He eschews ostentation and 
pomposity as if they were twin plagues, and when 
speaking of the Queen or the princes he never 
refers to them as such, but invariably as " my 
wife " or " my children." 

King Christian is far and away the tallest 
monarch in Europe, towering a full head above 
the majority of his tallest subjects ; and one 
Danish wit has said that " when the King gets cold 
feet in December he only begins to sneeze in May, 
as it will take the worst cold at least six months to 
reach his head." 

One of the King's favourite practices is to board 
the royal yacht on a fine summer evening and order 
her captain to take her during the night to one of 
the many pleasant coast resorts in Sealand or 
Jutland, arriving there quite unexpectedly in the 
small hours of the morning, when he will land 
while the majority of the inhabitants are yet 
asleep and call upon the burgomaster, afterwards 
strolling unaccompanied through the streets and 
chatting heartily with whomsoever he may meet. 

King Christian's popularity is deservedly shared 
by his beautiful wife. Queen Alexandrine, Princess 
of Mecklenburg, and by their two young sons. 



PART II 
HISTORICAL 



CHAPTER V 

GENERAL SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 

Norse Myth — Sea Robbers — Saxo Grammaticus — ^Tribal 
Divisions — ^The Vikings — ^Ansgar and the Intro- 
duction of Christianity — ^Alfred the Great and the 
Danes — ^Swain — ^Canute the Great — ^The First Arch- 
bishop of Scandinavia— The ParUaments of Jutland, 
Sealand and South Sweden — The Wends — ^Bishop 
Absalon — ^Valdemar the Great — ^The Creatibn of the 
Danish NobiUty — Canute VI. — Valdemar the 
Victorious — The Conquest of Northern Germany — 
The Battle of Reval — The Treachery of the Count of 
Schwerin — ^The Darkest Century in Danish History — 
Bankruptcy — ^Niels Ebbesen and the Uprising of the 
Jutes — ^Valdemar Atterdag — ^The Hansa States — 
Queen Margareth — The Kalmar Union — Eric of 
Pomerania — Christian II. — Dyveke — The Assassina- 
tion of the Swedish Nobility — ^Martin Luther — The 
Danish Lutheraii Church — The Building King — ^The 
Storming of Copenhagen — ^Political Changes — ^The 
Age of Absolutism — Economic Changes — The 
Napoleonic Era — Nelson bombards Copenhagen — 
The Peace of Tilsit — ^Sleswick-Holstein — The Spirit 
of Modem Denmark. 

Danish history first emerges from obscurity and 
tradition into something resembling fact and 
record about the year 800 a.d. Before this time 
it is difficult, if not altogether impossible, to 
disentangle the Danish elements from the vast 
fabric of general Norse myth and legend. One 

D E 



66 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

fact alone can be stated with certainty. From the 
eariiest times the Northmen had been quick and 
daring pirates, a race of freebooters and sea 
robbers, a violent people who loved fighting, the 
smell of battle, peril and conquest, and the salt 
scent of the sea wind in their faces. 

Much of the spirit of this ancient race can be 
gleaned from the pages of Saxo, a Danish monk 
who Uved about the year 1200 a.d. As in England 
prior to the year 800, so in Denmark, we find that 
the country was divided into a number of tribal 
kingdoms, of which those of the Jutes and the Sea- 
landers were undoubtedly the strongest and the 
most feared; As we peruse the monkish pages we 
heir continually the din of battle, the echo of spear 
on shield, battle-axe on crested helmet. It is a 
history of blood and war, the quest of Valhalla, an 
unparalleled story of intertribal strife. 

At length, however, weary of fighting with each 
other, the Northmen launched their galleys into 
the farthest waters of the then known world. To 
England they came, driven and buffeted by wind 
and wave, to Scotland and Iceland, to France and 
the fair countries of the South, until the Northern 
barbarians were the terror of civiUsed Europe, the 
one power which still presented a stubborn front 
to the growing might of Christianity. The Viking 
ships, entering the mouths of great rivers, devas- 
tated and destroyed the rich and fruitful lands 
upon their banks, annihilated whole populations, 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 67 

despoiled and desecrated churches and cloisters, 
spreading dismay and terror wherever they went, 
putting women to violence, young boys to slavery, 
old men to, death. War to these early Scandi- 
navians was the breath of existence, the only object 
in life worthy of ardent pursuit. While so much 
as one drop of blood remained in their veins 
they were prepared to fight. They died Bersekers. 
After death they believed in a heaven of fighting 
gods, with whom they assembled each morning and 
went forth into battle. Those who fell in the fight 
would arise when the evening came to take again 
the axe and spear and sally forth to that never- 
ending battle of the gods. 

For seven or eight hundred years the Vikings 
pursued unchecked their career of slaughter and 
violence. Then in 826 the German monk Ansgar 
travelled into Denmark, and set the first seeds of 
Christianity in the heart of this untamed and bar- 
baric people. A few years later Harald the Blue- 
toothed was baptised, the first king of the Danes 
to accept the religion of Christ. 

The history of Denmark between the years 800 
and 1042 is so interwoven with that of England 
that it cannot easily be written apart. The Danes 
in the reign of Ecgberht swept up the Thames to 
London, and although in succeeding reigns they 
were repeatedly repulsed and driven back, they 
continued to arrive in England in greater and 
greater numbers. Alfred the Great and his sons 

E 2 



68 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

succeeded in temporarily destrojTing their power, 
but under Swain the Two-bearded they renewed 
their supremacy. This was the direct outcome of 
that" treacherous massacre of all the Danes in 
England upon St. Brice's Day which blackens the 
memory of King ^thelred. Swain, hearing the 
terrible news, swore to revenge his murdered 
countrymen, and set forth from Denmark to the 
conquest of England, He succeeded admirably in 
canying out this project, and iEthelred's kingdom 
was shorn of all but Wessex. Swain was followed 
by his son Knud (Canute), who in single combat 
defeated and slew .^thelred's son, Edmund Iron- 
sides, subsequently annexing Wessex to his king- 
dom, which then embraced the whole of Denmark, 
Norway, England and parts of Sweden. 

During the reign of Canute Enghsh and Danish 
customs, laws and methods of administration 
naturally became intermingled. Much was taken 
from each country and adopted in the other, 
though, speaking generally, it may be said that the 
Danes in England became merged quietly with the 
people whom they had conquered. 

Dtiring the century which followed the death of 
Canute the Christian churches in Denmark, 
Norway and Sweden increased in numbers and 
influence. In 1104 the first Archbishop of Scandi- 
navia was appointed. He estabUshed his seat in 
Lund, the principal town of the South Swedish 
provinces, which then belonged to Denmark. The 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 69 

capital of the Danish kingdom in these days was 
Roskilde, an important town in Sealand. 

During this period the three dominant partners 
in the kingdom were Jutland, Sealand and the 
South Swedish provinces. Each of them pos- 
sessed its own independent parliament (ting), 
whose functions were to make and administer local 
laws and elect a king. When the same personage 
was elected by all three tings, the election was 
declared valid for the whole kingdom. In 1147, 
however, the three local parliaments chose each a 
separate king, and as none of them would give way, 
a long and protracted civil war ensued. After ten 
years of desperate fighting the nominee of Jutland 
destroyed the Sealand and Swedish candidates, 
assumed the sceptre of the three kingdoms, and 
became one of the mightiest kings in Danish his- 
tory. This was Valdemar the Great. 

Under the preceding kings Denmark had been 
persistently harassed by a Slav tribe called the 
Wends, whose home lay on the southern shores of 
the Baltic. These people organised annual pira- 
tical raids to the rich fiat lands of the Danes, much 
in the same manner as the Danes in their turn con- 
ducted operations against the eastern shores of 
England. However, as soon as Valdemar had 
secured his throne, he devoted the early years of 
his reign to. the subjugation of these Wends. He 
carried the war boldly into the enemy's country. 
With the assistance of his friend Absalon, one of 



68 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

succeeded in temporarily destro5dng their power, 
but under Swain the Two-bearded they renewed 
their supremacy. This was the direct outcome of 
that" treacherous massacre of all the Danes in 
England upon St. Brice's Day which blackens the 
memory of King iEthelred, Swain, hearing the 
terrible news, swore to revenge his murdered 
countrymen, and set forth from Denmark to the 
conquest of England. He succeeded admirably in 
carrying out this project, and .^thelred's kingdom 
was shorn of all but Wessex. Swain was followed 
by his son Knud (Canute), who in single combat 
defeated and slew .uEthelred's son, Edmund Iron- 
sides, subsequently annexing Wessex to his king- 
dom, which then embraced the whole of Denmark, 
Norway, England and parts of Sweden. 

During the reign of Canute English and Danish 
customs, laws and methods of administration 
naturally became intermingled. Much was taken 
from each country and adopted in the other, 
though, speaking generally, it may be said that the 
Danes in England became merged quietly with the 
people whom they had conquered. 

During the century which followed the death of 
Canute the Christian churches in Denmark, 
Norway and Sweden increased in numbers and 
influence. In 1104 the first Archbishpp of Scandi- 
navia was appointed. He estabUshed his seat in 
Lund, the principal town of the South Swedish 
provinces, which then belonged to Denmark. The 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 69 

capital of the Danish kingdom in these days was 
Roskilde, an important town in Sealand. 

During this period the three dominant partners 
in the kingdom were Jutland, Sealand and the 
South Swedish provinces. Each of them pos- 
sessed its own independent parliament {ting), 
whose functions were to make and administer local 
laws and elect a king. When the same personage 
was elected by all three tings, the election was 
declared valid for the whole kingdom. In 1147, 
however, the three local parliaments chose each a 
separate king, and as none of them would give way, 
a long and protracted civil war ensued. After ten 
years of desperate fighting the nominee of Jutland 
destroyed the Sealand and Swedish candidates, 
assumed the sceptre of the three kingdoms, and 
became one of the mightiest kings in Danish his- 
tory. This was Valdemar the Great. 

Under the preceding kings Denmark had been 
persistently harassed by a Slav tribe called the 
Wends, whose home lay on the southern shores of 
the Baltic. These people organised annual pira- 
tical raids to the rich fiat lands of the Danes, much 
in the same manner as the Danes in their turn con- 
ducted operations against the eastern shores of 
England. However, as soon as Valdemar had 
secured his throne, he devoted the early years of 
his reign to. the subjugation of these Wends. He 
carried the war boldly into the enemy's country. 
With the assistance of his friend Absalon, one of 



70 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

the heroes of Danish history, a great statesman and 
soldier, Bishop of Roskilde and afterwards Arch- 
bishop of Lund, he in 1168 took the Wendic capital, 
and forced the defeated pirates to accept Christi- 
anity and Danish suzerainty at the same time. 
Absalon subsequently founded the royal city of 
Copenhagen. 

The period of Valdemar the Great and Bishop 
Absalon is one of the most pregnant in the history 
of this people. Before Valdemar the sovereigns 
of Denmark had ruled largely by personal power, 
almost without parliaments or advisers. They had 
been rich men, dependent for their position and 
authority upon their wealth and personality. It 
was the man who was strong, and not his kingly 
office. Valdemar, however, proceeded to strengthen 
the office, while at the same time retaining the 
authority of the man. He sought the alliance and 
advice of the great nobles and ecclesiastics. He, 
in fact, created the Danish nobility by the simple 
process of exempting certain wealthy people from 
taxation on condition of mihtary service in times 
of need. 

Valdemar was succeeded by Canute VI., who 
was able to maintain the power gained by his pre- 
decessor. It was in the following reign, however, 
that of Valdemar the Victorious, that Denmark 
advanced to the proudest position in its history. 
This truly great monarch continued in the tradi- 
tion and poUcy of Absalon, the conquest of 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 71 

Northern Germany, until at length he was master 
of all the rich and fertile lands north of the Elbe. 
The Danish king ruled from Lund to Hamburg 
and Lubeck. 

The Pope then sought his assistance in the matter 
of the bishopric of Esthonia. The German Order 
of the Sword had conquered parts of Esthonia 
and estabhshed a bishop therein, but, the natives 
having revolted, the ecclesiastic found himself in 
a position of grave difficulty. Valdemar entered 
Esthonia and fought a battle on his behalf near 
Reval, in which he was victorious. Tradition has 
it that during the progress of the fight a new 
standard fell from heaven into the midst of the 
Danish army at a moment when it was near to 
being defeated. The miraculous appearance of 
this blood-red flag, with its white cross of hope, 
encouraged the Danes to further and more des- 
perate efforts, and when at the end of the long 
day they remained the victors of the field, the 
heaven-sent standard 'was forthwith adopted as 
the national flag of Denmark, and continues so to 
this day. 

The King of Denmark was now the mightiest 
potentate in Northern Europe. The Baltic had 
become a Danish Mediterranean. In his own 
country Valdemar was on friendly terms with the 
Church, the nobility and the people. But, like 
many other empires built up in a single reign, that 
of Valdemar's was to prove of short duration. 



72 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

When hunting one day upon a small island, the 
King was treacherously taken prisoner .by one of 
his vassal kings, the Count of Schwerin, who 
immured him in the dungeons of his ancestral 
fortress for three years. Subsequently he was 
ransomed and released, but only on condition that 
he gave up all the States he had conquered, with 
the sole exception of Esthonia. Valdemar coura- 
geously attempted to regain his former dominions, 
but was defeated in the battle of Bomhoved, one 
of the most decisive in the history of Denmark, 
since it stopped for ever the Danish expansion to 
the south. The King devoted his declining years 
to internal administration. His legal code was 
used in Sleswick until the year igoo. 

The century following Valdemar was the darkest 
in Danish history. Valdemar's three sons succeeded 
each other on the throne, but they were all vicious 
and incapable men. The first was killed by one 
of his brothers, the second by the people ; 
the third was perpetually embroiled in quarrels 
and disputes with the Church. The succeeding 
King was executed by the nobles, while his son 
continued the unhappy tradition of aUenating 
Church and State commenced by his father. 

About this time there grew up in Denmark a 
custom which ultimately became productive of 
incalculable misery and strife. The younger sons 
of the King were given parts of the country in 
feud, and these sub-kingdoms were declared 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 73 

hereditary. This unwise procedure created a class 
of royal nobihty owning vast properties and there- 
fore commanding much weight and influence in 
the national councils. The power of the King 
proportionately declined. Quarrels with the Church 
and with the royal nobles, prominent among whom 
were always the dukes of Sleswick, compelled the 
King to spend more and more money in petty 
warfare and the maintenance of such power as 
still remained to him. The treasury was so 
impoverished by the continual strain thus placed 
upon it that eventually the King was reduced to 
borrowing money from the Counts of Holstein, 
who in return for their assistance were granted 
extensive mortgages upon one part of the kingdom 
after another. By the year 1320 very Uttle un- 
mortgaged territory remained which the King of 
the period, Christoffer II., could call his own. 
Virtually the Holstein counts were the rulers of 
Denmark. Between the years 1332 and 1340 there 
was no king. The land of the Dane had passed 
into the hands of money-lenders. Holstein was 
supreme in the ancient seat of the Northern 
sea-kings. 

The darkest and most difficult epochs in a 
nation's history invariably produce its strongest 
men. Denmark was again to gather strength and 
sit in the seat of the mighty. On the night of 
April ist, 1340, a young Jutland noble, Niels 
Ebbesen, crept into the castle of Randers and 



74 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

killed the Count of Holstein. This was the signal 
for a general uprising of the Jutes, which resulted 
in the expulsion of the Holsteins from Denmark. 
A young prince, Valdemar Atterdag, was elected 
king. He proved a brilliant ruler, though he 
cannot be cleared of the charges of self-seeking, 
unscruptdousness and dishonesty which have been 
so often and so justly urged against him. He 
reigned for thirty years, during a most hazardous 
and trying period, crushing many rebellions, 
making order out of financial chaos, engaged in 
continual warfare with both foreign and domestic 
enemies. Sweden, during the time of Denmark's 
extremity, had taken advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to annex the Danish provinces in the south 
of her own land. The Hansa States were rapidly 
increasing in power and wealth. The exiled Count 
of Holstein and the Duke of Mecklenburg were 
perpetual thorns in the side of the young ruler. 
Yet he succeeded in defeating them all. He repaid 
the loans for which his country had been given in 
mortgage. He forced Sweden to rehnquish the 
southern provinces; he curbed the rising Han- 
seatic power ; and when he died in 1375 Denmark 
was again a power in the North. 

Queen Margareth, the daughter of Atterdag, now 
ruled as regent for her son, the young Olaf , This 
gifted woman was the widow of the King of 
Norway, so that in the person of Olaf, the Danish 
and Norwegian crowns were imited. The young 




To face p. 74.] 



[CoPjTignc: Unaerwoou & Unaerwood. 



'Interior of Palace Church, Frederiksborg Castle. 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 75 

prince died shortly afterwards, and Margareth, 
assuming absolute power, was elected also Queen of 
Sweden. The three Scandinavian countries were 
now ruled by one sovereign. In the year 1396 the 
so-called Kalmar Union was devised, a constitution 
which had for its object the perpetual union of 
Scandinavia, while according local autonomy to the 
separate countries. Margareth evidenced supreme 
capacity and genius in her administration of the 
three countries, and although Eric of Pomerania 
was later elected king in her place, she neverthe- 
less contrived to retain the real power until the day 
of her death. She died in 1412, and almost imme- 
diately disruption occurred. Eric was accused 
of favouritism, of harbouring a strong preference 
for Danes in positions of office. Eventually he 
was compelled to fly the country, when Sweden 
elected one sovereign and Norway and Denmark 
another. Thus ended the first brief Scandinavian 
union. 

The new King of Denmark was a mediocrity 
who accompUshed nothing, and was undistin- 
guished even by vices. He was succeeded by 
Christian I., the first king of the Oldenburg family, 
a house which ruled in Denmark for more than four 
hundred years (1448 to 1863). This king made 
a great though unsuccessful attempt to reconquer 
Sweden. The two countries were, however, again 
united under his son, Hans, who reigned from 1481 
to 1513. But whilst the first Scandinavian union 



76 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

had lasted for some fifty years, the second barely 
exceeded thirty years in duration. 

King Hans was followed by Christian II,, one of 
the most striking personalities of his age. He had 
been greatly influenced by the new humani- 
tarianism which was then gaining prominence, and 
made some endeavours to ameliorate the unhappy 
condition of the lower orders. His benevolent 
schemes were, however, resented by the nobles and 
landed gentry, and in addition failed to secure the 
support of the Church, because, instead of seeking 
advice from her priests, the King had rather sought 
it from his mistress, a beautiful Dutch girl, whose 
name was Dyveke. On several occasions the 
Swedish nobles conspired against him, until, exas- 
perated, he took a bloody revenge. At a great meet- 
ing of the nobility in Stockholm in 1520 he caused 
one of his friends, a clerg57man,to rise and denounce 
hundreds of the best families for treason against the 
State. The accused were thrown into prison, tried 
by a court of hostile citizens, condemned upon the 
flimsiest of evidence, and executed. This out- 
rageous deed was followed by a general revolt in 
Sweden against Danish rule, and the Danes were 
compelled to abandon the country. There has 
since been no union between Denmark and 
Sweden. Instead, this unwarrantable execution 
of Swedish nobles led to those long wars and 
recriminations which later blacken the pages of the 
history of both countries. Three years after this 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 77 

event Christian II. was driven from Denmark. 
Seeking the assistance of his brother-in-law, the 
Emperor Charies V., he endeavoured to re-enter 
the country, but was taken captive, and remained 
a prisoner for the rest of his hfe. 

Martin Luther had now commenced his work in 
Germany, and shortly after the death of Chris- 
tian II. the Danish Lutheran Church rose suddenly 
into power. The Protestants in Denmark nomi- 
nated one king, and the Catholics another. The 
CathoHc nominee was a child, and he was supported 
in his candidature by the Hansa States. A war 
between the two reUgious parties followed, which 
continued for three years and ended in a decisive 
victory for the Lutherans. The end of this war 
saw also the decline of Hanseatic power in the 
Baltic, The Catholic Church in Denmark was 
abolished in 1536, when Protestants were appointed 
to all the bishoprics. The church lands and pro- 
perties were appropriated partly for the establish- 
ment and endowment of the new Church and partly 
for educational purposes. 

The history of Denmark in the sixteenth, 
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries is the 
history of a rapidly declining power. Since the 
separation from Sweden in 1520 the relations 
between the two countries had been constantly 
strained. From 1563 to 1570 they were at war, the 
result of which was so uncertain that neither country 
gained anything, and both celebrated the victory. 



78 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

From 1588 to 1648 Denmark was ruled by 
Christian IV., a monarch notable for the many 
striking and beautiful edifices which he caused to 
be erected in Copenhagen. In his reign Denmark 
became embroiled in the Thirty Years' War in 
Germany, fighting on the Protestant side. The 
Emperor, however, invaded and took possession of 
Southern Jutland. Denmark retired from the war 
having gained nothing and lost prestige, money 
and lives. Christian then became envious of the 
success of the Swedes in Germany. Making a slight 
pretext, he declared war upon Sweden, and at sea 
achieved some measure of success. Notwith- 
standing this, he was heavily defeated on land, and 
at the conclusion of peace Denmark was com- 
pelled to surrender two Norwegian provinces as 
well as some of her islands in the Baltic. 

The next king, Frederik III., endeavoured to 
regain what had been lost by his predecessors, but 
was unsuccessful. The Danes now finally lost the 
South Swedish provinces. In the following year, 
the King of Sweden, repenting that he had not 
asked for more at the peace of Roskilde, stormed 
Copenhagen on the night of February loth, 1659. 
The city was vaUantly defended by the King and 
the citizens, and on the morning of the nth 
the Swedes retired. As a result of this raid the 
island of Bomholm, in the Baltic, was given back 
to Denmark. 

The events leading up to 1659 ^^^.d demonstrated 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 79 

the incapacity of the nobility, and in 1660 the 
States of the Realm decided to change the form 
of government. The power was withdrawn from 
the nobles, and given absolutely into the hands of 
the King. At the same time, the citizens of the 
towns were granted extensive powers in local 
matters. An age of absolutism followed for a cen- 
tury and three-quarters. 

This period, although it added no new posses- 
sions to the Danish crown, was productive of much 
lasting good to the Danish people. Education 
became more general. Trade and industry revived. 
The old code of Valdemar was carefully revised 
and adapted to the altered conditions. Impor- 
tant reforms in the system of land tenure were 
instituted. The peasants, however, still had much 
ground for complaint. A military law was passed 
in 1701 which provided that no peasant could leave 
the estate on which he was born from his four- 
teenth to his thirty-fifth year. This hmit was 
later extended to the fifty-fifth year. The land- 
lords were given certain rights over their tenants. 
They could, for example, decide which of them 
should be drafted into military service. The 
story of the emancipation of the peasants is out- 
lined in the chapter on land tenure. It may be 
here remarked that the power of the landlords in 
this direction, and the compulsion to dwell on the 
estates were both simultaneously abolished in 
1780. During the era of absolutism Danish 



8o DENMARK AND THE DANES . 

mercantile trade commenced, and was fostered 
by the foundation of many companies designed 
expressly for foreign trade and exploitation. 
One of the companies dating back to this period 
for its origin is the now world-famous Royal 
Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory. 

The long peace which Denmark enjoyed from 
1720 until the Napoleonic era was a period of 
internal development, but not external expansion. 
At the beginning of the nineteenth century this 
beneficent peace was rudely shattered, and Den- 
mark was plunged into wars with both England 
and Sweden. During the American War England 
had claimed the right to search all mercantile 
ships for contraband. Denmark, Sweden, Russia 
and Holland constituted themselves into an armed 
neutrahty, claiming that a neutral flag should also 
cover contraband of war. In 1798 France com- 
menced to take such vessels as were not power- 
fully convoyed by warships. Shortly afterwards 
Napoleon changed his policy towards, arid in favour 
of, the Armed Neutrahty of the North, in order to 
be in a position to more effectively direct the whole 
of his strength against his chief enemy, England. 
The British Government demanded that Denmark 
should withdraw from the coahtion, and dis- 
patched a fleet under Sir Hyde Parker and Lord 
Nelson. The Danes were quite unprepared, but, 
with the assistance of some old hulks, they offered 
a courageous and desperate resistance. Nelson 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 8i 

attacked on April 2nd, 1801, with a strong fleet 
and 1,200 cannon, as against the 600 cannon 
possessed by the Danes. After five hours of 
bombardment the Danish batteries were silenced, 
and most of the Danish ships captured. Nelson 
then sent the following message to the Diinish 
Government : " Lord Nelson has instructions to 
spare Copenhagen when no longer resisting, but 
if the firing is continued, he will be obliged to 
burn all the floating batteries he has taken, without 
having power to spare the brave Danes who have 
defended them." 

The city capitulated, and Denmark withdrew 
from the Northern coalition. It cannot be sup- 
posed that Nelson actually intended to carry out 
his threat, but it had the desired effect. 

For some five years following the bombardment 
of Copenhagen Denmark, although not in sym- 
pathy with the aims of Napoleon, contrived to 
maintain her neutraUty in the struggle between 
England and France. At the peace of Tilsit, 
however, she was forced to join the other Con- 
tinental nations, at the behest of Napoleon, in the 
famous aUiance against England, designed to kill 
British commerce by closing every port of Europe 
to British ships. As in 1801, the Enghsh Ministry 
decided to break up the coaUtion by attacking 
the weakest of its members. Accordingly, in 
1807, a fleet was again dispatched by Canning to 
Elsinore with the demand that the Danish fleet 

D. F 



82 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

should forthwith be handed over to the British 
admiral as a hostage until the war with Napoleon 
should be terminated. Meeting with a refusal, 
Copenhagen was once more bombarded, on this 
occasion for three days. The Church of Our Lady, 
the University and many of the finest public build- 
ings in the city were either damaged or destroyed, 
and the whole of the Danish fleet was taken to 
England. 

During the succeeding years Denmark entered 
into a defensive alliance with Napoleon and was 
successful in harassing British shipping in Danish 
waters, Bemadotte, who had been elected King 
of Sweden, deserted the cause of the French 
emperor, and went over to the side of England, 
almost immediately declaring war upon Denmark. 
Napoleon sent troops to assist the Danes, but owing 
to the vigilance of the English ships in the Sound 
between Sweden and Denmark, they were pre- 
vented from landing on Swedish territory. The war 
dragged desultorily on until the defeat of the Cor- 
sican in Russia, when the Danes were compelled 
to sue for peace. The terms were the surrender 
of Norway to Sweden and of Heligoland to England. 
This was in 1814. The Dano-Norwegian Union had 
then lasted for more than four hundred years. 

Denmark had now been shorn of all her foreign 
possessions with the sole exception of Holstein. 
There followed a period of internal reconstruction. 
In 1813 the State had verged on bankruptcy, 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 83 

owing to the heavy expenses entailed by the war. 
Trade and commerce had been crippled. The 
standard of living among the peasantry had 
deteriorated, and the national spirit had sunk to 
its lowest ebb. The only thing that had gained in 
strength during this depressing period was the 
literary art. The opening years of the nineteenth 
century are often counted the golden age of 
Danish Uterature. 

It was first necessary to place the finances of the 
country upon a stable basis, and how this was 
accomplished is related in a subsequent chapter. 
Many far-reaching reforms were planned and 
successfully carried through. 

The recuperative decade was rudely broken in 
1848, the year of the revolts in Paris and Berlin. 
The German-speaking population of the provinces 
of Holstein and Sleswick rose against the Danish 
rule, and invited the Duke of Augustenburg to 
become their prince. The Prussian Government 
conceived this to be a favourable opportunity to 
execute a counter-stroke, with a view to diverting 
attention from the BerUn revolution. An army 
was sent to help the Sleswick-Holsteiners against 
Denmark. In 1849 the Danes defeated the Prus- 
sians at Fredericia. and the |Prussian army was 
withdrawn. The rebels however still continued 
to maintain the struggle, but were eventually over- 
borne and reduced to submission. The Duke of 
Augustenburg then formally abandoned his claims, 

F 2 



84 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

But the trouble was not yet ended. The German 
elements in the population of the two provinces 
clamoured for Prussian dominion. The Danes 
naturally desired to remain Danish citizens. The 
inevitable resultant of these two opposing forces 
was friction. In 1863 an Act was passed through 
the Copenhagen Parliament giving one assembly 
to Sleswick, where the Danes were predominant, 
and another to Holstein, where the Germans were 
in the majority. In this year the last king of the 
house of Oldenburg died. He was succeeded by 
Christian IX., a member of the Glucksburg family. 
The Duke of Augustenburg now reiterated his 
claims to Sleswick-Holstein, and as the Danish 
Government refused to rescind or amend the Act 
of 1863, Prussia and Austria together declared war 
on Denmark. It did not last long. Denmark 
expecting assistance from Sweden and the other 
powers who had guaranteed her integrity, was 
disappointed. At Dybbol, in Sleswick, the Danish 
army was overwhelmed and crushed, after a 
spirited defence lasting for more than ten w^eks. 
At the peace Denmark relinquished the two 
provinces to Prussia and Austria jointly. 

For two years these two powers retained their 
dual control, until 1866, when they were at war 
with each other. At the conclusion of that war 
Sleswick-Holstein became German, on condition 
that if at any time the people of Northern Sleswick 
voted for a return to Danish rule, that province 



SKETCH OF DANISH HISTORY 85 

was to be handed back to Denmark. In 1869 the 
Danish Government opened up negotiations with 
Bismarck with this end in view, but as Prussia 
claimed jurisdiction over the German-speaking 
peoples there, and as it was rightly considered that 
this would in itself afford the Berlin Government a 
pretext for interference in purely Danish affairs, 
the population of Sleswick was sacrificed to the 
growing idol of Teutonic Imperialism. In 1878 
the stipulated alternative was withdrawn from the 
articles of peace between Prussia and Austria, 

The people of Sleswick, notwithstanding their 
inclusion in the German empire, are still largely 
Danish. The Danish tongue is spoken. Their 
sympathies and antipathies are precisely the same 
as those of the people of Denmark, and they con- 
tinue under very depressing conditions to foster 
and encourage the national spirit, in the hope that 
one day they may be again united to the mother- 
country. The lamentable events of 1864 led many 
to believe that the days of Denmark as a nation 
were numbered. That this has not been the case 
is a tribute to the vital energy and inherent courage 
of the people. The spirit of the old Vikings is not 
yet dead. The race has rallied to the appeal of 
one of the national poets, to conquests in a new 
field, to internal development, culture, education, 
social laws, science and agriculture. " What out- 
wardly has been lost shall inwardly be regained." 
That is the moving inspiration of young Denmark. 



CHAPTER VI 

POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 TO THE PRESENT 

DAY 

The Constitutional Agitation — ^The Law of 1849— The 
Enghsh Model — Claims of Holstein — Increasing 
Friction — ^The Constitution of July 28th, 1866— 
Methods of Election to Landsting and Folketing — 
The National Liberal Party — Rise of Farmers' 
Representatives — An Experimental Period — New 
Criminal Code and Provision of ' Railways — The 
Position in 1870 — The " Internationale " and the 
Socialists — National Defence — ^Estrup — ^The Leaders 
of the Democratic Group — Refusal of the Budget — 
Government by Royal Decrees — The New Military 
Law — General Bahnson — Estrup's Defence — Storm 
of Opposition — Attempt on the Premier's Life — The 
RigSdag Dissolved — ^Provisional Budgets — Fortifica- 
tion of Copenhagen — ^Estrup's Social Legislation 
— The Reconciliation — Estrup's Retirement and 
Death — Denmark's First Democratic Government — 
Deuntzer — System of Taxation Revised — The 
Alberti Frauds — Trials before the Realm Court — 
Subsequent Events — Some Characteristics of Danish 
Political Life. 

The effects of the constitutional movement 
which spread over the whole of Europe in the 
thirties and forties of the nineteenth century were 
strongly felt also in Denmark. From 1660 the 
King had been absolute. In the early part of the 
century demands for a constitution began to be 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 87 

made, which, growing in insistence, at length 
became so imperative that the King, hearing in 
them the knell of royal absolutism, and not desiring 
to furnish a cause for revolt, wisely decided to 
accede to the wishes of his people. Frederik VII. 
accordingly on June 5th, 1849, granted and signed 
the Constitutional Law. Modern political history 
in Denmark began on that day. 

Frederik's constitution, modelled upon the 
EngUsh, provided that the power should reside 
with the King and the Rigsdag. The latter was 
divided into two Tings, the Folketing (Lower 
House) and the Landsting (Upper House). The 
method of election to the popular chamber was 
roughly the same as in England, with this important 
exception, that each man possessed only one vote, 
and was not entitled to exercise it until his 
thirtieth year. On the other hand, the franchise 
was wider than in England, owing to the absence 
of a property qualification. The Landsting re- 
mained in the hands of the King and the great 
landowners. The former possessed the right of 
personally selecting one-fifth of the members of the 
Upper House. 

In this first Rigsdag the Holstein deputies 
claimed that matters affecting only the people 
in that province could not rightly be determined 
by an assembly the majority of whom were Danes. 
In this protest we find the ultimate origin of Den- 
mark's trouble with her German provinces. As 



88 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

time advanced the friction increased rather than 
diminished, until 1863, when a new Constitutional 
Law was carried by the Rigsdag, providing a 
separate assembly for Holstein, while retaining in 
the national Parliament the power of veto and of 
social legislation affecting the whole kingdom. 
Sleswick still remained without a local parUament. 

After the loss of the two German provinces the 
question immediately arose whether to retain the 
Constitutional Law of 1863 or revert to that of 1849. 
The Democratic parties in the Rigsdag argued that 
the 1863 constitution had been drawn up to meet 
special cdnditions, and that the original constitu- 
tion should now be revived. The Conservative 
Ministry did not take this view of the matter, 
preferring to revise the constitution of 1863 rather 
than return to the earUer one. A deadlock was 
threatened, and would doubtless have involved 
serious consequences had not the parties come to a 
compromise whereby an intermediate course was 
taken, and a new law formulated which embraced 
the important features of both the older laws. 
The constitution of July 28th, 1866, was the result. 

The method of election to the Landsting was 
changed. Twelve members of this assembly were 
now chosen for their lifetime by the King ; fifty- 
four members were elected by the people in a 
somewhat indirect and involved manner : as to 
one-half by the voters to the Folketing, and as to 
the other half, by the land and property owners. 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 89 

In the country, the owner of the largest estate in 
an electoral district possessed the same influence 
as did all the other voters in the district put 
together ; in a town, that fifth of the inhabitants 
which paid the most income tax chose the same 
number of members as the remaining four-fifths 
of the electorate. 

The party distinctions immediately following 
the granting of the new constitution were neither 
well defined nor constant. The National Liberal 
party, which from 1849 had been the strongest 
body of political opinion in the country, had now 
assumed a more conservative bias, and while 
retaining a majority in the Landsting had lost 
ground in the Folketing. In the latter chamber 
the Left party, composed mainly of farmers' repre- 
sentatives, held the chief power. 

It was largely a formative and experimental 
period. The most important law carried through 
was the new Criminal Code ; but perhaps the 
greatest and most lasting work of these early 
parliaments was the provision of the network of 
railways which was subsequently to prove of such 
immense assistance to Denmark in the develop- 
ment of her agricultural resources. 

In 1870 the general aspect of Danish politics 
changed materially, taking approximately their 
present Unes. A Right party was formed, with a 
policy which enabled it to embrace the old National 
Liberals and some of the more conservative of the 



90 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

new Left. The latter party split up into a number 
of well-defined groups, all of which agreed in 
demanding that the King should form a Ministry 
from that party which held the majority in the 
popular chamber, and that the Budget should be 
the prerogative of the Folketing, both of which 
principles were then quite novel to Denmark. 
The Right, however, successfully maintained that 
the two Houses should possess co-equal power, 
contending that a system which in England had 
been slowly and genuinely developing during many 
centuries could not be immediately adopted in 
Denmark. 

The Socialist party now made its somewhat 
inauspicious entrance into Danish politics. A 
branch of the " Internationale " had been formed, 
and a great propagandist open-air meeting arranged. 
This assembly was summarily forbidden by the 
police, and its promoters first imprisoned, and 
subsequently deported to America. No more was 
heard of the movement for some considerable 
time. 

The first important struggle between the Right 
(Conservative) and Left (Democratic) parties arose 
on the question of national defence. The Con- 
servatives maintained that it was at least necessary 
to be in a position to defend the capital, and 
demanded money from the Folketing for this 
purpose. The Democrats, who had a majority in 
the lower chamber, denied this principle, contend- 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 91 

ing that to fortify Copenhagen would not only 
prove expensive and futile, but in addition actually 
harmful. The utmost concession that could be 
wrung from them was for the provision of a mov- 
able water-fort, which could be transferred to the 
point of danger as and when required. Two Con- 
servative Ministries were forced to resign ; yet 
each time the King appointed a new Ministry from 
the same party. On the latter occasion, in 1875, 
Herr Estrup, an extraordinarily fearless and 
strong-willed pohtician, became Prime Minister. 
He had previously been Secretary of State for the 
Home Department, and in that capacity had 
evidenced great ability and firmness. Appointed 
in the face of an adverse majority in the Folketing, 
he seems to have resolved to carry on the govern- 
ment of the country as much as possible by royal 
decrees, a policy which later he successfully 
adopted. Estrup at once demanded money for 
the sea-fortification of Copenhagen, a demand 
which was promptly refused. The Prime Minister 
then dismissed the Pariiament, but the ensuing 
elections went so strongly against him that out 
of 102 members to the Folketing he could only 
claim the support of twenty-eight . Still he refused 
to listen to the clamour for his resignation. The 
leaders of the Democratic group were Berg, an 
orator and a man of rare pariiamentary gifts ; 
Count Holstein-Ledreborg, the most eloquent 
Dane of his time; and Viggo Horup, the first 



92 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

political journalist to rise to the front rank of 
Danish statesmen. The last of this trio repre- 
sented the most modem movements in literature, 
politics and social life, inspired and moulded by 
Georg Brandes. 

The Left endeavoured to secure the resignation 
of the Ministry by refusing its Budget, with the 
exception of those most necessary supplies without 
which the public services could not be maintained. 
The Landsting rejected the mutilated Budget, 
and again Estrup dismissed the Rigsdag. The 
Ministry then persuaded the King to agree to a 
provisional Budget. This procedure appeared to 
be perfectly constitutional at the moment, as it 
was provided in the law of July 28th, 1866, that 
when the two Houses were not assembled the King 
could, when advised by his Ministers, issue pro- 
visional Bills, to be submitted for ratification to 
the new Parhament as soon as it met. 

When the Folketing reassembled six months 
later, the Democratic parties split up into two 
main groups, one of which was more moderate than 
the other, and which entered into an agreement 
with the Ministry relative to the less contentious 
items of the Budget. The other group consti- 
tuted itself into the Radical party, bitterly oppos- 
ing Estrup in what it regarded as his arbitrary 
and unconstitutional methods. The succeeding 
years are filled with the records of the quarrel 
between the two groups of the Left. The Ministry 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 93 

meanwhile took advantage of these Democratic 
differences to carry through a new military law 
of great importance. 

In the elections of 1881 the two Left wings 
united against the Estrup Cabinet, and, gaining a 
renewed victory at the polls, came back to the 
Folketing with the avowed determination of over- 
throwing the Ministry. Every proposal of the 
Conservatives was automatically referred to the 
" burial committee," a similar procedure to moving 
that the Bill " be read this day six months." 
The Budgets were denuded of all but the most 
essential items, and the Cabinet found it utterly 
impossible to obtain anything of a special character 
from a Folketing bent on its destruction. In the 
elections of 1884 Estrup found himself with but 
nineteen out of 102 seats. It was in this year that 
the SociaUsts first acted as a united party, gaining 
two seats in Copenhagen. 

The general opinion now prevailed that the 
Prime Minister would at last resign. Instead, he 
astounded his enemies and gratified his friends, 
not only by retaining office, but by indicating his 
contempt for the Folketing by at once giving the 
portfolio of war to General Bahnson, a strong 
defence man. The Folketing retaliated by throw- 
ing out the new War Minister's first statement, 
and by refusing every item in the Budget relating 
to fortification or defence. Accordingly, Estrup 
issued a second provisional Budget, which this 



94 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

time contained not only the provisions for the 
maintenance of the public services, but in addition 
such special items as the Prime Minister consi- 
dered necessary for other purposes. His defence 
of his action was characteristic but unsound. He 
claimed that, as he had accepted responsibility 
from the King for the finance of the year, he 
was justified in obtaining by any means within 
his power, constitutional or unconstitutional, the 
supplies which the Cabinet deemed necessary. 

This second provisional Budget excited a storm 
of opposition throughout the country. Several 
Radical members were imprisoned for violent and 
inflammatory speeches. In the autumn of 1885 
an attempt, which fortunately miscarried, was 
made upon the Premier's Ufe. The Rigsdag was 
again dissolved, and several new decrees followed. 
The pohce force in Copenhagen was materially 
strengthened, while it was strictly forbidden to 
buy or carry weapons. Incitements against the 
Government were punished with heavy fines or 
terms of imprisonment. 

In the following years until 1894, provisional 
Budgets were issued annually. They contained 
votes for military and defensive purposes, which 
were not carried by Parliament, but which Estrup 
nevertheless made effective. Thus, in the teeth 
of fierce opposition, this remarkable poHtician 
succeeded in fortifying Copenhagen by land and 
sea. His claim to recognition as a statesman of 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 95 

the first rank is based, however, not only on his 
prolonged and successful struggle with the Danish 
Folketing, but also upon the many excellent social 
laws which he succeeded in carrying. Among 
these may be mentioned the Acts providing 
old-age pensions, sick-clubs, and regulation of 
parish relief. The Radical parties throughout 
opposed these Bills, but only on the ground that, 
if they were passed, they would serve to delay the 
ultimate resignation of the Ministry. 

In 1892 the extreme Radical group lost ground 
somewhat. Count Holstein-Ledreborg retired 
from political life. Berg had died shortly before 
the elections, and Horup was defeated by Alberti, 
who belonged to that more moderate wing which 
favoured a compromise with Estrup. There fol- 
lowed the reconciliation of 1894. The two Houses 
agreed upon a Budget which satisfied the Ministry, 
and the provisional laws were subsequently 
rescinded. Shortly after the reconciliation Estrup 
resigned. He had carried on the government for 
nineteen years under unparalleled conditions. 
Inspiring the strongest regard and admiration 
among his followers, he was at the same time the 
best loved and the most hated man in Danish 
poUtics. He lived in retirement for many years, 
a hfe member of the Landsting, to which he had 
been personally nominated by the King, and on 
his death, in December, 1913, the older Conserva- 
tives were still quite blind to his errors, while the 



96 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

most fanatical members of the Left regarded him 
as the great animal of the Apocal3q)se. Perhaps 
the best that can be said of him is that he did not 
retire until the moment of triumph. He remained 
to defeat his enemies, and then, when there was 
no more fighting to undertake, withdrew into a 
dignified and merited retreat. 

Following Estrup's retirement, three moderate 
Conservative Ministries succeeded each other, but 
the Right steadily lost ground until, in 1901, they 
retained only eight seats out of 114. Count Frijs, 
himself a Conservative, then demanded in the 
Landsting the resignation of the Conservative 
Cabinet, and the formation of a Left Ministry. 
This demand was immediately conceded, and 
Denmark obtained her first democratic govern- 
ment. 

