Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 11, 1903, Page 30

- Copenhagen as a Business City (Copyright. 1993, by Frank G. Carpenter) IPIENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept, 28 — (8pecial Correspondence of The DBee.)—~The capital of Denmark is one of the livliest zities of northe ern Europe. It has about 500,00) people, the most of whom are as well dressed as any you will find on the con- tinent., It ha some magnificent bulldings and the cleanest streets outside of Holland, Every man here has to see that the streot and pavement in front of his house Is kept clean. The asphalt Is bruzhed reveral times v day, and a regiment of able-bodied paupers is always at work on the squares, The:e men waar black clothes and wooden #hoes Each carrfes a watering can and a huge broom and works away like a Duteh hourewlife e Copenbagen is a good business city It has fine <tores, most of them so high above the stre that you have to go to the sgec ond stor to get in It has great ware- houses and several large factoriez, It is noted for s breweri especially those owned by the Jacobsens, These Jacobsens are the Astors or the Carnegles of Den- mark. They bave for years been the rich- est pecple of the coantry, the org'nal Jacobsen having made a great fortune in beer, The last Jacobsen bei re the present one had a son who was very wild. Instead of breowing barley the young man persisted in sowing oats of the kind called wild At last his father disinherited him. The two did not speak as they passed by, and the young man and his family were left to go their own way. One day a little son of tha young man saw his grandfather on the Btreet, He came up to him and said: “You are my grandpa, aren't you?" “That I am,” was th: reply, and the old man took the baby to his heart., He ac- eonm panied him to his son’s house, and there was u general reconcilation, Shortly after this he gave the son $560,000 to us> as he pleased. The son thereupon resolved to turn over a new leaf. He founded an opposition brewery and soon beame as great as his father. At the latter's death he succeeded to the whale estate, The Jacobsens bellieve in America and American machinery. They import Ameri- can hops and Indian corn for their brewer- fes, and (hey #ay our corn makes better beer than Danigh barley. One of the young Jacobsens has recently visited Milwaukee to leatn how to make beer I am told that many Danes are now sending thir s6ns to our country to learn business methods. They consider us at the top In trading and manufacturing, and they are beginning to pattern after us in bank- ing as well. It is only a year so aco that three of the chief Danish bunkers were sent to the United States to study its financial methods Our trade with Denmark is important. That country has close connections with all parts of Europe, but neverthcless we stand fourth in our exports to it. We send about $20,000,000 worth of goods here every year. This Is more than any other country, with the exception ‘of Germany, Great Britain and Sweden and Norway. Indeed Denmark is a better customer for us than Sweden or Norw It has only about 2,500,000, or about one-third the popu- lation of Scandinavia; nevertheless it takes more goods than all Scandinavia. Denmark cannot feed itself nor its stock. It has to go outside for such things, and it is ‘especially fond of American corn and American flour. The corn comes in for the stock and the flour is made into bread for the people, At first the Danes imported the wheat and tried to grind it. They made a fatr flour, but not as good as that shipped in from America. Then they imporied our milling machinery and American millers to manage it, but for some reason or oth-'r the flour was a fallure, and they had to give 1t up. It may be that the climate here Is not as suited to milling as that of Min- neapolis The Danes are buying our co tnsced meal for cow feed. They say it makes good milk and good fertilizer and they like it. They have many of our agricultural machines, and also some electrical machinery of United States make. 1 see American shoes sold In the stores, and am t(old that this branch of trade might be materially in- creased, as the people consider our shoes the best in the world, The farmers of Denmark work together hetter than any farmers of Europe They have co-operation societies through which they buy thelr machinery and sell their products and also borrow such money as they need. There is one such associa tion which ships nearly all the butter made in Denmark to London Indeed, Denmark is the dairy farm of London, and nearly all of its dairy work is by co-operation The first co-operative dairy was begun in 1882 There are now more than 1,000 such dairies, which use annually almost 4,000,000,000 pounds of milk and make more than $35,000,000 worth of butter. These dairies were crected and put into operation at a cost of about $7.000,000, the cost of each dairy varying from $£,000 to $10,000 The stockholders are farmers, and they number about 150 900, In such dairies 130,000,000 pounds of butter are made annually, This combination might be called a But- ter trust. It is so, but the farmers are the stockholders and the money goes back to the people Years ago they made their butter as we do, and the Danish butter commanded the lowest prices. Then these co-operative dairles were started on bor- rowed capital guaranteed by the farmers. Svery man agreed to turn in all his milk to the company, and to let it handle the product., The result was that better