Denmark Agriculture Commerce

a marked degree. Regular steamship routes were estab- lished with practically all the other European countries, with North and South America, Africa, Australia and the Far East. In addition, the country acquired a large fleet of tramp steamers. According to Lloyd’s Register, during the decade preceding 1914 the size of the Danish merchant marine, which in that year amounted to 820,181 tons, had been increased nearly 40 per cent. In addition, there was a great increase in efficiency during this period resulting from the more general use of steamers in place of sailing vessels. Danish shipping prospered during the war in spite of the losses incident to war-time navigation. It has been estimated that the gross profits of the country’s mercantile fleet rose from about $26,800,000 in 1914 to approximately $107,- 200,000 in 1917, or 300 per cent. The net earnings for these years are estimated at $13,400,000 and $42,880,000 respec- tively. This greatly increased earning power, resulting from the world-wide demand for ships, brought a corresponding in- crease in the aggregate value of the country’s merchant fleet. Before the war the cost of new ships in Denmark averaged about $40 per dead- weight ton. By the end of 1917 the price had risen to nearly Reclaiming the soil in Jutland—before and afler 21