Herr Deuntzer, a lawyer, became Prime Minister. 
He was quite a new man to political hfe, and the 
real forces in the Cabinet were J. C. Christensen, 
the Minister for Education, and Alberti, the 
Minister for Justice. The Cabinet possessed an 
overwhelming majority in the Folketing, but were 
in a minority in the Upper House. The new 
Ministry at once proceeded to reform the system 
of taxation. New taxes were levied, and old 
imposts revised. The tithes on the land were con- 
verted and aboUshed. Attempts were made to 
cut down military expenses, and a committee was 
appointed to see if this was practicable. 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 97 

In 1904, the Minister for War, General Madsen, 
asked for increased supplies . with a view to 
strengthening the sea defences of the capital. A 
section of the Government's supporters criticised 
this demand on the ground that so long as the 
committee of 1902 was working no additional 
expenditure should be incurred. As a result the 
party divided, and in 1905 Deuntzer resigned. 

The new Cabinet was formed by Herr (afterwards 
Sir) J. C. Christensen.* Alberti still retained the 
portfolio of justice. The Ministry was supported 
by the moderate groups of the Left, and opposed 
by the Radical-Socialist wing. The so-called 
"flogging law" was passed for certain grave 
assaults. The tariffs were revised. Labour ex- 
changes were created. 

In the spring of 1908 public attention was mainly 
concentrated on the Alberti affair. The Minister 
of Justice had for some considerable time been the 
subject of innuendoes in the Folketing concerning 
his administration of the funds of the Sealand 
Farmers' Savings Bank and the Danish Butter 
Export Company, of both of which companies he 
was the chairman. The Copenhagen press openly 
hinted at falsification of accounts, and did not 
find it difficult to substantiate charges of nepotism, 
but the Ministry stood firmly by its member and 
refused an investigation, Alberti, moreover, was 

* Herr Christensen received his knighthood from King 
Edward VII. 



98 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

upheld by the immense authority which he wielded 
over his party. At length, the charges gathering 
weight and finding his position in the Folketing 
untenable, he resigned, when he was decorated by 
the King with the highest possible Danish order. 
This latter was intended as a demonstration of the 
voluntary character of his resignation. But six 
weeks later Alberti denounced himself to the police 
for fraudulent misappropriation of the funds 
entrusted to his management. The amount of the 
defalcations exceeded £1,000,000, the greater pro- 
portion of which had been lost in mining specula- 
tions on the London Stock Exchange. ^ The frauds 
extended over a number of years, and had been 
cleverly concealed by juggling balances from the 
account of one company to that of the other, a plan 
rendered more easy of accomphshment by the fact 
that the two concerns presented their respective 
balance-sheets at different periods of the year. 

The resignation of the Cabinet which occurred 
almost immediately was caused partly in view of 
its support of its ex-Minister, and partly because 
the Prime Minister, Herr Christensen, had during a 
short period acted as Finance Minister, and granted 
the Sealand Farmers' Savings Bank a loan of 
;£85,ooo. It was therefore felt that the Cabinet 
was toojdeeply involved in the crisis to continue 
the government. The new Ministry was formed 
by Neergaard, the leader of the moderate group. 

The Alberti affair naturally occupied the greatest 



POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1849 99 

place in public attention for many months. The 
ex-Minister was tried and condemned to eight 
years' imprisonment. The late Prime Minister 
and the Home Secretary, Berg, were also sum- 
moned before the " Realm Court," the political 
tribunal of Denmark. The trials excited intense 
interest. Christensen was absolved from criminal 
offence, though his defence of Alberti and his 
persistent refusal of an examination were strongly 
criticised. Berg was fined for his neglect in the 
matter of the Savings Bank accounts, the super- 
vision of which properly belonged to the duties of 
his department. 

Recent years have strikingly evidenced the grow- 
ing strength of the Radical and Socialist parties. 
Ministry has succeeded Ministry with admirable 
regularity. Neergaard's Cabinet retired in favour 
of one formed by the old Left leader, Count 
Holstein-Ledreborg, who accepted office only to 
obtain a solution of the question of national 
defence. The result was a compromise by which 
the sea defences of the capital were considerably, 
and the land fortifications slightly improved, 
while the final decision was postponed to 1922. 
This was followed in 1909 by the Zahle Ministry, 
which was more Radical in complexion than any 
of its predecessors. In 1910, Bemtsen* became 

* Bemtsen, who belonged to the Left party, introduced a Bill 
for a new Constitution, which was received enthusiastically by 
Radicals and Socialists. It gave votes to all men and women 
over twenty-five years of age, abolished all privileges of the 

G 2 



100 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

head of the Government, and in his turn was 
succeeded by the second Zahle Cabinet in May, 
1913. At that election the Radical-Socialists swept 
the country, and accepted ofi&ce for the second time. 
In completing this slight review of the develop- 
ment and present position of Danish politics, it may 
be remarked that a political career in Denmark does 
not afford the scope obtainable in a larger country, 
neither does it require the same abiHty to rise to a 
position of eminence. The lines of demarcation are 
mainly as between Liberals and Socijdists. There 
is no Conservatism in the English sense of that 
word, because there is no aristocracy, and but few 
vested interests. There exist, moreover, no strong 
party cries, no Imperial questions, and but few 
matters of high foreign poUcy. In these circum- 
stances it is hardly surprising that Denmark's 
greatest men are not often to be found among her 
politicians ; rather must we turn to the realms of 
science and art, of culture and education. 

wealthy classes, and restricted the election to the Upper House to 
people over thirty years of age. At first the Conservatives 
opposed the measure, but the election in May, 1913, having given 
the Radical-Socialists a majority in the Lower House, Zahle 
carried the Bill through to the Upper House. When the European 
War broke out in 1914 the more Conservative elements in the 
Radical block thought so important a Bill should not be forced 
at that critical moment against the desire of a large section of 
the electorate. Nothing was done, therefore, for some time. 
The country, however, has been surprised recently to learn that, 
consequent upon negotiations between the Conservative and 
Radical leaders, the former have accepted the Constitution, 
which has now support from all parties, and will be signed by the 
King on June 5th, 1915, the anniversary of the First Constitution. 




To face p. loo.] 



[Copyright: Undetwood & Underwood. 
Queen Louise Bridge, Copenhagen. 



PART III 
AGRICULTURE AND FARMING 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 

Danish Agriculture a Hundred Years Ago and To-day — 
Causes of the Improvement — The Alliance between 
Scientist and Farmer — Conditions — Land Ownership 
prior to the Nineteenth Century — Community of 
Ownership — Villenage — Ecclesiastical Tithes — 
Scheme for Abolition of Tithes — ^Villenage Abolished 
— ^Sale of Entailed Estates — Peasant Proprietorship 
— Tendency to Small Holdings — Effect of the Growth 
of the Factory System — The Land Laws — Small 
Holdings the Vindication of a Great Economic Law — 
Retrograde Movements — Middle-class Holdings — 
The Acts of 1899, 1904 and 1909 — ^Arrangements for 
Repayment of Loans — The State Schemes — The 
Small Holdings Selection Board — Objections to the 
Danish Small Holdings Act — Present Conditions of 
Farm Labourers in Denmark — Loans on Small Pro- 
perties — Mr. Christopher Turner's Examination — 
The Future. 

Less than a hundred years ago agriculture in 
Denmark was no whit more developed than in 
any other country in Europe. To-day the Danish 
farmer takes his place as one of the most scientific 
farmers of the age, while Denmark is, pro-rata to 
its area and population, almost the greatest 
grower of farm produce that history has seen. 
What is the cause of these astonishing facts ? 
The answer is threefold : (i) a favourable system 
of land tenure, (2) advanced and well-developed 
methods of co-operation, and (3) a close alliance 



104 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

between the theoretical scientist and the practical 
farmer, the laboratory and Mother Earth. Den- 
mark is a striking example of what immense things 
can be done, even with poor material, by com- 
bining energy with thought, work with science. 
The land in itself possesses little fruitfulness. It 
is neither rich in soil nor great in area. There are 
vast expanses of barren downs, especially in the 
northern and western parts of Jutland, which 
subtract from the average productivity of the 
country. Its climate is much the same as that 
of Ireland, and if all the constituent factors are 
examined by those qualified to judge, it can be 
easily ascertained that the natural conditions in 
Denmark are not such as in themselves conduce 
to great results. Inland there are degrees of 
frost on as many as ii6 days in the year, while 
the coast strips have 90 days of frost per annum. 
The number of days upon which both rain and 
snow fall is on an average 156 in the year, while 
snow only falls on 34 days. There are 94 days of 
fog or mist per annum, and, on the average, 
1,200 hours of sunshine yearly. Practical farmers 
will agree that these facts do not account for 
the results that have been achieved. By what 
artifices then have the Danish farmers overcome, 
in a great measure, the disadvantages of their 
meagre inheritance, and been enabled to wring 
such an extraordinarily fine return from their 
soil ? 



THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 105 

Until the close of the eighteenth century the 
land remained in the absolute possession of a 
minority of large landowners, who let it, in most 
cases on unconscionable terms, to the small- 
farmer class. The properties of these latter were 
so split up that a system termed " community of 
ownership " had to be devised as the only means 
whereby a living could be made. This system 
provided that, when within a given area one tenant 
farmer desired to sow corn all the other farmers in 
the same area must likewise do the same, and on 
the same day, it not being practicable for one man 
to grow rye on his small patch while his neighbour 
produced barley or wheat. 

Moreover, at this time the small properties were 
burdened with villenage to the greater, the tenant 
of the former paying in labour for the use of his 
land. It will readily be perceived that such 
labour would be required by the manor at times 
when the small farmer could ill spare it, e.g., the 
harvest, when he ought to be managing his own 
property rather than working for his overlord. 
Finally, there were the ecclesiastical tithes, from 
which the land is not yet quite free, although 
they are now being converted under the following 
generous State scheme. An Act of Parliament 
provides the payment of a capital sum amounting 
to twenty-five times the average of the tithe for 
the previous ten years. Of this the Government 
is paying seven twenty-fifths and the farmers 



io6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

themselves eighteen twenty-fifths, which the State 
will loan to thetti. The State has issued bonds 
which in 55^ years will be completely cancelled, 
when all the farmers' loans will have been repaid. 

In the nineteenth century great strides were 
made in the direction of altering the system of 
land tenure, of abolishing villenage, and of con- 
verting the tithes aforementioned. Proprietors of 
entailed estates were allowed by law, and even 
encouraged, to sell portions of their lands to their 
tenants, while the State did all in its power to 
assist the latter with their purchases. The moneys 
received by those who thus sold entailed lands 
were not wholly at the disposal of the seller. He 
was compelled to invest the greater part in what 
we should call trustee securities, which invest- 
ments were then entailed to his heirs in precisely 
the same manner as the land had previously been. 
But he was permitted to retain for his own use 
12 per cent, of the proceeds provided he sold to 
his own tenants or their kin, and only 8 per cent, 
if he dispossessed the tenants and sold to out- 
siders. And in this manner it has come about that 
the Denmark of to-day is largely a country of 
small peasant proprietors. In the last fifty years 
some 10,000 farms have become the absolute 
property of their holders, and at the present time 
only 27 per cent, of the area of Denmark is bur- 
dened with rent. 

With the growth of the population we find an 



THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 107 

inevitable tendency to smaller and smaller hold- 
ings. At the end of the seventeenth century the 
bias was, if anything, in favour of large estates. 
To-day it is increasingly in favour of the small 
to medium class. An examination of the suc- 
cessive land laws demonstrates the gradual change 
that took place in pubHc opinion consequent upon 
the great change in the conditions of Ufa, the rise 
of the factory system, the migration to large towns 
(especially in England), and the creation thereby 
of Denmark's principal market. 

Let us now briefly indicate the legislative Acts 
which, in the establishment of a successful class of 
small holders, have tested and vindicated a great 
economic law. In 1769 an Act was passed 
prohibiting free yeoman farmers from merging 
their properties into the adjoining estates. This 
is, in itself, evidence of the fact that by the middle 
of the eighteenth century a desire existed to 
preserve medium-sized as against great estates. 
In the same year it was forbidden to divide farms 
into smaller portions than would each provide an 
ample living for one family. In 1848 it was strictly 
prohibited to lease small holdings on condition 
that part of the rent should be paid in labour 
(villenage). In 1875 Credit Union Banks were 
founded with State aid, in order to assist the small 
holders to purchase and develop their land. At 
the same time inducements were offered to those 
small holders who worked their properties skil- 



io8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

fully and produced good results, while grants were 
made for study and travel purposes. 

About 1890, however, a. slightly retrograde 
mbvement set in, caused by the existence in the 
country of two classes of peasants : first, the young 
farmers who had all along worked for the manors, 
and who now either emigrated to America, or 
came into the big towns to make a better living ; 
and second, the small holders who were supporting 
themselves upon their properties, and who would 
not therefore work on the larger estates. The 
owners of manors were, therefore, in great need 
of workers, and in order to obtain them they 
demanded that the State should create small hold- 
ings so scattered and minute that the owners of 
them would be forced to work for others during 
a portion of the year. At the same time the 
peasants demanded holdings large enough to fully 
support them. To solve the difficulty a compro- 
mise was effected whereby a middle class of 
holding was created, which gave the small farmer 
scope to earn a large portion of his living, while 
at the same time requiring him to perform a 
certain quota of work upon the larger estates. 

The particular laws relating to small holdings 
provide instructive reading in that they show 
clearly the manner in which the Danes have 
attempted to overcome the difficulties inherent to 
a system of land tenure where the owners are 
largely peasants requiring to be carefully watched 



THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 109 

and controlled. In the successive Acts of 1899, 
1904, and 1909, the following are among the 
conditions upon which a candidate is admitted to 
a small holding. His age must exceed twenty- 
five years but be less than fifty. He must pre- 
viously have worked upon a farm for at least 
four years. He is required to furnish a guarantee 
from two persons of standing that he is an indus- 
trious, sober and proper person, and considered 
capable of managing such a property. He must 
show sufficient means to work the farm reason- 
ably, while not at the same time possessing such 
capital as would enable him to purchase the holding 
without assistance. The minimum area of these 
farms is fixed at 2 J acres, and the purchase price 
must not exceed ;^36o, including the value of 
buildings, Uve stock, etc. The State will lend 
up to 90 per cent, of the total value of such 
properties. 

The arrangements for the repayment of loans 
are simple and equitable. During the first five 
years interest only is paid. Afterwards the total 
loan is divided into two parts, one of two-fifths 
and one of three-fifths. The latter section of the 
loan is converted into what may be called public 
stock, aiid placed on the market with a State 
guarantee through the Mortgage Bank of Denmark. 
On the other two-fifths section after the first five 
years, dming which he has only paid 3 per cent., 
the borrower must pay 4 per cent., the extra i per 
cent, accumulating as a sinking fund for the 



no DENMARK AND THE DANES 

ultimate redemption of the loan. He, however, 
continues to pay 4 per cent., and thus, as the loan 
is reduced through repayments, these repayments 
automatically increase in proportion year by year. 
When the two-fifths section has been paid off in 
46J years, the three-fifths section is dealt with in 
precisely the same manner, the complete loan being 
repaid in 98 years. 

Annually about £222,000 is loaned to small 
holders, and £14,000 to small holders who are at 
present tenants, but who desire eventually to 
become the owners of their properties. It was 
found at first that the State schemes in this direc- 
tion commanded no confidence, and that the annual 
parliamentary grant was more than sufficient for 
the purpose. Now, however, the grant is heavily 
applied for every year, and it has, in fact, become 
necessary to select the inost suitable candidates 
from among the applicants. A board has been 
formed with this object in view. The number of 
small holdings created under the Acts up to 1912 
is 6,275, and the Treasury has lent already well 
over £1,600,000. 

Of those small holdings now in existence 27 per 
cent, of the owners were between the ages of twenty- 
five and thirty when they acquired them, 43 per 
cent, were between thirty and forty years, and 
the remaining 30 per cent, exceeded forty years. 
There are on an average five members to each 
family. It has been found that the small holder 
works roughly 155 days in the year either on the 



THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE iii 

great estates or in some other kind of handiwork. 
In other words, his holding only provides him 
with one-half of his annual income. The general 
tendency, however, is for the properties to become 
somewhat greater, while the necessity to work on 
the estates is of course proportionately diminished. 

The objections to the scheme which one generally 
meets with in Denmark are chiefly confined to 
the quality of the soil and its high market price. 
In many places the land would be quite without 
production were it not for the wonderfully inten- 
sive methods of the Danish farmers, and it is 
therefore often urged that in these circumstances 
Deimiark is a country better suitable for the large 
farmer with capital than for the small holder. It 
will be found, however, that, although the average 
price of land has increased by 53 '8 per cent, since 
1870, the annual value of the harvest has during 
the same period increased by over 100 per cent. 
Moreover, it is the worst parts of the country, the 
north-western districts of Jutland, which have bene- 
fited by the change in the system of tenure and the 
introduction of intensive methods. Lands which 
were formerly barren wastes, yielding nothing, now 
provide livings for hundreds of families. 

There is of course a great temptation for the 
large estate owner to get rid of his worst land to 
the small holders. This difficulty has been met 
and to a great extent overcome by means of land 
purchase societies. A number of people desirous 
of obtaining State small holdings will combine 



112 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

together, forming a society for the selection and 
purchase of good land. The Treasury is prepared 
to grant loans to such societies on somewhat 
similar conditions as to single small-holders. The 
State will also aid an individual member of the 
society, provided the value of his holding does not 
exceed £665. In the period 1885 — 1895 the mort- 
gages amounted to 54 per cent, of the total value 
of properties sold. In the last five years the per- 
centage has only been 50, which indicates not 
that the absolute burden on the land has been 
diminished, but that interest requires a less pro- 
portion of the annual profit than formerly. The 
number of agricultural bankruptcies has been 12 
per cent, lower than the figure for the preceding 
eight years, and the number of properties sold by 
compulsory auction 40 per cent. less. The value 
of horses, cattle, machinery, etc., has increased by 
43 per cent, in the last fifteen years. 

It has been found that the small holdings often 
attract an inferior type of peasant, for a really 
skilful agriculturist finds no difficulty in securing a 
property much greater than that which he could 
obtain under the State scheme. 

It was feared at first that the small holdings 
would draw the servants and retainers from the 
large farms and manors, leaving these latter 
entirely without labour. But experience has 
shown this fear to be groundless, and Denmark 
now possesses in the children of the present small 



THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 113 

holders a rising generation who will form a class 
of labourers produced and nurtured on the soil, 
and accustomed to farm work from their infancy, 
and who will in their turn work on the farms until 
such time as they are themselves able to acquire 
holdings. 

By many economists the amount which an 
applicant for a State small holding has to furnish — 
namely, 10 per cent, of its total value — ^is con- 
sidered to be too small, for if in the first few years 
of possession he suffers any heavy loss, it is exceed- 
ingly difficult for him to make a recovery in the 
face of a go per cent. State mortgage. 

Notwithstanding these objections to the scheme, 
it certainly has a balance of argument in its favour, 
and there can be little doubt that it has been one 
of the factors which have helped to raise Danish 
farming from imminent bankruptcy to a position of 
economic security. We do not claim that Danish 
small holders are superfluously wealthy, but com- 
paring the present with the former state of affairs, 
it cannot be denied that the Danes have achieved 
a great and magnificent piece of work in the solu- 
tion of their land problem along the lines outlined 
in this chapter. The position of the agricultural 
labourers of Denmark compares very favourably 
indeed with that of their fellow-labourers in other 
countries. A farm labourer can make from £30 to 
£33 a year, exclusive of allowances of milk, etc. 
Those most familiar with the home life of these 

D. H 



114 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

people are agreed that they enjoy superior clothing, 
much better food, and more favourable condi- 
tions than the same classes in England, France, 
or Germany. A small holder is of course in a 
decidedly better position than a landless labourer, 
for he has his garden and stock. The Savings 
Banks show that, whereas a landless labourer saves 
nothing, a small holder whose family is not too 
large can save, and often does, the while his debt 
decreases, and his property appreciates in value. 
In the majority of cases when a small holder 
eventually sells his property, he has something 
in hand after he has repaid the balance due on his 
mortgage, showing that he has earned more than a 
bare living from his labour. A small holder can 
make up to £i8 per annum when working on the 
great estates, which is more than sufficient to pay 
the interest on his mortgage. 

A great deal of misunderstanding exists as to the 
amount of loans on Danish small properties and 
the efiect which such apparently tremendous 
mortgages will ultimately have economically. In 
this connection it should be remembered that in no 
other country can money be obtained so cheaply, 
or on such favourable general conditions, as in 
Denmark ; and loans are commonly taken because 
the farmer knows he can make more than the 
interest he will have to pay. Mr. Christopher 
Turner, the author of Land Problems and National 
Welfare, in a letter to one of the writers, deals with 



THE SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 115 

this point. We venture to insert a short extract. 
He states : "I cross-examined a good many 
Danish farmers about their mortgages. My im- 
pression is that they were all making such good 
interest on the money they borrowed that their 
borrowing was a very good business. In this 
country we do not reaUse that there is borrowing 
and borrowing ; that if you borrow at 4 per cent, 
and make 10 per cent., it is very good business 
indeed." 

Summarising, the cumulative effect of the suc- 
ceeding land laws has been to make Denmark a 
land of small and medium properties. One half 
of the area is appropriated to farms of between 
38 and 150 acres. The total number of farming 
properties is 250,000. Of these only 800 have 
more than 600 acres ; 1,600 possess between 300 
and 600 acres, while 116,000 own less than eight 
acres apiece. The Act of 1906 divides properties 
into manors, farms and small holdings, and fixes 
minima under which the two first must not come. 
Politically the country has during the last twenty 
years been governed by the owners of medium 
properties. 

It is, of course, impossible to foreshadow future 
developments, but the remarkable growth of co- 
operation in Denmark and the splendid machinery 
for such purposes which already exists in that 
country possess a real significance in the eyes of 
those best able to judge. It is hardly Ukely that 

H 2 



ii6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

the actual system of land tenure will change from 
peasant proprietorship to State ownership. But it 
is more than probable that a few years mil witness 
extended co-operative small ownership, with con- 
trolled markets and a poohng system of profits. 
This is already the case to a large degree in dairies, 
slaughter-houses, and machine-buying societies; 
and we believe that the present trend will continue, 
uninterrupted by any violent change to any system 
of collective or socialistic ownership. Its results, 
at any rate, justify such an assumption. 



CHAPTER VIIl 

A TYPICAL DANISH FARM AND CO-OPERATIVE DAIRY 

Absence of Fences — Pegging of Cattle — Farm Buildings — 
Diesel Motor — Stables — Overheating of Cow-bj^res 
— Scientific Control Association — ^Piggery — ^Mr. Pon- 
toppidan's Farm at Aarhus described by Sir H. Rider 
Haggard — Poultry Yards — Specimen Rotation — 
Manure Tanks — The Co-operative Dairy. 

The traveller on approaching a Danish farm, 
or when travelling through farming districts, will 
be struck by the almost entire absence of fences. 
This may be one of the reasons why cattle, and 
even sheep, in Denmark are not allowed to wander 
freely over the fields, but are pegged down within 
certain restricted areas. But the chief reason for 
this practice is that it is economical and secures 
an even manuring of the field. 

The farm which we have selected to describe is 
situated near the sea-coast and within four miles 
of a country town in Jutland. The house of the 
farmer and the buildings together form a square 
round an extensive courtyard paved with cobbles. 
The buildings are thatched, but the house, built 
in the Dutch style, possesses a tiled roof. The 
whole farm, outhouses included, is lighted by 
electricity, and you can hear the steady throb- 
throb of the Diesel oil-engine motor which pro- 
duces the current and is used for pumping. 



ii8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

threshing, milling, and a number of other purposes 
incident to the life and work of the owner. 

The stables are lower than is generally the case 
in England, and the temperature is considerably 
higher. But experience has proved them to be 
not unhealthy. The same remarks apply to the 
cowhouses. Many foreign agriculturists consider 
that in Denmark farm buildings generally, and 
cow-byres especially, are kept too warm, and that 
the cows thereby run increased risks from tuber- 
culosis. Theoretically this may appear to be a 
not unreasonable assumption, but actually it will 
be found that the risks are guarded against in 
other ways, the Scientific Control Association being 
particularly keen on securing the healthiest possible 
conditions, especially for cows supplying drinking 
milk to towns. In other cases, e.g., when the 
milk is designed for butter-making, it is taken to 
the co-operative dairy, boiled and sterihsed, and 
thus the danger of infected milk is obviated. 

Most Danish farmers milk their animals three 
times a day. The cows generally lie two in a stall, 
and over each is placed a specification chart 
stating its average yields of milk, the amount 
of foodstuffs it consumes daily, the dates of 
calving, and a variety of other information 
required by the inspectors of the Scientific Control 
Association. The milking is mostly done by an 
ingenious machine, though, when the animal has 
been partially emptied, the operation is concluded 



TYPICAL FARM AND DAIRY 119 

by hand in order, as it is termed, to " dry " or 
" strip " the cow. 

Near the cowhouse is a bam of unthreshed grain. 
Stacks are only rarely seen in Denmark, corn 
and hay being generally kept vmder cover and not 
stacked. The piggery is between the bam and the 
poultry yard. In another chapter we have related 
how pig-farming came to be carried on to such an 
extent in Denmark, and how it has been found 
possible to make it, perhaps, the most profitable 
side of Danish farming considered in relation to 
time and outlay. One of the most remarkable 
swine farms in the world is that of Mr, Pontoppi- 
dan at Aarhus, in Jutland. Sir H. Rider Haggard, 
after his visit to Denmark, in 1910, to observe the 
general conditions of Danish agriculture, described 
this particular farm in terms which showed that it 
had impressed him greatly, and we therefore venture 
to quote the most interesting portion of his descrip- 
tion. He writes : " Mr. Pontoppidan breeds all his 
own pigs, which in race are Danish crossed with 
Yorkshire. His sows are only allowed to produce 
five or six Htters, after which they are fatted up 
to a weight of from 400 to 500 lbs. Danish. 
Observation has shown him that after five or six 
htters the sows both eat and overlie their off- 
spring ; also that the pigs bom between the second 
and the sixth htters are the strongest and do the 
best. His principal feeding-stuff is maize, but he 
also uses broken wheat or rye from the EngUsh 



120 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

and Black Sea mills, 500 lbs. of skim milk daily, 
turnips, kohl-rabi, swedes and mangolds. Lastly, 
the fatting pigs receive, amongst their other foods, 
all the blood from the Aarhus slaughter-houses, 
which is pressed into cakes and mixed with salt 
and borax. Of these cakes, that are stored in 
racks, nearly 1,000 lbs. are used every day. Their 
cost is three-eighths of a penny per lb., and they 
contain about 35 per cent, of albumen. 

" The pig-pens are arranged in a large, round 
building, and in all my agricultural experience I 
have seldom seen a more remarkable sight than 
they afforded. First we went upstairs, where 
live the young pigs which are being ' grown on.' 
As we appeared among these, hundreds of heads 
and forelegs were thrust over the tops of the sties, 
and from hundreds of hungry throats rose a chorus 
of piercing yells. Indeed, the din was so tremen- 
dous that I was glad to escape from the place. On 
the ground floor were the pigs whose earthly 
career was drawing to an end, many of them being 
already marked with the fatal black spot which 
indicated that on the morrow they must make their 
first and last journey — to the slaughter-house. 

" At that date pork was, and,- 1 believe, still is, 
fetching a price in Denmark that at present makes 
its breeding there a most remunerative business — 
no less, indeed, than ^d. per lb. This is paid for 
the animal as he walks on the scale, and for that 
reason it is customary to feed a pig as heavily as 



TYPICAL FARM AND DAIRY 121 

possible on the morning of his departure. He is 
given an opportunity of satisfying himself with 
every dainty before he dies, and as he recks not 
of the future, his appetite rises to the occasion. 
At s^d. (30 ore) per lb., pork production is fairly 
remunerative ; while 3d. (24 ore) per lb. covers all 
outgoings and risks. The average cost of a pig 
from the hour of its birth to that when it enters 
the bacon factory, including an allowance for 
labour, rent, and every other expense, is here 
reckoned at £2 gs. lo^d. (45 kroner), and the 
average price it realises is ;^3 6s. 6d. (60 kroner). 

" In another part of the piggery are kept the 
great drop-eared boars and the new-littered sows. 
Here the piglings are weaned by means of an 
ingenious contrivance of wooden bars, behind 
which they are confined, only being allowed to the 
mother at stated intervals, which grow rarer until 
they are sufficiently hardened to be moved up- 
stairs." 

Since the foundation of the various egg export 
corporations the poultry yard has become an 
increasingly important and valuable asset to the 
Danish farmer, and on the farm which we are 
describing fowls, turkeys, and geese take up 
almost the sole, undivided attention of two women 
and a boy. As the farm is near the sea-shore, the 
birds are fed on seaweed, grass and green fodder. 
Seaweed is often also used as a manure in the 
orchards, being packed tightly round the roots of 



122 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

fruit trees, and serying the double purpose of 
keeping them cool and damp. 

The majority of Danish farmers work their land 
on a seven-year rotation. In different parts of 
the country the actual order of crops, of course, 
varies, and it depends largely on the nature and 
quality of the soil, but the following, which is the 
rotation of our farm in Jutland, may be taken as 
a fair specimen : (i) oats sown down with clover, 
(2) mixture of oats and vetches, (3) fallow, 
(4) barley, (5) wheat and rye, (6) beet, and 
(7) oats sown down with clover again. 

The inspection of the farm will be concluded by 
a glance at the great manure tanks, the importance 
of which has been emphasised in another chapter. 
On very large farms the capacity of these tanks 
varies from 1,500,000 to 4,000,000 lbs. Danish; 
on middle farms and on small holdings tanks of a 
much more moderate capacity are of course 
employed. 

About a mile away, across the fields, you can 
just catch a gUmpse over the beech trees of the tall 
factory chimney of the co-operative dairy. Every 
morning the dairy collects the milk from all the 
farms in the district. This is weighed on a machine 
which registers automatically. The milk is then 
filtered, warmed and separated, the skim being run 
into a cylinder, reheated, and transferred to a large 
tank. After weighing out, three-quarters are 
returned to the co-operating members and the 



TYPICAL FARM AND DAIRY 123 

balance retained by the dairy for manufacture into 
cheese. 

A visit to a Danish co-operative dairy — such an 
one, for example, as the Trifohum at Haslev, the 
largest and most wonderful of its kind in the world 
— ^provides the most striking evidence of the 
immense advance which has been made upon the 
simple and Arcadian methods of a quarter of a 
century ago. The multitude and variety and 
the extraordinary ingenuity of the machines 
employed and the order, swiftness of operation, 
and scientific precision of the whole work would 
astound and bewilder an old-fashioned farmer 
from, say, Wiltshire or Dorsetshire. For there is 
Uttle of sentiment and nothing of leisure or tradi- 
tion about modem Danish farming; it is as 
scientific as a chemical reaction. 



CHAPTER IX 

PURE MILK IN THE LARGE TOWNS 

Busck Milk Supply Company of Copenhagen — ^Testing 
and Preparation of Milk — Decrease in Infant Mor- 
tality — Distribution — Comparison with English 
Methods and Prices — ^A Suggestion to Municipalities 
— Pasteurisation — Comparison of Food Values of 
Milk and Beer— Rapid Cooling and the Hygienic 
Milk-pail. 

Nearly every large town in Denmark possesses 
a company or corporation, partly philanthropic 
in its aims, which exists to supply the populace 
with pure milk and cream at the cheapest possible 
rates. The most remarkable of these concerns is 
the celebrated Busck Milk Supply Company of 
Copenhagen, which has a capital of about £25,000. 
It never distributes more than 5 per cent, in 
dividends, although there is Httle doubt that, 
were it run as a business concern, it could easily 
earn 20 per cent, profit or more. The excess over 
and above the 5 per cent., however, is devoted 
to improvements and additions to machinery, 
equipment, and buildings, and to free distribution 
of milk to the poor. 

The company provides cream in four different 
grades : whole milk, half-skimmed milk, children's 
milk in sterilised bottles, and infants' milk 



PURE MILK IN THE LARGE TOWNS 125 

specially prepared under the most stringent pre- 
cautions. No cows are kept, the original supplies 
of milk being obtained from selected farms in the 
Copenhagen district. 

The milk, on arriving at the company's dep6t, 
is tested and emptied into small vats, which are 
standing near a larger vat, containing a mixture 
compoxmded of one part of salt water to two parts 
of ice. This mixture is slowly pmnped into lofty 
coolers, and the milk is then passed over the coolers 
and run into a tank, whence it is driven through a 
special sterilised filter made up of gravel and cloth 
sheets. From the filter it passes into a large clean 
tank, when it is ready for distribution. 

The cream, which has been separated by steam- 
driven Alfa separators, flows over cyhnders filled 
with ice to an ingenious machine which has six long 
pipes, through which it passes into sterilised bottles. 
Nothing — milk, cream, butter or cheese — ^is ever 
touched by the hand, and the extreme care with 
which the infants' milk is prepared has undoubtedly 
resulted in the saving of thousands of young lives, 
and contributed to the notable decrease in the 
figures of infant mortality for Copenhagen and the 
surrounding districts during the past thirty years. 

A very efficient system of distribution has been 
devised by the company, and this attracted the 
special notice of Sir H. Rider Haggard during his 
inspection in 1910. He writes : " AH being 
prepared, the milk is distributed in the following 



126 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

fashion. Two hundred cans, each containing 
ICO lbs. Danish, are sent to the hospitals. Some 
goes to three shops the company possesses, while 
the rest is hawked by means of forty-four vans, 
which deUver it from door to door. 

"These vans, which I saw, are extraordinarily 
well contrived and adapted for this purpose. The 
cans of whole and skimmed milk are placed on 
either side of the front portion of the vehicle, and 
locked up in such a position that the milk can be 
drawn through taps which are specially protected 
from dust. It cannot be otherwise got at even by 
those in charge of the van. Over the taps are 
written the quality and price of the milk. In the 
rear compartment of the van are trays which 
exactly fit the cases that hold the bottles of cream 
and of children's and buttermilk, the prices of 
which are inscribed over the door. These trays in 
summer are covered with a layer of ice. 

" To draw its vans the company keeps a stud 
of eighty horses, which I saw Ijdng or standing, 
on moss Utter, in beautiful stables. Not far from 
these stables are the ice-houses, where is stored 
the specially collected ice, 3,000 tons of which are 
used every year. 

" Much might be written about this company, 
but perhaps enough has been said to convey some 
idea of its remarkable character and the perfection 
of its management. It was the first society for 
the distribution of pure milk in the world, and I 



PURE MILK IN THE LARGE TOWNS 127 

believe that even now, although some others 
exist in different countries, it remains the most 
important. If there is an3;1:hing on the same scale 
and organised in quite the same way even in the 
vast city of London, the fame of it has not reached 
me. I suggest that here there is an opportunity 
for enterprising and philanthropic vendors of milk 
in all the great towns of our coimtry. Only could 
milk and cream thus collected and treated be sold 
at similar cheap rates in England ? The charges 
made to the householder in London and other 
Enghsh cities do not seem to suggest that this would 
be the case. 

" The London price for new milk is a little under 
double the price for the same article in Copenhagen, 
whereas the difference in the cost of cream is 
enormous. The Copenhagen company charges 
IS. 2ld. per litre for its best cream, or, let us say, 
IS. 6d. (an outside figure) per quart, as against 4s. 
charged by the London dairies. Surely this is a 
matter that the corporations of cities might con- 
sider in the interests of the health of the popula- 
tion, and especially of young children. If a cor- 
poration may supply water or electricity why 
should it not supply milk ? 

" But the matter of municipal trading is one 
on which I do not wish to enter. Therefore I 
leave this somewhat thorny question with the 
remark that those who are alive five-and-twenty 
years hence will probably see in every large town 



128 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

an institution labelled ' The Corporation Pure 
Milk Supply Dep6t.' " 

Mr. Busck's company, which started business in 
1878 on hired premises, now owns 11,300 square 
metres of ground, of which 5,600 square metres are 
occupied by buildings and plant. Its daily sale 
of milk amounts to over 25,000 quarts, and it 
employs a staff of 130 men, 140 women, and 230 
boys. In cases of illness all the employees, as well 
as members of their families, receive gratuitous 
medical treatment without any deduction of salary. 

All the cows used by the company are examined 
by veterinary surgeons twice a month, while cows 
supplying infants' or children's milk are tested 
every half-year with tuberculin. The animals are 
kept on pasture as long as possible. Immediately 
after the milking operations have been concluded 
the milk is cooled down to 5° Celsius, but no 
pasteurisation is permitted, as this is now 
generally admitted to be an unnecessary proceed- 
ing and fraught, in some instances, with consider- 
able risk to the public, as, although it effectively 
destroys the bacilli of disease, it, at the same time, 
reduces the nutritive properties of untreated milk. 
In an article published in MacClure's Magazine 
for December, 1908, a contributor very succinctly 
stated that " the dairyman who pasteurises good 
milk is a fool, and the dairyman who pasteurises 
bad milk a rogue. The only excuse for pasteurisa- 
tion is that it is the lesser of two evils, and the 



PURE MILK IN THE LARGE TOWNS 129 

Copenhagen Milk Supply Company has shown the 
world that it is unnecessary." 

In the well-known American review The Out- 
look, Prof. J. E. Pope, commenting on his visit 
to Copenhagen in 1906, stated that in his judgment 
Copenhagen was the capital where milk is the best 
and cheapest. He noted particularly the impor- 
tance placed upon the delivery of milk at a very 
low temperature in contrast to the common 
practice in America and England of delivering it 
warm, in which case it deteriorates rapidly. 

During the past thirty years the consumption 
of milk in Copenhagen has increased by a much 
greater ratio than the proportionate increase in 
the population would lead one to suppose. At 
the present moment the average consumption 
equals almost exactly one pint per day per person. 
In London and Manchester the allowance is less 
than one quarter of this quantity. The abundance 
and the cheapness of good milk has undoubtedly 
contributed in . no small measure to the extra- 
ordinarily rapid growth of the temperance and 
alUed movements in Denmark, as it has been 
clearly pointed out in the press and the churches, 
and the schools, that even ordinary buttermilk 
contains from four to five times the food value per 
volume of beer. Bavarian beer, for example, con- 
tains only one half a pint food value of a quart of 
whole milk. A quart of Bavarian beer costs 27 ore 
(slightly more than ■i\d.), while a quart of whole 

D. I 



130 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

milk can be purchased in Copenhagen for i6 ore 
(about 2d.). From the point of view of cost, 
therefore, milk yields better value for money, 
while if the relative food values and nutritious 
properties are worked out it can be demonstrated 
that Bavarian beer, which costs 27 ore, should only 
be valued at 4 ore. 

One of the most important of the appliances 
employed by the Copenhagen Pure Milk Supply 
Company is known as the hygienic milk-pail, 
the object of which is to collect and store the milk 
so efficiently cooled that it will keep long enough 
without pasteurising or other similar treatment. 
The apparatus consists of a cyUndrical tinned 
steel pail, in the bottom of which is placed a pear- 
shaped copper receptacle, which is closed by means 
of a flat lid under the bottom of the pail. When 
the pail is in use the lid is unscrewed, the pail 
turned upside down, and the receptacle filled with 
a mixture of one part of common salt to three 
parts of crushed ice or snow. The cow is milked 
straight into this pail, and the milk thus loses 
its cow-heat. The micro-organisms are by this 
method immediately placed into an environment 
which precludes development, while the milk 
does not lose any of its nutritive properties. 

This rapid cooling process has produced some 
very notable results. Dr. Miiller, of Leipsic, 
instituted a series of valuable experiments with 
Mr. Busck's hygienic pail, of which we will quote 



PURE MILK IN THE LARGE TOWNS 131 

one only. A certain cow, which yielded 12 quarts 
of milk, was milked from the two right teats into 
Mr. Busck's pail and from the two left into an 
ordinary pail, the specimens being -plsiced side by side 
in bottles in a room at a temperature of 1$° Centigrade. 
The milk from the ordinary pail became sour and 
thick after 82 hours ; that from the hygienic pail 
did not become sour until after having been kept 
for 144 hours. 

In connection with the rapid cooling process 
invented by Mr. Busck, it may be noted here that 
his company use upwards of 18,000 lbs. of ice 
daily, and that the whole of this enormous quan- 
tity is produced and crushed on the premises by 
a Danish Diesel oil-engine motor. 



I 2 



CHAPTER X 

THE SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF THE DANISH FARMERS 

The Key to the Success of Danish Farming — Education — 
Co-operation of Professor and Peasant — ^The Copen- 
hagen High School of Agriculture — Fjord and 
Segelcke — Early Methods — Danish Cows — Scientific 
Control Association — Production of Milk — Export of 
Butter — ^Jersey Cows — Use of the Area of Denmark 
for Cereals and Vegetables — ^Annual Value of the 
Harvesti — Rotation of Crops — Fertilisers — Liquid 
Manure — " Lucerne " Grass— Winter Feeding of 
Cattle — Farming Machines — Enterprise of the 
Young Farmers — ^Irrigation, Moorland Conversion 
and Planting — English " Model " Farms — Fanning 
for Profit. 

The key to the success of Danish farming, 
indeed the key to the success of all Danish enter- 
prises, may be found ultimately in the question of 
education. A century ago the men who were 
leading Danish pohcy perceived with admirable 
foresight that Denmark could only be great if her 
peasants were given a free and liberal education, 
and to this end much of the legislation of the last 
hundred years has devoted itself. Further, the 
professor has given the service of his brain to the 
peasant, and the peasant has responded by putting 
his work and the strength of his arm behind the 
professor's theories. There are many countries 
richer a,hd more favourably placed, possessing 



SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF FARMERS 133 

greater facilities, and scientific men of equal 
brilliance. But in no country in the worid is the 
co-operation of university and farm so complete, 
so loyal, or so free from prejudice as in Denmark. 
The headquarters of scientific farming in Den- 
mark are at the Copenhagen High School of Agricul- 
ture. This institution was founded in 1858, has a 
staff of forty professors, and controls experimental 
stations in various parts of the country. All the 
year round lectures are given, reports received, 
experiments made, and assistance afforded to 
young farmers who are quaUfying to take up 
holdings in the country. The school has branches 
devoting themselves separately to (i) agriculture, 
(2) veterinary science, (3) woodcraft, (4) gar- 
dening, and (5) land surveying. Students from 
Norway are admitted into the veterinary science 
branch. In addition to the above subj ects, lectures 
are given on physics, mineralogy, chemistry, 
botany, zoology, soil composition and fertilisation, 
farming machinery and its uses, treatment of 
domestic animals, pathology of plants, and book- 
keeping for farmers. Observational tours are 
periodically arranged. The ordinary course at 
the school lasts from two and a half to four years. 
The fees amount to only ;^5 a year, while there 
are several scholarships of from £1.2 to ^^24 per 
annum. The principal and professors constitute the 
governing body of this very successful institution. 
The school has possessed from its inception a 



134 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

staff of scientific men of the first rank, and it had 
the good fortune at the very outset of its career 
to win the confidence of the farmers. Mention 
has already been made of Profs. Fjord and 
Segelcke. The former was the first lecturer in 
physics which the school had. He had been a 
schoolmaster, but devoting his attention to the 
study of bacteria in meat, milk, and other dairy 
products, he soon realised the importance of apply- 
ing scientific methods to farming matters. He 
carefully reviewed the position of Danish farming 
from both scientific and economic points of view, 
and to him is largely due the credit of conceiving 
and inaugurating that splendid machinery of 
co-operation which raised Danish farming from 
imminent bankruptcy to its present sound and 
healthy condition. 