but- ter was made and shipped to England and elsewhere, It at once began to make a reputation. Tt improved, and now it is the best butter in the market. The companies buy feed in quantities and sell it out at reduced rates to their members, taking their pay out of the milk receipts. Machinery is bought in the same way, and the associations work generally for the good of their stockholders, Settle- meats are made weekly or monthly, the co-operative soclety holding back a cer- tain amount of its receipts for a sinking fund to pay off its debts, It also puts a part of its surplusg into a savings bank and loans it out to the members of the assoclation at low rates of interest. Each man can borrow in proportion to the quantity of milk he supplies to the as- soclation, The chicken raisers have also their com- bination. There are something like 25,000 Danish men and women who raise fowls who have joined together to get a good price for their eggs and chickens. They have ‘their own egg collectors, who go from farm to farm and take eggs (0 the fac- tories or packing houses, whence they are tested and shipped off to L.ondon and other markets, Every farmer is responsible for his own eggs. He has to stamp them with his ini- tials, and If a bad egg is allowed to get in he is fined. As the eggs corie into the packing house they are tested by being placed on a frame of netting, which is held over an electric light., The frame will ac- commodate sixty eggs. The light will shine through those which are good, but not through those that are the least bit bad Every dark egg Is taken out. [Its sender is known by the initials upon it, and he is fined at the rate of 5 Kronen, or $1.25 for every bad egg. As a result there are few bad eggs in the Danish packing houses After this the eggs are sorted according to sizes. They are sold by weight rather than by the dozen, the packers guarantee- ing 80 many pounds to the dozen up to a certain amount. If similar care could be used by our chicken raisers, our helpful hen would beeome more helpful than ever, The Danes have have also co-operative bacon associations The men who raise hogs combine together to sell their product. They have their own ways of feeding and their pork brings a higher pr in the mar e than ours ets of Europe. The best hogs are produced by feeding them American corn until about three weeks before killing During these three weeks they are fed on barley, skimmilk and buttermilk. Last vear Denmark exported horses, cattle and pork (o the value of $5 000,000, and butter to the amount of $35,00000, so you see it does a'big agricultural business Our consul here speaks highly of the Danes as customers. He says -they know a good thing when they see it, and have the money to pay for it. He says the demand for American shoes is increasing and goes on as follows “Danish business men write their leiters on American typewriters. They count their money on American cash registers; they THE FREE HARBOR OF COPENHAGEN. IN BUSINESS like the American bicycle and are now buy- ing American automobiles. In short Ameri- can goods of every description, if reliable and up-to-date, will find a ready sale here,"” Copenhagen is noted for its educational institutions, art galleries and museums. The Danes are about the best educated pcople of Europe. They have had a compulsory sys- tem of education since 1814, and one rarely finds a man or woman who cannot read and write. Th are public schools and all sorts of technical school everywhere. There are schools for dairymen, schools for farm- ers, for beermakers and for everything under the sun The Thorwaldsen museum is one of the finest in Europe and singularly enough it is devoted to the works of one scupltor. Thor- waldsen was educated at the Academy of Copenhagen and later on in Rome He foon developed into a great sculptor, and as such did more work perhaps than any other of this kind In this one museum there are eighty statues, 130 busts, three large friezes and 240 reliefs in marble. His works are of we erful beauty, and they are famous all the world over. Among the objects is a model of the Swiss lion, which he carved ocut of the rock at Lucerne in memory of the Swiss guards defense of the Tuilleries. Another great man of Copenhagen was 1 | é UG M v D A TR DENMARK. Hans Christian Andersen, the writer of the fairy stories. There is a monument to him here in the heart of the city, on one side of the pedestal of which is engraved a picture from the “Ugly Duckling,” and on another side a little child riding on the back of a stork, Andersen was born in the little Danish town of Odense. His father was a shoe- maker and his mother wanted to make her boy a tailor. Young Hans, however, had a bookish bent, and his ambition was to be- come famous by writing He left home with $5 in his pocket, and with that as a start worked his way through school in Copenhagen. He hAd some talent for sing- ing and hoped to make a place for himself on the stage. He tried for one of the the- aters of Copenhagen, but was rejected. His talent was brought to the notice of the king, and through him he was placed in an advanced school at public expense. Later on his poems and stories became noted, and during his latter years he received an an- nuity from the Danish government. The people here are very proud of him, and they tell many stories of his simplicity and kindliness I came down the Kattegat on my way from Christiana to Copenhagen, passing Elsinore, where Shakespeare had laid the (Continued on Page Sixteen) 77 é Co i S el Ml 0