DENMARK: Silver Sanity

(See front cover)

Up from resplendent London after the Coronation, an airplane was to take off late this week and, soaring eastward over the North Sea off the low coast of Europe, skirt that continent up to the jigsaw peninsula and archipelago which separate the North Sea from the Baltic. Over Germany’s sandy Frisian Islands it would pass, over the fat fields of Schleswig-Holstein, over the belts (straits) of Denmark to tidebitten Zealand Island on whose eastern promontory, only three miles from Sweden across the Sound, lies clean, quiet Copenhagen. From the plane landing at Kastrup, Denmark’s top-ranking airport, would step Denmark’s broad-shouldered Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, who was Sweden’s pretty, blonde Princess Ingrid.

Seventy-four years ago Frederik’s beauteous great-aunt Alexandra traveled from Copenhagen to London to marry robustious Edward of Wales, who became King Edward VII, who begat George V, who begat Edward VIII, who abdicated in favor of George VI (Danish Frederik’s second cousin), whose Coronation was at once the most splendid and the most pumped-up party that Europe has seen this century. Prince Frederik and his princess were returning from it for another and very different kind of party: the Silver (25th) Jubilee of the reign of the world’s tallest monarch. Frederik’s father Christian X, King of Denmark and Iceland. The Wends & The Goths, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, of the Dithmarschen. Lauenburg, and Oldenburg.

Between the splendor of London’s party and the simplicity planned for Denmark’s —a brief family procession through the city to a thanksgiving service; in the evening a small State banquet with toasts by the Kings of Sweden and Norway, a few foreign diplomats and Cabinet ministers, later a review of the students’ torchlight procession—lay a contrast perfectly illustrative of the difference between a mighty empire, with world problems of gorgeous complexity, and a tight little kingdom with 25 years of peace behind it.In a world of Dictators v. Democracies, Denmark this week, in the 25th year of its Christian era, offered a study in sane, happy nationalism that was well expressed in a birthday book published for the occasion.* With the Oslo group of northern European powers beginning to loom as a rallying point for world democracy. King Christian’s quiet Silver Jubilee was significant by its very insignificance.

Partner King. Even more than the Swedes, the Norwegians, the Dutch and the Belgians, the Danes regard their Crown and its wearer as honored (but not sanctified or adulated) elements of a partnership in the business of national living. They call it Forretningen Danmark (the business firm of Denmark) but the connotation is social and philosophical as well as commercial. On his daily horseback rides through Copenhagen, the King of Denmark nods to civilians, salutes ladies, chats with small boys or truckdrivers— and obeys traffic lights—not with the self-conscious condescension that is forced upon British royalty but with the mutually respectful understanding of a company’s top executive and a minor employe. In this role Christian X has been one of Denmark’s most valued Kings, for his people rate him as sensible as he is imposing. His preference for living in the Amalienborg Palace, one of four identical rococo buildings which rub shoulders with shops, hotels and private houses, instead of in vast Christiansborg Palace with its golden crown looming into the sky and including the Houses of Parliament and Denmark’s Supreme Court, they regard as a demonstration of good judgment rather than a gesture of humility. It makes good sense for a business king to live near his nation’s place of business.

Soldier Son. On the spring evening 25 years ago when Christian was called to the throne, he was already acting ruler in his father’s absence. The bad news came from Hamburg. There his tall father, Frederik VIII, had been out for an evening stroll alone. Queen Louise (a Swedish-Norwegian princess) was at home in Copenhagen. A heart attack overtook the old gentleman (he was 68). Passersby helped him to a hospital, none knowing who he was. For hours he lay on a public mortuary slab before identification was made.