Before the time of Fjord and Segelcke the farmers 
kept no records or accounts. They worked on no 
principles other than those of tradition or personal 
prejudice. The dairymaid and the farm hand were 
neit^ier watched nor controlled. The presence of 
harmful ingredients in milk or butter, if suspected, 
was never prevented, while the use of the thermo- 
meter was almost unknown. Yet to-day a Danish 
farm is a scientific machine as nearly perfect as it 
is humanly possible to be, a machine in which the 
possibility of error is all but eUminated. 

It is out of the question in a book of this scope 
to deal fully with this important side of Danish 



SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF FARMERS 135 

fanning, or even to provide an outline of the many 
experiments which have been made in and through 
the agricultural institutions of Denmark. The 
matter is largely of bacteriological and chemical 
interest, and belongs, therefore, rather to a scien- 
tific than to a general work. But some brief 
indication of the intensely scientific nature of 
Danish farming will not be out of place here. 

Practically all Danish cows are kept in stables 
for the greater portion of their lives. Many of 
them indeed are lifelong prisoners. The sheds 
are built in a large and airy style, and the atmo- 
sphere within them is just as pure as the air over 
the fields. For exercise the animals are taken to 
be watered once a day. On some farms the cows 
are allowed a limited amount of open-air pasturage, 
but only in the summer from June to September. 
The effect of rain and cold on the yield of milk is 
known to a nicety. Those fortunate cattle which 
are placed on the fields in the summer are tied to 
stakes with a range of but eight yards. When the 
stakes are removed and transferred to another 
quarter of the meadow, the farmer is careful to 
observe that all the clover has been eaten. 

An inspector from the Scientific Control Associa- 
tion visits the farms once every three weeks. The 
assistants who do this work are specially trained 
men or women. Each cow is examined, its jdeld 
of milk, the percentage of butter fat, the amount 
of fodder consumed, are analysed, and the surplus 



136 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

calculated. It is thus possible for each fanner to 
know precisely how each cow pays him and further 
to compare his animals with those of his neigh- 
bours. As soon as a cow ceases to pay it is fed up 
for the butcher. 

It has been shown that a Danish cow 3delds, on 
an average, 2,617 kilograms of milk, and this figure 
is rapidly increasing. In 1899 the average yield 
was only 2,100 kilograms. The cows from small 
properties give slightly more than those from 
the larger estates. The production of milk in 
Denmark now exceeds 2,875,000,000 kilograms 
annually, representing a value of £16,000,000. 
The export of butter in 1911 was 89,500,000 kilo- 
grams, giving a value of £10,500,000. Cheese is 
not exported to any great extent, as the higher 
prices received for butter yield handsome profits. 

The Jersey cows, which were originally imported 
for their rich fatty milk, have not yet become accus- 
tomed to a confined life. They contract much 
tuberculosis, and also suffer greatly from a painful 
stomach complaint. It is hoped, however, to 
acclimatise them after further experiment. This 
innovation is being carefully watched by the 
cattle-breeding associations. 

The following table shows the use of the area of 
Denmark for cereals and vegetables : — 





Per cent. 




Per cent 


Wheat . 


. i-oo 


Barley 


. 6-00 


Rye 


. 7-10 


Oats 


. 10-40 



SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF FARMERS 137 





Per cent. 




Per cent. 


Seeds 


4-40 


Buckwheat 


0-20 


Potatoes . 


1-40 


Spurry . 


Q-IO 


Carrots . 


0'20 


Fallow . 


5-90 


Beetroot . 


2-20 


Garden produce 


O-OI 


Kohl-rabi 


I 90 


Tobacco . 


0-002 


Turnips . 


i-8o 


Clover and grass 


7'6oo 


Sugar beet 


070 


Clover and grass 




Chicory . 


0-02 


(not for har- 




Podding grain . 


0-30 


vest) . 


12-100 



The annual value of the harvest is more than 
;^35,ooo,ooo, being on an average £5 5s. an acre 
for corn-land, £11 13s. an acre for roots, and ^3 
an acre for hay. For small holders the cultivation 
of roots is found to pay better than anything else, 
inasmuch as the labour falls in a more convenient 
period of the year. 

The crops, as we have already explained, are 
rotated, grain with roots. As fertilisers nitro- 
genous foods are mostly used. These are pur- 
chased either in England or Germany. Chih 
saltpetre, superphosphates, and kali, a mineral 
product from Salzburg, are extensively employed. 
In addition, great use is made of natural manures, 
both hquid and solid. A Danish farmer values his 
reservoirs of liquid manure as much as his separated 
milk. The reservoirs are built of cement, and 
are air-tight. The liquid manure is chiefly em- 
ployed for potatoes, sugar beets, clover and grass. 

A special species of grass known as " lucerne " 



r38 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

is cultivated. This is grown in field^, outside the 
rotation. Hay is cut from it some three or four 
times a year. A field of " luceri^j lasts about 
three years. The cattle are not**'^^tured on 
these fields, as it has been discovered that the grass 
grows more luxuriantly when cut. It possesses 
pretty yellow and blue flowers, somewhat resem- 
bling clover. A peculiar feature about this grass 
is that it requires the presence of certain bac- 
teria before it will grow. This must be either 
bought or taken from another "lucerne" field. 
The soil containing the bacteria is termed " pode- 
jord." The use of " lucerne " is extending. 

In the winter the cattle and pigs are fed upon 
the " lucerne " hay and oil-cakes. The latter are 
made of seeds from which the oil has been pressed. 
The animals seem to like it, but their pleasure is 
evident when the spring returns, and supplies of 
fresh grass and clover are forthcoming. 

For such a small country the Danish farmers 
employ an inordinate number of farming machines. 
There are in Denmark, in use at the present 
moment, more than 32,800 seed-sowing machines ; 
44,700 mowing machines ; 27,600 harvesting 
machines ; 65,700 threshing machines ; 4,600 
wind motors ; and 83,100 reservoirs for liquid 
manure. No opportunity is lost of obtaining the 
latest farming devices, and the young farmers 
particularly show great originahty in overcoming 
the difficulties which face them. One instance 



SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF FARMERS 139 

which came to our notice may be cited. A 
small farmer in an outlying and barren district 
decided to take over some uncultivated and 
apparently hopeless land a great distance from 
any water supply. He had a well dug, and a pump 
erected with a small Diesel motor, then led the 
water over the new estate in lead pipes a little 
beneath the surface of the ground. In this manner 
he made himself practically independent of the 
rain, and in a few years the ground, which had 
formerly been quite barren, provided him with an 
ample living. 

This reclamation work has also been undertaken 
in other parts of the country. One hundred years 
ago there were in Denmark some 2,200 square 
miles of unproductive heath-land ; fifty years later 
this area had diminished to 2,100 square miles ; 
to-day it is only about 900 square miles. This fine 
piece of work has been accomplished mainly by 
the Society for Cultivating the Heath, which was 
founded in 1866 by Herr Dalgas. Its aim was 
national, and from the beginning of its operations 
there was no thought of private gain. Its chief 
energies are spent in irrigation, regulation of 
watercourses, building of roads, conversion of 
moorland into meadow-land, construction of drains, 
conveyance of marl, and in many cases peat- 
making and the planting of suitable districts with 
trees. The society receives a subsidy from the 
State of £20,000 a year, and maintains nine wood- 



140 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

rangers and fifteen assistants, who render help 
gratis to meadow owners and others desirous of 
planting trees on their properties. It also owns 
twenty square miles of coniferous trees, and has 
supervision over a further 200 square miles, 
privately owned. The results of experiments in 
the cultivation of bog-land are made known by 
means of over 500 demonstration stations. 

Enough has now been written to indicate that 
farming in Denmark has become an exact science. 
It is true that we have in England many model 
farms much finer than anything that may be 
seen in Denmark, but these are for the most part 
owned by wealthy amateurs, to whom expense is 
not an important matter. On the other hand, the 
Danish farmer cannot afford to farm for show or 
pleasure. With him it is a question of profit. 
The demand of the young peasants when they come 
to the high-schools is " Show us how to make a 
farm pay." Accordingly, even the manager of 
an agricultural school must run the demonstra- 
tion farm attached to the institution as a paying 
concern, and not for show purposes. " The best 
demonstration of your methods, and the finest 
advertisement for your theories," say the young 
agriculturists of Denmark, " is to make profits out 
of your school farm." 



m 


H / 


rl 


m^i 


j> 




•> 






[Copyright : Vndefwood & Vndenvood. 

Flower Market, Copenhagen. 



CHAPTER XI 

CO-OPERATION 

Denmark prior to 1864 — Competition — What the EngUsh 
Farmers did — Com Production and " Intensive " 
Farming — Increase in Live Stock — Ireland, Australia 
and Canada — Horses in Denmark — ^Breeds of Cattle 
— Shorthorns and Jerseys — Scientific Control Socie- 
ties — ^BuUs — Decrease of Sheep-rearing, and why — 
Reason for the Increase in Pig-rearing — Profs. 
N. J. Fjord and T. R. Segelcke — The High School of 
Agriculture — First Co-operative Dairy — ^The Position 
To-day — ^Advantages of Co-operation in Dairying — 
Educational Effects — Some Objections — ^Statistics of 
Co-operative Dairies — ^Method of Establishing them 
— ^The Part played by the Savings Banks — ^Weekly 
Settlements — Improvement in the Quahty of Produce 
— The English Market Captured — Government Regu- 
lations — Tests of the Royal Experimental Laboratory 
— Co-operation in the Meat Trade — German Import 
Regulations — England prohibits Import of Living 
Cattle from the Continent — Slaughter-houses — ^The 
Egg Industry — Remarkable Development — The 
General Supply Associations — Co-pperative Whole- 
sale Societies — Reasons why Co-operation unpopular 
in Great Britain — The English Character — A Change 
in the System of Land Ownership Required — ^The 
Most Convincing Argument. 

Until 1864 Denmark was in the main a corn- 
producing country. Owing, however, to the grow- 
ing export of that commodity from Russia and the 
United States, and to the keen competition caused 



142 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

thereby, it became quite impossible for the Danish 
farmers to make corn-growing pay. In similar 
circumstances the English farmer had gone to his 
landlord and obtained a remission of rent. But 
this could not be done in Denmark, the farmers 
being their own landlords, and they were therefore 
reduced to the necessity of either vacating their 
properties or devising some new method of 
managing them which would yield a greater profit. 
In these adverse circumstances we find the origin 
of co-operative and scientific farming in Denmark 
and the cause of the complete reversal that has 
taken place from com production, where the farmer 
only takes the absolute yield of the ground, to 
intensive farming, where everything that can be' 
profitably employed is used, the land and its 
products are nursed and studied, nothing is wasted, 
and nothing is ornamental. The result has been 
an immense increase in live stock, in cattle, pigs, 
and poultry, and a consequent increase in the 
production of butter and the output of eggs. 
Indeed, so pronounced is this change that we find 
that, with the exception of the thinly populated 
countries of Ireland, Australia and Canada, Den- 
mark possesses in proportion to its population 
more live stock than any other country in the 
world. 

There are about 535,000 horses in Denmark. 
The Jutland breed predominates. It is a rather 
heavy type, exceedingly strong and eminently 



CO-OPERATION 143 

suitable for rough farm work. About 20,000 of 
these animals are exported every year to Germany, 
under a customs duty of seventy-two marks each. 
A lighter type of horse is the Frederiksborg breed, 
also a strong and useful animal. Of recent years, 
in addition to breeding horses, the Danes have 
found it necessary to import them. From 10,000 
to 20,000 now enter the country annually, mostly 
small animals from Russia, Sweden and Iceland. 
The imported horses are chiefly employed on the 
small holdings. 

The Danish farmers possess some 2,257,000 
cattle. Again we find two predominant breeds, 
the Red Danish and the Jutland, the former being 
a pure milk cow and the latter being used both for 
milking and for meat. Some short-horned cows 
are imported for meat only, and numbers of 
Jerseys for their rich, fatty milk. The Scientific 
Control Societies periodically inspect the farms, 
and discover by an analysis of the amount of food 
consumed by each cow, together with its 5aeld of 
milk, whether or no it is paying its owner to main- 
tain it. Immediately the point is reached at which 
it no longer provides a stipulated margin of profit 
the cow is slaughtered. In this manner the 
average life of a cow in Denmark has greatly 
diminished since the establishment of the controls, 
and to-day it is much less than in other countries, 
where animals are often maintained long after the 
profit stage has been passed. With regard to 



144 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

bulls, many of these are only retained for one or 
two years, carefully fattened, and then sold to 
Germany as meat. The covering bulls for breeding 
purposes are specially selected, and are usually 
owned by societies. 

There are now only 726,000 sheep in Denmark, 
and this number is continually decreasing, owing to 
insufficiency of pasturage and the better profits 
which can be made by dairy farming. 

On the other hand, the number of pigs has 
rapidly increased. There are now over 1,467,000 
of these animals, as against 304,000 fifty years ago. 
Even then these figures do not show adequately 
the immense and growing profit yielded by this 
side of dairy farming, for whereas formerly the 
average life of a pig was from eighteen months to 
two years, now it is killed when six or seven months 
old. The weight fixed by the slaughter-houses is 
from 80 to 100 kilograms. Such a weight is 
usually attained in Jutland in six or seven months ; 
in other parts of the country, in seven or eight 
months. Of late years there has been a tendency 
to keep fewer but superior boars. 

The growth of pig-rearing was coincident with 
the development of dairy farming, and was largely 
caused by the great quantities of skimmed milk 
left over after the butter-making. The co-opera- 
tive dairies send this back to the farmers, and, true 
to the new principle of using everything that can 
be profitably employed, they considered it better 



CO-OPERATION 145 

to rear pigs on buttermilk than to waste a product 
of such obvious utility. 

Much of the success of Danish fanning can be 
directly traced to two scientists, N. J. Fjord and 
T. R. Segelcke, both professors at the High School 
of Agriculture. These gentlemen in the seventies 
directed their energies towards farm work and 
agrarian questions in general, though more particu- 
larly in the direction of devising methods for 
increasing the production of milk and the manu- 
facture of pure butter. 

One important feature of their earlier work was 
the instruction of the peasants in modem and 
scientific methods, and proving to them the value 
of co-operation. As a result the first co-operative 
dairy was opened in Jutland in 1882, to be followed 
in but a few years by himdreds of others. To-day 
there are 1,200 co-operative dairies, owning more 
than 1,000,000 cows, or 81 per cent, of the cows in 
Denmark. There are only some 222,000 cows 
which are not co-operatively owned. 

The chief points in this system are : (i) the 
small farmer obtains the benefits which inevitably 
follow great production ; (2) he has a regular 
weekly settlement from the dairy to which he sells 
his milk, and therefore contracts no bad debts, 
and is furthermore not compelled to be a merchant 
as well as a farmer ; (3) he has a strong and direct 
inducement to produce as much milk as possible ; 
(4) he receives a share in the profits of distribution, 

D K 



146 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

being part owner of the factory which kills and 
disposes of his meat or of the dairy which purchases 
and sells his nndlk or makes it into butter ; (5) from 
the point of view of the consumer, the middlemen's 
profits— often amounting to as much as 120 per 
cent, on dairy produce — are saved ; and (6) the 
system has been found to be valuable from an 
educational standpoint. 

One keen observer, who has especially noted 
this last point, declares that among " the indirect 
but equally tangible results of co-operation I 
should be inclined to put the development of mind 
and character among those by whom it is practised. 
The peasant or little farmer who is a member of 
one or more of these societies, who helps to build 
up their success and enjoys their benefits, acquires 
a new outlook. His moral horizon enlarges itself ; 
the jealousies and suspicions which are in most 
countries so common among those who live by the 
land fall from him. Feeling that he has a voice in 
the direction of great affairs, he acquires an added 
value and a healthy importance in his own eyes. 
He knows also that in his degree and according to 
his output he is on an equal footing with the 
largest producer and proportionately is doing as 
well. There is no longer any fear that because he 
is a little man he will be browbeaten or forced 
to accept a worse price for what be has to 
sell than does his rich and powerful neighbour. 
The skilled minds which direct his business work 



CO-OPERATION 147 

as zealously for him as for that important 
neighbour. 

"Again, being relieved from all the worry and risk 
of marketing and sure that whatever he buys from 
his society, be it seeds, or foodstuffs, or implements, 
is the best obtainable at the lowest rate compatible 
with good quality, he is free to devote himself 
altogether to the actual business of his life. Also 
in any great doubt or difficulty he can rely on the 
expert advice of his control society ; all the science 
of the country is in fact at the disposal of the hmn- 
blest worker of its acres. The farmer who, stand- 
ing alone, can be broken across the knee of tyranny, 
extortion, or competition, if bound up with a 
hundred others by the bond of a common interest 
is able to mock them all." 

Doubts have sometimes been expressed as to 
whether the method of co-operation will pay in the 
long run. The chief arguments urged against it 
are that the farmers often work for the greatest 
gross result, feeding their cows on the most expen- 
sive artificial foods, a practice which is certainly 
successful now, but which in time might conceiv- 
ably end in a serious deterioration of the animals. 
Moreover, the day labourer, who in former times 
had been accustomed to receive milk from his 
employer either free or at greatly reduced prices, 
now finds that on many farms this bounty has been 
withdrawn in the great race after quick profits. 
To guard against the misuse of the co-operative 

K2 



148 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

system, and to avoid the grosser follies of ignorance, 
Scientific Control Associations have been formed, 
which send inspectors round the farms to inquire 
into their management. The work of these con- 
trols is spoken of in greater detail in another 
chapter. They receive support from the Govern- 
ment to an amount of some £7,000 annually. 

Each co-operative dairy has on an average 164 
members with 963 cows, and possesses buildings 
and plant worth about £i,Soo. The customary 
manner of establishing such a dairy is for a certain 
number of farmers in a locality to combine, borrow- 
ing the necessary capital from a Savings Bank, each 
farmer giving a guarantee in proportion to the 
number of cows he possesses. It is required by 
statute that the loan shall be repaid in ten or fifteen 
years, when the dairy must take up a new loan of 
the same amount as the first. This new advance 
is then distributed among the members in propor- 
tion to the quantities of milk they have sold to the 
dairy during the period of the previous loan. In 
this manner a loan is taken up every ten or fifteen 
years, and the Savings Banks are thus directly 
interested in the development of the dairies. 

Weekly settlements are inaugurated whereby 
each member receives about 75 per cent, of the 
value of the milk he has sold, the remaining 25 per 
cent, being retained by the dairy and, after deduc- 
tion of working expenses, handed over to the 
members twice a year. 



CO-OPERATION 149 

Not long after the establishment of the first 
co-operative dairy it became apparent that a great 
improvement had been effected in the quaUty of 
butter produced, and within a few years Danish 
butter had been acknowledged by the critical 
English public as the finest product in the market. 
The export steadily increased, especially to Eng- 
land, and the price commanded was invariably 
higher than that obtained by other butters. If 
complaints were received from English importers 
or dealers, they were carefully examined, and the 
error was at once remedied, with the result that 
to-day the butter from Danish co-operative dairies 
possesses an unrivalled reputation and an assured 
market. 

The Government regulations provide that butter 
for export shall not contain more than 16 per cent, 
of water, and that no other ingredient than salt 
shall be used as a preservative. There are several 
annual exhibitions of butter held under the patro- 
nage and with the financial support of the State, 
But the most important tests are those arranged 
by the Royal Experimental Laboratory, whose 
board periodically selects for trial purposes a 
certain number of dairies, which are forthwith 
requested by telegraph to submit a given number 
of samples immediately. The results of these tests 
are pubUshed at intervals, and they go to show 
that the outcome of the establishment of these co- 
operative dairies and scientific controls has been 



150 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

not only to raise the quality of butter, but, in 
addition, to increase the number of cows and also 
the average annual yield of milk from each cow. 

The co-operative system has also been adopted in 
the meat trade. Cows' flesh is exported in con- 
siderable quantities, chiefly to Germany. For- 
merly the Uving animals were exported, but in 
1897 the German import regulations were made so 
much more strict that it became virtually possible 
to send there only slaughtered cattle. A slight 
relaxation has, however, taken place in recent 
years, and numbers of hving cows from Denmark 
are now sold to the German pubHc slaughter- 
houses, after having been carefully examined for 
signs of tuberculosis, and detained for ten days in 
quarantine. The reason why Denmark has no 
market for her meat in England is that in 1892 
England prohibited the import of living cattle 
from the Continent, and the prohibition remains 
in force. As the profit from selling living cloven- 
footed animals is greater than when selling meat, 
the Danes naturally prefer to send this produce to 
Germany. 

In 1911 the export of living cattle and meat |rom 
Denmark had a value exceeding ^13,000,000, of 
which by far the most important part consisted 
of pork, the value of this section alone being 
£6,500,000. 

The first co-operative slaughter-house was 
opened in 1887 ; seven others followed in 1888, 



CO-OPERATION 151 

and now there are thirty-six of these institutions. 
The members are compelled to sell their meat there, 
even if they could obtain better prices elsewhere. 
In addition to these co-operative slaughter-houses, 
there are twenty-two private slaughter-houses in 
Denmark. The animals are paid for according to 
their weight when killed. There are not so many 
members of co-operative slaughteries as of co- 
operative dairies, largely because membership is 
not required as a condition of sale, yet limits the 
sale to the co-operative institution. The prices 
obtained axe, however, usually so good that the 
Danish farmer finds it more profitable to become 
a member than to remain outside. The owners of 
64 per cent, of the pigs in Denmark, for example, 
have joined this movement. 

The great industry in eggs is also managed 
now on a basis of co-operation, although it was 
the last of the staple industries of Denmark to 
come under this beneficial influence. The largest 
society for the export of eggs is the Danish Egg 
Export Corporation, which has 48,000 members 
and 500 branches. The eggs are carefully tested 
and selected. The society fines very heavily 
members detected in knowingly or carelessly 
selhng bad eggs. There can be httle doubt that 
the co-operative movement has been of incal- 
culable benefit to this industry, and has been the 
direct means of raising it to its present high level 
of excellence. In 1864 the export of eggs was 



152 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

800,000. To-day it exceeds 430,000,000. The 
total number of hens in Denmark is 12,000,000, 
representing a value of more than £1,500,000. 

Any account of the co-operative undertakings of 
the Danish farmers must include the General 
Supply Associations, which differ very much from 
the institutions known by this name in England. 
They have been founded by the farmers them- 
selves, and number about 1,400, with a total 
membership of over 200,000. They exist mostly 
in the country districts, away from the large towns. 
The prices charged are generally the same as those 
of the private tradesman, but at the end of every 
year the surplus is divided in cash among the 
members of the association. The total sales made 
by these societies are upwards of £4,000,000 yearly. 

A third of the stores sell to outsiders as well as 
to members, and are then obliged to obtain a 
business licence. Those associations which only 
deal with their members are exempt from this 
licence. It is found that one-sixth of the stores 
deal for cash only ; one-sixth give credit ; while 
the remainder allow their managers to grant 
credit at their own risk. Almost all the associa- 
tions are themselves members of a Co-operative 
Wholesale Society, which has an annual sale of 
about £2,500,000, and manages factories for 
tobacco, chocolate, soap, and other important 
articles of general consumption. 

A few years ago the farmers formed associations 



CO-OPERATION 153 

for buying feeding-stuffs, the most powerful of 
which is the Co-operative Feeding-stuff Society of 
Jutland. This society has a membership of 30,000 
and an annual sale of £1,000,000. On the same 
principle the co-operative dairies have recently 
combined with a view to the purchase in England 
of their coal, dairying machines, and appliances. 
Finally, mention may be made of an English 
Co-operative Wholesale Society which has agents 
in Denmark for the purchase of butter, and is 
the owner of a slaughter-house for pigs. 

It has often been wondered why, with the strik- 
ing successes of the Danes before them, English 
farmers have so consistently fought shy of adopt- 
ing co-operative methods. The reasons probably 
are that the English farmer finds little or no 
difficulty in securing a good market for his whole 
milk, and therefore has no special incentive to go 
in seriously for butter-making. Danish farmers, 
however, when criticising our methods, attribute 
this sh5mess to the character of the EngHsh land 
system. They declare that ' ' tenant farmers will not 
co-operate because, co-operative accounts being 
open to inspection, they fear that their landlords 
might raise the rents if it were found that they 
were prospering. Only owners of land will co- 
operate." 

But we imagine that Sir H. Rider Haggard has 
discovered the real reason why co-operative farm- 
ing and dairying are so unpopular in England. 



154 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

He writes : " It is common knowledge that at 
present co-operation does not flourish in Great 
Britain. Speakmg generally, notwithstanding the 
blandishments of the Agricultural Organisation 
Society, which now receives a small subsidy from 
the State, and much individual effort and exhor- 
tation, the British tenant farmer consistently 
declines to co-operate. 

" In support of this view I wiU quote a few sen- 
tences from the yearly Bulletin of the Interna- 
tional Institute of Agriculture. In a monograph 
on Great Britain and Ireland, under the section 
headed ' The Sale of Produce ' it says : — ' We 
find that in Great Britain co-operation for the 
sale of produce is still in its infancy.' Again, 
in another place it says : ' The co-operative 
creamery at which butter is made is almost 
unknown in England.' Finally, under the section 
headed ' Agricultural Credit ' it says : ' Agri- 
cultural credit has made but little progress in 
England and Wales, and no credit societies have 
as yet been formed in Scotland. The number of 
credit societies is increasiflg ^lowly in England, 
but the aggregate business ;is Still 'vety trifling.' 

" When we consider the Dalfish figures for co- 
operative undertakings, those for Great Britain 
are by comparison practically neghgible. Various 
reasons for this unhappy state of affairs are 
suggested in the Bulletin. Thus, with reference 
to the sale of produce in Great Britain, it says : 



CO-OPERATION 155 

' The markets are close at hand, and there is 
usually a considerable choice, not only of markets 
to which to send produce, but of methods of dis- 
patching it. These facts make it very difficult to 
induce the farmers to take concerted action.' 

" But the thing goes deeper, indeed to the bed- 
rock of the British nature. Most farmers in this 
country do not co-operate simply because they 
will not. Co-operation is against their traditions, 
their ideas, and, above all, their prejudices. In 
any given village three of them will send three 
carts to the station, each carrying one chum of 
milk, when one cart could carry all three, rather 
than arrange together that two-thirds of this daily 
expense and labour should be saved. Any observer 
may see the process in operation. 

" So it is with everjrthing, and so, I beUeve, it 
will remain, unless in the future some great change 
should come over our system of land ownership. 
This of course has happened, or is happening, in 
Ireland, with the result that there co-operation is 
beginning to jBourish." 

- One of the mosf cdn\^ncing arguments in favour 
of co-operative science remains to be stated. In 
the eighties — ^ba^re the days of co-operative under- 
takings — ^the produce of the farms of the peasants 
only conmianded a price of from 60 to 70 per cent, 
of that obtained by the produce from the great and 
wealthy farms. To-day the peasant farmers carry 
off an overwhelming preponderance of prizes and 



156 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

medals, while the co-operative butter, which for 
the most part comes from the middle and small 
farms, fetches a price equal to, and sometimes 
greater than, that of the first-class butter made on 
the big farms. 

Within the last few months the co-operative 
movement in Denmark has broken new ground. 
A Co-operative Bank, promoted and largely man- 
aged by the great co-operative societies, has been 
founded. Its cUents will be found principally 
among the agricultural classes. Last year a co- 
operative cement manufactory began operations, 
which have so far been imsuccessful ; this com- 
parative failure may be accounted for by the fact 
that the factory's chief supporter has been the 
General Union of Danish Supply Associations, 
an undertaking which was bound by contract to 
obtain all its suppUes of cement during a certain 
period from the older factories. It has now been 
mulcted in damages to the extent of nearly 
^^200,000 for breaking the terms of this contract ; 
and this fact will naturally have its effect upon 
the corporation which largely depended upon its 
support. 



PART IV 
CULTURE 



CHAPTER XII 

EDUCATION 

emocratic System — The Act of 1814 — ^The System as 
it is at Present — Teachers — The Control of Elemen- 
tary Schools — Fines for Non-attendance — ^The Ele- 
mentary Curriculum — The County General Fund 
— ^The Cost of Elementary Schools — Examinations — 
Secondary Education — The Danish libraries — Re- 
quirements for State Officials — ^The University of 
Copenhagen. 

'he Danish educational system is completely 
locratic. From the elementary schools {Folke- 
ler), through the secondary schools {Mellem- 
ler) and the gymnasia, to the University, there 
Ji admirable grading, arranged so as to afford 
ry intelligent student an opportunity of making 
areer for himself. 

ittendance in the elementary schools has been 
ipulsory from 1739. But it was the remark- 
; Education Act of 1814 which really sent 
imark to the front in this matter, a position 
ch she has maintained for nearly a hundred 
rs, and still maintains. Indeed, it may be 
ily said that the Danes as a race receive the 
st general education in Europe. One only has 
■ravel in the country districts and to remark 
intelligence of the peasantry to be convinced 
his fact. 



i6o DENMARK AND THE DANES 

The Act of 1814 has of course been modifi 
and extended, principally by further Acts pass 
in 1899 and 1908 respectively. These latl 
measures provide a body of regulations and 
mass of safeguards only interesting to the educ 
tionalist. It will be sufficient for the purpos 
of the present work to summarise the system as 
now exists. 

Teachers in elementary schools receive ; 
excellent training extended over a period of thi 
years, during which time special attempts are ma 
to discover and develop any unique powers whi 
the candidates may possess. Four-sevenths 
the teachers in Denmark are men, and the i 
mainder women. The general supervision of e 
mentary schools is still largely in the hands of t 
Church, in the person of its bishops and deai 
who act in co-operation with school committ( 
elected by the municipalities or parish counci 
The chairman of such a committee is invariat 
a clergyman. 

All elementary education is free, materia 
books, and accessories used in the schools bei 
provided. Attendance is compulsory from t 
beginning of the first term after which the ch 
reaches the age of seven years, up to the cl( 
of the term during which it attains fourte 
years. Non-attendance without an appro\ 
reason is fined at the rate of i^d. per day for 1 
first thirty days, 3^d. per day for the ensui 



EDUCATION i6i 

irty days, 'jd. per day for the third period of 
irty days, and is, zd. per day afterwards, 
atistics show that on an average the children in 
wns miss one day in the year without reasonable 
cuse, children in the country two days per 
mum. The maximum number of pupils for an 
;mentary school class is fixed at thirty^five. 
The principal subjects taken are Danish history, 
nguage and Uterature (seven hours per week 
)ligatory), religious instruction, arithmetic, hand- 
riting, geography, ' singing and drawing. In 
Idition, special subjects for boys are gymnastics 
id handicrafts, for girls g3nnnastics and domes- 
c economy. Further optional subjects for boys 
■e mathematics, physics and modern languages, 
id these subjects can be taken by girls if specially 
jsired. It will be granted that the curriculum 

somewhat wider than in EngUsh elementary 
;hools. 

In the towns, the schools must open for forty-one 
eeks in the year, with an average number of 
3urs per week of twenty-one, exclusive of gym- 
istics, drawing, handicrafts and optional subjects. 
1 the country, schools must also open for forty- 
le weeks, but the minimum number of hours is 
jduced to eighteen weekly, in view of the longer 
istances which many of the children are com- 
elled to travel. 

Each county {amf) possesses a general fund for 
le following purposes : {a) providing school 

D L 



i62 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

teachers of long service with bonuses, (6) pay- 
ment of pensions, and (c) affording assistance to 
schools in particularly poor (Mstricts. The general 
cost of all elementary schools in Denmark is borne 
as to one-half by the State, and as to the other 
half by the municipality or parish. Salaries for 
men teachers commence at £83 per annum in the 
towns, and increase to ;£i65 per annum ; for women 
teachers they begin at ^py, and rise to £110. In 
the country the salaries work out at a somewhat 
less figure, but free houses and gardens are gene- 
rally provided, and there are often extra emolu- 
ments for services rendered in connection with the 
local churches. 

The town schools contain either six or seven 
classes, and are so arranged that a normal pupil 
will pass through one class in each year. The 
senior classes usually meet from 8 o'clock in the 
morning, the junior classes from one o'clock in the 
afternoon to 4 or 5 o'clock. The average number 
of pupils in a town school is 1,500. 

Before proceeding from one class to a higher it is 
necessary to pass the annual examination on the 
year's work. This is conducted by the school 
authorities, is mostly oral, and is customarily 
attended by the parents and friends of the pupils. 

Such are the main features of elementary educa- 
tion in Denmark. The system seems to have been 
intelUgently conceived, and it is certainly intelli- 
gently applied. It has produced some notable 



EDUCATION 163 

ults, and the Danes have every reason to feel 
md of it. " In England you find factories, 
Germany barracks, and in Denmark schools." 
at is a Danish saying, and it expresses admirably 
; enthusiasm for education which the Danes 
asess. 

Examined by the same standards, the Danish 
item of secondary education also takes a high 
ice among European systems, but it is really on 
; soundness, wideness and thoroughness of her 
mentary education that Denmark must in the 
in be judged. The secondary institutions of 
nmark consist of the popular high-schools, the 
ihnical and polytechnical schools, the evening 
itinuation centres, and the ntunerous affiliated 
iding and lecture unions. Speaking generally, 
find that the elementary schools, being so much 
ier in their scope than in England and including 
much of what we shotdd term secondary work, 
i^e somewhat encroached upon the sphere of the 
ondary institutions, with the result that the 
ter do not fill quite the same place that similar 
titutions do in England. The curriculum of 
nish secondary schools embraces literature, 
guages, handicrafts, and commercial and scien- 
c subjects. 

Merence might here be made to the Danish 

•aries. Although these are for the most part 

ill, they consist of well-chosen volumes, and 

much used for study purposes. There are 

L 2 



i64 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

700 proviiicial libraries, with an average number of 
500 volumes each. Most of the schools possess a 
separate library. The libraries in the larger 
towns contain from 2,000 to 10,000 volumes. 
The three most important collections of books in 
the country are the Royal Library in Copenhagen, 
mth 750,000 volumes ; the Copenhagen Univer- 
sity Library, with 400,000 volumes ; and the State 
Library in Aarhus, with 250,000 volumes. From 
the State Library as well as from that of the High- 
school of Agriculture, technical works are sent 
on apphcation to all parts of the country. 

State ofi&cials at the post and railway ofl&ces in 
Denmark are required to pass the prelimincer 
examination, usually before or at the age of sixteen 
years. An excellent all-round education is neces- 
sary to successfully negotiate this test. 

Those students who desire to proceed to the 
University must enter a classical school, first 
taking the final examination of the secondary 
school {Mellemskole). Those who do this then 
remain at the classical school until the age of 
eighteen years, when they may sit for the studenter 
examination, which gives entrance to the Uni- 
versity. This examination is taken in one of three 
ways : (a) history and classical languages, with 
either English or German as an additional subject ; 
(6) modem languages, with Latin as an additional 
subject ; {c) mathematics and physics, with one 
modem language. 



EDUCATION 165 

The University of Copenhagen is one of the 
lest in Europe. It was founded in 1478, under 
bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV. on Jtine 19th, 
75, and has numbered many distinguished 
tiolars among its professors. There are now 
out one hundred professors and tutors on its 
iff. It has six faculties, and is managed by a 
nsistory composed of professors chosen by 
iction, and serving by right of seniority. All 
rtures are free to the pubUc generally with the 
caption of a few referring to purely professional 
bjects. The head of the University is styled 
ictor Magnificus. 

All undergraduates are required to take an 
lamination in the principles of philosophy within 
year of entrance. This demands httle reading 
om the student, and is not taken seriously. 
Degrees may be taken in theology, law, econo- 
ics, medicine, natural science, physics, and litera- 
re. The faculty of theology is entered by 
mparatively few students, owing to the uncer- 
in economic position of clergj^nen in Denmark, 
le salaries paid to vicars and curates of the State 
lurch are small and quite inadequate. There are 
loluments which depend usually upon some such 
:traneous event as the value of the com harvest. 
Eten an incumbent is under an obligation to 
ly a pension to the widow of his predecessor in 
e Hving. In these circumstances it is hardly 
be wondered at that there is a grave shortage 



i66 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

in the number of men offering themselves f( 
Holy Orders. Efforts are being made to me< 
this state of affairs by placing clerg3mien in 
somewhat sounder economic position. The degR 
in theology demands five and a half years' readinj 
and carries with it the licence to preach. 

Law is the favourite faculty. The degree i 
taken not only by those desiring to becom 
solicitors and barristers, but often also by men wh 
enter a commercial hfe. It is divided into tw 
parts, the first including maiiJy theoretics 
subjects, e.g., the history of law, Roman la\i 
and the fundamental principles of economics 
the second part is practical, embracing commer 
cial, general, criminal, and international law 
The average time for the degree is five and a hal 
years. 

Economics is not a popular faculty, owing to tb 
fact that it is found to be not so useful as law ii 
obtaining positions after leaving the University 
There is, however, a growing demand in Danisl 
banks and insurance companies for men who hav( 
taken this degree, and the nmnbers entering th( 
faculty have consequently shown a decided ten 
dency to increase in the past five years. The tinw 
taken, as in theology and law, is five and a hal 
3i^ars. 

The degree in medicine caimot be obtained ir 
less than six and a half years. The reading wbrl 
occupies about five years, and this is followed bj 



EDUCATION 167 

)m fourteen to sixteen months as a volunteer in 
hospital, generally the National Hospital in 
ipenhagen. Ladies are admitted to this faculty, 
to all others, with the sole exception of theology, 
jnmark has produced many remarkable physi- 
ms and surgeons, a result contributed to in 
> small measure by the high level of excellence 
aintained in the University faculty of medicine. 

is noteworthy also that Danish nurses are 
cepted in all the principal hospitals in Europe 
id America, which is in itself a tribute to 
.e thoroughly practical training which they 
ceive. 

The other faculties are organised on much the 
me lines as those we have mentioned. With the 
:ception of the men reading law, the under- 
aduates follow the lectures with a keenness which 
ould both surprise and gratify the authorities of 
1 Enghsh university. With regard to law, it is 
)t necessary to be so assiduous in attendance at 
ctures, as there are so many excellent law-books 

Danish, and such a plethora of really brilliant 
>aches. Indeed, it is often the case that a law 
udent is never seen at the University until the 
ly on which he takes his degree. 
Scholarships are numerous but small. Colleges, 
icording to the English conception of that word, 
e non-existent. There are, however, several 
)stels where scholarship men live free, the 
eatest of which is the Regensen, built two 



i68 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

hundred and eighty years ago, and affording 
accommodation for about one hundred students. 
The examinations for degrees are mainly oral, 
and the fees on being admitted are quite nominal. 
After taking the degree a graduate is styled Candi- 
date (Bachelor). To be admitted into the facuI1;y 
as a Doktor it is necessary to prepare an original 
thesis, and apply to the University for permission 
to dispute. The public are admitted to the dis- 
putation. The thesis is first attacked by two 
experts nominated by the University, and must 
then be defended by its author. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE POPULAR HIGH-SCHOOLS 

bristian Flor — Statistics relating to the High-schools — 
Their Object — Life in a High-school — ^The Curriculum 
— Superstitions. 

The popular high-schools are institutions which 
ere originally pecuhar to Denmark, although in 
jcent years they have also been successfully 
jtablished in Norway, Sweden, and more especially 
1 Finland. The first high-school was fotmded in 
S44 at Rodding, in Sleswick, by Christian Flor. 
Them Sleswick became a German province the 
:hool was removed to Askov, near the Dano- 
■erman frontier. Many other similar schools 
Drang into existence about this time. After the 
ar of 1864 a period of stagnation set in, and no 
irther development ensued until about twenty 
ears ago. During this dormant period the con- 
itions of the peasantry were enormously improved, 
id recent years have witnessed a notable revival 
I the importance of these institutions. 

There are now eighty of them in Denmark, with 
714 pupils, 3,610 of whom are men, and 3,104 
omen. Five thousand six hundred of the pupils 
•e betv^^een the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, 
ifty-four per cent, of them are the children of 



170 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

farmers, 21 per cent, the children of small holders, 
3 per cent, the children of labourers, and 10 per 
cent, the children of skilled hand-workers. One- 
third of the pupils are supported by the State, 
although it is a cardinal principle that the help 
which a pupil receives from the Treasury shall not 
be sufficient to cover all his expenses at the school. 
Some sacrifice on his part is expected, in order 
that he may prove his earnestness and genuine 
desire to profit by the instruction given in the 
institution. On the other hand, care is taJcen not 
to exclude a poor applicant merely on the ground 
of his poverty. The inclusive fees amount to about 
two guineas a month. The total cost to the State 
is £25,000 yearly. 

The aim of these schools is not so much to teach 
exact knowledge as to develop minds too long 
accustomed to move in one narrow groove, to 
suggest subjects of thought, to open up wider 
vistas, to set free the trammelled imagination of a 
peasantry inevitably bound to the soil, as a camel 
is bound to the eternal pilgrimages of the desert. 
Lectures, singing, conversation, physical exercises, 
history, folk-lore, make up the characteristic 
features of these highly original foundations. 

Below is given an account of hfe in a high-school 
by a young woman who spent more than a year in 
one of the largest of them. The translation is 
included in this book because it shows something 
of the motive power behind the schools, and gives 



THE POPULAR HIGH-SCHOOLS 171 

vivid idea of the manner in which their success 
Ls been achieved. No attempt has been made to 
ter the coloured style of the narrative, as it was 
It that the document as it stands would be a 
ore valuable testimony to the usefulness of the 
stitution about which it treats. 

" The best time in which to visit a popular high- 
hool is on an ordinary week-day. Educa- 
onaUsts and friends genuinely interested in the 
.eas behind, and the work done in, these schools 
lay always obtain accommodation in the home of 
le principal for a stay of several days. 

" The curriculum of all the schools is roughly 
le same. The men students are instructed in 
,nd-surveying and book-keeping during such time 
5 the women students are taking needlework, 
otherwise the subjects are the same for both men 
ttd women. 

" A summer day in the life of a high-school girl 
ill begin at half-past seven in the morning, when 
le sonorous bell rings for a breakfast consisting of 
ills and butter with fresh, steaming coffee. When 
ley assemble in the large, central dining hall, the 
iris are still a little heavy with sleep, but as the 
leal proceeds the subdued conversation gradually 
ives place to a noisy chattering. After morning 
jffee a short prayer is read in the principal's 
rawing-room, the pupils standing silently in little 
roups. This is followed by a psalm, and then an 
djoumment is made to the large lecture-hall. 



172 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

where the proceedings are opened with the singing 
of a national sokig. 

" Then the principal ascends the tribune, a 
raised dais somewhat in the style of a church pulpit. 
Perhaps he will speak of one of the national heroes, 
a statesman, scholar, king or poet ; or he may 
choose as the subject of his lecture some important 
period of Danish history. We will imagine that 
he is speaking of BUcher, the moorland poet. He 
relates the sad history of that lonely and tragic 
figure, pointing out the peculiar intensity and grip 
of his poems, and concluding with the story of the 
splendid struggle he made fpr the right of free 
speech in Denmark and his great share in the 
Danish people's fight for a hberal education. 
During the lecture a perfect silence has been main- 
tained in the hall. The girls have lived for an hour 
out on the Jutland wastes with BUcher. The 
method of teaching is open to impeachment. It 
may be inaccurate, it is often imaginative, aiid 
it is certainly unscientific. But it fulfils its pur- 
pose. 

