Denmark; A Cooperative Commonwealth (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1921. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT The cooperative movement is the thing for which Denmark is most widely known. It is the most pervasive thing in the country. The Danish farmer performs for himself almost all of the functions that in other countries are performed by capitalistic agencies. He makes his own butter and cheese. He kills and sells his own cattle and hogs. He collects his own eggs. He buys food for his cattle in distant markets, as well as agricultural machinery and the supplies of his household. He does his own banking and establishes his own credit. He insures his house and his live stock. He maintains breeding societies of pedigreed cattle and horses. He buys at wholesale and sells to himself at retail. There are 2,000 cooperative retail stores in the country. And these cooperative stores in turn own factories, warehouses, big distributing agencies in Copenhagen and elsewhere. The Danish farmer is almost as self-contained as was his ancestor of two centuries ago. Through cooperation the Danish farmer has become his own capitalist. He performs the functions of entrepreneur. He does this not through state socialism but through more than 4,000 cooperative societies, which he himself owns. The Danish farmer labored under conditions similar to those of the United States up to fifty years ago. There, as in this country, agriculture was enveloped by middlemen who discouraged and often impoverished the farmer on the one hand, and exploited the consumer on the other. The farmer had to market through these agencies. He had no other alternative. The American farmer produces for an unknown market. He has to sell through a hostile agency interested in buying at the lowest possible price. This is true of almost every product of the farm. It is true of wheat and of...