Christian, then 41, took his place with a speech in which sorrow and modesty were stolidly blended. “I hope you will show me the same confidence and respect as you gave him,” he said. Educated in Copenhagen’s Metropolitanskole, he had served an 18-month term as a private in the army, often standing sentry duty on frosty nights outside the palace of his grandfather, Christian IX, who died in 1906. In 1898, the year in which he became Captain of the Royal Guards, the young giant married Alexandrine, Duchess of Mecklenburg. Christian has always been touchy about his height (6 ft. 6 in.), remarks petulantly “I know. I am too long.” Last March when he passed through Berlin he stopped to visit Dictator Hitler— whose proximity makes it expedient for Denmark to be chummy—the German Government shrewdly put at Christian’s disposal the specially built car of the late President von Hindenburg, another giant. The Danish King was thus able to drive tophatted to the Realmleader without crouching.

Constitutionally bilious and inclined to be morose in the morning, at heart he is a “family man,” specially devoted to his only grandchild, 2-year-old Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Christian’s younger son Prince Knud. At home with the Queen, he twiddles the radio for her like any shopkeeper.

In 1912 the War-clouds gathering across lower Europe were visible from Copenhagen. The Scandinavian nations with their pacific tradition were determined not to be dragged in, and on the War’s outbreak met at Malmo to agree on a policy of neutrality. In the early part of the War, when Germany was at her strongest, neutral Denmark reaped a full share of the war profits that flowed into Scandinavia. Down from the Baltic into Germany came a steady stream of war supplies from food to explosives.

“Christian for President.” Only once has Christian kicked up his heels and flouted the Constitution. In 1920 Denmark was smitten by a wave of social unrest. Strikes were threatened and communism, a new and chic vogue, won over a large section of the industrial population. A violently national group was dissatisfied with the Radical (i. e., liberal) Cabinet in office which was willing to let Germany keep the southern part of onetime Danish Schleswig. To the amazement of Europeans and of Danes who had held him up as a paragon of kingly virtues, Christian dismissed the Cabinet, though it had the confidence of the Folketing (Lower House). The Leftists, backed by the trade unions, called a General Strike. Malcontents standing on street corners yelled for a Republic. Two things saved the King. It was Easter and easy-going Danes shrank from revolution during a holiday. And not even the most rabid Republicans could suggest anybody for President but King Christian. They wisely concluded that they were better off with a King with a private income than a high-salaried President who would submit vast expense accounts.

Iceland. A scheduled event in Denmark’s Silver Jubilee is a radio speech to King Christian from Hermann Jonasson, Premier of Iceland. Like Denmark, Iceland, just south of the Arctic Circle, is a sovereign State, and Christian is its King. Originally colonized by Norwegians, Iceland regained its autonomy in 1874 but remained under the Danish crown. Its present status was defined in the Union Act of 1918 which provides that Denmark is to safeguard Iceland’s foreign affairs. Danes in Iceland, Icelanders in Denmark, enjoy equal privileges, are free to fish in the maritime waters of either country, to make common use of harbors. Icelandic-Americans, aggressively proud of their recovered freedom, untiringly explain that Denmark & Iceland are like two quite separate companies under one president but completely independent of each other. Last year when King Christian steamed on his yacht Dannebrog into Iceland’s metropolis, he flew not the white-crossed red flag of Denmark but Iceland’s own royal flag of red. white & blue. Christian moreover has laboriously learned to speak Icelandic.

Other Possessions. In her colonial heyday Denmark owned the Virgin Islands in the West Indies (sold to U. S. in 1917). and the Orkney and Shetland Islands off the northern coast of Scotland (now all British). Last week, however. King Christian could still lay claim to the colony of Greenland and to the “province” of the Faeroes, a group of cod-maintained islands between Scandinavia & Iceland.

Greenland, biggest island in the world, more than eight times as big as Great Britain, for 200 years was a bone of contention between Norway and Denmark. Each claimed ownership; Norway annexed the eastern coast. They submitted the dispute to the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague which in 1933 upheld Denmark’s claim, decided that Denmark was doing “good work.” Denmark has made Greenland a closed country. Its 17,000 people are scattered along the barren coasts, the centre of the island being a gigantic uninhabitable icecap. There are 3,000 Eskimos, and Denmark is determined to protect them from the white man’s diseases until they are advanced enough to compete on fairer ground. Only ships chartered by the Danish Government carry food to Greenland. Everything in the island, from the 10,000 sheep to the Eskimo bride in sealskin trousers, is carefully supervised. Greenland’s only industrial asset is a cryolite mine, run by Danes. This is some compensation for Danish munificence, but the Government loses about $150,000 a year.