" After the lecture clothes are changed, and in a 
few minutes the girls assemble in the gymnasium 
for drill and exercises. We Danes are keen 
gymnasts, and nearly all Danish girls are able to 
pride themselves on the possession of fine figures. 
The exercises are designed to furnish already strong 
young bodies with grace and elasticity, to create 
harmony between body and soul. The girls sing 



THE POPULAR HIGH-SCHOOLS 173 

id shout much during this hour, and the over- 
ladowing spirit is one of gaiety. We do not go 
irough our work with the same grim seriousness 
hich we have heard is for the most part to be 
)und in an EngUsh g5nnnasitun. A refreshing 
lower-bath is taken at the end of the hour. 

" Then follows a travel lectme. A knowledge of 
eography is obtained by descriptions and pictures, 
here are no text-books. The pupil is not required 
D learn an5^hing by heart. The lecturer speaks 
imply about na±ure, and the life of the people in 
arious lands. He climbs the mountains, crosses 
be seas in quest of peril and adventure, lands in 
trange ports, sunburnt lands. Southern islands, 
lighty gorges, great plains and forests. He speaks 
f the sonorous hfe of cities and the sombre, starlit 
ilences of the waste places of the earth. 

" At the close of this hour a period of recreation 
3 insisted upon, during which it is strictly pro- 
libited to remain in the class-room. Some of the 
;irls take a short walk ; others play tennis on the 
chool courts. 

" Dinner is served at midday. The food is not 
uxiuious, but it is wholesome and well prepared. 
The tables are adorned with freshly gathered 
lowers and small Danish flags. The principal and 
lis wife each preside over a table, while the re- 
nainder of the staff are spread among the pupils. 

" A free hour follows dinner. This is utilised for 
he reading of newspapers, writing of letters. 



174 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

changing of library books, and consultations with 
the principal. 

" At half -past one the girls commence needle- 
work. In fine weather this is done in the garden, 
or the fields near the school. One of the teachers 
usually reads aloud from a book as the girls are 
working. Instruction is given both in ordinary 
practical sewing and in art-sewing, embroidery, 
etc. Special care is taken to develop good taste 
and a sense of harmonies and colour. The needle- 
work ends with a song, perhaps of Blicher's, and 
then smorrebrod is taken, that characteristic 
Scandinavian meal. 

" The historical lecture, generally given by the 
principal, is regarded as the most important feature 
of the day. The same method is followed asin the 
other subjects, namely, vivid descriptions, pictures, 
questions, conversation. Perhaps the principal 
speaks of the long struggle Ijetween Greeks and 
Persians, between culture and barbarism. He 
shows how culture was kept alive during the dark 
ages, and in the time of Alexander the Great spread 
from frontier to frontier of the then-known worid, 
preparing the groimd for the subsequent propaga- 
tion of Christianity, 

" This lecture finished, a hymn is sung, and the 
work for the day is ended. 

" The girls now have tea, and discuss the manner 
of spending the evening. Customarily a walk is 
taken into the surrounding country, perhaps to a 



THE POPULAR HIGH-SCHOOLS 175 

luded lake which in the neighbourhood of our 
tool was always a favourite point for such 
:ursions. The girls walk in groups with friends 
i teachers, while the sun sets behind those 
rkening forests of gigantic beeches so character- 
c of Danish scenery. The lake is reached, the 
1 has gone, and the night wind begins to rustle 
ough the trees. Presently the evening bell is 
ird as a faint summons from the distant village, 
; of the teachers gives the sign, and the girls 
urn to the school. 

' It is half-past nine. There still remains an 
ir to be filled in. How shall it be spent ? The 
ncipal's wife solves the problem. She has 
ird that it is the birthday of one of the girls, and 
the occasion must be celebrated, invites the 
ole school to a ' rhubarb supper.' The invita- 
a is unanimously accepted, and in less time than 
akes to write the great drawing-room is crowded 
h happy girls, some sitting on chairs, others on 
r stools, many on cushions spread over the floor. 
ery place is occupied. The informality of the 
asion is evidenced by the distinct preference 
iwn for the floor. The rhubarb is produced, and 
gues are loosened. 

' Perhaps there is in the room a young lady from 
,t part of the country where BUcher lived, 
rough her grandmother she has heard many 
ries of the great poet. On one occasion, tired 
1 exhausted, with his gun upon his shoulder. 



176 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

he had rested in her grandfather's cottage on th 
Jutland moors. The girl speaks of these thingi 
describes his lonely tomb in the corner of the ol 
churchyard, while the others take in every wor 
much more readily than they would take in th 
wisest sayings of the profoundest philosophc 
in the world. The speaker knows but little c 
Blicher or of his poetry, but she has been intereste 
by the morning's lecture, and now she commun: 
cates her interest to the others. The girls groi 
more animated. The strong Jutland dialect i 
mingled with the singing, mellow tone of the maid 
from Fyen and the pleasant drawl of the Sealan 
girls. 

" Presently the conversation wanders away froi 
the moorland poet. Short stories are told, thoug 
anything in the nature of a ghost yarn meets wit 
a rather ignominious reception in the shape of 
chorus of healthy laughter. The Danes are nc 
generally superstitious, yet when they first com 
to the schools most of them retain lingering ren 
nants of the old folk myths. Once, however, i 
the genial, healthy atmosphere of the school, the 
are shown that most phenomena are capable ( 
a natural explanation. They quickly learn thi 
the spook seen nightly on the churchyard wall 
none other than the parson's little white goa 
Hans, in quest of the burgomaster's little blac 
goat, Johanna. 

" Before retiring the principal and his wi 



THE POPULAR HIGH-SCHOOLS 177 

e hands with every pupil. At eleven o'clock 
only lights burning in the great building are 
i in the principal's library or study, where he 
eparing for the work of another day. Every- 
:e else is a deep brooding silence." 



M 



CHAPTER XIV 

MODERN LITERATURE 

Romanticism and Realism— Political Interests— Nationa 
ism and Patriotism— The Reaction— Georg Brande 
the Literary Engineer— His Disciples— The Quarn 
between the Old School and the New— Brandei 
Influence on Norwegian and Swedish Literature- 
Ibsen and Strindberg — Holger Drachmann— J. I 
Jacobsen — Sophus Schandorph — Erik Skram- 
Edvard Brandes— A Widening Gulf— The " Ideal 
Realists — Karl Gjellerup — Herman Bang— Henri 
Pontoppidan — Peter Nansen — The Poets— Vigg 
Stuckenberg— Johannes Jorgensen — Sophus Claui 
sen — ^Sophus Michaelis — Johannes V. Jensen— Tl 
New IdeaUsm — ^The Drama — ^Emst von der Reel 
and Drachmaim — ^Problem Plays— The Satirists- 
Gustav Esmann and Gustav Wied — Henri Nathanse 
— ^Julius Magnussen. 

A STUDY of the most distinctive Danish Uteri 
ture of the nineteenth century reveals a gradui 
progression from an ideal romanticism to a stroi 
and forceful reahsm. In the beginning of tl 
century Adam Oehlenschlaeger's dramas intr 
duced the romantic idealistic period. It was 
period of imagery and fantasy. Poets, pla 
Wrights and novelists all trod softly in the temf 
of the past, awakening the old echoes, culling fro 
that vast treasury the glittering jewels of tiir 



MODERN LITERATURE 179 

lights were dim. It was a wonderful period, 

the moonshine, scarcely tangible, an era of 
iowed imaginings. And it slowly faded away, 
ing its mark upon that younger school which 
been nurtured amid its soft lights and haunting 
lows. Literature now began to approach real 
to study and depict the present, though still 
,n atmosphere of idealism. Political interests 
m to awaken ; the young writers dreamed of an 
;ed Scandinavia. During the war of 1848 — 1850 
onahsm, patriotism, Uberahsm, introduced a 

note into Danish literature. Then followed 
reaction consequent upon the failure of the 
of 1864. There ensued a decade of stagnation ; 
esh impetus was required. Denmark waited 
the new pen which was to usher her literature 
n its latest phase, 
he man who more than all others created 

new era was Georg Brandes. He was the 

it literary engineer. He dug the big canals 

»ugh which the literary streams of other 

itries flowed over Denmark. He irrigated his 

country with the mighty Nile waters of France 

Germany, Italy and England. He was 
nsely reaUstic, a powerful and cultured oppo- 
t of " rose-pink " idealism both in literature 

art. His first lectures aroused a storm of 
3sition, followed by an embittered warfare 
vords, declaimed and written. Yet he won 
[pies — Holger Drachmann, Schandorph, and 

M 2 



i8o DENMARK AND THE DANES 

otjiers. The quarrel between the old and the new 
schools was Waged in verse and prose. The most 
important contributions were Kaalund's poetic 
letters to Drachmann and Schandorph's Idealism 
and Realism. Brandes believes in nature as the 
foundation of all true art and Uterature. He is 
not irreligious so much as anti-ecclesiastic. To 
him religion stands for faith and the past ; his 
philosophy is the philosophy of hope and the 
future. " The cradle is more sacred than the 
altar." 

Georg Brandes was too great to belong alone 
to Denmark. His influence widened, and Norwe- 
gian and Swedish literature began to reflect his 
teaching. His mmierous critical studies and his 
lectures on the Main Currents in the Literature of 
the Nineteenth Century brought him into touch 
with the literary culture Of Europe, with the 
religious freedom of Hegel and FeuerbaCh, with 
the new critical methods of Saint-Beuve and Taine, 
and with the political and social theories of Spencer 
and Stuart Mill. He persuaded Ibsen to abandon 
the symbolic and to grip the real. A decade later 
he profoundly influenced Strindberg, and through 
him changed completely the character of Swedish 
literature. 

The writings of Brandes are often said to be 
anti-national and anti-rehgious. Rather are they 
cosmopolitan and agnostic. He is a Dane, though 
he has lived as much in Berlin and Paris as in 



MODERN LITERATURE i8i 

Copenhagen. It is possible that the movement of 
which he was the forerunner and founder has been 
carried much further than he himself desired, 
for in later years he has not commended all the 
exaggerations or the literary excesses of his fol- 
lowers. 

Worthiest perhaps of all the disciples of the new 
school was Holger Drachmann (1846 — 1908), a 
lyricist of great power. His novels, poems and 
dramas all reveal an intimate touch with nature. 
He is mercurial. His emotions pass swiftly as 
cloud shadows over the sea. His play Once upon 
a Time is one of the greatest iattractions of the 
repertoire of the Royal Theatre, while his poems 
Songs of the Sea and English Socialists have a 
graceful charm and a full-throated sweetness of 
melody worthy of Keats or Morris. 

In 1885 Drachmann abandoned his old master, 
Brandes, denounced the exotic tradition, and 
declared himself a Conservative and a patriot. 

J. P. Jacobsen (1847 — 1885) was another of the 
new writers who had bathed in the rich streams 
with which Brandes flooded Denmark. He is a 
master student of the soul. His works proclaim 
him a metaphysician, with a scientific power of 
observation and analysis. Like Goethe and 
Wordsworth, he is the poet-scientist, placing his 
trust in the mind and the senses. His style is 
wonderfully coloured, but it is not fantastic. Herq 
is a man who can see relative values, who knows 



i82 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

how to correlate and group, to adjust and analyse. 
He explains a psychological development as a 
chemist explains a complicated reaction. He 
materialises occult movements, visualises emo- 
tional changes, plots the graph of thought streams. 

Maria Grubbe, the first of Jacobsen's two long 
novels, is characteristic of his wonderful insight into 
the workings of human nature. Its heroine is 
the daughter of a nobleman. Through several 
marriages he depicts her deterioration, her slow 
abasement. It is a ruthless, pitiless picture of the 
destruction of a soul. There are no concessions to 
weakness at the end. It is a tragedy as Macbeth 
and Werther are tragedies, hopeless and unrelieved. 
Jacobsen's other novel, Niels Lyhne, written in his 
last illness, is a powerful study of a Free-thinker and 
is believed to contain a summary of his own 
religious views. Among his shorter stories Fru 
FSnss, The Plague of Bergamo and Two Worlds are 
the most characteristic, and may be justly com- 
pared to the best in Maupassant for their intensity 
and weird grip. Jacobsen was undoubtedly the 
greatest prose artist whom Denmark had produced. 

Sophus Schandorph (1836 — 1901), who wrote 
Idealism and Realism, was the scribe of the lower 
middle classes. His wit is blunt and biting and 
not over-particular, his outlook on life that of a 
man who has probed to the soul of things and 
found there vanity, yet who accepts the posi- 
tion with a certain rough and blustering good 



MODERN LITERATURE 183 

humour, Schandorph's style is strong and mas- 
culine, often lacking in both grace and restraint, 
and not always free from the grosser faults of bad 
taste and exaggeration. But — and this is a virtue 
of a kind — he remained true to the Brandes 
tradition. In 1876 he published a volume of 
realistic stories, Country Life, and in 1878 a novel. 
Without a Name. His most notable work, how- 
ever, is a dourly amusing story of lower middle 
class hfe in Copenhagen, entitled Little Folk, pub- 
lished in 1880. 

Erik Skram, born in 1847, the fourth of the great 
disciples of Brandes, has written Uttle. But the 
intimate study of the mind of a young girl to be 
found in his Gertrude Colbjornsen is generally con- 
sidered to be one of the finest things in modern 
Danish literature. The most characteristic fea- 
tures of Skram's writing are his minute and detailed 
observations and his ability to crowd his stage, yet 
assign to each figure a role necessary to the develop- 
ment of the central idea. 

If Georg Brandes opened this new and rich epoch, 
his brother Edvard closed its first period. The 
younger Brandes is a playwright, a student of 
Asiatic languages, a politician and a Radical 
Semite . His writings faithfully reflect the influence 
of his brother's philosophy, with, perhaps, certain 
added social sympathies and a greater sense of the 
value of practical work. But he has apparently 
deserted literature for a political sphere. For many 



i84 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

years he was a member of the Folketing, and 
he is now Minister for Finance in the Radical 
Cabinet. 

A little younger than the writers of this first 
realistic school, we find a group of four able men 
who were still largely under the influence of 
Brandes, though differing from him on essential 
features. They were Karl Gjellerup, Herman 
Bang, Henrik Pontoppidan and Peter Nansen. 

The first of this quartette, Gjellerup, bom in 
1857, began his Hterary work as an idealist. A 
student and admirer of Schiller, his faith lay in 
ideal conceptions. Like the great German poet, 
his earliest writings were vigorous assaults on 
social conditions, delivered not from a practical or 
utilitarian standpoint, but from the lofty elevation 
of the dreamer and visionary. Carried away in 
the flood of the Brandes movement, he deserted 
Schiller and became a realist of a very pronounced 
kind. During this period he lost faith in the 
efficacy of Christianity as a power for social 
regeneration and penned some cynical criticisms 
which he later learned to regret. Leaving Den- 
mark, he travelled for many years, eventually 
returning to his old love, Schiller, and opposing 
the Brandes influence in literature as strongly as 
he had formerly upheld it. His poetic novels 
Minna and The Mill, written with a warmth and 
feeling not unworthy of the author of Die Rauber 
and Wilhelm Tell, constitute the best work of this 



MODERN LITERATURE 185 

writer, who was at one and the same time poet, 
novehst, morahst and biologist. In the main 
Gjellerup comes nearer in sympathy to the great 
German and Enghsh poets of the first half of the 
century — ^to Goethe, Schiller and Lessing, Words- 
worth and Coleridge — than to any authors of his 
own country or period. 

Contemporary with Gjellerup, another romantic 
idealist tinged with realism produced a series of 
writings extraordinary in their intensity, strange 
and incomprehensible in their nervous movement. 
Herman Bang, born 1858, is an impressionist, a 
sketch artist among authors. His writings are a 
collection of shifting panoramas, restless and un- 
certain. At times pure photographic naturalism 
predominates, yet when the mood takes him, he 
can be as misty and "shadowful as the Brocken in 
the evening. Erotic and pagan, classic and form- 
less, satirical and creative, no writer of his time 
rivals him in versatility. His most important 
works are On the Road, a short novel of domestic 
Hfe ; Tine, a passionate story of the war of 1864 ; 
Ludvigsbakke ; and Mikael, the last being a 
masterful study of character and tempersiment. 

The work of Henrik Pontoppidan, born 1857, 
is the most naturally fresh and vivid in the 
whole range of modern Danish literature. In 
general style and outlook he is often said to 
closely resemble the great Russian Turgeniev. 
There are no exotic perfumes, no heavy essences, 



i86 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

no scenes of darkened boudoirs or languorous 
delights. Land, forest, sea and shore provide the 
settings, and sunshine, stofm, struggle and rest, 
the motifs, of his melodies. The smell of fresh 
earth, the dew on the grass in the early morning, 
the mist rising above the plains, the strong wind 
driving across the sea, this is Pontoppidan. No 
Danish writer so thoroughly understood, or pos- 
sessed the ability to so faithfully reproduce, the 
lives and thoughts, work and faith, of his fellow- 
men, or could catch so inimitably the subtle, 
illusive atmosphere of the peasant homesteads of 
Denmark. Farmers and fishermen, shepherds and 
foresters, schoolmasters and parish priests, find a 
faithful reflection in the pages of Henrik Pontop- 
pidan. The Promised Land is a collection of the 
three short stories which are considered to repre- 
sent his best work, but without doubt the greatest 
contribution which he made to the literature of 
his time is the epic romance Lykke Per, begun in 
1898 and finished in 1904. This is an immense 
work in eight volumes, depicting the making 
of a strong man. The minor characters em- 
brace all the types of the decade which ended 
with the outbreak of the South African war in 
1899. 

Peter Nansen, the last of this brilliant quartette, 
is the writer who most resembles J. P, Jacobsen 
in outlook and style. The same deeply reflective 
spirit permeates the novels and poems of both men. 



MODERN LITERATURE 187 

and both write in a particularly beautiful Danish. 
Hansen's work is very popular in Germany. His 
most important novels are Julie's Diary, Marie, 
God's Peace, and Judith's Marriage. The last is 
in dialogue form. There are only two characters, 
but each is intimately and finely drawn. It would 
be difficult to name a book in the literature of 
any country revealing greater skill in the analysis 
of mind and emotion. The majority of Peter 
Nansen's books are of a pronouncedly sexual 
type. 

Towards the end of the eighties of the last century 
four young writers sprang almost simultaneously 
into prominence. They were Viggo Stuckenberg, 
Johannes Jorgensen, Sophus Claussen, and Sophus 
Michaelis. The first of these, Stuckenberg, has 
only written a few small volumes of verse. But 
they are characteristically Scandinavian. There 
is that mysterious something about them which 
marks them as the product of a mind descended 
from those fierce pessimistic old heroes who made 
the Viking saga epics, a strange reticence, a 
compound of gloom smd stolid acquiescence, a 
mixing of the spirit of the Berserker with the noble 
fatalism of a General Gordon. The poems of 
Viggo Stuckenberg carry with them this touch of 
infinite and overbrooding sadness. He is a pale 
figure of the shades. He does not come out into 
the full svmshine and revel in it, as do the Latin 
poets. He seeks rather to solve the mystery of 



i88 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

abounding shadows. He is a lover of gentleness, 
refinement and beauty, but he shrinks from ele- 
mental strength and passion. He feels and senses 
deeply, and his nature is of that stamp which does 
not make exhibition of its pain and doubt. It 
shrinks within itself with the timidity of the 
wounded animal creeping away into some lonely 
shrine to die. StUckenberg breathed his last at a 
very early age, and his final work. Snow, contains 
some of the most exquisite devotional poems in 
the Danish tongue. 

The work of Johannes Jorgensen may be con- 
veniently divided into two periods : first, anti- 
religious; and second. Catholic. In poetic style 
and treatment the first period has much in com- 
mon with the earlier poems of his friend Stucken- 
berg. To this group belong some novels more 
cleVer than inspiriting. But in the collection of 
poems Confessions — Per Mortem ad Vitam, he 
strikes a new note. He announces his conversion 
to Cathohcism, to a belief in eternity, and in Christ 
as the hope of eternal peace. The closing poem of 
the book, Conftteor, is a noble recantation of the 
great error of his past. Following the publica- 
tion of Confessions came that remarkable little 
essay Lies and Truth, in which he dissects the 
moral and spiritual life of Denmark, pillorying the 
gross deceits of materialism and scepticism, and 
claiming that the Christian Church is the one 
grounded and sure rock amid the restless and 



MODERN LITERATURE 189 

surging billows of the age. All Jorgensen's later 
books are filled with this deep Catholicism, and 
transcend in literary form and purity of ex- 
pression anythip.g that he had written in his 
anti-religious period. The most notable of his 
larger works are The Book of Travels, Our Lady 
of Denmark, and Pilgrimage. His poems and 
hymns are exquisite things, ineffable as that light 
which plays over the faces of the angels in the 
pictures of Fra Angelico, sonorous as Gregorian 
masses, oftfen wildly beautiful, as in the description 
of the death of Paul Verlaine. 

Sophus Claussen is of another breed. His 
metier is homely life in small provincial towns. 
His characters are drawn from that same milieu 
used so vigorously in the novels of Schandorph. 
But he is not so sardonic, and his treatment is 
quieter, more restrained. He is never tasteless or 
vulgar. It is difficult to appraise the work of 
Claussen with any due perspective. He is too 
near, a remark which appUes equally to his con- 
temporary Sophus Michaelis. Doubtless much of 
what they have written will prove to be of 
ephemeral interest. The best novel of the latter 
is The Apple Island, an unequal blend of romanti- 
cism, symbolism and reaUsm. It is more glowing 
and violent than anything else in recent Danish 
literature. Its colours and strong lights and vivid 
contrasts tend to blind and confuse by their 
sheer brilliancy. Yet it is undoubtedly a powerful 



igo DENMARK AND THE DANES 

work, and its author will travel further along the 
road of literary achievement. 

The most popular of the younger Danish authors 
is Johannes V. Jensen. He resembles Jack 
London in his choice of subjects as well as in his 
general method of treatment. The book of his 
which at the present moment is most widely 
read is Braen, an imaginative story of man in the 
earliest dawn of history. 

Other writers whose names connect the age of 
romanticism with a later period are the two, 
Ewalds — Herman and Carl. The former (1821 — 
1908) was notable chiefly for a long series of his- 
torical novels in the style of Harrison Ainsworth. 
Carl Ewald, who died in the same year as his father, 
used the fairy tale as a vehicle for satire and the 
ventilation of his political and moral theories. 

The writing of verse, which had declined in the 
early years of the Brandes influence, revived under 
Drachmann. But all attempts to introduce the 
theories of the symbolist to Denmark failed, and 
Danish poetry is, on the whole, natural and lyrical 
in its essential characteristics. Otto Fonss, the 
composer of seven small volumes of nature 
poems ; Valdemar Rordam, author of that cele- 
brated lyrical success The Danish Tongue; and, 
perhaps more than anybody else, the before- 
mentioned Johannes Jorgensen and Sophus 
Michaelis are the irfBst popular of the modern 
Danish poets. 



MODERN LITERATURE 191 

The development of stark naturalism in Danish 
literature has received a notable check in recent 
years. The plea of the idealists was for beauty, 
that of the realists for truth. But the truth of the 
reaUsts was found to be mostly ugly. They 
sought for it only in the seamy and shadowy 
aspects of life. And hence the healthy reaction 
which, revolting against this one-sidedness, has 
resulted in a newer and saner conception of the 
functions of literature. The new writers chronicle 
with all the fidelity of the old, but their realism is 
not that species of crabbed narrowness which 
fails to find the sun because it is hidden behind a 
bank of storm clouds. It is a sort of idealism 
which has its roots in the hving world of men and 
women ; and it is as distinct from the old 
fantastic idealism as it is from the old ugly 
realism. 

The characteristic drama of Denmark has par- 
ticipated in this same cycle of change and growth. 
In the later sixties of the last century the historical 
dramas constituted the chief fare in the menu of 
the national theatre. They were rich in scenic 
setting, and they were splendidly oratorical ; but 
there was no psychology, no study of soul or emo- 
tion. They were historical pageants merely, pano- 
ramas reconstructed in the dust of libraries. And 
young Denmark, after the war of 1864, did not want 
to read her own history. Rffther did she desire to 
look forward into the future, forgetting the past 



192 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

in the spirit of " What outwardly has been lost 
shall inwardly be regained." 

This was the moment when Ernst von der Recke 
and Holger Drachmann founded the school of 
lyrical drama in Denmark. The former's play 
Bertran de Born was produced at the Royal 
Theatre in 1873, and marked the definite breach 
with the old traditions, while Drachmann's come- 
dies, The Prince and the Half of his Kingdom, 
East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Once upon a 
Time, and The Dance of Koldinghus, carried on 
the new movement. 

Ibsen's work in Norway of course had its inevit- 
able reaction upon Danish drama. The problem 
play began to appear, also plays dealing with 
marriage, the codes of life and conduct. The most 
successful were the works of Edvard Brandes, of 
Otto Bentzon, and of Karl Gjellerup. The latter's 
plays, when compared with his prose writings, are 
somewhat ponderous anjd heavy. His seriousness 
and his speculative methods are Teutonic rather 
than Danish. Brandes and Bentzon wrote with 
more facile pens. They possessed also a saving 
gift of humour^ and the comedy spirit in their 
writings is not crushed by the stolid phlegm of the 
German. The most dramatic works of this trio 
are however Gjellerup's Wuthorn and Herman 
Wandel, both of which insist upon the rights of 
personality as against the rights of the com- 
munity. 



MODERN LITERATURE 193 

At the end of the century two new voices began to 
be heard. They were those of Gustav Esmann and 
Gustav Wied, both satirists. Esmann is a typical 
Copenhagener, witty, clever, not above vulgarity. 
The plots of his plays are most ingeniously elabo- 
rated, while his characters are drawn with a simple 
and admirable directness. His most popular plays 
are The Dear Family, Magdalene, The Old Home, 
and Alexander the Great. The latter is an inimit- 
able comedy whose hero is not the Alexander of 
history, but an exceedingly humorous Copenhagen 
waiter. 

Gustav Wied's plays deal, in a manner which is 
generally sardonic and often absurdly grotesque, 
with social and ethical problems. His figures are 
mainly caricatures, yet he has achieved immense 
popularity both in his own coimtry and in Germany. 
Her Old Grace, The Pride of the Town, 2 x 2 =5, 
and Dancing Mice represent his most characteristic 
work. 

This sUght survey of modern Danish literature 
must close with a brief mention of the work of 
three comparatively new men. Henri Nathansen 
haslwritten several briUiant plays describing 
Jewish family Ufe, the most important of which 
are Mother is Right, Daniel Hertz, and Within the 
Walls. Sophus Michaelis' Napoleonic play St. 
Helena and novel 1812 give promise of a great 
future, while his dramd A Marriage under the 
Revolufionja-chieyed a phenomenal success in the 

D N 



194 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

United States. Finally, Julius Magnussen is the 
author of two popular comedies. Who loves Ms 
Father and His Single Wife, both of which have 
at once found a place in the repertoire of the 
Royal Theatre. 



CHAPTER XV 

THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 

Bertel Thorwaldsen — His Parentage, Life arid Influence 
— His Works and Style — The Classic Revival — Thor- 
waldsen's Museum — The Art of H. V. Bissen — 
Jeriehau and the Germ of Realism — Stephen Sinding 
— Oppermann and the Transition — The Rodin 
Method — French and Danish Realism contrasted — 
The Academy of Fine Arts — ^Abildgaard and Jens 
Juel — Comparison between Dutch ^nd Danish Paint- 
ings — ^Danish Sentiment — C. V. Eckersberg, the 
Founder of the Modern Danish School — Karl Madsen, 
the Ruskin of Denmark — Eckersberg's Pupils : 
Kobke, J. T. Lundbye, G. Rump, and V. Kyhn — 
Specialists in Peasant Life : Sonne, Dalsgaard, Ver- 
mehren, and Exner — Constantin Hansen and the 
Italian Influence — Vilhelm Marstrand — ^The Cosmo- 
politan Trend — P. S. Kroyer — Julius Paulsen — Vil- 
helm Hammershoj — Lauritz Tuxen — ^The Manet and 
Bache Temperament — ^Viggo Johansen — Historical 
Painting — ^Anecdotic Genre — Copenhagen Painters — 
Michael Ancher and C. Locher — The New Idealism 
and Joachim Skovgaard — ^The Symbolists — ^Zahrt- 
mann — ^Ejnar Nielsen — Decorative Art — Hans Teg- 
ner, the Illustrator. 

Bertel Thorwaldsen, the greatest sculptor of 
the classical reviva,l, was born in 1770 in Copen- 
hagen. He was the only son of poor Icelandic 
parents, who had some years earlier emigrated to 
Denmark. His father was reputed to be a skilful 
wood-caryer. Young Thorwaldsen never went to 

N 2 



196 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

school, the sole information which he received 
during his eariy years being obtained from his 
father, who taught him a little reading and 
writing and, most important of all, as it afterwards 
transpired, the elements of drawing. 

During his whole life his knowledge of subjects 
other than his beloved art is said to have been 
exceedingly limited. At the age of eleven Bertel 
was sent to the Royal Academy of Arts in Copen- 
hagen, having already exhibited promise of his 
remarkable future. For several years he pursued 
his studies under depressing circumstances, in his 
spare moments being required to assist his father 
with the wood-carving business. The old Thor- 
waldsen, perceiving in his son a means of slackening 
his own efforts, began to imbibe wine^and spirits 
in quantities neither good for his health nor for 
his son's pocket. In two or three years he 
degenerated into a permanent inebriate, and the 
burden of supporting the family fell upon the 
shoulders of the yoimg art student. Notwith- 
standing the adversities and misfortunes which 
persistently dogged his footsteps, however, Bertel 
found time to compete for all the Academy prizes, 
and carried them off one after another, until he had 
gained everything that was to be had, including the 
great gold Medal and a three years' travel scholar- 
ship in Italy, In the year 1796 therefore we 
find Thorwaldsen journeying southwards, having) 
been granted a passage on a Danish wai^p 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 197 

He travelled to Palermo in Sicily, then to 
Naples, where he lived for a short time, and on 
March 8th, 1797, he entered Rome, the city in 
which he was to spend most of the remainder of his 
life, and to create those masterpieces which com- 
pelled the admiration and wonder of artistic 
Europe. 

During the earlier years spent in Italy he hved 
with the Danish archaeologist and art connoisseur 
Zoega, and was busy absorbing the manifold 
beauties of that treasure-house into which fortune 
had placed him. He was lost in wonder and quite 
unable himself to produce anything. We can 
imagine him there, very childish and not free from 
vanity, a tall young man with rich, fair hair and 
contemplative blue eyes, a leonine head, well- 
shaped, classic features, and pale complexion. 
Such was the adolescent artist of the Roman days 
of wonder and amazement. 

He worked only sufficient to satisfy the demands 
of the Academicians at home and to gain a 
renewal of his scholarship for a further three years. 
In 1802 he had exhausted his money, and almost 
run the course of his scholarship. Nothing had 
been produced of any special merit. At this crisis 
he conceived the notion of executing a statue of 
Jason returning to his galley after fetching the 
golden fleece from Colchis. To this work he 
devoted himself with feverish and continuous 
energy, completing it just before the time when he 



198 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

must return to Copenhagen. The statue im- 
mediately created a furore. All art-loving Rome 
came to see it. Canova pronounced it " something 
extraordinary, a revolutionary piece of art." 
Notwithstanding the chorus of praise, Thorwaldsen 
could discover no purchaser, and being entirely 
without the means to execute the statue in marble, 
he reluctantly decided to abandon it, and even 
arranged with a German friend to accompany him 
on th^ return journey. On the day fixed for the 
departure he was taking leave of his landlady 
when the German came to announce that his 
papers were not in-order, and that the journey 
must be postponed for a day. That day saved 
Thorwaldsen, For once officialism and' red tape 
rendered a signal service to humanity in that they 
were the unconscious means of giving to the world 
a great artist. That very afternoon a wealthy 
English banker, Sir Thomas Hope, going the 
round of Roman sights under the guidance 
of an art connoisseur, came by chance to 
young Thorwaldsen's studio, bojight the Jason 
statue at sight, and ordered its execution in 
marble. 

From that moment Thorwaldsen obtained so 
many commissions that Sir Thomas Hope's order 
was not finally completed until twenty-five years 
later, when, as a compensation for the delay, the 
artist at the same time presented Sir Thomas with 
finely wrought statues of his wife and his two 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 199 

daughters, and two of his other miscellaneous 
works in marble. 

Orders poured in from all quarters, and it soon 
became evident that the years during which he 
had created nothing had not been wasted. Rather 
had they been years of preparation. After the 
Jason statue Thorwaldsen's works cannot be con- 
veniently divided into periods, as can the creations 
of most artists. From the beginning everything 
he did was of a technical perfection which does not 
permit of ordinary criticism. His works vary only 
in the nature of their inspiration, the amount of 
personal interest he had in them and the share he 
himself took in their execution. For so great 
became the demand upon him that he was com- 
pelled at length to employ many assistants, only 
designing and directing the works himself. 

From 1803 to 1819 his most famous productions 
were statues of Bacchus, Apollo, Ganymede and 
Adonis, the reUefs " Morning " and " Night " and 
" Alexander's Triumph," the latter of which is 
thirty-five yards long. It was executed for the 
Qmrinal to commemorate the visit of Napoleon 
to Rome in 1812. It represents the entrance of 
Alexander the Great into Babylon after his great 
victory over the Persian king Darius, as described 
by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus. 
Three marble copies of this magnificent work have 
been made, two of which are in Copenhageij, and 
the third in the villa of Count Sommariva on the 



200 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

lake of Como. " The Dying Lion," otherwise a 
very impressive piece of work, erected in Lucerne 
in memoriam of the Swiss Guard of Louis XIV. 
who lost their lives in the chivalrous defence of the 
Tuileries in 1792, has serious faults, arising mainly 
from the fact that the sculptor had never seen a 
lion. 

In 1819 we find Thorwaldsen back in Denmark 
for a year, and being f^ted royally. His home- 
ward journey had been an uninterrupted triumph. 
In 1805 he had been elected a member of the 
Royal Academy of Arts, and during his visit honours 
and orders were showered upon him from kings 
and cities, learned societies and academies. 

He returned to Italy and continued to live there 
until 1838, when he came back to Denmark for 
the last time, living in Copenhagen from 1838 to 
1844. He died suddenly in the Royal Theatre on 
March 21st in the latter year. 

The most important of his later works are 
the statues of the two Polish patriots Prince 
Poniatovsky and Count Potocky. The first of 
these was erected in Warsaw, but was taken 
by the Russians and destroyed. The statue of 
Gregorio VII. to be found in the church of St. 
Peter's in Rome is considered to contain some of 
the artist's finest work, but it is not well placed, 
being lost in the immensity of its surroundings. A 
rather indifferent statue of Byron was offered first 
to Westminster Abbey and later to St. Paul's, but 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 201 

on religious grounds was not accepted. It now 
stands in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
The largest work of this kind undertaken by Thor- 
waldsen may be seen in Munich in the great statue 
of the Duke Maximilian of Saxony. Shortly before 
his death he had been working on a conception 
of Martin Luther. This remained unfinished, and 
may be seen in Thorwaldsen's Museum in Copen- 
hagen. But the greatest creations of the master 
to be found in Denmark are without doubt the 
statues of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, whose 
fitting resting place is the Frue Kirke. 

Thorwaldsen's style was not modern. He was 
the greatest imitator of the antique which the 
nineteenth century produced. Severely classical 
in his early days, he relaxed a little towards the 
end. But throughout his long and busy hfe 
Hellenic j^nd Roman-Hellenic influences predomi- 
nated. His work does not show that strong 
vitality, that strenuous realism, characteristic of 
Rodin's statuary, but it is purer in form, quieter 
and more contemplative. 

The artistic motto of this period was "Go to 
nature." "To this Thorwaldsen added " and learn 
from the antique how to look at it. " It is wrong to 
assume that Thorwaldsen's work was merely an 
aesthetic imitation of antique forms ; he was too 
much of a creative genius to be content with that. 
His ideal was the presentation of pure, absolute 
beauty with no disturbing elements, and he 



202 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

selected for treatment only such subjects as har- 
monised with his peculiarly Northern tempera- 
ment — comparatively passionless, philosophical, 
placid and good-natured. He depicted almost 
entirely goodness, content, happiness and purity ; 
the dark side of hfe he avoided: pain, care, 
passion and suffering discovered no responsive 
chord in his artistic soid. One of his many critics 
however has admitted that " sometimes a kind of 
sly smile seems to pass through his soul into his 
art, especially when dealing with Cupid and the 
little love-god's caprices." 

Thorwaldsen's Museum, in which are collected 
copies of most of his works, is naturally the Mecca 
of Danish art. The building itself is two stories 
high. Its style is confined to one motive, and is an 
almost exact rephca of an ancient Etruscan rock 
sepulchre. The quadrangle encloses a courtyard 
in the centre of which is the simple tomb of the 
great sculptor. In the back wing is the famous 
"Hall of Christ"— the Holy of holies of this 
wonderful temple of art. The other rooms open 
into each other, and each room contains but one 
statue, some bas-reliefs inserted into the walls, 
and a couple of busts. This arrangement was 
made at Thorwaldsen's express request, as he 
wished the spectators " to concentrate their 
interest so far as possible on one work at a time." 

In the vestibule £|.re models of the celebrated 
equestrian statue of Poniatowski, the portrait 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 203 

statue of the unhappy Pope Pius VII., and statues 
of Schiller, Gutenberg and the Duke of Leuchten- 
berg. Perhaps the most interesting of all, how- 
ever, is the model of the Swiss lion monument at 
Lucerne. In one of the side corridors is a notable 
reproduction of the John the Baptist group from 
the Frue Kirke. The rooms behind the tomb are 
mainly filled with statues of Greek gods and heroes 
of the Odinic and other pagan legends. The mighty 
form of Christ is placed in a special hall surrounded 
by the exquisitely wrought figures of the Twelve 
Apostles. In the upper rooms are copies of the 
Alexander frieze and the " Morning " and " Night " 
bas-rehefs, while one special antechamber is de- 
voted to a collection of Thorwaldsen's books, his 
clay models, drawings, some of his furniture, 
and, most interesting of all, the last piece of work 
upon which he was engaged before his death, a 
bust of Luther. The strokes of his modelling- 
stick are visible, and the Uttle lump of clay which 
he placed on the breast when he stopped his work, 
only a few hours before he died, is still there. 

Thorwaldsen's influence on Scandinavian art is 
generally considered to have been in many respects 
a dangerous one in that for some considerable 
time Danish sculptors were attracted by it to Italy 
and the classic. As a classicist and pagan he failed 
to foster those national, personal and religious 
sources of inspiration which are after all the truest 
ideals of creative art. This bias towards the 



204 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

antique can also be distinctly traced in the works 
of the great Swedish sculptors Sergell, Bystrom 
and Fogelberg, but perhaps it is most plainly 
marked in the art of H. V. Bissen (1798 — 1868). 
This sculptor was one of Thorwaldsen's most 
celebrated pupils and imitators, but his works, 
which are distinguished by an extraordinary 
purity and refinement of conception, reveal an 
inordinate admiration for the Greek method. 

Another of Thorwaldsen's pupils was J. A. 
Jerichau (1816 — 1883), whose work however does 
not possess the same purity or strength as Bissen's. 
The master's influence is still potent, but Jeri- 
chau's style foreshadows that modern realism 
which was destined to culminate in Rodin and the 
French school. The best known of this sculptor's 
works is the Man and Panther statue in the 
Glyptothek at Copenhagen. 

The gradual evolution of reahsm in sculpture 
may be perfectly observed by passing from the 
Bissen room in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek 
through the Jerichau room into the gallery filled 
with the works of Stephen Sinding. Oppermann, 
the great critic, sums up this transition process 
very admirably. " We come," he says, " to one 
of those stages which may be called dramatic 
because of the violence of the conflict between the 
old, which is passing away, and the new, which is 
taking its place. A new generation, eager to 
strike out new paths, begins to play the leading 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 205 

part — a generation which is not rich by inherit- 
ance, nor as yet ennobled by struggle. A 
characteristic representation of the art of this 
generation is to be found in the works of Stephen 
Binding. Whilst men of the old school in their 
works and ways showed that they built upon and 
found rest in a Christian view of Ufe, no such firm 
spiritual basis is discernible in the productions of 
this section of the new school ; they are distin- 
guished by unrest, aspiration, craving. The artists 
insist on what is real and tangible ; in place of the 
grandeur, peace and spiritual vision of their pre- 
decessors, they must have life, passion and 
motion." 

It is at this point that Scandinavian art leaves 
Thorwaldsen and the classic and begins to approach 
the Rodin method ; yet, curiously enough, it always 
remains more manly and free than the French. It 
never becomes either so soft or so sensuous, and the 
attitudes of its figures are more charming and 
graceful. In this latter respect the spirit of Thor- 
waldsen has not striven in vain. 

Traces of the classic revival may also be found, 
although in a much less degree, in the paintings 
of the time when Canova and Thorwaldsen were 
at the height of their fame. It was not until the 
nineteenth century that Danish art acquired its 
marked national character. In 1754 the Academy 
of Fine Arts had been founded, but the early 
exhibitors, including the celebrated Abildgaard 



2o6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

and Jens Juel, were too imitative in their style. 
Juel, however, did some admirable work in 
portraiture, foreshadowing the trend which ulti- 
mately led to the establishment of a distinctive 
national style. 

There is a certain relationship between the art 
of Denmark and that of her near neighbour 
Holland. In both countries natiue presents few 
vivid contrasts either of form or colour, and the 
result is that Dutch and Danish painting is as 
" demure and staid as are Dutch and Danish 
landscapes." The iartists display no bold origi- 
nality, no magnificent depth of colouring, no 
splendid virility either in the choice or treatment 
of their subjects ; rather do they reveal a tender 
intimacy with melancholy and homely things, a 
dreamful, placid imagination, and a deUcate 
refinement of touch, all of which are related to the 
national temperament at its best. One Danish 
critic has phrased this characteristic very clearly. 
He writes : " Touching feeling for home and 
country is the key-note of modern Danish art. 
The Dane has no sentiment but that of home. 
His country, once powerful, has become smaU and 
unimportant in the councils of the nations. It is 
not difficult to understand therefore that he clings 
with a melancholy tenderness to the only thing 
that is left him — his home." 

The real founder of the modern Danish school 
was C. V, Eckersberg (1783 — 1853), who was a 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART io 

pupil of the French painter David. Eckersberg's 
works, particularly his portraits, combine careful 
design and delicate colouring with an elegant style, 
but most of his landscapes and marine studies are 
immature and laboured in execution. It is quite 
clear that David influenced the technical side of 
his art only. Karl Madsen, the renowned writer 
and the Ruskin of Denmark, has declared that it 
is Nature in her every-day dress which Eckersberg 
depicts. Yet whilst he saw only prose where 
others saw poetry, he managed to discover poetry 
where others could only see prose. 

