Show 1 e c I A A Prepared by the National Geographic So so- clety Washington D. D C C. Denmark with which Americans do donot donot not often have contact has received more than usual attention recently as time the owner ot of Greenland where our world the flyers found It necessary sary to alight ns as well as the political partner of Iceland another stopping place In the flight Since the sale by Denmark to the United States of thE Virgin Islands Islands' and the establishment of the almost I complete Independence of Iceland leeland Greenland Is Denmark's only remaining remain remain- Ing colony It is In fact a Danish i monopoly Its government Is distinctly dIstinct distinct- ly Iy paternalistic but Is scrupulously for forthe the benefIt ot of the natives To a very marked degree the government government govern govern- ment ot of Denmark Itself has come to be bea a government for the common people swinging to that situation In less than three quarters ot of n a century from a highly developed 1 urI aristocracy Even now there is 18 a paradoxical condition of affairs Time The court of Denmark Denmark Den Den- mark has been called the court In Europe It has J kIngs kIngs' and quee qu s to tos several s veral thrones besides Its own and Its reignIng reigning reign reign- Ing family Is related b by blood to nearly every crowned head on the continent It may seem strange that the court ot of Europe should exist In u country which Is largely constructively constructive constructive- I ly socialistic It se seems ms even en stranger I to us that the farmers In Denmark I who are the most Influential part ot of the thc population should take to socialistic I tic methods It does not toll follow ow as It dues does In Sweden and In Germany that lint socialists social social- In Denmark should hate n a king The They are sometimes In conflict with the existing government and would doubtless use all their Influence to obtain ob- ob tain a r republic It if nearly all that dint can be gained through the thc application ot of democratic Ideas to government hind had hadnot not been already achieved In truth In Denmark under a very liberal constitutional monarchy the government go bus hus become so much a part or of the people limit It Is their government govern govern- ment This has In the e eyes es of the themore more conservative e Danes some same disadvantages vantages just now ns as the present government gov- gov O exists mainly for the poorer classes Team Work of the Danes There Is one especially admirable qua quality lit mat strikes the observer In that Denmark Is the capacity or of the Dunes for team When It comes to time the Question ot of a reform which the people have ha thought about and have hu come corne to th the n that the they need there Is nu no timie fast In putting put put- ting Jt it Into activity To think among Danish folk Is to act ct In this they are re unlike their favorite tu hero helo ot of tragedy Hamlet It Is refreshing too to discover er that no greut affair ning the good or of orthe the IW lph is II undertaken thoughtlessly and the crown does not oppose In anyway any uny Wo way reforms may lef lessen sen Its or prerogatives s. s King Christian X N Is I a Dune or of the Hanes Danes and yet md and ant fir of the legitimate claims o of other nations and ond In Denmark one une sees u II ot at Its bt best t. t er ones one's prejudices and HOns 1111 lie be on one Is forced to that a constitutional monarchy antler such sueh es s Is au an ideal mu- mu tion for a small The he population of I Ing North returned under pressure ure by after the war ur Is about 3 Th The fit if war host Denmark Is square milts miles It t Is I one fifteenth the size of Texas and shout third one the size fir of New York urk The Faroe Islands ore mire part of the kin dom dam or of Denmark which fur for merly belonged to nine bet eo a afree free state In 1874 rather rother gently ruled by the king o of Denmark la III almost exclusively devoted de- de voted to and yet et not many more than thun persons pt follow thE pursuits pursuit or of agriculture forestry And fishing The capital Copt n. 1 Is Isa a city It too large In n to the population of the country It contains persons Aarhus comes next wit with h has und and Odense n Fishmonger To be as exact as possible there lire are farmers Iv the country formed Into opert co-opert co r ve socIeties which permeate all the e I relations ot of life These co operative societies are the proprIetors of all the machinery for buying nil al that the the farmer farmer ne needs and distributing all that he produces and does not consume himself No Graft and No Corners There Is no graft no middleman can corner an any article of necessity there are no multi millionaires with excess profits gained from home Industries In fact fact the Dane who would declare that capItal Is the enemy ot of labor I would be looked on as an economic Idiot just ns as It would seem equally idiotic to assume that labor existed forthe for tor the pIlIng up of capital In Denmark money Is not an end It Is an Instrument a medium ot of cir cir- And the object for which nil all parties in n politics are struggling struggling- the conservative In Denmark would be looked on us its a radical here Is that It should be equally distributed not for luxurIes but for necessaries Until the the the ot-the Nineteenth t nth century the Danes were brought to the verge erge ot of ruin b by a stupid s system stem or of agriculture ag- ag only comparable to that In vogue In some of our raising cotton states where time the same old crop destroys destros destro's de- de the nutrition of the soil soli and the thc weevil boll eats Its fruits Scientific agriculture was unknown to them The growing of grain was n a fixed dictum and rotatIon of crops a heresy Then came Bishop lg Grundtvig with new Ideas of education and Kristen Kohl who started the first peoples people's high school From Kold's first school grew the gr great at system ot of Danish high schools which It Is said were the models models mod mod- els on which our were founded an and 1 also the s system stem ot of university university uni- uni extension In speaking English countries But neither the guns nor time the unive university extension courses have bet been n as reaching far In their effects as the Danish hIgh schools school It Is understood ot of course that these schools are not like our high sch schools Introductions to college college- or orthe orthe the finishing ofT off or of the education of those who do not Intend to go 10 to col- col lege Nu No requirement Is necessary for tor the student except the desire to learn There are no degrees given In these schools no examinations and no fixed standards of scholarship Aristocracy to Decline There Is ou arm aristocracy In Denmark Den Den- mark un an aristocracy ot of a very high class its a rule hut but It has lost Its privileges Its titles have hn even less value socially than they have hu ire In France Frune which is a n. n and under un- un der the usage which males all the sn and ut of H a count or a baron counts and aud countesses countes es or barons and hurones es titles soon soun lo lose e their and ud new tItles ot of nobility mire lire no longer given ghen The aristocracy which for n a Ion time controlled the upper hOl house s fought hard against t time tIle of the theland land and anel its 18 member were wert not sm with time the Danish ot of credit hunks hanks hy by which nay ony mun mua of nf good n rry rJ small sum ur of really ready money momy might Le be able to own ml II fu The lit of on shares s 1 I does doe not In Oc Denmark Everyman Every Iver man JUan works his 1111 own fn In the tho summer months however er over o und mind other corne comae into Denmark to tn dig JI thE beet root and to du do jobs johll which time former farmer prefers not nor to tn Th The fa huge rf estate owners mire obliged d r e every year ear to provide for these allen laborers who hn go home In the autumn quite content on tent rk I is not nn an Industrial oun 11 try In the sense that It Is III n a country of The scientific treatment treat treat- ment fir on one or of the worst soils for or In Europe Joined with the equally scientific y system tem of ce enabled d It to monopolize the th export or of butter bacon and eggs Into Int England and Before the war ur the fhe Danes Oune supplied d dIhe time breakfast t table of the British nail the export of milk and cream and even of beef and hogs hos into lato Germany taxed their capacity |