THE NORTH SLESW1C QUESTION 331
lation has savings-bank accounts, the average deposit being higher than that of any other European nation. The national debt is relatively small, the per capita amount being about equal to that of the United States ; and the national finances rest on a thoroughly sound basis, the income covering the expenditures. An important asset are the 1,800 miles of railroad, nearly all owned and operated by the state.
Denmark shares with New Zealand the distinction of being the first to introduce a general system of old-age pensions.
The workingmen of Denmark have formed powerful trades unions, as ready, perhaps, to make terms with capital as those of any other country in Europe. Wages generally range higher than elsewhere on the continent ; and the principle of arbitration of labor disputes has been legislatively recognized. Though predominatingly of socialistic tendencies, the large labor party has taken its place among parliamentary factions, and, under able and opportunistic leaders, has become a strong factor in politics.
Conditions of soil, in connection with an absolute absence of raw materials, rendering agriculture the chief occupation and source of wealth of her people, one would not look for impor- tant industrial interests in Denmark. However, Copenhagen is rapidly developing into a manufacturing center. At her ship- yards are built most of the vessels of the home merchant marine and of the Danish war fleet, besides lately also men-of-war for foreign nations. Of other industries of more than local signifi- cance may be mentioned the Danish art-industrial articles and the Copenhagen porcelain, which by virtue of original design and artistic execution have gained a high reputation in the marts of the world.
But that the commercial spirit has not been slumbering is evidenced by the fact that the tonnage of the merchant navy has trebled since 1870, and now surpasses that of such an old sea-faring nation as Holland and is more than half as large as Russia's ; while the Danish United Steamship Company in respect to number of vessels is the largest in the world. The Great Northern Telegraph Company, covering northern and eastern Asia with its network of wires, is a Danish enterprise. Late years