Eckersberg's most successful pupils were 
Christian Kobke (1810 — 1848) and the better- 
known painters J. T, Lundbye, G. Rump, and 
V. Kyhn. The first of these, Kobke, was noted 
mainly for his clever and spirited portraits in the 
modem style, and for his pictures of Copenhagen. 
J. T. Limdbye was a landscape and animal painter 
of merit, while both Rump and Kyhn largely 
confined themselves to every-day fife in Den- 
mark. The latter was probably at his best on 
large canvases. 

Towards the middle of the century Sonne, 
Dalsgaard, Vermehren and Exner began to 
specialise in provincial peasant life. The works of 
all these men are full of impressive sentiment and 
feeling. Constantin Hansen, a painter of this 
period, was one of those who had fallen under the 
spell of the Thorwaldsen influence. He is remark- 



2o8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

able for a series of >rilliant Italian pictures. After 
having lived in the South for many years, he re- 
turned to Copenhagen and executed the beautiful 
decorations in the lobby of the University. 

The greatest and most versatile among modern 
Danish painters was without doubt Vilhelm 
Marstrand (1810 — 1873), famous alike for his great 
Bible subjects, his comic figures from Holberg, 
the Danish Moliere, his pathetic scenes from the 
history of his own and other countries, and his 
animated and vigorous pictures depicting the stir 
and tumult of Italian street life. Marstrand and 
Karl Bloch were the leaders in a phase of grandiose 
historical painting and anecdotic genre such as was 
witnessed in almost every country about this time. 
Bloch as a historical painter is said to greatly 
resemble Piloty, the German ; his vivid colouring 
was acquired in the ItaUan schools. His most 
famous pictures are Samson in the Prison-house 
and King Christian II. in Prison, both of which 
created a genuine outburst of admiration and 
praise. 

French and cosmopolitan influences now began 
to overshadow and to break up the distinctive 
national characteristics of the immediate followers 
of Eckersberg. A group of younger painters, 
which included P. S. Kroyer, Juhus Paulsen and 
Vilhelm Hammershoj, reflected into Danish art the 
principles and teaching of the celebrated cosmopoli- 
tan Otto Bache. Kroyer perhaps had the happiest 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 209 

and lightest touch of this trio. He was straight- 
forward in his methods, and he employed no 
trickery. His art, as well as that of his friend and 
contemporary Lauritz Tuxen, was allied to the 
temperament of Manet and Bastian Lepage. 
Their elegance was Parisian, Kroyer especially 
revealing a bold inventiveness and amazing skill. 
He was a painter of wonderful open-air effects and 
" tender twilight moods," the glare of sunshine, 
the soft reflections of artificial light. Karl Madsen 
has said that " in portraiture he stands alone 
among Scandinavian artists ; in versatiUty and 
facile elegance he may almost be compared with 
Frans Hals." 

Julius Paulsen is one of the most talented 
painters of the day. His colouring possesses a 
softness and delicacy worthy of Rembrandt. 
Vilhelm Hammershoj is remarkable for his ex- 
quisite sense of tone and refinement of effect. He 
paints magical contrasts of hght in half-darkened 
rooms. It is said that he. is a great admirer of 
Whistler, to whose genius his own is akin. Perhaps 
of all Danish painters he reveals the most pro- 
nounced individuality. 

Another artist who found his inspiration in 
the French school is Viggo Johansen, who has, 
however, superimposed upon the Manet and Bache 
temperament a certain gentle dreaminess which is 
entirely his own. He speciaUses in dark sitting- 
rooms, children's parties, quiet festivities ; An 
D. o 



210 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

Evening at Home, The Christmas Tree, Grandma's 
Birthday, are typical subjects. Johansen is also one 
of the finest landscape painters Denmark has 
produced. Over all his pictures of this type a 
mysterious and melancholy stillness seems to rest. 
So popular are they, and so quickly and eagerly 
purchased, that several years ago the Luxem- 
bourg attempted in vain to secure one. 

Belonging to this cosmopohtan group also is 
Axel Helsted, a genre painter of skill and merit 
but no great genius, while Holsoe, Ring, Haslund, 
Syberg and Irminger, all of them contemporaries, 
paint typical scenes from Copenhagen life. Michael 
Ancher and C. Locher specialise in marine sub- 
jects, Skaw fishermen and the like ; their work is 
characterised by a certain broad sympathy and 
careful observation. Viggo Pedersen, Johan Rohde 
and Philipsen live together in the neighbourhood 
of Copenhagen ; their paintings are marked by 
the same sober melancholy and gentle tone. 

The new ideaUsm is represented by Joachim 
Skovgaard, who has been gallantly endeavouring 
for a number of years to endow Denmark with 
a monumental tj^pe of art. Of late he has become 
more and more notable as an interpreter of Bible 
subjects, his finest canvases in this direction being 
Christ among the Dead and The Pool of Bethesda, 
both of which caused a sensation in the world of 
art. His most famous work is his fresco-decora- 
tions on the ceiling of the Cathedral at Viborg. 



THORWALDSEN AND MODERN ART 211 

Of the younger painters Harald Slott-MoUer 
and J. F. Willumsen are remarkable for their 
daring and their highly symbohcal style. Zahrt- 
mann, a lover of Italy, occasionally rivals Etty in 
his subtlety of tone, though many of his Italian 
pictures are sheer debauches and riots of colour. 
His historical pictures of Christian IV. 's unfor- 
tunate daughter, Eleonora Christine, are considered 
the very best in modern Danish art. Ejnar 
Nielsen's portraits reveal the overshadowing spirit 
of Danish pessimism and melancholy. 

Among decorative artists of genius Denmark 
can only count one, L, Frolich ; among illustra- 
tors, Hans Tegner is probably the greatest of the 
day. 



o 2 



CHAPTER XVI 

MUSIC AND THE THEATRE 

Comparison of Danish and Irish Music — ^Weyse and Hart- 
mann — Heise — P. E. Lange-Miiller — Saga Music — 
Gade's Symphonies — Henriques, Enna, and Carl 
Nielsen — The Critical Faculties of the Danes — ^Danish 
Ecclesiastical Music — The Copenhagen Conserva- 
toire — Prof. Neruda — ^The Early History of the 
Theatre in Denmark — Holberg's Comedies — ^The 
Romantic Plays — German Drama — ^The Introduc- 
tion of Vaudeville — ^J. L. Heiberg — Problem Plays — 
Ryge and the First Nielsen — Michael Wiehe, Fru * 
Johanne Luise Heiberg, Emil Poulsen and Fru 
Hennings — ^The Royal Theatre — Representations of 
Foreign Authors in Denmark — Shakespeare's Hamlet 
— ^The Great Actors of the Last Decade and the 
Modem Period — ^The Dagmar Theatre — Schools of 
Acting — ^The Folke and New Theatres — Other 
Theatres — ^Varieties. 

A CERTAIN similarity is easily traceable between 
the music of Denmark and that of Ireland. Sim- 
plicity, sincerity, a certain subdued and wistful 
melancholy, and rare flashes of fire and passion — 
these are the characteristics of the native compo- 
sitions of both countries. Denmark has never 
produced what may be termed great classical 
music ; hers is essentially a peasant music. 
National Danish songs are like Danish landscapes 
and Danish art, quiet and pastoral, plaintive and 

* Fru = Danish for Madam. 



MUSIC AND THE THEATRE 213 

unassuming, redolent of still autumn evenings 
spent in the glades of fragrant beech woods, or 
on undulating and heather-covered moors, or on 
the bosoms of secluded and placid lakes. The 
most characteristic are the songs of Weyse and 
Hartmann, though perhaps those of Heise are 
better known, especially his music to Ibsen's 
Kongsemnerne, von der Recke's Bertran de Born, 
the opera King and Marshal, and the Jutland 
national song Jylland mellem tvende Have. 

A small group of composers later attempted — 
not with great success — to approach the classical 
in conception and style ; and mention must be 
made of a brief period of inspired music whose 
massive strength and wild beauty can only be 
compared to the grandeur of the ancient Scan- 
dinavian sagas. But, speaking generally, the 
musical genius of the Danish people expresses 
itself most naturally and effectively in songs and 
ballads, folk-dances and sonorous hymns. The 
only really brilliant exception to this generalisa- 
tion is Gade, the composer of several beautiful 
symphonies and orchestral suites, and whose best- 
known works, the Elverskud and Korsfarerne, are 
regarded as among the great masterpieces of the 
latter half of the nineteenth century. 

Another popular composer of this period, P. E. 
Lange-Miiller, is renowned chiefly as a writer of 
spirited ballad music, though his finest work is 
undoubtedly contained in the music which he 



214 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

wrote to Drachmann's romantic play Once upon a 
Time. Lange-Miiller is the composer of the Danish 
national anthem We love our Land. 

Among younger composers the names of Fini 
Henriques, August Enna, and Carl Nielsen deserve 
mention. Henriques is justly celebrated for his 
distinguished dance and ballet music, particularly 
The Little Mermaid. Carl Nielsen's opera Saul is 
the only big work of this kind produced in Den- 
mark in recent years. August Enna has written 
some delicate and fanciful music round many of 
the fairy tales of Hans Andersen. 

Although they cannot be regarded as excep- 
tionally distinguished in composition, the Danes 
are certainly excellent judges of music. Their 
critical faculties are both sound and well developed, 
and as a nation they evince a genuine love of 
good music comparable only to that shown by 
the German and the Italian peoples. Grand opera, 
orchestral recitals, classical concerts and popular 
music are in great demand all the year round, 
while the sacred concerts held periodically in most 
churches are a special feature of Danish life. 
Danish ecclesiastical music is dignified, melodious, 
and in the main exceedingly beautiful, though it 
sometimes errs on the side of heaviness, probably 
owing to its Lutheran and Teutonic origin. 

The Copenhagen Conservatoire of Music, which 
was founded in 1866, has done a great work in 
popularising the music of the old and modern 



MUSIC AND THE THEATRE 215 

masters, in promoting concerts on an artistic level 
with those of the academies of the leading musical 
centres in Europe, and more particularly in the 
teaching of singing. Prof. Neruda, who was a 
brother of Lady Halle (died 1915), and one of the 
best-known teachers of the day, had been for over 
a quarter of a century the inspiring spirit of all 
that may be accounted finest in modern Danish 
music. The Copenhagen Conservatoire is sub- 
sidised by the State, and has been from time to 
time richly endowed. 

It is only in two or three of the best theatres 
of Copenhagen that the acting may be said to 
reach the artistic excellence of either Paris or 
London. The Royal Theatre, the oldest in Copen- 
hagen, for nearly two hundred years held a privi- 
leged position, as it had been granted a monopoly 
of all the best plays, native and foreign, the other 
theatres only being permitted to produce light 
comedy or such plays as were not required by the 
Royal Theatre. This " monopoly " was subse- 
quently relinquished, and a reserve put upon 160 
plays only, subject to the condition of producing 
them within a period of ten years. 

The first " playhouse " in Denmark was opened 
in 1722, in order to compete with the numerous 
foreign troupes of aptors who then toured the 
country. It achieved an instantaneous success, 
and from that time the dramatic art, so brilliantly 
founded by Holberg, has never looked back. At 



2i6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

the end of the eighteenth century the romantic 
play became the rage, although the works of 
Moliere, Sheridan, Goldsmith and Lessing still 
remained more or less popular. Unfortunately, 
however, French and German decadent influences 
were in the ascendant, and for the first twenty-five 
years of the nineteenth century dominated the 
Danish stage to such an extent that native plays 
stood no chance of presentation. The introduc- 
tion of the vaudeville method by J. L. Heiberg in 
1825 brought to a sudden end the era of florid 
German drama, and for more than forty years gay, 
light comedies monopohsed the programmes of 
the principal Danish theatres, to be in their turn 
superseded by the problem plays of Ibsen and 
Bjornson. The greatest actors produced by the 
old romantic school were Ryge and the first 
Nielsen, and of the newer school Michael Wiehe 
and Fru Johanne Luise Heiberg, Emil Poulsen 
and Fru Hennings. The two latter were particu- 
larly successful in Ibsen roles. 

The present Royal Theatre was built in 1872 — 
1874 on the site of the old State Theatre. It 
seats about 1,600 persons, and produces opera, 
plays, and spectacular ballet. Performances begin 
early and punctually, no person being allowed to 
enter during the acts. The theatre is subsidised by 
the State, the most prominent of the performers 
being styled the King's Play Actors. They are 
specially trained at the school attached to the 




2o ja.ce p. 217.] \By kini permission of Charles H. Kelly. 

Niels R. Finsen. 



MUSIC AND THE THEATRE 217 

building, often serve for forty or fifty years, and 
receive a substantial pension on retirement. The 
repertoire of this famous theatre includes practi- 
cally all the world's most celebrated comedies and 
tragedies, operas and dramas ; the greater number 
of ballets produced, however, are specially Danish. 
The most popular of the foreign authors whose 
works are regularly represented here is undoubtedly 
Shakespeare. Among modern pla5Avrights Shaw, 
Pinero, and Arnold Bennett compete for the first 
place in public estimation. Shakespeare's Hamlet 
was first produced in Denmark in 1812. Like the 
Comedie Frangaise in Paris, the Royal Theatre is 
associated with one of the greatest comedy writers 
of all time, Ludvig Holberg (1684— 1754), the 
Danish Moliere. 

Among the greatest actors of the last decade 
whose names are connected with this theatre are 
Olaf Poulsen, the comedian to whose histrionic 
genius is mainly due the credit for the fact that 
Holberg's comedies are now better presented and 
more popular than they have ever been before ; 
Dr. Karl Mantzius, a versatile actor, who has only 
recently retired after a Ufetime of distinguished 
service ; Jerndorff, an actor of the old school ; 
and the celebrated opera singers Peter Cornelius 
and Herold. The younger men, who are ably 
maintaining the fine traditions of the theatre, 
include Neiendamm, Johannes Poulsen, Poul 
Reumert, and Adam Poulsen. 



2i8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

The Dagmar Theatre is generally reckoned the 
second theatre in Copenhagen. Its productions 
invariably possess a fine literary flavour, and those 
who direct its policy make a special point of 
encouraging young writers. Shakespeare, Ibsen, 
Shaw, D'Annunzio and the principal dramatists 
and playwrights of all countries and periods are 
regularly presented at this theatre, whose most 
renowned actor was Fru Betty Nansen. She is 
not at present performing on her old stage. 

The Folke Theatre is principally a family place, 
where the fare is invariably light and harmless. 
The New Theatre is devoted to costume and 
modern comedies. At the Casino, the Scala, and 
the Norrebro may usually be found musical 
comedy, revue or operette. Carl Alstrup, the 
principal actor at the Scala, and Frederik Jensen, 
of the Norrebro, are the two most popular come- 
dians in Copenhagen. 

There are several variety theatres, but none of 
high standing. The prices in all theatres are 
moderate, the acting in others than the four 
first mentioned is often poor, while the plays are 
mainly vulgar adaptations from the German or 
French. No Copenhagen music-hall bears a high 
reputation, and some of them, particularly those 
in the Frederiksberg quarter, might have been 
transplanted from San PauU or Montmartre 



CHAPTER XVII 

RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN DENMARK 

An Array of Illustrious Names — Niels Ryberg Finsen: 
his Parentage and Eariy Life — The Latin School at 
Reykjavik — Life reverses the Judgment of School — 
At the University — Disease — Graduation — The 
Origin of Finsen's Speculations — The " Red-room " 
Cure for Small-pox — Foundation of the Institute of 
Light — The Significance of Finsen's Achievement — 
His Inventive Faculty — His Heroic End — The Insti- 
tute To-day — Concentrated Treatment — Intense 
Light Baths — Internal Diseases — Dr. Valdemar 
Poulsen — Early Career — The Telegraphone — 
"Spark" and "Wave" Methods of Radio-tele- 
graphy — Claims of the Poulsen-Pedersen System — 
Commercial Position — Wireless Telephony — Prof. 
P. O. Pedersen — Ivar Knudsen — Baumgarten 
aild Burmeister — Rivalry with German Shipbuilders 
— Purchase of Diesel Patents — Success of the Diesel 
Motors — Comparison with other Motors — The Diesel 
Engine as applied to Ships — The First Motor Liner 
launched — Comparison of Motor-propelled and 
Steam-propelled Vessels. 

Denmark, although one of the smallest countries 
in Europe, has during the last half-century con- 
tributed an imposing array of illustrious names to 
the records of original work in science, philosophy, 
hterature and art. The recital of but a few names 
is necessary to prove the truth of this statement. 
Thorwaldsen, many of whose statues may be re- 
garded as among the most exquisite and beautiful 



220 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

pieces of sculpture wrought in modern times ; 
Orsted, the discoverer of electro-magnetism ; Hans 
Andersen, that great wizard of the North, who is 
known and loved wherever there are ugly duck- 
lings and folk young enough in spirit to follow him 
in his fantastic and whimsical adventures ; Finsen, 
whose name deserves to rank with those of Lister 
and Pasteur, Metchnikoff and Rontgen ; Georg 
Brandes, perhaps the greatest living Dane and 
one of the most potent forces in European letters 
of the day ; Dr. Valdemar Poulsen, whose radio- 
telegraphic system, based on a continuous-wave 
theory, is proving itself the only serious rival to 
the Marconi system, and bids fair to become one 
of the big things of the future ; and, finally, Ivar 
Knudsen, the famous engineer, who built and sent 
to sea the first liner to be exclusively driven by 
oil-engine motors — all these are the names of 
Danes who in the last fifty or sixty years have 
achieved an international reputation in some branch 
of specialised scientific research, of hterature, 
criticism, or art. It is a hst of which any country 
might reasonably feel proud, and when we recollect 
that Greater London contains nearly three times 
as many people as the whole of Denmark, the record 
becomes still more amazing. 

For the purposes of the present chapter we shall 
select three only of these names for a more detailed 
study, as representative of the most important 
scientific work recently accomplished in Denmark. 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 221 

Niels Ryberg Finsen was born in i860 at 
Thorshavn, in the Faroe islands, his parents being 
Icelanders. His father was the highest Govern- 
ment official on the islands, and the Finsen family 
can trace their ancestry back to the year 900 a.d. 
Many of them were bishops, and many more were 
lawyers. The arms of the family — a falcon on a 
blue ground — form the basis of the new national 
flag of Iceland. 

As a boy young Finsen was quiet and self-con- 
tained, a passionate lover of nature and of such 
outdoor sports as his rather weak frame permitted. 
He is said to have been fonder of climbing the 
precipitous " fjelds " of his native islands than of 
the schoolroom. Upon the lofty summit of one 
of the lulls on the island — no superlatively easy 
cUmb even for a man in the full measure of his 
strength — Finsen has carved his initials. The 
old house in which he first saw the light stands not 
far from the shore, and his boyhood was spent in 
bathing and fishing, climbing and shooting, par- 
ticipating in the local whale-hunts, fowling wild 
birds, sheep-shearing, racing after the wild ponies 
on the uplands — a free, natural, open-air life, which 
doubtless contributed much to the development 
of that impatience of restraint and contempt of 
conventionality which marked his later years, and 
to that extraordinary dexterity of fingers which 
would have made him, had he so chosen, the most 
celebrated surgeon of his time. In the wind- 



222 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

driven solitudes of the Faroes Niels Finsen learned 
courage, endurance, adaptability, steadiness of 
nerve, and skill of hands, all of which were pre- 
paring him for and leading him up to that great 
calling for which destiny had marked him out. 

At an early age he was sent to the Latin school 
at Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland and the home 
of his forefathers, after a brief and unsuccessful 
sojourn at Herlufsholm's Public School in Den- 
mark. The head of Herlufsholm's has placed on 
record the following discouraging judgment of his 
pupil : " Niels Finsen is a good boy at heart, but 
his abilities are small, and he shows utter lack of 
energy." It is a remarkable fact, however, that 
life often reverses the judgment of school, and this 
proved to be so in Finsen's case. His career at 
Reykjavik was perfectly successful, and it was in 
the society of the proud, self-reliant Icelanders that 
Finsen developed that almost supernatural strength 
of character that became so obvious in his later 
life. In 1882 he began his degree work at Copen- 
hagen University, having been granted a scholar- 
ship from the Reykjavik school. At this time he 
shared the political opinions of the young Radicals 
of the eighties, and Dr. Thulstrup, his friend and 
biographer, has put it on record that his " Radical- 
ism sprang from his ideal character. He was 
weighted neither with traditional opinions nor 
Conservative prejudices. From his earliest days 
he sought only truth, fearlessly examining the 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 223 

basis of his every conviction, and never satisfied 
with a dogma or a theory merely because it is 
held by general consent. He was the last person 
to be won over by mere surface eloquence, which 
was as repugnant to his frank and open character 
as to his scientific instincts." 

In these early days of university work his 
radiant cheerfulness became clouded by the know- 
ledge that he was suffering from a mysterious and 
incurable disease, which had been slowly and in- 
sidiously creeping upon him during the latter half 
of his youth. He grew continually weaker, and 
his constitutional activity deserted him, never 
again to return. Like Robert Lotiis Stevenson, 
he knew he was doomed early, and like him, he 
lived to make a fine and heroic fight for life. By 
a magnificent effort — which in after-days, when it 
became known, stirred the imagination of his 
country and of the world — ^he battled against the 
terrible malady, resisting it step by step, until 
in the end he was compelled to live an almost 
entirely sedentary existence, husbanding every 
precious grain of his strength, scientifically cal- 
culating every oimce of effort which he could safely 
put forth. 

In 1890 he graduated. His degree, however, 
was an undistinguished one owing to the ill-health 
from which he suffered during the period of his 
reading ; but it is eloquent of the impression he 
had already produced among those best able to judge 



224 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

that, notwithstanding his poor degree work, he 
was immediately offered a position in the Univer- 
sity laboratory. Here he remained for five years 
as a prosector of anatomy, at the expiration of 
which period he resigned his appointment in order 
that he might be free to make a series of experi- 
ments which had previously occiurred to him. 

In his reminiscences he tells a very interest- 
ing story of the origin of his speculations on the 
medical qualities of light. He had observed that 
when he was in the room of his friend, which was 
light and sunny, he invariably felt better and worked 
better than when in his own room, which faced 
due north, and was therefore dark and simless. 
From his own room he commanded a view of a 
back yard and a small tiled shed. One afternoon, 
while depressed and in ill-health, he was sitting 
at the window, staring idly out over the yard. 
The sun was shining, but one half of the shed was 
in shadow. Upon the sunny half a lazy black 
cat stretched and dreamed luxuriously. Presently 
the shadow reached forth and touched the slum- 
bering feline. Immediately it rose, moved to 
sunny quarters again, licked itself, and contentedly 
renewed its interrupted dreams. This perform- 
ance the cat repeated several times and on several 
days, always preferring the sunny half of the shed. 
Finsen concluded from this simple observation 
that light was beneficial to the cat, since it in- 
stinctively searched for it ; and he resolved from 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 225 

that moment to give the matter scientific inves- 
tigation. Humanity is as deeply indebted to 
that lazy black cat as it is to Newton's apple, or 
Watt's boiling kettle, or the foot-bath of Archi- 
medes, for from these simple beginnings grew his 
profomid researches into the effects of certain 
kinds of light upon the germs of disease. 

Believing that the latent energies of the sun's 
rays could be split up into two groups, one 
harmful and the other beneficial, he commenced 
to experiment along lines which he felt inwardly 
convinced would lead him to an important, if 
not epoch-making, discovery. He had heard of 
the wonderful researches of the English doctor 
Black in the treatment of small-pox. This able 
physician excluded all light from his patients, 
keeping them in dark rooms ; and by this means he 
had been able to effect several complete cures. 
Finsen's theory was that it was only necessary 
to exclude the violet or chemically active rays of 
the spectrum. In a famous pamphlet, published 
on July 5th, 1893, he explained his method, 
which was to place the small-pox sufferer in a red- 
screened room, the red colour effectively absorb- 
ing the inimical blue-violet rays. He then estab- 
Ushed what was called his " red room," and from 
this beginning developed the great institute now 
designated by his name. 

It is somewhat curious that Finsen began his 
work with an investigation of the harmful functions 

D. p 



226 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

of certain kinds of light. It was characteristic 
of the man. He beheved in attack first, defence 
afterwards. Not content with the success he had 
attained, he immediately renewed his experi- 
ments in other directions. He noticed that the 
black skin of the negro possessed certain qualities 
lacking in our white skins. He painted parts of 
his own person black, and, taking sun-baths, 
observed that the painted portions, when washed, 
were clean and fresh, the exposed portions being 
raw, red, and swollen. Using sunlight, electric 
light, shaded lamps, he went on, himself the sub- 
ject of many of his tests, until he had a very fair 
knowledge of the functions of light in general, and 
certainly a wider knowledge than any physician 
who had preceded him. Most notable of all, 
perhaps, was his discovery of the utility of the 
violet rays for kiUing the malignant bacteria of 
that terrible skin malady, lupus. In 1895 a 
patient who had suffered from this disease for 
eight years approached Dr. Finsen, and was elec- 
trically treated. The progress of the disease was 
immediately arrested, and the man eventually 
completely cured. 

At this juncture the Finsen Institute of Light 
was founded, with the assistance of a grant from 
the Danish Treasury and generous help from a 
Mr. W. Jorgensen and Mr. Hagemann. In 1903 
Finsen obtained the Nobel prize for medicine, 
and devoting practically all the money he obtained 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 227 

therefrom to developing his rapidly growing sana- 
torium, placed it practically for all time upon a 
sound financial footing. 

The real significance of Finsen's achievement is 
that in the course of time all old cases of lupus 
will either have been cured or have died. Lengthy 
and costly treatment will become superfluous, 
since the disease will be taken in hand before it 
has had time to corrode or disfigure the bodies of 
those it attacks. In this manner the really terrible 
forms of lupus will become extinct. 

It would be impossible to detail all the experi- 
ments which Finsen made in connection with his 
research work into the employment of light 
rays in therapeutics, but one other fact deserves 
mention before we pass on to record his heroic 
death or the subsequent development in the 
scope of the institution which he founded. 
Finsen possessed an inventive faculty which was 
truly amazing. At different periods of his Hfe 
he patented an improved mechanism for breech- 
loading rifles, invented a special kind of cooking 
apparatus, designed an ingenious dissecting knife, 
and discovered a prescription for hsematine 
lozenges. The idea for the modification of the 
trocar of a dissecting knife occurred to him under 
circumstances which reveal his extraordinary 
courage and presence of mind. It was in connec- 
tion with the illness which brought about his death, 
and of which at that time very few definite data 

P 2 



228 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

were known. As Finsen had spent many years in 
Iceland, where the disease is prevalent, it was for 
some time believed to be a worm in the liver — 
echinococcus — but it was generally diagnosed as 
chronic heart and liver complaint, which could not 
be detected by the customary method of auscul- 
tation. One of the symptoms was a continually 
recurring abdominal dropsy. When the fluid in 
the abdomen had increased to an intolerable or 
dangerous limit, several pints of it were tapped 
away. This was generally done by introducing a 
small metal cannula through the tissues of the 
abdomen, which were pierced by a steel needle, 
the point of which projected beyond the mouth of 
the tube. At the opposite end of the cannula was 
attached a handle, so that when the trocar had been 
inserted the needle could be withdrawn, thereby 
making room for the pent-up fluid to escape. 

During one of these operations the cannula had 
just been inserted, but Finsen, who was lying 
quietly on his back in the bed, saw by the look on 
the operator's face that something had gone atoiss. 
He inquired as to the cause of the concern, and was 
informed that the handle had broken off, and that 
the needle had slipped down through the cannula 
instead of being drawn out. This was a serious 
predicament, for, were the needle lost in the abdo- 
men, an, operation would be immediately necessary 
in order to recover it, and in the state of Finsen's 
health this would undoubtedly have proved fatal. 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 229 

Yet he neither moved nor gave signs of any anxiety. 
Speaking very quietly, he said to his wife, who was 
standing near the bed : " Send across to the Poly- 
technic, or to Preisler,* and fetch a powerful 
magnet. I will remain perfectly still. Perhaps 
part of the needle is still sticking in the lower end 
of the cannula, in which case we are certain to be 
able to extract it. " Finsen's coolness undoubtedly 
saved his life. The magnet was obtained and the 
needle easily extracted. Later Finsen so modified 
the construction of the trocar that a similar mis- 
hap could not now possibly occur. 

The manner in which throughout his life- 
long illness Finsen analysed his own condition 
and the heroic way in which he corrected, fre- 
quently by most painful remedies, the defects of 
the metabolism in his body, must arouse the 
prof oundest admiration for him both as a scientific 
observer and as a man. He carefully studied every 
symptom in order to discover its exact value in 
the progress of his disease. Towards the end he 
was so intimately acquainted with the arrangement 
and the heeds of his own organism that he managed 
to maintain life and to continue the physical 
functions of life far longer than would otherwise 
have been possible ; and although his name will 
always be principally associated with his light 
treatment for lupus, the manner in which he con- 
trived to benefit humanity by his own personal 

* A famous scientific instrument maker of Copenhagen. 



230 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

sufferings is as equally, if not more, deserving of 
recognition. Finsen died on September 24th, 1904, 
at the age of forty-four, after a brief but crowded 
life, during the greater part of which he waged a 
continual struggle with pain and disease in his 
own person. His was truly a courageous spirit, 
operating through a medium of broken and ailing 
flesh. 

Since his death the institute, which is at the 
same time the chief result of his life's work and the 
monument of the faith which inspired it, has been 
considerably extended both in size and scope. 
It is divided into three sections: a laboratory, 
the clinique for skin diseases, and that for internal 
diseases. About one hundred and fifty consul- 
tations are given every day, the greater proportion 
of the patients being sufferers from either lupus or 
eczema. Upon the elaborate apparatus for the 
treatment of these dread diseases four patients 
may be placed simultaneously. It consists of 
connected and elevated divans, upon which the 
sufferers recline. Above them is the great arc 
light. A nurse attends each patient and mani- 
pulates the concentration apparatus, which can 
only be applied to small areas at a time. The light 
is transmitted through a prism of mountain crystal, 
filled with a capsule of blue-coloured water, which 
absorbs the heat and the red-yellow rays, allowing 
only the chemically active blue-violet rays to pass. 
The treatment lasts for an hour and a quarter. 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 231 

No pain or discomfort is experienced, the patients 
being able to read books and to speak to each other. 
The cure takes from three weeks in favourable 
instances to some years in very obstinate cases. 
At the present time about 10 per cent, of those 
treated come from foreign countries. Daily out- 
patients are received as well as resident patients, 
the latter of whom live in villas attached to the 
sanatorium. 

In addition to the concentrated treatment, many 
sufferers are given intense light-baths over the 
whole of the body, and it is interesting to see these 
bathing-chambers at work. The glare of the light 
is blinding, but by cleverly devised shields the 
patient's face is so hidden that no damage to his 
sight can possibly occur. The heat is absorbed by 
a thin downward stream or wall of water, inter- 
posed between the light-source and the sufferer. 
After the bath the patient invariably feels 
exhausted and sleepy, and is then taken to a 
rest-chamber in which the light is toned and sub- 
dued. 

In recent years internal diseases have often been 
treated at the Finsen Institute with considerable 
success, the Rontgen rays being utilised to locate 
the precise area which requires treatment. 

In order to obtain accurate data as to the medi- 
cal effects of rarefied air under all conditions of 
time, temperature, and wind-pressure, a very 
practical apparatus has been devised. This con- 



232 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

sists of a large, air-tight, spherical room, in which 
two observers can live for as long as may be neces- 
sary. The air-pressure is slowly reduced, producing 
the effect of a mountain climb. At the same time 
the temperature diminishes, while a powerful 
electric fan creates wind-currents, and light screens 
vary the intensity and colour of the illumination. 
Food is passed into the chamber through a 
hermetically sealed tube which penetrates its 
walls. A telephone communicates with those 
outside, and two beds and a table provide accommo- 
dation for ordinary normal life, reading, writing, 
and sleeping. In this room observers have lived 
for a week at pressures corresponding to altitudes 
in excess of those of some of the highest mountains 
in the world, and exceedingly valuable data have 
been obtained. 

In one of the rooms of the institute there exists 
a small collection of the personal effects of Finsen — 
the last letters he wrote, a review of a Lancet 
article, the glass instruments used for weighing 
his food during his final heroic struggle with 
oncoming death, his Nobel certificate, and the 
science medals awarded him by King Edward VII. 
and Queen Alexandra. 

Upon the wall there hangs one of Finsen's 
favourite pictures, Arnold Bocklin's " Isle of the 
Dead." It is a dark and gloomy subject, and it 
is difficult to understand its influence upon Finsen, 
unless he regarded it as a call to his mission of 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 233 

healing, an inspiration to that glorious, beneficent 
gospel of Hght which was the quota he contributed 
to the worid's knowledge, and his addition to the 
sum total of human happiness. 

The second of the trio of scientific names of whom 
we propose to give an account in this chapter is 
Valdemar Poulsen, the inventor of the arc and 
continuous-wave system of radio-telegraphy. Five 
years ago Dr. Poulsen was, except among his own 
countrymen, almost unknown to the general 
public. To-day he enjoys a growing international 
reputation, having passed in a few strenuous 
months from comparative obscurity into the fierce 
blaze of publicity and fame. In personal appear- 
ance he is of medium height though strongly built. 
His head in shape curiously suggests that of 
Lord Kitchener. The iron-grey hair stands up 
straight and untended. The close-clipped mous- 
tache fails to conceal the firm lips, and serves to 
emphasise the resolute strength of the jaw. It is 
a powerful face which dominates but does not 
repel. 

The now famous Danish inventor is forty-four 
years old. He is the son of a judge of the highest 
court of Denmark. As a yoimg man he read for 
the degree in Natural Sciences at Copenhagen 
University, but did not remain to graduate. 
Accepting an appointment as an assistant engineer 
with the Copenhagen Telephone Company, he at 



234 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

once commenced to devote his attention to a study 
of radio-telegraphy. 

In 1899 he invented the telegraphone. This is 
an ingenious apparatus for recording telephone 
conversations and repeating them at will. It can 
be adapted to a variety of uses. By this instru- 
ment the himian voice is electro-magnetically 
recorded and stored on a wire or a thin disc of steel, 
without indentation or pin marks, and without the 
employment of any other agency than electro- 
magnetism. The record remains indefinitely, it 
never deteriorates, and it can be easily reproduced. 
If it is desired to obliterate it a simple application of 
a magnet instantly accomplishes this. The utilisa- 
tion of this invention saves both time and money. 
A modification of the apparatus is employed on 
the Copenhagen Central Telephone Exchange to 
detect subscribers who abuse the company's 
employees. To deny one's words when one hears 
them repeated by this little machine is obviously 
futile. It may also be used as a correspondence 
recorder, the letters being dictated by the business 
man in his office, while they are typed from the 
telegraphone in the central typewriting bureau. 
As a public speech and musical recorder it pos- 
sesses points of superiority to the best gramophon© 
in existence, inasmuch as infinitely longer records 
can be obtained. 

Shortly after the invention of the telegraphone 
Poulsen left the company in order that he might 




To face p. 234.] 



[Photo : Rosa Metz-Pasberg, Copenhagen. 

Dr. Valdemar Poulsen. 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 235 

be free to follow a new line of investigation that 
had suggested itself to him. He then entered 
upon that series of experiments which led him to 
the discovery of what are now termed the Poulsen 
arc and waves, upon which his system of radio- 
telegraphy is based. 

Into the controversy as to the respective merits 
of " spark " and " wave " methods of wireless 
communication we do not propose to enter. But 
a general outline of the earlier work in the science 
is necessary to define Dr. Poulsen's position. As 
long ago as 1879 Clerk Maxwell demonstrated the 
existence of the waves now customarily designated 
after the German mathematician Hertz. The 
Italian physicist, Righi, showed how to produce 
these waves with the necessary strength, while the 
Frenchman, Branly, first conceived the idea under- 
lying that important instrument, the coherer. It 
only then required a combination of well-known 
electrical apparatus to make wireless telegraphy 
commercially possible. Marconi's apparatus was 
the first to achieve any practical success, to be 
followed later by the Telefunken, the Goldschmidt, 
and the Poulsen- Pedersen apparatus. The Marconi, 
the Goldschmidt, and the Telefunken systems fall 
into the same category, in that they are spark 
methods, that is, they employ intermittent elec- 
trical discharges, technically termed either " pitch " 
or " musical " sparks. Poulsen's method, how- 
ever, stands alone, in that it employs a continuous 



236 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

wave. In the early days of his experiments 
Dr. Poulsen beUeved that the future of wireless 
telegraphy would lie with the system which could 
produce continuous waves, and accordingly 
directed his work to that end. He eventually 
succeeded in obtaining the desired objective by 
utilising the arc formed by a current passing be- 
tween two carbons in an atmosphere of hydrogen. 
In a famous lecture delivered before the Electro- 
technischer Verein in Berlin, in October, 1906, 
he conclusively demonstrated the utility of his 
arc and waves in radio-telegraphy and telephony. 
Since then he has succeeded in producing a higher 
kilowatt power for a much less expenditure of 
energy than can be shown by any other radio 
system. 

The proprietors of the Poulsen-Pedersen appa- 
ratus have claimed for it the following advantages : 
(i) economy ; (2) a greater speed of signalling ; 

(3) a finer capacity for " attuning," with conse- 
quent immunity from outside disturbances ; and 

(4) the commercial practicability of wireless tele- 
phony. In America the system is already well 
established. Three years ago the Poulsen Wireless 
Corporation of Arizona purchased the various 
patents for the United States of America. It is 
now converted into the Federal Telegraph Com- 
pany. It has its headquarters in California, and 
has built nearly twenty stations in the western 
States, among which is San Francisco. It possesses 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 237 

a station as far east as Chicago, and one on the 
Sandwich Islands. Stations are in the course of 
erection in the eastern States, in Alaska, the 
Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. The Poulsen 
stations at San Bruno Point, California, and in 
Honolulu have corresponded daily for over three 
years, across a distance as great as the Atlantic, 
using only 30 k.w. power, the average number of 
words exceeding 2,000 per diem. Finally, the 
Washington Goverimient, after carefully testing 
the various systems as to capacity of range, has 
given the Poulsen Company instructions to build 
a station at Colon (Panama) to correspond! with 
the station at Arlington. The Universal Radio 
Syndicate is also building new Transatlantic sta- 
tions for rapid telegraphy between Ireland and 
Canada. 

With no other system is wireless telephony 
at present commercially possible. This is impor- 
tant, as although the radio-telephone will never 
be used in cities or to any great extent on land, it 
is bound to become both necessary and useful at 
sea. In igo8 Poulsen succeeded in telephoning 
without wires from Esbjerg to Lyngby in Den- 
mark, a distance of 145 miles, using only 3 kilo- 
watt, and in igio he telephoned from Los Angelos 
to San Francisco (295 miles), using 12 kilowatt. 
At Copenhagen, gramophone music played in the 
Poulsen station in Berlin can be distinctly heard 
over a distance of 215 miles. 



238 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

Prof, P. 0. Pedersen, the friend and 
colleague of Dr. Poulsen, has designed an appa- 
ratus for reading quick-telegraphy which greatly 
facilitates the receipt of messages. It consists of 
a thin gold wire moving in a magnetic field. This 
casts a shadow upon sensitive photographic paper, 
which passes at a uniform speed over a roller, 
producing wave-lines which are permanently 
imaged on the paper. Short lines indicate the 
dots, medium lines the dashes, and long lines the 
spaces of the Morse code. 

Valdemar Poulsen is a strenuous worker, and no 
living m^n of eminence concentrates so much as 
he does. He has practically no interests outside 
his own chosen sphere. He believes that success 
in a technical profession can only be the result 
of immense application. The spark of genius 
which God has planted in a man's soul must be 
fanned unceasingly by self-endeavour if it is to 
burst into the flame which will glorify both its 
Creator and its possessor. He beUeves that wire^ ; 
less telegraphy is suitable chiefly for ocean work, 
in extensive, thinly-populated countries such as 
Russia, and in time of war, between operatin| 
divisions of armies. The United States, SoutH| 
America, Russia and China will, he considersifin 
the near future, prove to be the Eldoradoes of the 
wireless contractor. 

Poulsen has confessed that in his school days 
at Christianshavn he had a great predilection for 




To face p, 238.] 



Prof. P. O. Pedersen. 



{Photo : El felt, Copenhagen. 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 239 

constructing mechanical apparatus. It was his 
custom to make almost every instrument explained 
in the text-books or used by the demonstrators in 
the lecture theatre, and he often laughs now at the 
crudeness of material and construction of some of 
these primitive machines. 

Of honours, Valdemar Poulsen possesses singu- 
larly few for a man of his attainments. In 1907 
he received the gold medal of the Royal Danish 
Society for Science ; in 1909 the University of 
Leipzig admitted him as a Doctor of Philosophy 
{honoris causa) ; and quite recently he has been 
presented with the most notable recognition a 
Danish scientist can obtain, the Medal of Merit, 
in gold with crown, an honour which he shares with 
but four others, Nansen, Georg Brandes, Sven 
Hedin, and Amundsen. 

We now come to the third name in this trio of 
notable Danish scientists. Ivar Knudsen is a 
member of the famous shipbuilding firm, Bur- 
meister and Wain, which first sprang into pro- 
minence under the designation Baumgarten and 
Burmeister, about the year 1846. Building at 
first only some five or six vessels annually, and 
retaining their workmen principally for repairing 
ships damaged in Danish waters, they quickly grew 
in influence, and after 1863 their development was 
extraordinarily rapid. From the first, the Ger- 
man shipbuilders had viewed their young rivals 



240 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

with extreme disfavour, and now beconiing jealous, 
they attempted to drive them out of the market by 
sending up the price of steel blocks to prohibitive 
limits, thus increasing the cost of ship construction 
to a point which they deemed would be beyond the 
resources of the younger firm. But the Copen- 
hageners were not to be ousted so easily from their 
position. They began to buy scrap iron and to 
remake it into steel in their own yards, eventually 
becoming, to a certain degree, independent of 
either English or German steel manufacturers. In 
time they were able to erect their own smithery, 
and by installing powerful hydraulic presses to 
commence to manufacture all kinds of steel shafts, 
a business which has since proved highly satis- 
factory and remunerative. 

In this manner their sphere of operations 
gradually widened out. The Emperor of Russia's 
famous yacht " Standart " was built by them. In 
1902 they built a cruiser for the Russian Govern- 
ment, which was unfortunately destroyed by the 
Japanese. A big ice-breaker for use on the 
Gulf of Finland followed, and so by degrees this 
firm worked its way to the position of premier 
shipbuilders north of Hamburg. To-day it em- 
ploys over 3,000 men regularly, and possesses the 
largest floating and dry dock in the north of Europe 
— a monster erection containing three berths. 

To the general pubUc Burmeister and Wain, 
and Herr Ivar Knudsen are chiefly notable as the 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 241 

builders of the first motor-driven liner to take the 
water. The Diesel patents were bought by Knud- 
sen on behalf of his firm in 1897, when a small 
test motor was erected. The trials were unsatis- 
factory, and it was not until 1903 that any further 
advance was made. They then commenced to 
build stationary motors for electricity, gas and 
water works, and pumping stations. These 
achieved an immediate success, the Diesel motor 
being both practicable and cheap for such pur- 
poses. In small towns, on farmsteads, and in 
outlying parts of the coimtry, where steam or 
other engines can only be run at prohibitive cost, 
the light inexpensive Diesel motor can readily 
be installed. They are now very generally used 
in Denmark, and the market for them increases 
every year. Small co-operative societies often 
buy them, the members using the power provided 
at the usual rates. At the end of the year profits 
are divided. 