Bridges. The oldest Kingdom in the world, Denmark is less than 17.000 square mi. in area.

Like strong blond spiders the Danes are spinning their islands and peninsula together with a network of bridges: one from Falster to Lolland. another in North Jutland from Aalborg to Norresundby. Two more connect Copenhagen with Amager Island. Though bridges are no novelty in the Baltic, Danes went wild with joy two years ago when His Majesty snipped a ribbon, opened Denmark’s Little Belt Bridge, the longest and most important in Continental Europe (3,864 ft.), spanning Fünen, second largest island in the Danish group (Zealand is biggest) and Jutland. Though Danish motor roads are excellent, and railroads (50% Government-owned, the rest with the State as majority stockholder) are efficient, traveling in Denmark means a lot of ferrying. The new bridge, on the direct line between Copenhagen and London, cuts down by nearly 50% the time of the journey from Copenhagen to Esbjerg, Denmark’s only important port in the North Sea. home of a large fleet of fishing vessels and westbound steamship lines. Irrepressibly ambitious about bridges, Denmark plans to open this summer the Storstrom bridge, even longer than that across the Little Belt, which will link Zealand to the east coast of Fünen. Two other projected bridges are a consuming dinnertime topic for all Danes: one to join Copenhagen with Sweden; another to join Zealand with the Island of Falster on the direct route to Berlin.

Danish engineers, turned out by the State College of Engineering, have cement and girders in their blood. For a hundred years they have been considered among the best in the world, and their reputation increased still more when they built a harbor in Gdynia, Poland which has since become one of the crucial ports of Europe. Boatbuilding, too, comes easy to a Dane.

Beer. Nearly one-third of Denmark’s population of 3,706,000 live in gay, slum-free Copenhagen, famed for its Old People’s Town, a haven of neat apartments, gardens, cinemas where oldsters, many of them with a generous Old Age pension, spend the autumn of their lives attended by municipal nurses, diverted by entertainment. Another object of foreign admiration is Copenhagen’s Carlsberg Foundation established by the late J. C. Jacobsen, founder of the Carlsberg Breweries which turn out a million and a half bottles of beer a day. Brewer Jacobsen until his death in 1877 was Denmark’s No. 1 benefactor and his son carries on as president of the Foundation. The Carlsberg Breweries, which pay up to $3,740,000 a year in taxes, give every penny of profit to art and sciences, have for directors members of the Royal Danish Academy of Science & Letters. From the Carlsberg funds of more than $330,000 a year Denmark has been enriched by Copenhagen’s Glyptothek, a museum housing treasures of sculpture and painting, provincial museums, restoration of old buildings, traveling grants to artists. When Father Jacobsen died he left his villa as a free life residence for anybody, distinguished in science or the arts, whom the Foundation might select. Living in this mansion nowadays is Dr. Niels Henrik David Bohr, founder of the modern atomic theory.

British Breakfast. Without Denmark the British breakfast table would be a barren waste. Though they may not all know it, Christian X is the Britishers’ favorite butter & egg man. Last year 60% of Danish exports, mostly dairy-produce— butter, bacon, eggs—were shipped across the North Sea to London. Because Denmark is as flat as a pancake with only one “mountain” (500 ft.), 76% of her acres are agricultural and of these 92% are owned by nearly half a million farmers. Denmark’s co-operative system is the most specialized in the world and even the small farmer with a farm of only 14 acres and a few cows and pigs can get rid of his stuff. In every Danish town looms the co-operative dairy, the first established in 1882, which now takes 90% of Denmark’s milk. Paralleling the dairies are co-operative bacon factories which handle 84% of all killings, and the Danish Co-operative Egg Export which last year supplied Britain alone with 56,000,000. Though the Danish farmer provides 30% of the world’s export butter, 60% of its bacon, he is still not selling enough to make a good living. Frequent Danish complaint is that the U. S. takes nothing from Denmark, makes it impossible for Danes to buy coveted U. S. cars. The U. S. feels that Denmark has flouted the most favored nation treaty signed with the U. S. in 1826, buys only British cars, gives the U. S. no encouragement. At any rate 135,000 Danish farmers have heavy mortgages, owe about 4,000,000,000 kroner ($880,000,000). Many Danes believe that they should concentrate more on industrial development. As it is, only one-quarter of Denmark’s export trade is industrial—mainly cement and ships.

