DANMARK.00

Milk. Of late years a very considerable export of condensed milk and milk powder has sprung up in Denmark. In this field, as in most other domains where Danish agricultural produce is offered to the world, endeavours are made to offer as good and sound a product as possible, and above all a product which answers to the description applied to it.

As to condensed milk and cream and milk powder, the prevailing regulations are contained in an Act of December 21st, 1923, and a Decree of April 12th, 1924, which provides that persons desirous of producing and exporting manufactured milk (cream)

by manufacturing is understood evaporation, condensation, sterilisation, homogenisation or the adding of sugar, in order to preserve the commodity for a long time must notify the fact in writing to the Ministry for Agriculture, and that no goods may be exported before the permission of the Ministry has been given.

Next, there are detailed rules as to each of these methods of manufacture, which may be applied both to skimmed and full milk and to cream. Factories desirous of exporting milk products are subject to inspection, detailed rules being enforced as regards the composition of the various products.

Cattle. It may further be remarked that persons exporting breeding cattle from Denmark may, on the payment of a small fee, be furnished with a certificate giving various particulars as to the breed and milking capacity of the animals. The necessary investigations are not made by the public authorities, but are part of the work of the voluntary agricultural organisations, which guarantee the authenticity of the information. The State,

however, assists the organisations in question with grants of money.

Eggs, Seeds. In respect of other export produce, such as eggs and seeds, projects have been entertained of enacting measures for the purpose of providing the greatest possible guarantee for the high quality of these articles. In these two domains, however, matters have not as yet got beyond the preparatory stage, but experiments are constantly being made in order to arrive at forms of control which would insure the best possible results, both for the Danish export trade in these commodities and for the foreign buyers.

In the most important branches of the Danish agricultural export trade, i. e. butter, cheese, all kinds of meat, manufactured milk, and breeding cattle, a system of control has, however, already been established which assures the fulfilment of every reasonable demand on the part of foreign buyers as regards the quality and wholesomeness of the commodities supplied. It is the firm conviction of Danish agriculturists that by this means a system of control has been set up which makes it possible for other countries to buy our agricultural produce with perfect security, and that the control system is regarded by foreign buyers as offering a complete guarantee of the high quality of Danish agricultural exports.

THE EXPORT INDUSTRIES

OF DENMARK

by IVAR EGEBJERG

Secretary of the Danish Chamber of Manufacturers.

Many countries owe their manufacturing industries to the generosity of nature: valuable coal mines, rich deposits of minerals, or extensive areas of forest have from the beginning provided a basis for industry, and through the exploitation of these treasures of the earth and their further manufacture the industrial development which now characterises these countries has sprung up as a natural growth.

In Denmark it has been different. The soil here contains no other riches than those which are won from the fields by patient toil. Denmark thus seems intended by nature to be an agricultural country. And for centuries circumstances enabled the population to find employment on the land and in the other occupations which were then available, such as trade, fishing, shipping, and handicrafts. As a consequence of the development of communications, however, the presence of coal and iron, etc. ceased to be a necessary condition of industrial development. It thus became possible to establish domestic industries providing employment for the remainder of the population in the production of all kinds of industrial goods, the consumption of which was rapidly growing as a result of the improving standards of living and education.

The factors which have made the industrial development of Denmark possible are the favourable situation of the country and the skill of the people. Owing to its advantageous position washed on the west by the North Sea, and on the east and south by the Baltic and its excellent harbours, of which there is a large number, the transportation of industrial raw materials and finished products can be effected in the best and cheapest manner, by the direct sea route, without the expense of railway transport.

Thus Denmark fulfils, like hardly any other country, the first condition of industrial prosperity, i. e., convenient and rapid access to the principal lines of communication of the world. She also possesses the factors necessary for the exploitation of her favourable situation: a well-ordered state of society, an educated and skilful staff of workers, old-established handicraft traditions, a number of able commercially trained people, and highly educated experts schooled in the best scientific traditions. On this foundation the Danish industries rest.

The manufacture of industrial products such as articles of clothing, footwear, household articles, etc. for the domestic market is one side af Danish industry. From the point of view of international commerce, however, it is not this production which is of the greatest interest, because the Danish industries do not seek an export market for a mass production of articles of daily consumption, but, on the contrary, recognise that their best chance lies in the sale of goods of individual character and wares of especially good quality.

When the Danish community was faced by the necessity of creating an export trade in industrial goods, endeavours were concentrated principally upon applied art and crafts. The beautiful work which is the outcome of the characteristically Danish taste, and which bears the stamp of centuries of tradition among an artisan class the work of which was marked by individual taste, offered a field in which the workers could find personal satisfaction, while at the same time the articles produced could be sold in the big countries without involving the necessity of abundant capital and power of economic expansion which modern industry usually demands. At the great Northern Exhibition in Copenhagen in 1888 Denmark showed how far she had advanced in the industrial field and, by her exhibits at the world Exhibitions in Paris in 1889 and 1900 and at other international exhibitions her world wide reputation was further enhanced.

Danish porcelain the joint product of the highly developed technical science of the Royal and Messrs. Bing & Grøndahl's Porcelain Works and the ablest artists of the country, is known all over the world, while Danish gold and silversmith work, earthenware, book-binding, and furniture have also gained a great reputation. Danish applied art not only caters for the class which has the greatest purchasing power; it seeks its customers

everywhere, and it does not regard the making of articles of luxury, but the production of useful articles of beauty, as its principal object.

In applied art it is the culture and taste of the workman which give the objects their specific stamp, but Danish industry has also taken into its service other qualites of the national character, such as technical ingenuity and inclination towards scientific research.

In the many technical schools of the country a thorough technical and educational training is given to the youth from which the artisan class is recruited, while engineers receive their training at the College of Engineering, which was founded as early as 1829. This training is acknowledged as being among the best in the world, and many of the students of the College of Engineering in Copenhagen have obtained posts abroad which show the value of the education which the College affords. The excellent supply of highly trained technicians thus afforded has been of the greatest importance to the industries of Denmark, and the manufactures which Danish industry offers to the world owe much of their high quality to the technical skill which has gone to their making.

The extraordinary development of Danish dairy farming has brought Danish industry face to face with the task of providing the best possible dairy machinery, and Danish dairy farming and Danish industry have thus mutually stimulated each other. The Danish factories are now turning out separators, dairy machinery, milk transport cans, and refrigerating machinery which are sold everywhere. Through the exploitation of certain natural deposits Danish engineers have not only succeeded in creating a cement industry which now, besides providing for the total domestic consumption, exports two million barrels of cement annually, but have simultaneously developed a manufacture of machinery for cement making, so that many of the world's cement works have been constructed by Danish engineers and provided with plants made in Denmark or constructed according to Danish designs.

As the Danes are a seafaring people, shipbuilding has always occupied a prominent place among Danish industries. Of late years Danish shipbuilding experts have especially devoted their skill to the manufacture of Diesel engines. It is well known that