The Diesel engine is a four-stroke internal com- 
bustion engine working with oil in its crude state, 
and of vertical pattern to save floor space and to 
avoid wear and tear on cylinder walls caused by 
the weight of the piston moving to and fro in 
horizontal cylinders. 

There are no sparking coils, ignition plugs, car- 
buretters or vaporisers, the ignition being effected 
by the mixing of hot air and oil dust. This means 
added safety in the working of the motor, as there 

D. Q 



242 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

is no explosion such as occurs in other types of 
oil or gas engines working with igniting apparatus. 
Furthermore, the combustion is absolutely com- 
plete, no residue being left behind in the cylinder. 
The oil is used in the liquid state, not being first 
vaporised as in other motors. 

The chief advantages of the Diesel engine, as 
applied to ships, are the complete and ready 
interchangeability of all parts, the extreme sim- 
plicity of the plant, and its absolute reliability. 
There is no steam to get up, and no large staff of 
boilermen or grimy engineers is required. A great 
liner can be started in less than half a minute, and 
the engine is always ready to begin work even after 
months of idleness. A few motormen can work 
a io,ooo-ton boat round the world. The first 
man to realise the practical importance of this 
engine was the subject of this present sketch, 
while the first great steamship company to put 
one of the engines upon an ocean-going vessel 
was the East Asiatic Company of Copenhagen, 
who in igii placed an order with Burmeister and 
"Wain for a large liner to be fitted with Diesel 
motors. The Selandia was the result. 

She was built in fourteen months, and went out 
to sea a year before any other oil-driven vessel. 
She is 370 feet in length, 53 feet in beam.and 30 feet 
in depth. Her draught is 23 feet 6 inches and 
dead-weight capacity 7,400 tons. She is fitted 
with two Diesel engines, showing a total indicated 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 243 

aorse-power of 2,500, each engine possessing 
;ight cylinders. Her speed is twelve knots. The 
Selandia's trial voyage was, of course, historic in 
:he annals of shipping, as she represented a revolu- 
:ion in construction, and her early career was 
:herefore watched with intense interest. From the 
irst she proved an unquaUfied success. The East 
\siatic Company promptly followed her up by 
jlacing orders for other similar vessels. Knudsen 
aunched the Christian X. in 1912. This ship was 
subsequently purchased by the Hamburg- America 
ine, and in their service has made three completely 
iuccessful voyages from Hamburg to New York, 
hen being transferred to the North South American 
rade, where she is still giving every satisfaction to 
ler owners. 

The Nordstjernan Company, a wealthy Swedish 
ine, ordered six of these vessels, two of which have 
)een launched, and the remainder are to follow by 
he end of 1914 The Fionia, built for the East 
Asiatic Company, and which represents the latest 
ievelopment in oil-driven liners, left the slips in 
eptember, 1913. 

It has often been stated that the motor ship will 
Doner or later entirely supplant the steamship. 
Jut this is hardly possible. For long journeys and 
3r cargo boats up to 10,000 tons the Diesel 
lotor possesses advantages which every ship- 
wner concedes. The cost in fuel alone on a 

02 



244 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

boat such as the Selandia is ^^60 a day less than on 
a steamer of the same size. Then the oil fuel being 
carried in the double bottom of the ship a great 
saving of space results, a fact which has been 
appreciated by tramp owners. As the oil is used 
up the tanks are filled by sea water, which then 
acts as ballast. The Selandia can take in her 
full quota of oil in two and a half hours. She can, 
for example, fill her tanks in Borneo, travel to 
Antwerp or Liverpool with a cargo of rubber, 
copra, or Eastern produce, unload there, and then 
continue the voyage to Cahfornia with European 
manufactured goods, thus completing the journey 
round the world on one supply of fuel. In Cali- 
fornia she loads oil again. This feat is absolutely 
impossible for any steamship. The saving both 
of time and money is of course considerable. An 
oil -driven boat of the Selandia t3rpe can travel to 
Bangkok (Siam) and back four times in the year. 
The journey from Copenhagen to California takes 
forty-two days, and is generally performed without 
a stop. For tramps and general cargo boats, 
therefore, the merits of the oil engine have been 
sufficiently demonstrated, but for great passenger 
linere, where speed is of more consequence than 
expense, the steam engine will doubtless retain 
its present supremacy. 

Herr Knudsen's firm now have orders for motor- 
driven vessels up to and including 1917, and it 
may therefore be justly claimed that the oil engine 



RECENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 245 

I ships is firmly established. The credit for this 
reat achievement belongs very largely to the 
titerprising Copenhagen shipowners and ship- 
uilders, who were the first to courageously back 
heir opinions by putting the engine on the market 
nd the ships on the sea. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ROYAL DANISH PORCELAIN 

Louis Fournier and pdte tendres — Frantz Heinrich Miiller's 
Genius and Courage — Retail Business opened in 
Copenhagen — Miiller's Technical Achievements — 
The " Flora Danica " Service — ^Blue and White 
Underglazed Painted Porcelain — ^The Period of Deca- 
dence— Hetch and the "Empire" Style— The 
" Arctic Night " of Danish Ceramics — PhUip Schou 
and the Renaissance — ^Arnold Krog — ^The Paris 
Exposition of 1889 — ^The Golden Age — Individuality 
and National Sentiment — Dalgas — The Creative 
Artist. 

It has often been said that Denmark has no 
distinctive national art. This may be true when 
applied to the present decade of painters or 
sculptors. But a visit to the Royal Copenhagen 
Porcelain Factory demonstrates that Denmark 
possesses at least one supremely beautiful and 
national art — the art of the potter. The porcelain 
produced by this factory during the two periods 
1775 — 1802 and from 1890 to the present day 
ranks with Sevres and Dresden, Meissen and 
Wedgwood. 

The first Danish porcelain was made in 1760, 
during the regime of the famous Louis Fournier. 
This brilliant Frenchman was in charge of the 



ROYAL DANISH PORCELAIN 247 

Lctory erected by Frederik V. about 1758, Only 
)me twenty authentic pieces from this period are 
nown to exist at present. These early creations 
'ere not true porcelain, but what is called pdte 
mdres, or soft paste. The modelling, design, and 
olouring were imitative, and although they were 
f wonderful beauty for such early examples, they 
rere not distinctly national in character. The 
•"ournier period did not last long, concluding, 
.pproximately, with the death of Frederik V. in 
766, when, after a brief struggle against growing 
inancial difficulties, the factory ceased work. 

In 1775 Frantz Heinrich Miiller, a young Danish 
:hemist, founded a small company for the manu- 
'acture of porcelain. He obtained a monopoly 
n all the dominions of the King of Denmark, and 
t was this small company which later developed 
.nto the great factory whose name is known 
throughout the world wherever there are potters, 
Dr artists, or collectors. Miiller early succeeded 
in producing some very beautiful specimens. 
His genius and his courage in the face of great 
difficulties and opposition won him the admiration 
of his contemporaries and the recognition of con- 
noiseurs. During the first four years of the exist- 
ence of the factory its financial position grew 
weaker and weaker, and it was not until Chris- 
tian VII. had paid the debts and the concern had 
been taken over by the State that it may be said 
to have become firmly established. Miiller con- 



248 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

tinued to manage the factory, and in 1780 a retail 
business was opened in Copenhagen, an event 
which proved the turning point in the financial 
history of the firm. Miiller's productions began 
to be known, and in time he came to be acclaimed 
a genius in the ceramic art. Towards the end of 
the Miiller period the Royal Copenhagen Factory 
took its place beside the other great factories of 
Europe. 

The technical achievements of this master 
potter were to perfect the body and the glaze of 
the porcelain, to introduce exquisite gilding, and 
to create a national style. In 1790 the importa- 
tion of foreign porcelain into Denmark was pro- 
hibited. In 1801 Miiller retired from the factory. 

Between 1790 and 1802 was executed the famous 
" Flora Danica " service as a gift from the Crown 
Prince Frederik to the Empress Catherine 11. of 
Russia. It was designed as a magnificent present 
to a powerful monarch. The death of Catherine 
in 1796 did not, however, stop the execution of the 
work, and when it was finally completed it num- 
bered between two and three thousand pieces. 
Upon this porcelain is painted, in natural colours, 
representations of all the principal flora of Den- 
mark. The work was carried out under the super- 
vision of the botanist Theodor Holmskjold and 
the painter A. C. Bayer. Notwithstanding its 
scientific accuracy and a certain stiffness, which 
was perhaps unavoidable, it remains the greatest 



ROYAL DANISH PORCELAIN 249 

chievement in Danish ceramic art, and may be 
istly compared with the celebrated pate tendres 
hvxes service (1778) and the Wedgwood dinner 
jrvice (1774), both of which may now be found 
1 the Imperial Palace of St. Petersburg. 

Blue and white underglazed painted porcelain 
ow began to be recognised as the characteristic 
ational production of the Danish factory. The 
riginal design is said to be of Chinese origin. 
Ir. Arthur Hayden, to whom all art connoisseurs 
re tremendously indebted for his authoritative 
lOok on Copenhagen porcelain, has compeired the 
)anish copy and the Chinese design by saying 
hat they bear the same relationship to works 
Q literature where the translation is generally 
dmitted to be greater than the original. 

Following the retirement of Miiller in 1801, a 
)eriod of decadence set in. In 1807, at the bom- 
)ardment of Copenhagen by the EngUsh, much of 
he factory and many of its finest treasures were 
mfortunately destroyed. Evil days followed both 
inancially and artistically. In 1824 Herr G. 
letch became director, and the so-called Empire 
tyle was introduced. The designs were both heavy 
,nd artificial, and for more than fifty years what 
las been described as the " Arctic night " of Danish 
eramics held the luckless factory in its relentless 
;rip. 

At length, however, in 1883, PhiUp Schou became 
ttanager, and two years later Arnold Krog was 



250 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

appointed art director. These two men between 
them effected the renaissance of Danish porcelain. 
Schou was intensely modern. He erected work- 
shops containing the latest equipment. His kilns 
were of the newest design. He spent money like 
water. He developed a new technique, and in 
1889 the Copenhagen products gained a triumph 
at the great International Paris Exposition which 
astonished and confounded the artistic world. The 
older factories in Europe found themselves hope- 
lessly antiquated in the face of the intense and 
beautiful modern work of the new Danish potters. 
Copenhagen had added a fresh and glorious page 
to the history of the development of European 
ceramic art. 

The years between 1890 and 1902 are regarded 
as the golden age of the modem renaissance. 
Classic, stereotyped, and ornamental styles were 
abandoned. A realistic gripping of nature was 
sought after and obtained. National sentiment 
became the dominant note. Schou and Krog 
created a ceramic art forceful and original, tem- 
peramental and poetic, unfettered by tradition 
and, most important of all, Scandinavian in its 
aim and outlook. 

To-day Copenhagen is the leading porcelain 
factory in Europe. Herr Frederik Dalgas, the 
present director, is a worthy successor of Schou 
and Miiller. The spirit of these mighty potters is 
faithfully venerated, though much new and original 



ROYAL DANISH PORCELAIN 251 

ork is being done. It is a notable characteristic 
: the Danish people to feariessly and continually 
low their individuality its fullest scope. With 
lis object in view, each artist, designer, painter or 
julptor in the factory is permitted a free hand to 
■ork out his own ideas. His work-rooms are as 
eautiful as his products. He is, indeed, a free 
id unfettered artist in the completest sense, 
erhaps that is the reason why his productions, 
'hich may now be found in every museum or 
jUection of any importance in the world, repre- 
;nt the highest type of modern national and crea- 
ive art. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE PRESS 

General Characteristics — Berlingske Tidende — The 
Nationaltidende — Vort Land — PoUtiken — The Harms- 
worth of Danish Daily Journalism — ^The Introduction 
of the English System — Extrdbladet — Social Demo- 
kraten — Kobenhavn — HSvedstaden — ^The Provincial 
Press — Periodical and Technical Journals. 

Danish newspapers and periodicals afford many 
interesting points of comparison with the journal- 
istic enterprises of the larger countries. In the 
first place, they are of a more local and chatty 
character ; there is no large background — every- 
thing is viewed at extremely close quarters. In 
Copenhagen many mediocrities, who in London or 
Paris would never attract press notice, are often 
interviewed ; their sayings are reported in full, 
while their photographs adorn the pages of the 
principal dailies. This is perhaps inevitable in a 
small country, but it often proves very amusing 
to the foreign visitor. If a premiere at one of the 
theatres is to be criticised, one usually finds a great 
portion of the report devoted to an account of the 
notabihties present, with minute descriptions of 
the toilettes of the ladies. A sick-club or a local 
bank holds its annual meeting, and matter which 



THE PRESS 253 

in English paper would relegate to a few lines on 
the financial page Is in Denmark fully reported, 
ivith photographs of all the secretaries, managers, 
directors and lawyers concerned. 

Notwithstanding these little peculiarities, the 
press of Denmark is in an exceedingly healthy 
condition. The quantity and the style of the 
presentation of home news is admirable, while 
the leading papers are well informed and fairly 
quick with their service of foreign news. The 
majority of them are well printed, and in this 
respect compare favourably with the German 
papers. The total number of dailies in Deimiark 
is 300, which, in relation to a population of less 
than 3,000,000, is a strikingly high figure. 

The oldest of the daily papers at present in 
existence is the Berlingske Tidende, which was 
established in 1749, thirty-five years before the 
Times appeared in London. It is a moderate 
Conservative organ, deriving its support principally 
from the great landowners who constituted the 
majority of the Upper House. It has belonged to 
the Berling family ever since its foundation. Its 
spedaHties are foreign and financial news, and as 
it has very intimate connections with the various 
European bourses, it commands a great circulation 
among the business people of the Danish capital. 
It has morning and evening editions, the former 
constituting the finest advertising medium to be 
found in Scandinavia. On political and economic 



254 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

questions it is somewhat ponderous, but it deals 
with Hterature, music, art and the stage in a 
more entertaining manner. 

The Nationaltidende is a journal with somewhat 
similar characteristics, but it is much younger. 
If the Berlingske Tidende represents the great 
landowners, the Nationaltidende may be said to be 
the organ of the wealthy classes in the towns. 
This paper also has two big editions daily, and 
several smaller and cheaper editions, devoted to 
special purposes. The morning and evening edi- 
tions of both Berlingske Tidende and National- 
tidende cost 5 ore, or about two-thirds of a 
penny, per copy. Both papers issue a special 
weekly sheet for women, and in their ordinary 
editions devotes special sections to law, shipping 
and agriculture. 

The third Conservative paper in Copenhagen is 
Vort Land, the organ of the extreme wing of the 
party. In the main this journal supports the 
policy of the late ultra-Conservative leader, Estrup, 
and although poUtically it has some influence, it 
does not possess the strong financial backing of the 
two others mentioned. 

The Liberal-Radical party have only one paper in 
the metropohs, and that is the well-known journal 
Politiken. Next to Social Demokraten it has the 
greatest circulation in Denmark, about 50,000 
copies daily. It sprang into existence about 
thirty years ago, with the then Radical leader 



THE PRESS 255 

ggo Horup as editor. Later it came into the 
nds of Dr. Edvard Brandes, and now it is 
Qtrolled by Herr Cavling, the Harmsworth of 
mish daily journahsm. The PoUUken is the 
5st modern and cosmopoHtan newspaper in 
andinavia, and among those who regularly 
atribute to its columns may be found many of 
3 most important names in Danish hterature 
d art, political and social movements. This 
imal was responsible for the introduction into 
snmark of the peculiarly English system of 
all pages, prominent headlines and illustrations. 

Herr Cavling belongs much of the credit for 
J present strong position of his property. He 
3 throughout been more interested in modernis- 
; Danish methods than in gaining poUtical 
luence for himself. And it has thus come about 
it the circulation of the Politiken is not by any 
ans limited to the party whose organ it is. 
ny people read it for its smart and lively style, 

political editorials not being considered so 
portant as its exceedingly clever presentation 
general home and foreign news. 
The same may be said of the afternoon paper 
'rabladet, the Evening News of Copenhagen, a 
)er commenced during the Russo-Japanese 
' by the proprietors of Politiken. It gained 
immediate success, and now has a circulation 
ceding 50,000, an immense figure for Denmark, 
:osts about one farthing, and appears in the 



256 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

streets of Copenhagen at three and six o'clock in 
the afternoon. 

Social Demokraten, the paper with the greatest 
circulation in Scandinavia, is a Socialist-Labour 
organ of great weight in the trade unions and 
among the working classes in Copenhagen and the 
larger towns. It sells 60,000 copies daily. 

The Centre party, although it is not by any 
means flourishing in the capital, yet controls a 
daily journal, Kobenhavn, with a powerful follow- 
ing. This paper costs only 3 ore, and, Uke Politiken, 
is remarkable not so much for its editorial policy as 
for its smartly written news matter. Its circula- 
tion is practically restricted to the middle classes. 
Upon its staff are many distinguished journalists. 

A new daily appeared about two years ago with 
a strongly national and religious policy. It is 
called Hovedstaden, and was at first run upon non- 
party lines, but has latterly inclined to the Centre 
group. The chief point in its propaganda appears 
to be an agitation in favour of a stronger military 
defence of the country. 

Outside Copenhagen there are many daily news- 
papers almost as influential as those of the capital. 
The chief of these are the Aarhus SHftstidende and 
the Aalborg SHftstidende, both of them old, Con- 
servative, and fairly wealthy so far as newspaper 
properties go in Denmark. The Jyllandsposten is 
a morning paper of good standing published in 
Aarhus. It gives the best commercial and foreign 



THE PRESS 257 

elligetice of all the country newspapers. Other 
imals of a similar character are the Aalborg 
ttstidende, the Aarhus Amtstidende, and Fyens 
iende. Finally, there is the Berg press, an 
portant group of papers spread over the whole 
intry. They were founded by the old Centre 
,der. Berg, and are now controlled by his son. 
The periodicals and technical journals are not 
merous. For the most part they have to 
uggle fiercely for existence, and cannot be com- 
red to those of England, Germany, France or 
3 United States. Verden og Vi is the most 
)dern and interesting. The Familie Journal and 
'emmet are popular weeklies, each with a cir- 
liation exceeding 200,000. Illustreret Tidende 
itates such papers as the Graphic and the Illus- 
ied London News. There are only two good 
mthUes, Tilskueren and Gads danske Magasin. 
it they are both inchned to be academic rather 
an popular, and their circulation is therefore 
)re Umited than it might otherwise be. Finally, 
jntion must be made of Klods-Hans, the Danish 
inch, a cleverly conducted journal. 



PART V 
FINANCE AND INDUSTRY 



R2 



CHAPTER XX 

STATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE 

Dortions of Direct and Indirect Taxes — ^The Acts of 
1903 and 1912 — ^The Tariff Law of 1908 — Fluctuations 
in the Relative Values of Land — ^Uniform and Quin- 
quennial Assessments — Capital Value of Estates in 
Denmark — Graduated Income Tax and System of 
Abatements — Limited Companies — Legacy, Custom 
and Constmiption Duties — Tax on Motor Cars — 
Amusement Tax — Railways — ^The Post Ofl&ce-r- 
Lotteries — ^The National Bank — ^Telegraphs — ^Ex- 
penditure on Social and Productive Purposes — ^The 
Fortification of Copenhagen and the Naval and 
Mihtary Charges — Support of Trades and Industries 
— ^Agricultural Subsidies ■ — Reclamation Works — 
Fishing, Lightships, Lighthouses, Mail Routes, etc. — 
Hospitals, Lunatic Asylirais and Old Age Pensions — 
Educational Grants — Interest on the National Debt 
— ^Analysis of the Danish Budget — ^Municipal Income 
Tax — Debts of Danish Municipalities. 

lS in the Budgets of other countries, so in that 
Denmark, the taxes constitute the major por- 
i of the State's income. Of these taxes three- 
rters are obtained indirectly ; the remaining 
rter is in the form of direct taxation. Per 
d of the population the Dane suffers only 
:e-fifths of the average tax which the Englishr 
1 pays, 
he most important of the financial reforms 



262 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

carried through in recent years in Denmark were 
those embodied in the Acts of 1903 and 1912 and 
the tariff law of 1908. The Act of 1903 was 
part of the great scheme to remove the economic 
burdens on the land, and it was carried through 
at the same time as the abohtion of ecclesiastical 
tithes. Before 1903 taxes on property and land 
had been payable on a valuation made in 1840, 
and in this matter the Danish reformers experienced 
precisely the same difficulty that we are experi- 
encing in England to-day, a fluctuation in relative 
values. Land which in 1840 possessed little or no 
value had now become very valuable, yet it paid 
no tax ; on the other hand, land assessed highly 
in 1840 had diminished in value, and was conse- 
quently paying a tax which was both dispro- 
portionate and unjust. To get over this difficulty 
a system of quinquennial assessment was devised, 
and a uniform tax of i*i per thousand imposed on 
the estimated capital value of all estates — ^including 
lands and buildings — ^under the new assessment. 
The present figure for the capital value of all 
estates in Denmark stands at £350,000,000. 

Direct taxation on income is levied at a rate 
of 1*4 per cent, per annum for incomes under £55, 
increasing according to a graduated scale to 5 per 
cent, for incomes over £11,000. The first £45 is 
always exempted from taxation, while there are 
additional allowances of about £5 for each child 
under the age of fifteen years. 



TATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE 263 

he profits of limited companies are taxed at 
rate of 3 per cent, after the provision of a 
er cent, dividend for the shareholders. This 
ipany tax brings in about 1,250,000 kroner 
),ooo) annually to the Treasury. 
If indirect taxes legacy, custom, and consump- 
L duties are the most important. The legacy 
ies have recently been increased, and are now 
rged at a rate varying from i to 3 per cent., 
ording to the amount of the estate, provided it 
olves upon the children of the legator ; from 
) 6 per cent, if it devolves upon the parents or 
thers and sisters of the legator ; from 7 to 
>er cent, if it comes to grandparents, uncles, 
its, or relations of the same consanguinity as 
se ; finally, from 10 to 12 per cent, if it is 
[ueathed to still more distant relatives, or per- 
s who are not relatives at all. Legacies to 
ipitals are uniformly taxed at the rate of 10 per 
It. 

"ustoms duties in Denmark provide about a 
rd of the State's income, notwithstanding that 
Act of 1908 reduced the tariff considerably. At 
! present time most of the necessary articles of 
ly use are admitted free, e.g., foodstuffs, meat, 
jr, coal, petrol, while the duty on manufactured 
tal goods has been reduced by about one-half, 
e Act, however, increased the tobacco duties, 
i imposed a heavy tax upon imported cigarettes 
from 10 to 25 per cent, of the value. Speaking 



264 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

generally, Danish customs dues are levied accord- 
ing to weight, but in some instances they are 
specifically charged according to Value. Under 
this 1908 Act the dues average nearly 5 per cent, 
of the total imports. Formerly the figure was 
nearly 8 per cent. 

So far as consumption duties are concerned, 
spirits are rather heavily taxed, although the duty 
on pure spirit is only about one-tenth of that 
charged in England. The amount is fixed at 
3s. per gallon, but the greater part will be repaid 
on a declaration that the spirit will not be used for 
drinking purposes. The duty on beer is one of the 
highest in the world, and as Danish people con- 
sume great quantities of this hquor, the yield is 
important to the Treasury. Finally, sugar is 
dutiable, both imported and home-produced. 

There is a tax on motor cars, but it is not impor- 
tant. Motor lorries or haulage waggons for com- 
mercial purposes do not suffer so heavily in this 
respect as cars kept for pleasure. A 10 per cent, 
amusement tax has recently come into force. It 
appHes to theatres and concert-haUs. A heavier 
tax of 20 per cent, is levied on biographs, music- 
halls, circus shows, etc. Both the taxes on motor 
cars and on amusements are divided equally 
between the State and municipaUties. 

The remainder of the income of the Danish 
Treasury is derived from the railways, the Post 
Office, the lotteries, and the National Bank. More 



5TATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE 265 

in one-half of the railways and all the great 
nk-lines belong to the State. The income last 
ir exceeded £350,000, but owing to the recent 
•round increase in fares, it is anticipated that the 
>fit for the forthcoming and subsequent years 
1 reach from £500,000 to £550,000. The capital 
ested in Danish State railways amounts to 
),ooo,ooo. The total mileage is 2,000. Some 
;s, although not State-owned, are partially 
,te-supported in that the Treasury have acquired 
m 25 to 75 per cent, of the shares. 
The Post Office and telegraphs are not propor- 
lately so profitable as in England. Together 
y bring in about £100,000 a year. 
Another much-discussed source of income is 
levy on the State lottery and the stamp 
y on the lottery tickets. The former brings 
^85,000 and the latter £100,000 a year. This 
:ery has existed for some 150 years, and although 
aboHtion has often been mooted, it is still 
lined, the defence being that were there no 
1-conducted and genuine lottery those people 
3 will gamble would throw away their money in 
idulent German or Austrian lotteries. This 
ament is supported by the interesting fact that 
usands of Danish lottery tickets are sold annu- 
in Sweden, where this form of speculation is 
permitted. The Swedish Government is re- 
ted to be considering the advisability of re- 
iblishing its own lottery. It is quite certain 



266 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

that no more money is wasted on this form of 
gambling in those countries where it is carried on 
than is, for example, spent in backing horses in 
England, while the lottery, if well conducted, has 
certain advantages which cannot be discovered in 
connection with the turf in our own country. The 
profits go to the State and not to bookmakers, 
and granted that a very large section of the public 
will gamble, there is much to say for a system of 
organised State lotteries. 

In addition to the above lottery, there is in 
Denmark another which is called the National 
Industrial Lottery, in which the prizes are pro- 
ducts of Danish manufacture. The profits are 
devoted to supporting evening schools for young 
hand-workers. Two smaller lotteries are privately 
controlled, but must contribute a fixed proportion 
of their income, the one to (a) the Treasury, and 
(b) the support of small holders, and the other to 
the Treasury of the Danish West Indian Islands. 

The final item upon the income side of the Danish 
Budget is an amount of ;^45,ooo received annually 
from the National Bank for its sole right to issue 
notes. This sum is fixed at ;f42,ooo with an addi- 
tion of one-quarter of the profits after the share- 
holders have received a 6 per cent, dividend and 
certain allocations have been made to the reserve 
funds of the Bank. 

Coming now to the expenditure of income, we 
find that the Danish State in comparison with other 



STATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE 267 

:es spends a much greater proportion upon 
al and productive purposes, and less upon 
tary and unproductive purposes. The ordi- 
f military expenditure has during the last forty 
rs only increased from los. to 12s. per inhabit- 
, a striking contrast to the figures of England, 
nee or Germany. It is true that an Act of 
9 provided an extraordinary expenditure of 
750,000 for the fortification of Copenhagen, to 
spread over a number of years. Notwithstand- 
this sum, the military and naval charges amount 
ether to only one-quarter of the Budget, 
considerable sums are spent in supporting cer- 
1 trades and industries. Agriculture receives 
lually some £225,000; planting of heath land 
i reclamation works appropriate £100,000 ; 
ling receives £25,000 (including insurance for 
es, boats and tackle) ; £150,000 is allocated 

lightships, hfeboat services and the Uke in 
inection with the work of safeguarding 
J dangerous West Jutland coast. The mail 
ites between Denmark and England are also 
pported by substantial subsidies, in order 

give the Danish farmers an opportunity of 
eping the valuable English market for their 
iry produce. 

Social work takes 30 per cent, of the State's 
:ome, 5 per cent, being devoted to old age pen- 
)ns. Hospitals and lunatic asylimis receive 
tween 6 and 7 per cent., national folk-schools 



268 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

the same amount, scientific education and the 
arts about 5 per cent. The interest on the National 
Debt appropriates 10 per cent. 

Summarising, it may be said that the following 
table represents roughly the allocation of the 
funds of the Danish Budget : — 

Per cent. 

To the support of trade and industry 
directly 10 

For purposes of social betterment 
and amelioration . . . . . • 30 

Army and navy votes . . • • 30 

Administration (Civil Service, police, 
pensions, etc) . . . . . . 20 

Interest on National Debt . . . . 10 

There has not been a surplus on the Budget for 
many years, owing partly to the extraordinary 
mihtary expenses already mentioned, and partly 
to the very considerable support which the 
Treasury gave the banks during the Alberti crisis 
in 1908. New loans have recently been raised, 
and the National Debt has therefore been greatly 
increased. In 1864, after the German war, it was 
about £15,000,000. Between 1864 and 1880 it 
was diminished to £10,000,000, partly at the ex- 
pense of the reserve funds and partly by the fact 
that Sleswick and Holstein took over a portion. 
In 1890 the debt stood at about the same figure as 
in 1880, but between 1900 and the present time it 
has again risen, and now stands at £19,500,000. 



STATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE 269 

The greater part of the debt is placed in France, 
m which country Denmark obtains most of her 
ns : £6,500,000 is at 3 per cent. ; £9,000,000 
3| per cent. ; while the last £4,500,000 was 
:ained at 4 per cent. Speaking generally, most 
the loans commanded good prices, e.g., from 
to 96 per cent, for 3 J per cent, bonds. The most 
ent loan, hpwever, was not obtained upon such 
ourable terms, the price being only 93^ per 
it. Against the debt the Treasury owns real 
»perty to the value of £50,000,000 in land, 
ildings, etc. 

!t was generally beUeved in financial circles that 
new loans would be necessary for a period 
several years, and last year's Budget showed 
jurplus. The yield from the new taxes will 
ibably be more than at first estimated. As 
apared with other coimtries, the Danish National 
bt is not large. It works out at £6 los. per 
abitant, and in this connection it must not 
overlooked that Denmark has invested much 
ney in such undertakings as railways and small 
dings, which in England are left to private 
iative. 

fuming to local finance, we find that the income 
he municipahties is derived from rates and from 
nicipal enterprises, such as trams and water, 
, and electricity works. The rates are levied 
h on persons and properties, the corporation 
ig free to decide the amounts necessary to 



270 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

meet the expenses of the year. The municipal 
income tax permits of an exemption of the first 
5^50, and an additional allowance of £5 for each 
child. Over and above these amounts the rates, 
for example, in Copenhagen vary from i to 6 per 
cent, according to the extent of the income. 
If 6 per cent, is insufficient to cover the year's 
expenses, it may be increased. But if the increase 
reaches 20 per cent, of tax received for the preceding 
year, an appeal must first be made to the voters, 
the new council then deciding whether the proposed 
increase be sanctioned or not. 

In provincial towns a somewhat different method 
obtains. The rate is the same for all incomes, but 
it varies from 5 to 10 per cent, in different parts of 
the country. The assessors are permitted to add 
up to 25 per cent, to the nominal amount of income 
for the purposes of taxation, or, on the other hand, 
to reduce the amount by 65 per cent, in certain 
well-defined cases. Unmarried persons or per- 
sons with abnormally large incomes have 25 per 
cent, added to their incomes for the purpose of 
assessment, while large families with small incomes 
receive a corresponding reduction in the assess- 
ment. Each person is compelled by statute to 
make a return of his income to the appointed 
assessors, failing which it is officially estimated, and 
the delinquent has to pay on the estimated figtire. 
In many municipaUties a further 50 per cent, is 
added to the assessment value if the income is 



STATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE 27T 

ived from interest on bonds or shares, 35 per 
t. if from house or landed properties. 
The total debt of Danish municipalities is 
1,000,000, most of which is with the Danish 
iks. The debt has increased very much in the 
t twenty years, owing to the fact that most 
nicipalities now own emd control gas, water, 
I electricity works, schools and hospitals. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE BANKS 

e National Bank— Disorganised Cohdition of Danish 
Finances before 1818 — ^The State becomes Bankrupt 
— Object of the National Bank — ^Mortgages on 
Landed Property — Gold Reserve — Notes — Charac- 
teristics of Danish Banks — ^The Private Bank of 
Copenhagen — C. F. Tietgen — ^Successful Promotion 
of Public Companies — ^The Landmans Bank — The 
Handler Bank — Liquidations — ^The Efiect of the 
Alberti Crisis — Causes of the Monetary Strain of 1907 
— ^The Crash of 1908 — ^Speculative Financiers — ^The 
Position To-day — Savings Banks. 

The leading financial institution in Denmark is 
e National Bank, a private bank with a capital 
£1,500,000. It was established in 1818. Before 
lat time Danish finances were unorganised and 
a state of unusual confusion. A private bank 
liich had been founded a century earlier had 
jcome bankrupt and been taken over by the 
;ate, which in its turn had become bankrupt in 
}i3. The result was that the country was 
)oded with paper money with no funds to cover 
. At this juncture the National Bank came into 
dstence with the object of repa5dng the notes 
ten in circulation with 10 per cent, in notes 
sued by itself. As security for the new notes a 
.ortgage of 6 per cent, was laid upon all the landed 



THE BANKS 273 

property in the country, the properties receiving 
shares in the Bank according to the proportionate 
amount of the mortgage. This experiment proved 
completely successful. After a few years the new 
Bank began to pay dividends, and has done so 
ever since. It had been granted, for a period of 
ninety years up to 1908, the sole right to issue 
notes in Denmark. In igo8 this monopoly was 
renewed for a further thirty years, on condition 
that the Bank always keeps a gold reserve of at 
least one-half of the nominal amount of the notes 
issued, and possesses in addition easily realisable 
securities covering the remaining half in the pro- 
portion of 125 kroner to each 100 kroner of notes 
issued. The Bank pays annually about £40,000 
to the State for this privilege, and a further 25 per 
cent, of the profit after 6 per cent, has been 
released in dividends to the shareholders. Under 
special circumstances the stipulation as to the 
proportion of gold reserve may be changed by 
arrangement with the Government, but in that 
case the Banl^ is under an obligation to pay to the 
Treasury a levy of 5 per cent, per annum on the 
amount which is not covered. Of the five gover- 
nors two are personally nominated by the King. 
Nearly ^^8,000,000 in notes has been issued, to 
cover which the Bank possesses some £5,000,000 in 
gold, a reserve greater than that stipulated. The 
dividend is generally between 7 and 8 per cent, 
per annum. 
D. s 



'4 DENMARK AND THE DANES" 

For about thirty years the National Bank was 
e only institution of its kind in Denmark, and 

was not until 1846 that a second bank was 
unded. Yet now there are more than 150 banks 

the country. Many towns of from 3,000 to 
000 inhabitants possess two banks. They are 
nerally S;mall, however, and purely local in their 
)erations. The great banks bperate only in the 
pital, and do not, to the same extent as 
aglish banks, establish county or provincial 
anches. 

The J'rivate Bank of Copenhagen, which has a 
dd-up capital of £2,000,000, was founded in 
157 by Herr C F. Tietgen, perhaps the greatest 
anish financier of modern times. In the years 
llowing 1864, when there was an abnormal 
owth in Danish industry, and when commercial 
velopment proceeded with tremendous rapidity, 
is Bank was the leading financial institution in 
andinavia, and through it Tietgen promoted 
ose great and successful undertakings, the Great 
arthern Telegraph Company, the United Steam- 
ip Company, and the Danish Sugar Manufactory, 
ch of which now has a capital of over £1,000,000. 
The richest Bank in Denmark at the present time 

the Landmandsbank, established in 1871 by 
srr I. Gliickstadt, a financier who is also con- 
cted with a great many of the most successful 
rnish commercial enterprises : the East Asiatic 
impany, the Copenhagen Free Harbour, etc. 



THE BANKS 275 

Herr Gliickstadt was succeeded by his son, Herr 
E. Gliickstadt, a man of great initiative and energy. 
The Landmandsbank has a capital of £4,000,000, 
and, unlike most other Danish banks, operates 
about twenty branches in the country. 

The third great Bank in Denmark is the Handels 
Bank, controlled by Herr Damm, the greatest 
living authority on banking and finance in Den- 
mark. This institution has a capital of £1,500,000, 
with a reserve of £500,000, and may be termed the 
Bank of the great co-operative undertakings. 

As has already been stated, the country banks are 
small, the largest possessing a capital of but 
£350,000, while the general average capital may 
be computed at from £5,000 to £20,000. Not- 
withstanding their smallness, there have only 
been some three or four liquidations during fifty 
years. 

The Alberti crisis led many observers to suppose 
that Danish finance was essentially unsound. An 
impartial examination however proves that in the 
main the financial institutions of Denmark have 
been built up and developed along normal lines, 
and that to-day they are in a position relatively 
as strong as the leading banks in the larger States 
of Europe. 

The underlying cause of the monetary strain of 
1907 is not far to seek, and its effect can be better 
understood now than formerly. The years pre- 
ceding the crisis had been years of unexampled 

s 2 



6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

asperity, of commercial expansion, and of rapid 
urease in the number and output of industrial 
dertakings. To meet the changed outlook 
i^eral iiew banks sprang into being, the prin- 
)al of which were the Central Bank, the Detail- 
ndler Bank, and the Grundejer Bank. At first 
ese institutions were carefully managed and paid 
ill. After a time, however, their directors, 
[led into a sense of false security by good returns, 
d honestly believing that this abnormal period 
)uld continue, endeavoured to extend their opera- 
ms, and instead of preparing for the inevitable 
action, as did the older banks, sought to advance 
ore rapidly than natural development warranted. 
They financed a host of infant undertakings, 
id even engaged in building operations on a large 
ale. Almost all this business has since proved 
be sound, but at the time it was more than the 
>ung banks could stand. In order to obtain 
oney to finance their various schemes they in- 
eased their capital and offered higher rates for 
jposits than did the older banks. Then in 1907 the 
scount reached an .unparalleled height, money 
jcame scarcer and scarcer, and the new banks, 
hose investments were in securities upon which 
ley could not realise, were of course the first to 
el the effect of the tightened market. The 
rst institution which failed to meet its obUgations, 
id was compelled to close its doors, was the Central 
ank, the smallest of the three above mentioned. 



THE BANKS 277 

It was eventually taken over by the Private Bank, 
which guaranteed the depositors, who thus lost 
nothing. The shareholders, however, suffered a 
loss of 95 per cent, of their holdings. In the 
liquidation proceedings it appeared that the Bank 
itself possessed the major portion of its own shares, 
having purchased them in the open market in 
order to send up the price. The public, there- 
fore, were not badly hit in this particular failure. 
But half a year later, in the early months of 
1908, came the great crash, the Detailhandler 
Bank and the Grundejer Bank simultaneously 
stopping payment. In order to allay somewhat the 
resultant panic, and if possible to prevent a general 
run on the other Copenhagen banks, the Govern- 
ment immediately entered into negotiations with 
the old-established banks in the metropoUs. They 
were five in number. The outcome of the negotia- 
tions was that the Treasury, in conjunction with 
the five banks, agreed to indemnify all depositors, 
the State taking over one-half of the Uabihty and 
each of the five banks one-tenth. In this way the 
depositors were saved from loss. The Grundejer 
Bank will ultimately be able to pay a composition 
of some 4s. in the pound to its shareholders, but the 
shares of the Detailhandler Bank are scarcely 
worth the paper they are inscribed upon . The total 
Uabihty thrown upon the Treasury and the five 
banks by this crash was about ;£i,500,ooo. 
Since 1908 Denmark has been slowly recovering 



8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

)m the effects of the lamentable speculations of 
r younger financiers, and to-day the position 
pears to be thoroughly sound. The older banks 
ve now recovered their prestige, and, speaking 
nerally, the methods employed both in finance 
d in business are more conservative than they 
;re before the crisis. 

The Savings Banks at the present moment 
ntain deposits of more than £45,000,000, and 
issess reserves exceeding £3,000,000. They are 
n on somewhat different lines from the Post 
fice Savings Bank in England, being largely 
-operative. The profits are employed partly 
accumulating a reserve, and partly for benevo- 
at purposes. The Savings Bank Act contains 
ovisions regarding the management of the stafi, 
,e number and status of the auditors, and com- 
ils all such banks to submit their books to a 
iriodical examination by the State Savings Bank 
ispector. The moneys deposited in the banks 
ust only be invested in certain specified securities, 
incipally land and credit union bonds, while 
Us must not be discounted in any circumstances, 
here are special Savings Banks for domestic 
rvants, supported by the State, giving the usual 
,tes of interest, and affording absolute security. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE CREDIT UNIONS 

Objects of Credit Unions — ^Methods of Borrowing — Re- 
payments^ — Interest — Deposits — Expenses of Ad- 
ministration — Credit Union Bonds — Market Prices — 
Old and New Series Bonds — Closed Series — Statistics 
—Reserve Funds — ^Annual Losses — Small holders' 
Credit Unions — Government Guarantee — ^Sale of 
Bonds in Foreign Countries — The Kongeriget Da^- 
marks Hypothek Bank. 

The credit unions, which as financial institu- 
tions are peculiar to Denmark, are societies formed 
by borrowers, chiefly landowners, to obtain money 
at reasonable rates and under the most favourable 
conditions. The method employed is as follows. 
A person who desires to raise a loan applies to one 
of the many existing unions. His property is 
inspected and its value appraised. The board of 
the union can then grant a loan up to a little more 
than one-half of the value of the property. In 
theory anything up to 60 per cent, may be granted ; 
in practice the loan is generally for an amount less 
than 50 per cent. The borrower then elects to 
pay either 2, 2^, or 2^ per cent, of the loan each 
six months. The sum paid at the end of each 
half-year is always the same, and it therefore 
follows that as the interest decreases the amount 



!o DENMARK AND THE DANES 

repayment of capital proportionately increases. 
le interest is calculated at if, 2, or 2^ per cent, 
tiile the rest of the demi-annual pa3mient is 
cumulated in a sinking fund for the repayment 

the loan. Often the union will insist upon a 
iposit of from 2 to 5 per cent, being placed to 
i reserve, which amount is repaid when the loan 
finally liquidated, and the borrower must pay 
small sum towards the expenses of administra- 
m of the union. 

A distinctive feature of these societies is that the 
rrower does not receive his loan in cash, but in 
nds issued by his union, and these he must put 
: the market through the medium of the Stock 
cchange, running the risk of their not realising 
much as he expected. In most cases the bonds 
s quoted at less than their face value. For 
ample, the present prices for 3 J per cent, bonds 
le about 85 ; for 4 per cent., about 90 ; and for 

per cent., between 97^ and 98 J. The prices, 
Dreover, vary considerably, some unions com- 
mding better quotations than others, while old 
ries bonds realise better than the newer series. 

thus often happens that by taking a greater 
m at the low rate of interest the borrower 
entually only receives the same sum as he would 
Lve received had he accepted a smaller loan at a 
gher interest, for it will be seen that the loss 
stained is much greater when selling the low 
terest bonds on the market. 



THE CREDIT UNIONS 281 

The loans are repaid to the union in sixty years. 
They are divided into series, and the members of 
one series are responsible individually and col- 
lectively for the debt of the series, but such ha- 
bihty is limited to the value of their real or landed 
property. When a series has reached a fixed 
amount, which varies between five and ten 
million kroner, according to the union, it is closed, 
and the bonds of a closed series then become more 
valuable than those of a new or partly subscribed 
series in that there is a greater chance of one of 
the bonds being drawn for payment. They are 
always repaid in full, whatever market price has 
been obtained for them. 