Sore Spot-Because Britain is Denmark’s best customer, because Denmark buys most of her steel and coal from Britain, the two countries are on the best of terms and when Britain went off gold Denmark followed suit. But there are many Danes who feel that by signing the Anglo-German Naval Treaty (TIME, July 24, 1935) Britain virtually handed over the Baltic to German influence, and Denmark is suspicious of Germany. Schleswig-Holstein is the raw spot. In 1460 the Kings of Denmark became Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein, agreed never to join it to Denmark. For nearly 200 years they kept their word, lost it to Sweden, got it back in chunks. In 1806 Schleswig-Holstein was joined to Denmark. In 1848 Denmark allowed German-populated Holstein to join the German Confederation, and for two years had a hard time preventing gluttonous Prussia from snatching Schleswig too. In 1864 Austria & Prussia joined forces, bloodily took Schleswig away and for 56 years, Schleswig and Holstein were both German. After the War, Germany was allowed to keep Holstein and German Southern Schleswig. Plebiscites were held in northern and central Schleswig. The Danish northern zone voted to stay with Denmark but the central zone plumped for Germany. On July 10, 1920 King Christian seated on a white horse rode with much cheering across his southern frontier to reclaim northern Schleswig from the Germans. Denmark was secretly enraged that the central zone had gone for good. Today, Dictator Hitler casts covetous eyes at Danish Schleswig, terrified the Danes a few years ago by planning a visit of Nazis there in full uniform. The Danish Government thought fast, passed a law forbidding the wearing of all political uniforms and emblems, and the Nazis had to come without their brown shirts—but they came. Since then Nazis have been quietly overrunning the section, are helped by the Third Reich to buy land. Moreover Danes know that Germans consider the sandy beaches of Jutland ideal for air bases to control the North Sea and that Herr Hitler has moved in that direction by fortifying the “bird sanctuary” island of Sylt.

Northern Entente? Until 1918 the Scandinavian countries—Norway, Denmark, Sweden—were neutral. Then, like Belgium, they yielded to idealism, joined the League of Nations. That ideal was shattered when Germany marched into the Rhineland, when Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. It was during Mussolini’s African adventure that the famed Oslo group got down to business. The Scandinavian countries, headed by Sweden, decided they had better look out for themselves. A German and Russian clash might come and the Baltic would be the danger zone. Accordingly the Foreign Ministers of the Scandinavian countries continue to meet from time to time in the Swedish capital to discuss their ultimate aims—to get trade independence, to revert to their traditional neutrality, to maintain the democracy of the north. Though Denmark is one of Europe’s most pacifist nations, the Danish Premier, bearded Social Democrat Thorvald Stauning, is beginning to see the sense of Sweden’s dictum that disarmed neutrality is a practical impossibility. Denmark has long been disarmed to the point of danger; according to military experts she would not be able to defend her capital or her boundaries for more than three days. Premier Stauning is now expected to push through a National Defense Act to increase Denmark’s army & navy, to buy war materials. Most Danes trust that Britain would never allow Germany to invade Scandinavia but they are taking no chances. And it was with more than passive resistance in mind that Sweden’s Foreign Minister lately declared: “It is my opinion that the peoples of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland will create a northern entente.”

*Denmark, Kingdom of Reason by Agnes Rothery; the Viking Press ($3). Excerpt: “In a universe pitching in unrest she [Denmark] maintains her equilibrium. In a Europe seething with hatred and riven by distress, she blooms in contentment and cheerful industry.”