There are eleven credit unions in Denmark, each 
of which operates within its own definite area. 
Together they have granted mortgages over 
224,000 properties, to a total value of some 
£91,000,000. The reserve funds of the combined 
unions exceed ;£3,5oo,ooo. The annual loss during 
the last ten years has been one-third per cent. 
This has been met out of the reserve funds. Only 
once during fifty years has it been necessary for 
the members to subscribe more than the fixed rates 
of interest. 

Two of the credit unions exist specially for the 
benefit of small holders, and have a Government 
guarantee up to 4 per cent, interest on their bonds, 
which accordingly are quoted a little higher on 
the market. 



2 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

About ;£20,ooo,ooo of the various credit union 
inds have been sold in foreign countries, and, in 
der to obtain the best prices for them abroad, 
e Kongeriget Danmarks Hypothek Bank has been 
tabUshed, with a capital of ;^i, 100,000, raised by 
e State. This Bank buys Danish credit union 
)nds, afterwards converting them and issuing its 
vn bonds in their place to the value of those 
)nds which it has purchased. These Hypothek 
)nds are then placed on the foreign market and 
immand exceptionally good prices. The reason 
r this procedure is that as there are so many 
nds and denominations of credit union bonds, 
id as it requires a somewhat lengthy acquaiht- 
ice with them to become famiUar with their 
spective values, the foreign investors prefer to 
ive the bonds amalgamated and issued to them 
^ a responsible bank, which is in a position to 
idertake all differentiations and valuations. The 
ypothek Bank is seven years old, and has sold 
ime £3,000,000 bonds to France alone, at rates of 
terest var^ng from 3^^ per cent, to 4 per cent 
;r annum. 



CHAPTER XXIII ^ 

DANISH COMMERCE AN£) INDUSTRY 

Geographical Position as a Commercial Factor — ^The 
HanSeatic Union— The Netherlands — ^The Eighteenth 
Century — The Royal Danish Porcelain Factory — 
Destruction of the Mercantile Fleet— Denmark Bank- 
rupt—The Struggle with the Norddeutscher Mer- 
chants — The German War of 1848 — Effect of the 
Opening of a Direct Shipping Line to England — The 
Hamburg Crash of 1857 — Removal of the Toll on 
Shipping passing Elsinore — ^The Rise of Copenhagen 
— Beginning of the Great Trade Boom— Limited 
Liability Companies — Shipping Concerns — The Free 
Port — ^The United Steamship Company — The East 
Asiatic Company — The Siam Steam Navigation Com- 
pany — Mount Austin Rubber Estates, Limited — 
Importation of Soyn Beans from Manchuria — The 
Danish-Russian Line — C. K. Hansen — Lack of Coal 
— Deamess of Labour — ^The Theory of Specialisation 
— Messrs. Burmeister and Wain — F. L. Smith and 
Company — Bing and Grondahl — Tariff on Articles 
for Home Consumption — Effect of Co-operation 
— The Agricultural Group — The Danish Sugar 
Factories — Monopolies — Great Northern Telegraph 
Company — Copenhagen Telephone Company — Gas, 
Water, Electric Light, and Tram Companies — The 
Danish Petrol Company — Monsted Margarine, 
Limited — The Sulphuric Acid and Superphosphate 
Factory. 

The relatively favourable position of Denmark, 
in close proximity to the Baltic and the North 
Sea ; the geographical centre of an important area 



4 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

ibracing Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and 
jrmany ; divided into islands by deep and easily 
.vigable belts — these should have sent her to the 
mt, industrially and commercially^ at a much 
riier date than has actually been the case. Not- 
thstanding all her advantages, practically the 
lole of the commerce of the North was com- 
anded for many years by the Hanseatic Union, 
at mighty and unscrupulous alliance of German 
ties, of whose vast magnificence and riches 
idences may still be seen in the old mercantile 
daces of Hamburg and Lubeck and Bremen. 
With the decline of the Hansa States the com- 
ercial centre of gravity moved to the Nether- 
nds, and it was not until the eighteenth century, 
iring a period when the Dutch supremacy was 
I the down grade and England had not yet 
tained her great monopoly, that Danish trade 
st began to flourish. This century was a time 

uninterrupted peace for the Danes, and as the 
eater States were for the most part embroiled 

continual warfare, it proved the beginning of a 
mmercial renaissance for Denmark. The Treasury 
nerously assisted the private speculator. New 
mpanies were founded, new colonies acquired. 
I the West Indies, in Guinea, and in India the 
anish merchants began to make themselves felt. 

is true that many of these earlier successes 
oved to be of but a temporary nature. But it 
is a beginning, and many speculators and business 



DANISH COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 285 

houses grew wealthy. In the Christianshavn 
district of Copenhagen may be seen to this day 
some of the fine patrician residences built by the 
merchant princes of that period. Perhaps the 
most renowned of the companies of those days was 
the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory, which still 
exists, and which a;nnually brings a great deal of 
money into the country. It has also contributed 
in no small measure to the creation of a national 
art in Denmark. 

A prosperity based upon these unique circum- 
stances, however, was bound sooner or later to 
receive a set-back. In the early part of the nine- 
teenth century Denmark found herself at war with 
Sweden arid England, and in a period of but 
nine years almost all the Danish mercantile ships 
were either captured or destroyed. It is computed 
that in the year 1800 the merchants of Denmark 
were the proprietors of no less than 1,100 ships. 
In 1809 this number had been reduced to 128, the 
Enghsh having taken or fired something like a 
thousand vessels. It can scarcely be a matter for 
surprise that with the loss of the fleet between 
1800 and 1809 and the secession of Norway in 
18 14, in conjunction with the expenses of two 
costly wars, the Danish State became bankrupt, 
and her new-found commerce passed once more 
into the hands of the waiting Hamburgers. 

For half a century we witness an heroic struggle, 
an attempt at reorganisation, a keen and spirited 



286 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

contest between the Danes and the Norddeutschei 
merchants. The German war of 1848 fanned tht 
national sentiment ; while a direct shipping line tf 
England, opened in. the same year, proved th€ 
beginning of a less artificial and more lasting 
prosperity. In the period 1848 — 1860 the im- 
ports from England increased by 250 per cent., 01 
more than 20 per cent, per annum. The financial 
crash in Hamburg in 1857 tested the capacity of the 
newly founded Private Bank of Copenhagen, and 
clearly demonstrated that Danish trade was now 
being built up along sounder economic lines than 
formerly. 

But perhaps the most important of the con- 
tributory factors to this commercial revival was 
the removal of the toll on shipping passing through 
the Sound separating Denmark from Sweden. The 
history of this imposition is interesting. It was 
first levied in 1425, and many vessels, in order to 
escape the duty, passed from the North Sea to the 
Baltic through the Belts. It had, however, 
developed into a very profitable source of income 
for the Treasury, latterly bringing in as much as a 
quarter of a million pounds annually. Othei 
countries had often protested without avail against 
this imposition, and for several hundred years the 
Danes were able to retain it. In 1855, however, 
the United States ambassador took the bull 
boldly by the horns and flatly informed the Danish 
Ministry that American shipowners would not b€ 



DANISH COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 287 

prepared to submit to the levy after 1857, and that 
in their refusal to pay they had the cordial support 
of the United States Government. The Danes 
then wisely decided to call a general conference on 
the matter, to which all the Powers interested were 
invited. The result was that the States concerned 
agreed to pay Denmark an indemnity of £4,000,000 
on the understanding that the imposition was for- 
mally and permanently withdrawn. Of this sum 
England contributed more than £1,000,000, the 
proportions being decided according to the 
respective tonnages of shipping which had passed 
through the Sound during the latest years of the 
existence of the toll. The interest on the indem- 
nity did not amount to the sum of the annual 
levies, but there can be little doubt that what the 
Treasury lost the merchants of Copenhagen more 
than gained. For from that moment the com- 
mercial supremacy of the capital in these Northern 
waters has been assiired. Vessels no longer avoid 
the Sound, and the Danes now recognise that the 
American ambassador, in compelling them to sweep 
this relic of medisevalism into the limbo of the past, 
provided their expanding trade with an impetus 
from which it has never looked back. After 1864, 
therefore, when the great trade boom came, 
Danish industry, shipping and commerce were all 
fully prepared to take their share. 

In a slight review of such an extensive subject 
it is impossible to trace all the causes which have 



288 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

contributed to the widening of the commercial 
field. Practically all the most significant develop- 
ments began in the years immediately following 
the conclusion of the German war. The total 
capital of hmited liability companies in Denmark 
at the present moment exceeds £50,000,000. 
From 1875 to 1895 these newly established con- 
cerns were slowly consolidating their position, but 
not much enlargement was attempted, the impetus 
being rather spent in the direction of social and 
agricultural betterment. This was the time when 
the great co-operative institutions sprang into 
being. Subsequent to 1895 there again ensued a 
remarkable and rapid growth in trade and industry, 
both in the promotion of new companies and in the 
extension of old ones. 

Shipping concerns have always held an impor- 
tant and dominating position in the list of Danish 
commercial undertakings, a fact not to be won- 
dered at when it is recollected that only seven out 
of the seventy-three towns of Denmark are not 
situated either by the open sea, or on some fjord 
leading to the sea. Less than i per cent, of the 
internal carrying trade of Denmark is done by 
foreign ships, while about 60 per cent, of the trade 
between Denmark and other countries is carried by 
Danish vessels. In addition, there exist several 
Danish companies whose ships do not come to 
Denmark at all, but ply between ports in other parts 
of the world. The routes between the Baltic and 




To face p. 288.] {Copyright: Underwood & Underwood. 

Fish Market and Fishing Boats in the Canal, Copenhagen. 



DANISH COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 289 

the North Sea harbours are said by shipowners to 
be the most profitable in this direction, though 
there are no accurate statistics available to show 
the precise extent in which Denmark participates. 
Regular services between East Asiatic ports are 
also highly spoken of. 

The mercantile vessels flying the Danish flag now 
number about 3,700, the total registered tonnage 
exceeding 500,000. Eighty per cent, of them are 
steamships. The headquarters of the majority of 
the companies owning these ships are in Copen- 
hagen, the absolute supremacy of which city has 
been the outcome, as already explained, partly of 
the rescinding of the Oresund's toll, and partly of 
the opening of the Free Harbour in 1894. 

In the spring of 1891 the Rigsdag passed the 
" Free Port Bill," and almost immediately the 
great undertaking was begun. The area on which 
the new harbour was to be constructed had first 
to be reclaimed from the sea. Extensive dams 
were built, the water was pumped clear, and the 
bed which the waves had washed over for cen- 
turies was laid bare. Over 1,094,000 cubic metres 
of earth had been removed by means of the power- 
ful steam excavators specially designed and built 
for the work. On November ist, 1893, Prince 
Valdemar, by simply pressing an electric button, 
opened the dams which separated the drained 
area from the sea, and thei^ water rushed in and 
filled the docks. These fatter are from 24 to 

D. T 



290 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

30 feet in depth, and have about 12,000 feet of 
quay frontage. About one year later the buildings, 
warehouses, and coal depdts had been finished, 
railway connections built, and the free port of 
Copenhagen, one of the finest in the world, 
opened to traffic. The cost of the whole under- 
taking was about £1,200,000. It is now con- 
trolled by a private company, with a capital of 

;£250,000. 

The geographical situation of the Free Harbour 
is excellent ; the comparative shallowness of the 
Baltic ports makes of it a natural transit place for 
the goods of the large Transatlantic steamers, 
while the distribution of goods is facilitated by the 
wonderful system of steamer ferries which connect 
the Danish capital with the other parts of the 
kingdom, with Norway and Sweden, and with 
Continental Europe. 

More than 35,000 steamers and sailing vessels 
pass the watchmen on the custom-house pier in the 
course of a year, and of these about one-third are 
from England or British ports. Copenhagen is 
practically the only port in Denmark which receives 
international traffic, although Esbjerg, which is 
the outlet for the great export trade in butter, 
eggs, and dairy produce from Jutland, is growing 
in importance, and Marstal and Fano are road- 
steads for numerous sailing vessels. 

The greatest shipping concern in Scandinavia is 
the United Steamship Company, founded in 1866, 



DANISH COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 291 

with a capital of £1,500,000. It was promoted by 
that financial genius Herr G. F. Tietgen, who 
amalgamated several smaller companies with the 
object primarily of controlling the local Danish 
trade. Operations were later successfully ex- 
tended to the Baltic, and they now cover the whole 
globe. This powerful concern maintains regular 
services between Europe and the principal ports 
of North and South America, the Levant, the Black 
Sea, and the Mediterranean. Its chief route is 
between Copenhagen and New York, and is served 
by the popular Scandinavian-American liners of 
from 9,000 to I3;000 tons. The export route from 
Esbjerg to Harwich is also run by this company, 
with the assistance of a generous State subsidy. 
The fleet of this line consists of 150 ships, with a 
total registered tonnage of 200,000. In 1912 it 
earned about £200,000, and paid its shareholders 
a dividend of 8 per cent. 

The East Asiatic Company, Limited, is a com- 
bined shipping and trading business. It was 
founded in 1897, and, like the United Steamship 
Company, has a paid-up capital of nearly £1,500,000. 
It carries on trade in India, Siam, China, Japan, 
South Africa, South America, the West Indies, 
and the Pacific coast. It owns some twenty 
vessels, with a total tonnage of 75,000, and in 
addition hires steamers on contract. Moreover, this 
company is either interested in, or the proprietor 
of, several smaller concerns, the greatest of which 

T 2 



292 DENMARK AND THp DANES 

is the Siam Steam Navigation Company, possessing 
nine steamers. The East Asiatic Company were 
the first shipowners to send a motor liner to sea. 
Their offices are in Copenhagen, London, and Bang- 
kok. In Siam the company owns and controls 
forests and mills, rubber and cocoanut plantations. 
One of its subsidiary concerns is the Mount Austin 
Rubber Estates, Limited, which possesses a capital 
of £450,000. A recent undertaking has been the 
importation of the soyn beans from Manchuria to 
Copenhagen and Stettin, where they are converted 
into oil-cakes in the company's own; factories for 
subsequent use as fodder for cattle. The goods 
carried to the East consist for the most part of 
European manufactured articles, and more par- 
ticularly of Danish cement. The company dis- 
tributes a dividend of from 8 to 11 per cent, per 
annum. Its employees number upwards of 10,000. 
A great many of the shares are held in England, 
and are regularly quoted on the London and Paris 
exchanges. 

There are some smaller shipping concerns, with 
capitals varying from ;£25o,ooo to £500,000. The 
Danish-Russian line is a well-managed and pros- 
perous company belonging to this group. The 
C. K. Hansen firm is the largest owner of tramp 
steamers in Scandinavia, and one of the largest 
in the world. 

Danish industry has always been handicapped 
by the smallness of the country and the utter lack 



DANISH COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 293 

of coal and metals. There is, moreover, no 
abundance of labour, and wages are therefore 
comparatively high. In these circumstances the 
great factories and the congested industrial areas 
of England and Germany, France and Belgium, 
will never be found in Denmark. It is only when 
a Danish manufacturer selects some speciality and 
develops it to a high pitch of excellence, or to a 
degree of perfection which makes competition 
impossible, and particularly when he chooses a 
speciality which demands great technical skill and 
intelligence from the workman, that he can hope to 
enter the international market on terms with the 
manufacturers of the more favourably endowed 
countries. This economic limitation can be ob- 
served by a very cursory study of the character 
of successful Danish industrial undertakings. In 
the greatest of them all, for example, Messrs. Bur- 
meister and Wain, the world-famous shipbuilding 
firm, their most pronounced success was obtained 
when they began to speciaUse in Diesel motors and 
motor-propelled vessels. This firm has a capital 
of £600,000, and regularly employs from 3,000 to 
4,000 men in its yatds and machine shops. 

Among other concerns which have speciaUsed in 
a similar manner are Messrs. F. L. Smith and 
Company, who are building cement factories all 
over the world with wonderful success. The 
excellent results attained by the great porcelain 
factories " Royal Danish " and Messrs. Bing and 



294 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

Grondahl afford a further illustration of the truth 
of this theory of specialisation. 

There are few protected industries in Denmark. 
The duty on imports now amounts to about 6 per 
cent, of their value. Under this tariff certain 
trades have been specially nursed, mainly in 
articles destined for home consumption, e.g., cur- 
tains and hardware. 

The effect of the co-operative movement upon 
Danish trades has been described in an earlier 
chapter. It virtually dominates the agricultural 
group — dairy work, slaughter-houses, and the 
export of eggs. Some agricultural machines are 
made in Denmark, but the greater number are 
imported from the United States. One impor- 
tant industry however has remained outside the 
co-operative movement : the production of sugar 
from the sugar-beet. The Danish Sugar Factories 
were founded by Tietgen. They have a capital of 
£i,'25o,ooo, and enjoy a great protection under 
the tariff. The combine pays average dividends 
of from 15 to 25 per cent, per annum, but the 
gross profits are much greater than this figure, 
a large proportion accruing under former agree- 
ments to the beet cultivators, who sell their 
products to the company. 

Among the remaining undertakings which fall 
within the scope of this chapter are the Great 
Northern Telegraph Company and the Copenhagen 
Telephone Company. The former was promoted 



DANISH COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 295 

in 1869 by Tietgen. It owns and controls tele- 
graph lines between Denmark and Norway and 
the British islands, and Russia. It is, more- 
over, the proprietor of several valuable mono- 
polies in China and Japan. The head office is in 
Copenhagen, and its chief branches in London, Paris 
and Shanghai. Its capital is £1,500,000, and its 
annual dividends are from 18 to 25 per cent. It 
has accumulated reserves of about £3,000,000. 
During the financial crisis in the seventies many of 
the shares passed to Paris, but the administration 
of the company still remains in Danish hands, the 
Danish Government having the right to nominate 
a section of the board. 

The Copenhagen Telephone Company has the 
monopoly for Copenhagen and Sealand. Its capi- 
tal is £1,000,000. The Danish metropolis pos- 
sesses more telephones in proportion to its popula- 
tion than any other city in the world except 
Stockholm. There are 53,000 subscribers, or one 
telephone to each ten inhabitants. The cost of 
installation and the rates charged for calls will 
appear to be extraordinarily cheap to an English- 
man accustomed to the tariffs of his own country. 

Gas, water, and electric light are in most cases 
provided by the municipalities, as are also trams 
and enterprises of a like nature. It therefore 
follows that but few private companies are formed 
for these purposes. The Danish Gas Company, 
with a capital of £500,000, however, is an important 



2^6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

exception. In towns where the municipality for 
some reason is unable to supply gas, a monopoly is 
granted to this company for a certain number of 
years, at the end of which period the gasworks 
revert to the authority which gave the contract. 
This concern pays lo per cent, dividends, the shares 
being mostly in English hands. 

The Danish Petrol Company has a capital of 
£250,000, distributes dividends up to as much as 
50 per cent., and is largely controlled by the 
kindred Rockefeller interests. Monsted Margarine, 
Limited, is a prosperous concern, with excellent 
foreign connections. Finally, the Danish Sul- 
phuric Acid and Superphosphate Factory is of 
importance to agriculture. Its dividends often 
reach 40 per cent. 



PART VI 
GOVERNMENTAL 



CHAPTER XXIV 

ADMINISTRATION 

The Ministries — Effect of Democracy in Denmark — Civil 
Government — The Municipalities — Local Govern- 
ment — Copenhagen — Legal Procedure — The Courts 
of Justice — Defects — ^The Rigsret — ^Defence Prob- 
lems — Conscription — Military and Naval Adminis- 
tration — The Army in Peace and War — Diplomatic 
and Consular Services. 

The political administration of Denmark is 
carried on by a Cabinet consisting of the Prime 
Minister and nine other members, who are at the 
head respectively of the Foreign Office, the Home 
Office (with which are included the Post Office 
and the functions of the English Local Government 
Board), the Treasury (embracing also the colonial 
administration), and the Ministries for Church 
and Education, for Commerce and Shipping, for 
Public Works (including the State railways), 
for Agriculture, for Justice, and for National 
Defence. 

Each Cabinet Minister receives a salary of £675 
annually. The present Danish Ministry is one 
of the most democratic in Europe. It neither 
gives nor accepts titles. An interesting feature 
of Danish political life is the opportunity it 
affords for obscure individuals to attain positions 



300 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

of great importance in the State. A village 
blacksmith has been Minister of Public Works ; 
several small holders have been at the head 
of the Ministry for Agriculture ; while both 
the late Prime Ministers — I. C. Christensen and 
Berntsen — ^were country schoolmasters before 
entering pohtical life. The present Education 
Minister is a parish priest, while the daughter of 
one of the present Cabinet has worked as a domestic 
servant in London, 

The democratic wave has brought many dema- 
gogues who should never have left their shops or 
farms to positions quite beyond their capacity, 
and where they have only proved lamentable 
failures. Those who have seen anything of Con- 
tinental politics behind the scenes, or who under- 
stand the motives of much that is done, generally 
admit that the two greatest stains upon it are 
corruption and demagogy. Pohtical hfe in Eng- 
land is not untarnished by these vices, but without 
boast we may claim loftier standards of political 
honour and morality than are to be found in any 
other country which possesses a parliamentary 
system, and it is for Englishmen to see that the 
great name and fine traditions remain unsullied. 
However, despite the defects which must be in- 
separably associated with a system in which poli- 
ticians are professionals, we believe that Danish 
democracy has brought to hght many statesmen 
of great initiative and astonishing abiUty who 



ADMINISTRATION 301 

would otherwise have remained without an oppor- 
tunity of exercising their undoubted gifts. 

For purposes of civil government Denmark is 
divided into the capital and eighteen shires or 
amter. Copenhagen is administered by a Royal 
Of&cer, a magistracy, and a general council. The 
Royal Officer is the President or Lord Mayor of 
the city ; the magistracy consists of four alder- 
men and four councillors, chosen by the General 
Council, which has fifty-five members. Elections 
to the General Council, as in all municipal elections 
in Denmark, are on a system of proportional 
representation, each party being allotted a number 
of seats in proportion to the poll it has obtained. 
Women have possessed votes to this body since 
1908, but as a general rule there are only one or 
two lady members to each council in the country. 
Trams, and water, gas and electricity works, and 
several hospitals belong to and are controlled by 
each mimicipality. 

In Copenhagen the Chairman of the General 
Council has not the same power as in the country, 
where he is also mayor, and often at the same time 
magistrate and chief of police. As in England, 
the amter are controlled by county councils, 
while there are almost identical distinctions, as 
between towns and municipalities, boroughs, urban 
and rural district councils, and parishes. These 
comphcations of local goverimient are beyond the 
scope of the present work. Speaking generally. 



302 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

the local authorities have the same powers as in 
England, somewhat extended in certain directions. 
Only in such matters as the taking up of a new loan 
is the sanction of the Home Secretary necessary. 

The members of county councils are elected in 
a somewhat complicated manner, the system being 
similar to that applied to the elections for the 
Landsting. The municipalities of Copenhagen and 
the provincial towns, however, are elected by 
those who are rated on an income of at least 
400 kroner (£22). Aldermen and sheriffs are in 
most cases appointed by the Crown, except at 
Copenhagen, where they are elected by the General 
Council, subject to royal approval. The finan- 
cial position of Danish municipalities is, on the 
whole, exceptionally good. The ordinary Budget 
of Copenhagen amounts to about ;^i, 100,000 
annually. 

Legal procedure in Denmark affords many 
curious contrasts to our own system. In the first 
place, a Danish judge does not fill the same posi- 
tion in society or occupy the place in the public 
mind as do the .judges in England. In many 
instances his position is combined with other 
offices, and he is not therefore primarily thought 
of as Mr. Justice Jensen, but as Herr Jensen, a 
State officer and judge. The greatest salary 
received by any Danish justice is £500 per annum. 

There are three courts : the Common, the Upper, 
and the Supreme. Each civil case is first sent to a 



ADMINISTRATION 303 

small committee, whose object is to attempt to 
settle the dispute by consent. FaiUng this, re- 
course is had to one of the Common Courts, of 
which there is one in every town. Procedure is 
extremely slow, as there is no pleading, and all the 
evidence has to be laboriously examined in writing. 
An appeal from the decision of a Common Court 
judge is made first to one of the Upper Courts, of 
which there are only two, one in Copenhagen and 
one at Viborg, and finally to the Supreme Court, 
which consists of thirteen members, and is the 
only law court in Denmark except a special court 
for commercial and maritime cases where pleading 
takes place. 

The apparently grave defects of Danish criminal 
procedure are that judge and police ofl&cer are 
often the same person, who has therefore to collect 
the evidence against the prisoner and to sentence 
him, and that an advocate is denied to the accused 
during the preliminary stages of examination. It 
is hoped that a general reform of the legal system 
will shortly be carried into effect. Civil cases will 
be taken with greater dispatch, and a separation 
between judicial and police functions will be insti- 
tuted. Juries will be used in the great majority 
of cases, oratorical pleading will become general, 
and the accused will be permitted an advocate 
from the beginning of the case. That these much- 
needed reforms have not been carried through 
earUer may be ascribed to the fact that any change 



304 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

would prove expensive. Moreover, it should be 
remembered that although the evils of such a sys- 
tem in a large State would be very considerable 
indeed, in a country so small as Denmark, where 
the distance between judge and public is not so 
marked, and where any abuse of the system cannot 
take place without being instantly discovered, 
they are so minimised as to be almost negUgible, 

In addition to the general courts, Denmark has 
a specially constituted political court called the 
Rigsret, or Realms Court, whose functions are to 
try and punish members of the Cabinet who have 
been impeached either by the King or by a vote 
in the Folketing. This court consists of the 
members of the Supreme Court acting together 
with an equal number of- distinguished men chosen 
by the Landsting. The Rigsret has only been 
used on three occasions during the sixty-six years 
that it has been in existence. 

Since the war of 1864 the defence of the country, 
and more particularly that of the capital, has been 
one of the principal points of contention in Danish 
politics. Parties have come into and gone out of 
of&ce solely on this question. In an earher chap- 
ter we have shown how Estrup, the Conservative 
statesman of the seventies and eighties, succeeded 
in the face of tremendous opposition in fortifying 
Copenhagen both by land and sea. Since the 
domination of the Liberal and Radical parties the 
system of defence has been completely reorganised, 



ADMINISTRATION 305 

principally by a reform carried through in 1909. 
The sea fortifications of Copenhagen were then 
strengthened considerably, and it was decided to 
abolish the land forts in igi22, unless the Rigsdag 
at that time decided otherwise. The troops have 
latterly been concentrated in Sealand, where 
thirty-six out of the fifty-two infantry regiments 
of the Danish Army are now stationed. The 
remaining sixteen regiments are distributed in 
Jutland and Fyen. 

The conscription of Denmark is mild when 
compared with that of Germany, Austria, or France. 
All Danes at the age of twenty are medically 
examined as to general suitability for military 
service, and as only 11,000 conscripts are desired 
annually, it follows that a large proportion of the 
male population escapes, only the very fittest 
indeed being accepted. The length of service varies, 
but the average works out at less than twelve 
months, some arms requiring two years, others 
only four months. Payment of about is. per 
diem is made to all conscripts who do not receive 
full board at the barracks ; to those who obtain 
everything the daily rate is proportionately 
reduced. At the conclusion of the period of 
service a conscript remains in the army lists for 
sixteen years, and during this time is, of course, 
liable for war service. 

Both military and naval administration are 
carried oi> by the Minister for Defence. Formerly, 

D. u 



3o6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

in Conservative Cabinets there were two Minis- 
ters, respectively officers of the army and navy. 
Now however these are combined, and the Minister 
is generally a civilian, who has the assistance of an 
advisory board composed of officers from both 
services. 

On the active list are a life guard battalion and 
ten infantry regiments of three battalions each, 
five cavalry regiments of three squadrons each, 
twelve field batteries, three battalions of fortress 
artillery, and six companies of engineers. The 
permanent peace strength is about 13,500 ofiicers 
and men, and the annual contingent of special 
reservists — who are men trained for short periods 
only— is approximately 17,000. The field army on 
a war footing, without depdt or garrison troops and 
reservists, would be about 50,000, though by calling 
up all the reserves, about 125,000 men could be 
mustered. 

The army is divided into two commands, the 
Sealand Command and the Western Command, 
each with a General Commanding Ofiicer. The 
navy consists of six small battleships, four coast 
defence ships of about 4,000 tons each, twenty-four 
torpedo boats and destroyers, five or six submarines 
and five protected cruisers. Most of the vessels 
are antiquated. 

Denmark maintains diplomatic services in Eng- 
land, Germany, Russia, Norway, Sweden, China, 
and the United States. There is a combined 



ADMINISTRATION 307 

embassy in Paris for France and Spain ; in Vienna 
for Austria and Italy ; and in Brussels for Belgium 
and Holland. 

To these has recently been added an embassy 
at Pekin, where Danish interests had formerly 
been in charge of the Russian Ambassador. As, 
however, Danish companies have acquired exten- 
sive interests in the Far East, the desire for a 
special embassy became stronger. In the same 
manner Denmark has, since the last Balkan war, 
appointed a Minister at Constantinople. Consular 
services are maintained in all the principal ports 
and commercial centres. 



u 2 



CHAPTER XXV 

SOCIAL LAWS 

General Conditions — ^The Workmen's Protection Act, 1913 
— Holidays — Early Closing of Shops — ^Women in 
Factories — Child Labour — Dangerous Trades— Old 
Age Pensions — Longevity in Denmark — Hospitals 
— Treatment of Epidemic and Tuberculous 
Cases — Consumption — Sanatoria — Sick Clubs — 
Accident Insurance — Fishermen and the State 
Insurance Board — Unemployment — " Periodical 
Workers " — ^Trade Unions — Labour Clubs — Labour 
Exchanges — ^The State in its Relation to Children 
— Illegitimacy — Foster Houses — Parish Relief — 
" Help " Societies. 

In its relations with the weakest and most 
unprotected section of the community, in its 
labour and poor law administration, Denmark has, 
during the past thirty years, been working out a 
code of social law unsurpassed in Europe, both for 
its practicability and its broad humanity. It is 
true that in Denmark the statesman is not faced 
by the grave industrial problems of many of the 
larger States. It is a country of farming and com- 
merce, not of factories and mines, or of those 
vast areas of industrial workers such as we have 
in England. Moreover, the body of the Danish 
people is largely composed of those for whom it is 
not an impossible thing that they may some day 



SOCIAL LAWS 309 

require the assistance of the community, although 
not for the moment in want. It therefore follows 
that the Dane is inclined to support " self-con- 
tributory " schemes with a greater readiness 
than he would show were it quite certain that 
he himself would never receive any benefit 
from them. 

Denmark has had for twenty-five years 
reforms for which many of the more powerful 
States are still waiting— absolute protection of 
workmen against long hours and unhealthy or 
unsuitable conditions ; pensions to old people ; 
State sick benefits and insurance, both against 
accidents and unemployment ; provision for 
destitute and natural children ; and State aid 
for widows. 

The Workmen's Protection Act, 1913, which is 
applicable to all trades and to any industrial 
undertaking which employs other motive power 
than wind and water, insists upon a certain cubic 
quantity of air for each indoor worker, a minimum 
height for each room, proper conditions as to both 
natural and artificial light, the necessary conveni- 
ences for eating and washing, the provision of 
wardrobes, and most stringent precautions against 
fire. The rooms are required to be cleaned daily, 
and the system of ventilation in any building 
used for industrial purposes must be upon an 
approved plan. The Act enforces special restric- 
tions as to the emplo37ment of machine men. 



310 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

lift attendants, and work involving an element of 
danger, however small. All boilers are annually 
inspected by the factory supervisor, and it is 
forbidden to allow any man to attend a large 
boiler unless he has first acquired a certificate 
from certain specified engineering bodies stat- 
ing that he possesses the necessary knowledge, 
and is a fit and proper person to perform such 
a duty. 

The number of holidays in the year, including 
Sunday, is sixty-one and a half, and upon these 
days no employer can demand the attendance 
of his workmen, except in certain necessary in- 
stances, or where special arrangements have been 
made with the sanction of the Home Secretary. 
Danish workmen put in, on an average, 9"8 hours 
per diem (all trades), as against ii'4 hours thirty- 
five years ago. The position of shop workers 
is not so satisfactory, but the movement for 
shorter hours is now extending so as to embrace 
these long-suffering members of the community. 
The Act provides that all shops shall close at 
8 o'clock in the evening, and furnishes the 
municipal and local authorities with power to 
close them at 7 o'clock when and where deemed 
necessary. 

Women are not permitted to work in factories 
for a period of one month after childbirth without 
special certificates from a doctor. During this 
period of enforced inaction State aid is given when 



SOCIAL LAWS 311 

desired, and is specifically regarded as " not in the 
nature of parish relief." 

Children under fourteen may not be employed 
in factories. Young people between the ages of 
fourteen and eighteen cannot be employed for 
more than ten hours a day, and not in any cir- 
cumstances between 8 o'clock in the evening 
and 6 o'clock in the morning. Factory workers 
between these ages must be allowed two definite 
rest periods during their working day. The 
inspector of factories may, and often does, 
determine that the work in a certain factory 
contains such elements of danger to life or 
health that it is unsuitable for women and 
young people, and in such cases these latter 
are prohibited from working in the factories 
in question so long as the danger can be shown 
to exist. 

Old age pensions were first introduced in 
Denmark in the year 1891. The Act provides a 
pension at the age of sixty to all who are unable 
to support themselves or those dependent upon 
them. The conditions are : (i) birth in Denmark 
or naturalisation ; (2) continued residence in the 
country for the preceding ten years ; (3) no con- 
victions for criminal offences ; and (4) no receipt 
of parish relief during the five years immediately 
preceding the " pension age," unless such has been 
repaid. 

The pensions are not fixed, but depend upon the 



312 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

necessities of each individual case. The munici- 
pality and the State each contribute one-half. 
The proportion of the population of Denmark 
which is supported in this manner is 24 per cent, 
of the people of the necessary age, or 37 per cent, 
of the male population and 21 per cent, of the 
female section of the community. The pensions 
average £11 per annum. A pensioner is permitted 
to reside where he desires, and it is often the case 
that persons in receipt of old-age pensions will 
elect to live in one of the towns rather than in the 
country, the reason being that in the towns the 
pensions are slightly higher than elsewhere. In 
such instances the municipality of residence is 
entitled to claim three-quarters of its half of the 
support from the municipality of birth. 

In certain quarters it has long been felt that this 
Act is not the best that could be devised, inasmuch 
as no inducement is given to thrift. There have 
been many instances of persons accumulating 
money and spending it between the ages of fifty and 
sixty in order to quaUfy for an old-age pension. 
Moreover, examples of deliberate evasion have been 
brought to light, in which a man has made over 
his property and investments to his family, and 
thus secured for himself the full old-age relief. It 
is beheved that a new Act will shortly be forth- 
coming, based upon a self-contributory scheme, 
providing a popular insurance against destitu- 
tion in old age, and making it possible for every 



SOCIAL LAWS 313 

Danish citizen at a fixed age to receive an income 
from the State. 

Denmark is a country where longevity is most 
marked. The Scandinavians generally are a long- 
lived people, and as, for the most part, they work 
under healthy conditions, it becomes comparatively 
easy to frame laws for the provision of help in 
sickness. 

There are, of course, many private nursing insti- 
tutions and hospitals in Denmark, but the care of 
sick people is largely relegated to the munici- 
palities and counties {Amter), who own and control 
most of the great hospitals in the country. The 
magnificent National Hospital in Copenhagen, 
however, belongs to the State. It is one of the 
finest in Europe, both in equipment and methods. 
The hospital contains 1,200 beds, and its adminis- 
tration is almost entirely in the hands of the 
authorities of the Copenhagen Umversity, whose 
professors form its governing body, and provide it 
with its staff of doctors. The medical students at 
the University obtain the practical part of their 
training here. 

In its treatment of epidemic and tuberculous 
cases the Danish State is notably generous. 
Tuberculosis is the scourge of Denmark. Some- 
thing hke one-eighth of the people die from its 
ravages. In 1901 a national crusade was com- 
menced against this terrible disease, and a society 
was founded whose sole object consists in fighting 



314 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

consumption from its first incipient stages to its 
fatal end, with all the means at the disposal of 
modern science. The society is supported gene- 
rously by the State, and, as may be imagined in 
the special circumstances, also by the mass of the 
people. Indeed, so great has been the loyal and 
earnest co-operation of the populace with the 
Government in this matter, that in the short 
space of ten years so many first-class sanatoria 
have been equipped that it is now possible for 
every tuberculous sufferer to receive the most 
modern treatment either gratuitously, or for the 
pa3mient of fees in accordance with his means. 
Sick clubs are of great assistance in this re- 
spect, but the State often bears as much as three- 
quarters of a patient's expenses, and in addition 
supports his family during his isolation in the 
sanatorium. 

When new sanatoria are erected the Govern- 
ment deposits £90 for each bed. The National 
Sociejty for the Prevention of Tuberculosis also 
assists poor families into better dwellings, and 
often procures for afiElicted persons employment of 
a more suitable character. 

Sick clubs are very popular in Denmark. More 
than one-quarter of the inhabitants belong to such 
institutions. The membership of each club varies 
between 100 and 1,000, while four of them have 
each more than 10,000 members. The total 
number of subscribers increases by about 40,000 



SOCIAL LAWS 315 

per annum. To obtain State aid a sick club must 
show a minimum of fifty members, must restrict 
its operations to a certain parish or town, and must 
consist of only working-class members. The 
Government support to the club amounts to 
2s. ^d. a year for each member on the roll, and 
IS. 5d. per annum towards the fees of each member. 
In addition, a subscriber to a sick club is admitted 
into the State hospitals at half charges. The 
support which the sick club gives to its members 
consists of free doctoring, nursing and treatment 
at the hospitals, and a cash grant which must not 
exceed two-thirds of the sufferer's average earn- 
ings, with a fixed minimum of 6d. per diem. This 
assistance is usually rendered during a period of 
thirteen weeks, but some clubs extend the period 
to twenty-six weeks. The contributions payable 
by the members are statutorily fixed at i6s. per 
annum in Copenhagen, lis. per annum in the 
smaller towns, and 5s. per annum in the country. 
A person may not join a sick club after the 
age of forty, but transfers from one club to 
another are sometimes made after that age, pro- 
vided both the clubs in question are themselves 
members of the Central Union, which arranges 
the re-insurance for the clubs. Finally, per- 
sons in the enjoyment of incomes exceeding 
;fioo a year are inehgible for membership of a 
sick club. 
So far as accident insurance is concerned, Den- 



3i6 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

mark is one of the safest countries in Europe in 
which to hve. Only 230 persons pef annum out 
of each million in Denmark are killed in accidents. 
The proportion in England is more than twice this 
figure. The low Danish rate may be accounted 
for by the absence of mines, rocks, and mountains. 
Most of the accidental deaths in Denmark arise 
from drowning. 

Insurance against accidents is largely effected 
through private companies as in England, though 
the State also participates in this business. In 
1898 an Act was passed compelling the employer, 
in the event of acddent sustained while in his 
employ, to pay to the workman : (a) a sum of 
three-fifths of his average earnings during the first 
thirteen weeks following the cessation of support 
from his sick club ; (6) in cases of absolute in- 
validity, six times the annual income in one sum ; 
(c) in case of death, to the persons dependent 
upon the deceased a sum equal to four times the 
annual income. In practice it is found that 
most employers transfer these liabilities to the in- 
surance companies. All disputes on questions 
of accident insurance are settled by a special 
court, which decides whether the employer's 
liabihty shall be paid immediately in cash 
or converted into an annuity during the life of 
the workman. 

The farmers do a very large part of their insur- 
ance themselves on a co-operative basis. Fisher- 



SOCIAL LAWS 317 

men are subject to a special State Insurance Board, 
to which they are each required to pay 6s. a year. 
In sickness they receive is. Sd. a day ; in invalidity 
a sum of £200 down ; in case of death, £140 is paid 
to the relatives. Sailors in the mercantile marine 
receive similar benefits, while in the case of 
foreigners who meet with death while serving on 
Danish ships the £140 is also paid to the dependents 
when the deceased person is a member of a nation 
which in similar circumstances would treat a Dane 
as a native. 

The latest figures show that there is more un- 
employment in Denmark than in most of the other 
Eiiropean countries, but that, on the other hand, 
there is a much better organisation for deaUng 
with it. The average number of unemployed in 
the winter is 10 per cent, of the labouring popula- 
tion. This may be largely accounted for by the 
fact that several hand workers depend for their 
living upon climatic conditions, and should rather 
be termed " periodical workers " than " unem- 
ployed," especially as during their terms of employ- 
ment they earn much higher figures than the 
regular worker. 

The trade unions of Denmark stand in an excep- 
tionally strong position, and to this may be in 
part attributed the fact that although there is 
more periodic unemployment, there is infinitely 
less destitution or suffering than in other countries, 
with apparently lower figures of unemployment. 



3i8 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

In 1907 the State took over the control of the 
labour clubs, which are institutions for supporting 
unemployed workmen, quite apart from the trades 
unions, the sick clubs, etc. It is compulsory to 
restrict the operations of the labour clubs to one 
trade, or to one town, while they must be open to 
all comers, whether members of trade unions or 
non-unionists. They must have no other object 
than that for which they are designed, and must 
keep their work strictly separate from that of 
any other similar institution, particularly the 
trades unions. The assistance from public funds 
which these clubs receive is as follows : The 
municipality in which the club is domiciled is 
entitled to donate an amount equal to one-third 
of the members' fees, in which case the Treasury 
will add a sum equal to one-half of the income 
of the club {i.e., the fees of the members plus 
the municipal donation), so that the total grant 
from public funds will be the same as the 
members' fees, provided, of course, that the 
municipality gives the maximum amount it is 
permitted to give, which in 88 per cent, of 
cases it does. 

The members of a labour club receive during 
unemployment between yd. and 2s. 3^. a day, but 
the support must not exceed two-thirds of the 
average wage a worker in that trade and locality 
would receive. No grant is made for the first two 
weeks of unemployment, and in no case in which 



SOCIAL LAWS 319 

the sufferer has not been a member for a period 
of one year. Neither is relief obtainable during 
strikes or lock-outs, or where the unemployment 
is the fault of the workman, or when a member 
dechnes work offered him by the club. In legiti- 
mate cases support is granted for ten weeks. The 
members of these institutions exceed 100,000 in 
number, while the fees average out at about 14s. 
per annum. 

Labour exchanges have been worked success- 
fully in Denmark for ten years. The exchange in 
Copenhagen finds employment for 40,000 workers 
every year. 

The State in its relation to children has 
always been an important point of agitation 
in Danish politics, and a vast body of laws 
relating to the child testify to the care and 
thought which have been bestowed upon this 
important subject. 

There are an extraordinary number of natural 
children in Denmark, due to conditions which have 
been emphasised in another chapter. Towards the 
support of an illegitimate child the father must 
contribute a monthly amount determined according 
to the circumstances of the mother. He has no 
right of control over the child. Should he desert 
the mother, or fail in his obligation to pay the 
maintenance, he is, as in England, summoned before 
the magistrate and compelled to fulfil arrears, and 
to guarantee future payments. If the father dies. 



320 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

or it becomes otherwise impossible to obtain the 
monthly contributions from him, the mother 
apphes to the municipality, which then graftts 
what is called " normal foster-house support," 
an income of between £4 and £8 a year, being 
about three-fifths of the normal annual cost 
of a child in a good foster-house. This is 
regarded as " parish relief " to the father but 
not to the mother. 

Married parents are compelled by Danish law 
to support their offspring until the age of eighteen 
years. 

The maintenance of the children of necessitous 
widows is arranged for upon a sliding scale. The 
conditions are that the widow's fortime is less than 
£225, and that her annual income does not exceed 
two-thirds of the amount which is exempted 
from income tax (viz., ^^45, with an allowance 
of £5 for each child under the age of fifteen 
years). The support consists of an annual grant 
of £5 los. for each child under two years ; £4 8s. 
for each child between two and twelve years ; 
and ;^3 6s. for each child between twelve and 
fourteen years, 

Foster houses are under the supervision of the 
police. A special State board undertakes the care 
of natural children, orphans, and the children of 
criminal or notoriously bad parents. Children 
may be separated from parents in certain well- 
defined cases, where it is deemed that the parents 



SOCIAL LAWS 321 

would have a deteriorating effect upon the chil- 
dren, or where continued neglect can be proved 
against both parents. The expenses of child 
maintenance in all the instances mentioned are 
divided between the Treasury and the munici- 
palities. 

Parish relief in Denmark has been reduced to a 
minimum. Its receipt debars the recipient from 
an old age pension, disqualifies him from admit- 
tance to membership of unemployment clubs and 
institutions of a similar character, and, if unmar- 
ried, prevents him from marrying without special 
permission for a period of five years after its receipt. 
About 4 per cent, of the population receive inter- 
mittent relief of this kind. The workhouses in 
the country are for the most part old and bad, with 
the exception of those in the capital and some in 
the larger towns. 

To avoid the stigma of pauperism, there are 
many help societies, which grant aid on some- 
what similar lines to that given by the parishes. 
The income of these societies is obtained 
partly from the Ucences on dogs and partly 
from certain funds at the disposal of the muni- 
cipalities. The help given must not exceed £10 in 
eighteen months. 

Denmark is not yet an Utopia, and Danish 
statesmen have not been invariably successful in 
their plans for social amehoration, but it may 
be claimed for them, without any undue par- 

D. X 



322 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

tisanship, that, whatever else they have done, 
they have at least faced their problems 
courageously and attempted a solution, while 
many other countries are still disputing over the 
nature of the difficulties. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 

The Faroe Islands — Physical Characteristics — Inhabitants : 
their Customs and Occupations— Language, Educa- 
tion, and Temperament — Fauna — Iceland — Confor- 
mation — Volcanoes and Geysers — Reykjavik — Com- 
merce — Communication — The Iceland Ponies — The 
TingwaUa — Tourist Possibilities — Greenland — ^The 
Esquimaux — ^The Danish West Indies — ^The Future 
of Denmark. 

With one exception the overseas possessions 
of Denmark are of little commercial or political 
importance. They consist of Iceland, Greenland, 
the Faroe islands, and the Danish West Indies. 
Of these the Faroes, strictly speaking, form a part 
of Denmark itself, being represented at Copen- 
hagen in the Landsting by one member and in the 
Folketing by one member. They are a group of 
about twenty islands, seventeen of which are 
inhabited, situated in the North Atlantic, west of 
the Shetlands, occupying an area of 400 square 
miles, and supporting a population of 18,000 
people. The principal town, which is situated on 
Stromoe, or Stream Isle, is Thorshavn, with less 
than 6,000 inhabitants, but th^* wealthiest village 
is Thrangisvaag, the capital of Suderoe (South 
Isle). These islands are extremely small, and 

X 2 



324 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

the channels between them often dijSicult to navi- 
gate. Their soil is poor, and their vegetation 
scanty. The people live mainly by fishing, sup- 
plemented by sheep farming on a smjill scale, the 
collection of birds' eggs, and occasional whaUng. 
The climate is milder than might be expected from 
their Northern latitude, owing to the fact that 
they lie near the course of one of the currents of 
the Gulf Stream. The islands were first populated 
by fugitives from Norway in the ninth century. 
In the middle ages communication with the outside 
world was very rare, and therefore to this day the 
islanders still retain many of their ancient and 
picturesque customs and costumes. For adminis- 
trative and ecclesiastical purposes they are in- 
cluded in the diocese of Sealand. 

Local affairs are controlled by an assembly called 
the Lagting, whose chairman is an Amtmand, 
appointed by the King of Denmark. This island 
council only sits for about two months in the 
summer, and its members are paid out of the pro- 
ceeds of a poll-tax levied on all the voters in the 
islands. There are no bye-elections, each deputy 
having an assistant chosen to take his place in 
the event of his retirement or death. Taxes 
are collected by sheriffs, who are invariably 
Faroe men. 

There are no lawyers on the islands with the 
exception of those at Thorshavn, where all impor- 
tant cases are tried. Smaller cases are left to the 



DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 325 

discretion of the headman of each village, or for 
the sheriffs on their quarterly rounds, the final 
appeal in all instances being to the Danish courts. 
Crimes, however, are said to be extraordinarily 
rare, the Faroe islander being temperamentally 
peaceable and law-abiding. The greater number 
of offenders who find their way into the only two 
prisons on the islands are stated to be fishermen 
from the Shetlands. Mr. Nelson Annandale, the 
well-known ethnologist and traveller, has dis- 
covered a rather curious custom still in vogue in 
the Faroes. As the law only permits a prisoner to 
be given bread and water, and as this is hardly a 
generous diet in a Northern climate, an arrange- 
ment is made whereby a man who is detained for 
more than a few days serves his term in periods 
of three days, enjoying three days' freedom 
between each, so that his punishment is spread 
out over twice the estimated period. Under 
ordinary circumstances there is no danger 
of his escape during the periods of respite, and 
should a ship come in while he happens to be 
free, he can easily be clapped into gaol again 
until it sails. Long sentences are, of course, 
served in Denmark. 

In Thorshavn there is a small college for 
teachers, and in some of the larger villages there 
exist elementary schools, the instruction being 
given in Danish, but the education is mostly of a 
patriarchal character and received in the homes. 



326 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

The results of this system are not altogether ur 
satisfactory, the peasants being naturally intelli 
gent and gifted with great common sense. The 
are a strong and unusually handsome race, we] 
proportioned, dignified, fearless, sober emd ver 
hospitable. Springing from a stock half Vikin§ 
half Scottish, they make excellent sailors am 
fishermen. They are honest, sane, clean in hem 
and person, and by many are considered to b 
the finest living representatives of the heroes o 
the ancient sagas. 

The Parish dialect is a corruption of tb 
classical Norse of the ninth and tenth centuries 
and when written resembles modem Icelandic 
although in pronunciation the two language 
differ materially. The weekly and fortnighth 
newspapers which emanate from the presses a 
Thorshavn, however, are for the most part printec 
in Danish, which is read and understood b] 
nearly everybody on the islands, being thi 
language of the churches, the schools, tb 
Lagting and the law. 

The Faroe houses are picturesquely constructec 
of wood, roofed with birch-bark, and painted wit) 
tar in precisely the same style and manner as ii 
Norway more than a thousand years ago. Soli 
tary farmsteads are rare. In the capital the appear 
ance of the irregular, narrow streets and stairways 
the faded brown and grey wooden houses, and tb 
primitive oil-lamps, give the place a curiously old 



DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 327 

world aspect that is very enchanting until one 
" stumbles in the dark down some steep flight of 
steps, or one of the very many precipitous openings 
on the sea." 

Nearly every Faroe man owns the land he occu- 
pies, which is cheap though almost unproductive ; 
but he is obliged to wring the major portion of 
his living from the sea. Fortunately the waters 
round the islands contain enough fish to ensure, if 
not an excess, at any rate a sufficiency, of food for 
himself and for those dependent upon him. 
Whaling and fowhng are the chief occupations, 
providing the islanders with food for the winter, 
oil for their lamps, floats for their nets, and toys 
for their children. The chief whale followed is the 
" pilot " — Globicephaliis melas — ^while of birds the 
islands team with puf&ns, fulmar petrels, gannet, 
guillemots, razorbills and shear-waters. It is said 
also that the great haUbut grows fatter on the 
Faroe bank than anywhere else in European 
waters. 

More important than this group of islands — 
indeed, the most important of all the Danish pos- 
sessions — ^is Iceland, with her 85,000 inhabitants, 
her own parUament, and her national flag, the 
land which is incomparable in the prodigality of 
wild beauty with which nature has endowed her. 
Her glaciers are the largest in Europe, while her hot 
springs and geysers, her tablelands of volcanic 
cinders, her lava fields, her forests of dwarf trees. 



328 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

her long and silent valleys, form an ensemble as 
unique as it is picturesque. 

Like the Faroes, Iceland was originally colonised 
by the Norwegians, but at the separation of 1814 
it remained under the Danish crown. The area of 
the country is estimated at 40,500 square miles, 
and it is not unhkely that its commercial expansion 
will prove extremely important to Denmark. It 
is said to be the most volcanic island in the world, 
though there has not been much loss of life, largely 
owing to the fact that Hecla, the chief volcanic 
peak, is situated in the remote and almost inaccess- 
ible interior of the country. Peculiar features of 
the island are the warm geysers, which sometimes 
reach thirty or forty yards in height. In former 
times these phenomena occurred two or three 
times daily with great regularity ; now, however, 
the springs are inactive on occasions for several 
days at a time. 

The high plateaux of the centre of the island are 
frequently snow- and ice- bound, but the lowlands 
of the coast enjoy a healthy and equable climate, 
with no extreme severity either of winter or sum- 
mer. The majority of the commercial companies 
operating in Iceland are Danish or English, the 
chief articles of export being the famoMs Iceland 
ponies, wool and mutton, cod, eiderdown, and 
blubber. Although in former times the island 
appears to have had an exceptionally high rate of 
mortality, this has diminished considerably in 



DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 329 

recent years, and the number of inhabitants is now 
steadily on the increase. 

The capital of the country is Reykjavik, with a 
population now approaching 13,000 souls. Despite 
its proximity to the Arctic circle, this town is not 
by any means the primitive settlement many 
English people believe it to be. There are two 
biograph theatres open throughout the year, and 
in addition a winter theatre. Two newspapers 
are pubhshed, the most important being the 
Isafold, which is issued twice weekly. There is 
the parUament house, the cathedral, and in addi- 
tion two other churches, one Protestant and 
one Catholic. The Bank, the Library, and the 
Old Icelandic Museum are fine modern buildings. 
There are at present, however, no trams and no 
electric light. Two years ago a gas company com- 
menced operations. The water supply is obtained 
from a large waterfall some eight miles distant 
from the town. There are two good hotels, and 
weekly communication between Leith, the Faroes 
and Copenhagen is maintained by two Danish 
shipping companies. Both in summer and winter 
steamers connect with the principal coast towns 
and Reykjavik, and with the little southerly 
island of Vestmanoe. There is a large Latin school, 
with scholarships leading to the Copenhagen Univer- 
sity, of which mention has been made in an eariier 
chapter. In this connection it may be observed 
that students from Iceland receive a maintenance 



330 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

grant of some sixty kroner a month during the 
three or four years they are at the University, On 
an average there are twenty or thirty Icelandic 
students in Copenhagen every year. 

Communication in Iceland is effected almost 
entirely by means of the wiry little national ponies. 
There are no railways. The roads connecting the 
principal points of the island are moderately good, 
though in the winter they often become impassable. 
With the exception of the capital and Akurejni, 
there are no important towns, but there are some 
three or four fairly large communities, the chief 
of which are Isafjord and Seydisfjord. One of the 
villages boasts electric light in every house. This 
is Havnefjord, a diminutive city near Reykjavik, 
and the only place in Iceland possessing a dynamo. 
The motive power is supplied by a waterfall. 

It has been cleverly shown by Mr. Annandale, 
to whom reference has already been made, that 
Icelandic hfe cannot be perfectly comprehended 
until one has grasped the part which the small 
wiry ponies play in it. " Everybody in the country 
rides. To walk is considered to be deficient in 
personal dignity ; to pay a call on foot in the 
country, or even to dismount uninvited at a farm- 
house door, is looked upon as a breach of good 
manners. The very beggars are men who, through 
laziness or misfortune, are unable to produce 
sufficient on their own farms to support their 
families, and who ride round to their neighbours 



DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 331 

with a large bag, in which they receive broken 
meats and cast-ofi clothing. Without the ponies 
it would be impossible for the lowest savage to 
exist in Iceland, except directly on the coast, for 
without food from the sea, if not from abroad, 
there would be nothing to eat. Every luxury, 
every article above the necessities of primitive 
man, every plank of wood, every piece of metal, 
every poxmd of corn, must come from the outside. 
The food supply of the whole population is entirely 
dependent on the ponies, which carry in the hay, 
transport the wool to the coast, and bring fish to 
the farms which are not near the sea. Indifferent 
as to their track, sure-footed £is goats, they trot 
along through marshes, over mountains, across 
rivers, in single file, sometimes herded by a dog, 
sometimes tied tail to head, often almost hidden 
by their loads. Given time and numbers, they will 
carry anything from a man to the wood and metal 
for a house. During the summer the cost of keep- 
ing one of these useful animals is only about a 
farthing a day." 

The Icelandic tongue is akin to old Norwegian, 
and the characteristics and tendencies of the 
people are not dissimilar to those of their ancient 
forbears. They are proud, independent, sceptical, 
extraordinarily self-reliant, and patriotic almost to 
the point of Chauvinism. In some respects they 
may be said to have retained much of the tradi- 
tionary temperament of the splendid old Vikings 



332 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

who preceded them, but they are neither so clean 
nor so lovable as the Faroe islanders. One re- 
markable fact must not be omitted. In a few years 
it will be quite impossible to obtain alcoholic 
drinks on the island. Already it is forbidden to 
import them, and when the existing stock has 
become exhausted no more will be supplied, except 
for medicinal purposes. The chief food of the 
Icelanders consists of fish, mutton and fowls. 
Vegetables are imported from Scotland and some 
oxen from Denmark. 

Perhaps the most celebrated tourist resort on the 
island is the Tingwalla, a wild ravine about thirty 
miles north of Reykjavik. Its attractions are an 
immense earthquake crack in the mountains, two 
beautiful lakes, and some warm springs from which 
the steam rises, often shrouding the sides of the 
mountains. Iceland is being rapidly opened out 
from the tourist standpoint, and there appears to 
be no reason why in the future it should not become 
one of the favourite countries for travellers, a 
Northern Switzerland. But the alcoholic prohibi- 
tion would have to be removed if any money is to 
be attracted to the country. Two great German 
liners make the round trip every summer, from 
Hamburg to Reykjavik, Akureyri, Spitzbergen, 
the North Cape, Christiania and back to Hamburg 
again. 

In addition to the Faroes and Iceland, the Danes 
number among their overseas dominions that vast. 



DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 333 

inhospitable, ice-bound country, Greenland. Out 
of an estimated population of some 14,000 souls 
only about 400 are Europeans. Greenland is a 
great expense to Denmark, the country only being 
inhabitable for a short distance inland. Neverthe- 
less missionaries and doctors are maintained there 
in an ahnost vain effort to preserve the Esquimaux 
from extinction. The trade of the country is the 
monopoly of the Royal Greenland Trading Com- 
pany. The chief product is kryolith, a substance 
used in the manufacture of soda. 

The Danish West Indies consist of three small 
islands — St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John — 
whose united area is but 142 square miles. The 
population, which at present numbers 27,000, is 
slowly decreasing. Although a new harbour has 
been built at St. Thomas, the islands as a whole 
yield no return to their possessors, and require a 
certain grant from the Danish Budget annually. 
Upon several occasions a sale to the United 
States has been proposed, but never carried 
into effect. 

One meets with a multitude of strange specula- 
tions as to the future of Denmark. A State once 
dominant and powerful, now sunk politically to 
perhaps the lowest ebb in its history, has yet during 
the last fifty years passed through an agricultural, 
industrial and social awakening which has com- 
pelled the admiration of Europe. The Danes have 
no outstanding diplomatic or political gifts, but 



334 DENMARK AND THE DANES 

they compensate for the lack of these by a business 
shrewdness, a sound common sense, and a power of 
steadily applying themselves to their own better- 
ment materially and intellectually. Notwith- 
standing these gifts, there are many who believe 
that the future of this race, so near to our own both 
in blood and in capacity, will be a d^k and 
troubled one. Speaking generally, it may be said 
that the middle and upper classes are decidedly 
pro-EngUsh in their sympathies, while the mem- 
bers of the trade unions were at one time more 
influenced by German labourers. The organisation 
of the Socialistic party and the trade unions was 
originally copied from Germany, but it seems as if 
English and American institutions have during the 
last few years become better known to the Danish 
labourer and gained his sympathy for these 
countries. 

There are not lacking those who prophesy that 
within fifty years Iceland will have been lost to 
England, Greenland to Canada, and the Danish 
West Indies to the United States of America. 
These are the pessimists. On the other hand, one 
may find here and there the dreamers who behold 
through the mists of the future the dawning of a 
glorious and resplendent United Scandinavia. We 
are inclined to share neither of these views ; but, 
believing in the inherent patriotism and vitality 
and common sense of the race, and confident that 
the strong spirit of the Vikings is not yet dead, 



DENMARK'S OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS 335 

we see no reason why, when the difficult shallows 
of the immediate future have been negotiated, the 
Danes should not once more become the great 
power in the North to which they are entitled by 
their geographical position, their history and their 
national character. 



FINIS. 



340 



INDEX 



Easter, 37 

Ebbesen, rebellion of, 73 

Ecclesiastical music (Danish), 

34 . 
Ecclesiastical tithes, conversion 

of, 105 
Ecgberht, 67 
Eckersberg, 206, 207 
Edmund Ironsides, 68 
Education, democratic system, 
15^—163 

libraries, 163, 164 

of peasants, 132, 159 — 163 

(popular high schools), 32, 
i6g — 177 

secondary, 163 
Edward VII., 46, 56, 232 
Egg Export Corporation, 151 
Egg industry, 151 
Elbe, 71 
Elsinore, 54, 81 
Emperor Charles V., 77 
England, 21, 23, 27, 31, 37, 56, 

66, 68, 80, 114 
English Church (Copenhagen). 

46, 48 
English manners, 38 
Enna, August, 214 
Entails, conditions of, 106 
Eric (of Pomerania), 42, 75 
Erlandsen (Archbishop), 42 
Esbjerg, 56, 290 
Esmann, Gustav, 193 
Esronso, 18 

Esthonia, Bishopric of, 71 
Estrup, 91 

arbitrary methods of, 92 

—95 

attempt on life of, 94 

resignation of, 93 
Ethnology, 25 
Evangelicals, 32 
Ewalds, The, 190 
Exner, 207 
Extrabladet, 255 



Factories, women in, 310, 311 

Factory system, rise of, 107 

Familie Journal, 257 

Family reunions, 22 

Fano, 56, 290 

Farm buildmgs, description of, 

117 
Farm labour, 105 



Farm properties, general statis- 
tics of, 115 
Farming, economic position of, 

134 

headquarters of, 133 

machines, 138 

scientific, 132 — 140 
Faroe Islands, 221, 323 — 327 
Fauna, 23, 24 
Fences, absence of, 117 
Fertilisers, 137 
Feurbach, 180 
Finance, 261 — 282 
Finsen, N. R., 220, 221 — 233 
Fishermen, 25 
Fishing (salmon), 20 
Fisker Bank, 25 
Fjord, Prof., 134, 145 
Flag, national, of Denmark, 71 
Fleet, The, 79—81 
Flogging law, 97 
Flor, Christian, 169 
Flora, 21, 22 

Flora Danica porcelain, 45, 248 
Folke Museum, 47 
Folke Theatre, 218 
Folketing, method of election 

to, 87 
Fonos, Otto, 190 
Forests, 21 

Foster houses, 320, 321 
Foumier, Louis, 246, 247 
Fox, 24 

France, 23, 27, 28, 66, 114 
Fredensborg, 22, 60 
Fredericia, Battle of, 83 
Frederik III., 78 
Frederik V., 45, 247 
Frederik VII., 87 
Frederik VIII., 58 
Frederiksberg, 54 

gardens, 49 
Frederiksborg, 22 
Free Harbour (Copenhagen), 48 
Frijs-Frijsenborg, Count, 56, 96 
Frijsenborg, 56 
Frolich, L., 211 
Frue Kirke, 43, 44 
Fuhnen (Fyen), 18, 20, 24, 57 

Bishop of, 33 
Funerals, 37 
Fyens Tidende, 257 

Gade, 213 

Gads danske Magasin, 257 



INDEX 



341 



Game, 23 

Geneological Institute, 40 

Geological formation, 17 

George, King of Greece, 59 

Germans, 38, 42 

Germany, 21, 23, 114 

Geysers, 328 

Gjellerup, Karl, 184, 192 

Glacial action, 17 

Gliicksburg family, 58, 60 

Gluckstadt, I., 274 

Glyptotek, 47 

Goldschmidt wireless system, 

235 

Grain stocks, 119 

Great Northern Telegraph Co., 
274, 294 

Greenland, 332, 333 

Grib Fores-t, 22 

Grundejer Bank, 276, 277 

Grundtvig (Bishop), 32, 35, 36 

Gnindtvigians (Merry Chris- 
tians), 32, 35 

Guden Aa, 20 

Gustav, Prince of Denmark, 58 



Hagemann, 226 

Haggard, Sir H. Rider, 119, 

126, 153 
Halle, Lady, 215 
Hamburg, 71 
Hamlet, 54 
Hammershoj, V., 209 
Handels Bank, 275 
Hanover, 22 
Hans, King, 75 
Hans Andersen, 51 
Hansa States, 74 

decline of, 284 
Hansen, Constantine, 207, 208 
Hansen, C. K., 292 
Harald, Bluetooth, 55, 67 
Harald, Prince of Denmark, 

58 
Hare, 23 

Hartmann, songs of, 213 
Harvest, 137 
Haslimd, 210 
Havnefjord, 330 
Hay, 138 

Hayden, Arthur, 249 
Heath-land, 20 

reclamation of, 139 
Hecla, 328 



Hedin, Sven, 239 

Hegel, 180 

Heiberg, Fru J. L., 216 

Heiberg, J. L., 216 

Heise, songs of, 213 

Heligoland, 82 

Hell^aand's Kirke, 46 

Henniags, Fru, 216 

Henriques, Jini, 214 " 

Herald, 217 

Hereditary titles, 39 

Hertz, 235 

Hetch, G., 249 

High schools (popular), 32, 169 

—177 
Hillerod, 22 
Himmelijjerg, 18 
History, Danish, 65 — 100 
Hjemmet, 257 
Holberg, 51 
Holberg, Ludvig, 217 
Holidays, 310 
Holland, 22, 80 
Holmskjold, Theodor, 248 
Holsoe, 210 
Holstein, 82 

Counts of, 73, 74 

-Ledreborg, Count, 91, 95, 
99 
Hope, Sir Thomas, 198 
Horsens, 56 
Horses, 142, 143 
Horup, Viggo, 91, 95, 255 
Hospitals, 313 
Hostrup, Jens, 190 
H'dvedstaden, 256 
Hveen, 48 



Ibsen, 180, 218 

reaction on Danish drama, 
192 
Ice-houses, 126 
Iceland, 66, 222, 328 — 332 
Illegitimacy, 30, 319, 320 
Illustreret Tidende, 257 
Indre Mission, 34, 35 
Industries, 27 

Industry, Danish, 283 — 296 
Infant mortality, decrease in, 

125 
Inns and public-houses, 29 
Institute of Light (Finsen), 226 

—233 



340 



INDEX 



Easter, 37 

Ebbesen, rebellion of, 73 

Ecclesiastical music (Danish), 

34 
Ecclesiastical tithes, conversion 

of, 105 
Ecgberht, 67 
Eckersberg, 206, 207 
Edmund Ironsides, 68 
Education, democratic system, 
159—163 

libraries, 163, 164 

of peasants, 132, 159 — 163 

(popular high schools), 32, 
i6g — 177 

secondary, 163 
Edward VII., 46, 56, 232 
Egg Export Corporation, 151 
Egg industry, 151 
Elbe, 71 
Elsinore, 54, 81 
Emperor Charles V., 77 
England, 21, 23, 27, 31, 37, 56, 

66, 68, 80, 114 
English Church (Copenhagen). 

46, 48 
English manners, 38 
Enna, August, 214 
Entails, conditions of, 106 
Eric (of Pomerania), 42, 75 
Erlandsen (Archbishop), 42 
Esbjerg, 56, 290 
Esmann, Gustav, 193 
Esronso, 18 

Esthonia, Bishopric of, 71 
Estrup, 91 

arbitrary methods of^ 92 

—95 

attempt on life of, 94 

resignation of, 95 
Ethnology, 25 
Evangelicals, 32 
Ewalds, The, 190 
Exner, 207 
Extrabladet, 255 



Factories, women in, 310, 311 

Factory system, rise of, 107 

Familie Journal, ■z^'j 

Family reunions, 22 

Fano, 56, 290 

Farm buildings, description of, 

117 
Farm labour, 105 



Farm properties, general statis- 
tics of, 115 
Farming, economic position of, 

134 

headquarters of, 133 

machines, 138 

scientific, 132 — 140 
Faroe Islands, 221, 323 — 327 
Fauna, 23, 24 
Fences, absence of, 117 
Fertilisers, 137 
Feurbach, 180 
Finance, 261 — 282 
Finsen, N. R., 220, 221 — 233 
Fishermen, 25 
Fishing (salmon), 20 
Fisker Bank, 25 
Fjord, Prof., 134, 145 
Flag, national, of Denmark, 71 
Fleet, The, 79—81 
Flogging law, 97 
Flor, Christian, 169 
Flora, 21, 22 

Flora Danica porcelain, 45, 248 
Folke Museum, 47 
Folke Theatre, 218 
Folketing, method of election 

to, 87 
Fonos, Otto, 190 
Forests, 21 

Foster houses, 320, 321 
Foumier, Louis, 246, 247 
Fox, 24 

France, 23, 27, 28, 66, 114 
Fredensborg, 22, 60 
Fredericia, Battle of, 83 
Frederik III., 78 
Frederik V., 45, 247 
Frederik VII., 87 
Frederik VIII., 58 
Frederiksberg, 54 

gardens, 49 
Frederiksborg, 22 
Free Harbour (Copenhagen), 48 
Frijs-Frijsenborg, Count, 56, 96 
Frijsenborg, 56 
Frolich, L., 211 
Frue Kirke, 43, 44 
Fuhnen (Fyen), 18, 20, 24, 57 

Bishop of, 33 
Funerals, 37 
Fyens Tidende, 257 

Gade, 213 

Gads danske Magasin, 257 



INDEX 



341 



Game, 23 

Geneological Institute, 40 

Geological formation, 17 

George, King of Greece, 59 

Germans, 38, 42 

Germany, 21, 23, 114 

Geysers, 328 

Gjellerup, Karl, 184, 192 

Glacial action, 17 

Gliicksburg family, 58, 60 

Gluckstadt, I., 274 

Glyptotek, 47 

Goldschmidt wireless system, 

235 

Grain stocks, 119 

Great Northern Telegraph Co., 
274, 294 

Greenland, 332, 333 

Grib Forest, 22 

Grundejer Bank, 276, 277 

Grundtvig (Bishop), 32, 35, 36 

Gnmdtvigians (Merry Chris- 
tians), 32, 35 

Guden Aa, 20 

Gustav, Prince of Denmark, 58 



Hagemann, 226 

Haggard, Sir H. Rider, 119, 

126, 153 
Hall6, Lady, 215 
Hamburg, 71 
Hamlet, 54 
Hammershoj, V., 209 
Handels Bank, 275 
Hanover, 22 
Hans, King, 75 
Hans Andersen, 51 
Hansa States, 74 

decline of, 284 
Hansen, Constantine, 207, 208 
Hansen, C. K., 292 
Harald, Bluetooth, 55, 67 
Harald, Prince of Denmark, 

58 
Hare, 23 

Hartmann, songs of, 213 
Harvest, 137 
Haslund, 210 
Havnefjord, 330 
Hay, 138 

Hayden, Arthur, 249 
Heath-land, 20 

reclamation of, 139 
Hecla, 328 



Hedin, Sven, 239 

Hegel, 180 

Heiberg, Fru J. L., 216 

Heiberg, J. L., 216 

Heise, songs of, 213 

Heligoland, 82 

Helligaand's Kirke, 46 

Henhings, Fru, 216 

Henriques, Jini, 214 ' 

Herald, 217 

Hereditary titles, 39 

Hertz, 235 

Hetch, G., 249 

High schools (popular), 32, 169 

—177 
Hillerod, 22 
HimmellDjerg, 18 
History, Danish, 65 — 100 
Hjemmet, 257 
Holberg, 51 
Holberg, Ludvig, 217 
Hohdays, 310 
Holland, 22, 80 
Hohnskjold, Theodor, 248 
Holsoe, 210 
Holstein, 82 

Counts of, 73, 74 

-Ledreborg, Count, 91, 95, 
99 
Hope, Sir Thomas, 198 
Horsens, 56 
Horses, 142, 143 
Horup, Viggo, 91, 95, 255 
Hospitals, 313 
Hostrup, Jens, 190 
Hovedstaden, 256 
Hveen, 48 



Ibsen, 180, 218 

reaction on Danish drama, 
192 
Ice-houses, 126 
Iceland, 66, 222, 328 — 332 
Illegitimacy, 30, 319, 320 
Illusireret Tidende, 257 
Indre Mission, 34, 35 
Industries, 27 

Industry, Danish, 283 — 296 
Infant mortality, decrease in, 

125 
Inns and public-houses, 29 
Institute of Light (Finsen), 226 

—233 



342 



INDEX 



Insurance, accident, 316 

co-operative and mercan- 
tile, 317 
" Internationale," go 
Irminger, 210 
Irrigation, 20 
Isafjord, 330 
Isafold, 339 



Jacobsen, Carl, 47,48 
Jacobsen, J. P., 181, 182 
Jaromer of Rugen, 42 
Jensen, Frederik, 218 
Jensen, Johannes V., 190 
Jerichau, J. A., 204 
JerndorfE, 217 
Jews, 36 

Johansen, Viggo, 209, 210 
John the Mild, 42 
Jorgensen, Johannes, 188, 190 
Jorgensen, W., 226 
Juel, Jens, 206 
Jutes, 66 

uprising of, 74 
Jutland, 18 — 21, 23, 24, 25, 69, 
III 

agriculture in, 104 
Jyllandsposten, 257 
Jysk (dialect), 25 



Kaalund, poetic letters of, 180 

Kalmar Union, 75 

Kampmann, 47 

Barshohn, 23 

Klods-Hans, 257 

Knudsen, Ivar, 220, 239 — 245 

Kobenhavn, 256 

Kobke, Christian, 207 

Kolding, 20 

Konge, 20 

Kongen's Nytorv (King's New 

Market), 43, 48, 50 
Kongeriget Danmarks Hypo- 

tek Bank, 282 
Krog, Arnold, 249 
Kronborg, 55 
Krozer, P. S., 208, 209 
Kryolith, 333 
Kyne, 207 



Laaland (Lolland), 18 
Bishop of, 33 



Labour (farm), 105 

clubs, 318, 319 
Labour exchanges, 319 

origin of, 97 
Lakes of Jutland, 56 
Land Purchase Societies, iii 

loans to, 112 
Land tenure, 103 — 116 
Landmans Bank, The, 274, 275 
Landsting, method of election 

to, 88 
Langeliaie, 48 
Lange-Miiller, P. E., 213 
Language, 25 
Legacy duties, 263 
Legal procedure, 302 — 304 

defects of, 303 
Liberal party, 89 
Licensed premises, 29 
Limited companies, taxation 

of, 263 
Liquid manure, 122, 137, 138 
Lister, 220 

Literature, modern, 178 — 194. 
Sea also under various 
authors. 
Locher, C, 210 
Longevity of Danes, 313 
Lotteries, 265, 266 
Lubeck, 42, 71 
Lucerne grass, 138 
Lund, 68, 71 
Lundbye, J. T,, 207 
Lutheran Body, 37, 77 



MacClwe's Magazine, 128 
Madsen, General, 97 
Madsen, Karl, 207 
Magnussen, Julius, 194 
Mail routes, 267 
Mantzius, Dr. Karl,' 217 
Manure, liquid, 122, 137, 138 

natural, 20 
Manuring, 117, 121, 122 
Marble church, 45 
Marconi, 235 
Margareth, Queen, 74 
Marie, Princess of Orleans, 59 
Marriage, 30, 31 
Marselisborg, 55, 56 
Marstal, 290 
Marstrand, Vilhelm, 208 
Martin Luther, 77 
Maud, Princess, of England, 58 



INDEX 



343 



Mecklenburg, Duke of, 74 

MetchnikofE, 220 

Michaelis, Sophus, 190 

Middle-class holdings, creation 
of, iq8 

Military expenditure, 267 

Military service, 79 

Milk, comparative prices of, 127 
consumption and delivery 

of, 129 
distribution of, 125, 126 
hygienic pail, 130 
in large towns, 124 — 131 
Miiller's cooling presses, 

130 
Pasteurisation, 128 
supply of Copenhagen, 54 

Moens Klint, 17 

MoUe, 20 

Monson, Sir E., 46 

Moral life (Copenhagen), 30 

Mortgage Bank of Denmark, 
109 

Motor cars, tax on, 264 

Mtiller, Frantz Heinrich, 247 

Munich, 53 

Municipal trading, 127 

Municipalities, tax on, 269 — 
271 

Music, 212 — 218 

Nansen, 239 
Nansen, Fru Betty, 218 
Nansen, Peter, 186, 187, 218 
Napoleon, 80 — 82 
Nathansen, Henri, 193 
National Defence, go 
National Liberal Party, 89 
National Tidende, 254 
Navy (The), 307 
Neeregaard, 98 
Neiendamm, 217 
Nelson, 80 
Neruda, Prof., 214 
New names, 40 
Nielsen, Carl, 214 
Nielsen, Ejnar, 211 
Nobel Prize, 226 
NobiUty, creation of, 70 
Nomenclature, 39 
Nonconformists, 32 
Nordstjeman Company, The, 

243 
North Sea, 20, 21, 55 
Northern coalition, 80, 81 



Northmen, 66 
Norway, 23, 68 
Nyrop, Martin, 52 

Oaks, 21 

Odense, 54, 57 

Odense-Aa, 20 

Odin, 57 

Oehlenschlaeger, Adam, 178 

Olaf, Prince, 74 

Old age pensions, 267, 312, 313 

Oldenburg family, 75, 84 

Ophelia, 54 

Orsted, 220 

Orsted, H. C, 49 

Outlook, The, 129 

Painting, Danish and Dutch, 
206 

Paris, 53 

revolt of, 83 

Parish relief, 321 

Parker, Sir Hyde, 80 

Pasteur, 220 

Pasturage, insufficiency of, 144 

Paulsen, J., 209 

Peasant proprietorship, 106 

Pedersen, P. O., 238 

Pedersen, Viggo, 210 

Personal power of Danish kings, 
70 

Peter the Great, 44 

Pheasant, 24 

Philipsen, 210 

Physical stature, 27 

Pig fanning, 119, 144 
growth of, 144 
remuneration of, 121 

Pinero, 217 

Political history, 86 — 100 

Politihen, The, 255 

Pontoppidan, Henrik, 185 — 186 

Popular high schools, 32, 36, 
169 — 177 

Population, 27, 54 

Porcelain, Royal Danish, 246 

Pork, relative pnce of, 120 
Portugal, 21 
Post Oface, The, 265 
Poulsen, Adam, 217 
Poulsen, EmU, 216 
Poulsen, Johannes, 217 



344 



INDEX 



Poulsen, Olaf, 217 

Poulsen, Valdemar, 220, 233 — 

239 
Poulsen wireless, advantages 

of, 236 
Poultry farming, 121 
Preisler, 229 
Press, The, 252 — 257 
Private Bank of Copenhagen, 

The, 274, 286 
Profit pooling, 116 
Prostitution, 30 

control of, 30 
Prussia, 83, 84 



Raadhus, 51, 52 
Raadhuspladsen (Town Hall 

Place), 43, 48 
Race relationship, 25 
Radio-telegraphy, 234 — 239 
Railways, provision of, 89, 265 
Rainfall, 19 
Randers, 56, 73 
Rationalism, 35 
Ravnholt, 24 

Realm Court, trial before, gg 
Recke, Ernst von der, 192 
Reedtz-Thott, Baron, 43 
Refshale Island, 48 
Rent (farm), 106 
Reumert, Poul, 217 
Reval, Battle of, 71 
Reykjavik, 329 
Ribe, Bishop of, 33, 56 
Righi, 235 

Rigsdag, democratic parties in, 
88 
power of, 87 
Rigsret (Realms Court), 304 
Ring, 210 
Rivers, 20 
Rodin, 47, 204, 205 
Rolde, Johan, 210 
Roman Catholics, 36 
Rontgen, 220 
Root cultivation, 137 
Rordam, Valdemar, 190 
Rosenborg Castle, 43, 44 
Roskilde, 55, 69 
Peace of, 78 
Rotation of crops, 122, 137 
Round Tower (Rundetaam), 

43, 44 



Royal Experimental Labora- 
tory, 149 
Royal Family, 58 — 61 
Royal Theatre, 40, 43 
Rump, 207 
Russia, 80 

Empress of, 59, 60 
Ryge, 216 



Saint-Beuve, 180 

Salmon fishing, 20 

Salvation Army, 36 

Sanatoria, 314 

Sanddunes, 20 

Sanitation (Copenhagen), 52, 53 

Savings banks, 148, 278 

Saxo grammaticus, 66 

Saxony, 28 

Scandinavia, Archbishop of, 68 

Scandinavian-American liners, 

291 
Scandinavians, 67 
Union of, 75 
Scaw, 20 
Scenery, characteristic Danish, 

175 
Schandorph, 179, 180, 182, 183 
Schiller, 184 
School farms, 140, 145 
Schou, Philip, 249 
Schwerin, Count of, 72 
Scientific Control Association, 

118, 135, 143 
Scientific research, 219, 245 
Scotland, 66 
Sculpture. See under Thor- 

waldsen. 
Sealanders, 66 
Sedan, 58 

Segelcke, Prof., 134 
Selandia, The, 242 
Sevres, 249 

Sewerage (Copenhagen), 53 
Seydisfjord, 330 
Shakespeare, 54 
Shaw, George Bernard, 217 
Sheep, 144 
Shipping, merchant, 285, 288 

— 292 
Sick clubs, 314, 315 
Sinding, Stephen, 204 
Sjcelland (Sealand), 18, 20, 22, 

24. 54. 69 
Skagerrack, 20 



INDEX 



345 



Skovgaard, 210 
Skram, Erik, 183 
Slaughter-houses, co-operative, 

150. 151 
Sleswick-Holstein, 38 
Sleswick, 85 

legal code of, 72 

revolt in, 83 
Slott-MoUer, Harald, 211 
Small holdings, arguments in 
favour of, 113 — 115 

conditions of candidacy, 
109 

minimum area of, 109 

mortgages on, 114, 115 

objections to, iii — 113 

origin of, 107 

repayment of loans on, 109 

Selection Board, no 

State guarantee, 109 

statistics re, no 
Small ownership (co-operative), 

116 
Smith, F. L., & Co., 293 
Smorrebrod, 174 
Social Demokraten, 254, 256 
Social laws, 309 — 322 
Social life, 36, 37, 39 
Socialist party, go 
Sonne, 207 
Sound, The, 55, 286 
Spencer, 180 
Spirits (alcoholic), 28 
Sport, 23 
Squirrel, 24 

St. Brice's Day, massacre of, 68 
St. Croix, 333 
St. John, 333 
St. Thomas, 333 
Stables, 118, 126 
State Art Museum, 47 
State Church, 31 

disestablishment, 33 

divisions of, 32 

doctrine and practice, 33 

High Church party, 36 

internal management, 33 

origin of, 77 I 

quarrels of king with, 73 

services, 33 
Stevenson, R. L., 223 
Stockholm, massacre of Swedish 

nobles in, 76 
Storks, prevalence of, 57 
Strindberg, 180 

D 



Stuart-Mill, John, 180 
Stuckenberg, Viggo, 187 
Suicides, 27, 28 
Supply associations, peculiar 

characteristics of, 152 
Surface, geological, 19 
Sus, 20 
Svend, 55 
Svendborg, 57 

Swain, The Two-Bearded, 68 
Sweden, 23, 41, 48, 55, 68, 74, 

77. 80 
Swineries, 119 
Switzerland, 28 
Syberg, 210 



Tailoring, 38 

Taine, 180 

Taxation, 261 — 263 
reform of, 96 

Tejner, Hans, 211 

Telefunken wireless system, 235 

Telegraphone, The, 234 

Telephone Company (Copen- 
hagen), 295 

Temperance associations, 28, 29 

Temperature, 19 

Theatres, 212 — 218 

Theatres, Royal, 40, 215, 216, 
217 

Thirty Years' War, 78 

Thorshavn, 323 

Thorwaldsen collection, 47, 202 
— 203 
influence on Scandinavian 

art, 203 — 204 
life, works, style, 195 — 202 

Thott Palace, 43 

Thrangisvaag, 323 

Thulstrup, Dr., 222 

Thunderstorms, 19 

Thyra, Duchess of Cumberland, 

59 
Thyra, Prmcess, 59 
Tielgen, C. F., 45, 274, 291, 294 
Tilsit, Peace of, 81 
Tilskueren, 257 
Tings, 69 
Tingwalla, 332 
Tivoli (Copenhagen), 49 
Town HaH Place (Copenhagen), 

43 
Trade unions, 317 
Trees, 21, 22 



346 



INDEX 



Trekroner Fort, 48 
Trustee securities, 106 
Tuberculosis, 27 

treatment of, 313, 314 
Tumor, Christopher, 114 
Tuxen, 209 
Tycho, Brahe, 46 



Unemployment, 317 

United Steamship Company, 

274, 290, 291 
University of Copenhagen, 42, 
51, 164 — 168 
co-operation of farmers 
with, 133 



Valborg Eve, 40 
Valdemar Atterdag, 42, 74 
Valdemar, Prince, 59 
Valdemar the Great, 42, 69, 70^ 
Valdemar the Victorious, 70 
ValhaUa, 66 
Varde, 20 

Variety theatres, 218 
Veile, 20, 56 
Venereal diseases, 30 
Verden og Vi, 257 
Vermehren, 207 
Vestmanoe, 329 
Viborg, 23, 56 
Bishop of, 33 



Vienna, 53 
Vikings, 66 
Villenage, 105, 107 

abolition of, 106 
Von Langer, 22 
Vor Preiser's Kirke, 45 
Vor Frue Kirke, 43 
Vort Land, 254 



Weddings, 37 

Wedgwood porcelain, 249 

Wends, 69 

Wesleyan Methodism, 32 

Wessex, 68 

West Indies (Danish), 333 

Weyse, songs of, 213 

Wied, Gusfeiv, 193 

Wiehe, Michael, 216 

Wild boar, 23 

WUlumsen, J. F., 211 

Winds, 19 

Workmen's Protection Act, 309 



Yeomen farmers, laws relating 
to, 107 



Zahle, 99 
Zahrtmann, 211 
Zoological Gardens (Copen- 
hagen), 49 



SKADBURY, AONtW, & CO. LD., LONDON AND TOMBRID6S.
Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Denmark and the Danes; a survey of Danish life, institutions and culture"

See other formats
