IN NEUTRAL DENMARK.

BUSINESStTO^^STTE 11 -

•KEARS OF TDSSIBLE WAR,

S^a-girt Denmark is in«-*terrible panic about losing; her neutrality, ■ ljer . inde-J pendence and her profits li; *frbm*tlie sale of butter (writes Curtis- Brown to the Springfield under date Copenhagen, ~ 4th September). Every Dane you meeti seizes you- grimly by the j coati sleeve and -whispers: "Have youj heard that the Germans .. . ? Is it true that England plans a landing at ou^ west port -Esbjerg? What will becpme of our trade ?" •On the "day I arrivpd here a ,neutrality-and-butyer-panic was on. Rumor said' that a big, German force .had marched to Tbender, a Bmali ;i S'c;hleswig|sHblistejin town close to Denmark's frontier; that it had announced it was on the way to Denmark to forestall a British landing, and that Foreign Minister Scavenius had asked Germany^ what ; she meant. Twentyfive thou?.'in d ' Danish ■• soldiers on. :^Zea-. land island had been. hurried to Jutland to .stem the German flood.; ■ ; Of course., tlie, story was imtrue, and, like all Danish panics,, it arose out of butter. Jutland market-women went to .Toender with carts of ? butter, which they sell to Germany at exorbitant rates, and they saw > there\.hal£,^irjigjment of Prussian landsturm. Th6y had never seen soldiers, ,in< Toender* before/ and they spread the news. 'Before evening Copenhagen kntw that Denmark and Germany were half -at war. -was the third panic m 'three.' months. . These panics never get into the newspapers, for the ' censorship '.here 'is as "severe as m Russia, and categorical orders fly round ta^editors forbidding, them; :to_ print such alarming news. For a? couple .pf' days Copenhagen trembles, and then it settles .dojfn and sets to making money again. Denmark's Cabinet is called the "panic Cabinet." It is m a chropic panic lest Denmark lose her neutrality, and therein, it soundly >. repfesents the Danish poQple. It consists — as far as brains are cqacerned— .of three men, Prime Minister Za^ilej foreign Minisleis rSpavehius; •'. (the cl|veresfc diplomatist m all, Scandinavia), and Kjnance Minister, JE^X^ ? ran<J^ s - a brother 6 f the oVitic Gbbrg'-Brandes. The Zfthle, Cabinet iliashbf gotr'a majority m the ' Riksdag, bjit--.it keeps triumphantly inpbqsrer tl partly" b,ec^Uße;,the, > jiebple want a whihh is always m: a panic. 04-pyO 4 -py such a'; Cabitifet ca-n^proteat busi : nee.%:;and bui^neW is booming^^., '..""." : , 3mE .T^B^E SQLCIE6S'. CASE. ■^reinier* ZfiMe: has /v hard -tame satisf fflhg !*^ 6 ' exacting .jrho want to hif B^;^ firm an^i-German. policy, but do npfc^ant'it to be firm'-enb'iigij to prqvqp&war/ When 1 he does w|iat German^, wtfnts every ,-'Da,ne» scr<ajns "Saulftp? German!" andrwhe%,he 'stands up^ Gevmany every Dane screams, "\^ltkt? H^''Avill dragvTis- mtQi^ftr^ ;,Clas^J[nstjance isi the great tliree soldiers' T^iee. Gfymaji soldiersb^ Danish race— fnom , jforth . '^hUs^-ig^lalfely jdeserted aiffosa the frontier. A. conflict, which Premier Zahle kept out' of the newspliers, went on as to whether Denmark sjijpuld give them mp. Denmark and Germany have a special -agreement obliging e-Jeh oth% »Uoi give pp : -deserters under c;^tain conditions.. The rumor spread thfit Premier Zt^Je would give these deserters up. i :The cowardice and subsfsrviency „,pf ? the "Sausage German" (M»inet«: was CTqpenhagenS - pne j'^alk. Z^hle js, an^ as.tute«*man^ and "when he s&jr -how things X&ggi&mg lie resolved ne& tip-; giver the .soldiers . up. r^ext^da^ swfead the sMty^B that Germany's Mniister hSa M:m %iIMJ&J?^;;^ ci g" MSnfeter Scavenius,— and -had threatened assorts o£ things if the deserters were nftt handqjl over, ,, ;Tltereupon pppenhigen, Ventembert-sS"iitafa!!fl^& t and butter tnged. lit would be absurd for: the eof a pedantic pw2£#fc!ipno-?.. And tjenhageri deblarja^fmpKaticiliy for Lding to Q§l&myfr?->"'J&: night the erters were>A*||t|yit * tq^the^ frontier aiiid - handed . ovej^ to Germany's gendJrriiesi.V' Prcfbabiy^tlyay 'were'-rfiot: -_ ( !Sni,bther-«duntries diplomacy, .is ; ah' or-, ixatri(^al rivair arid >nemy ' p^ ' buaijtiess.' H^reMdipl9ma"cy, andrjj?|inpi^ :are : allied: The:"!virli'6le S^tg^pSCey^w to ii^kmg money - <out of bdligerents', necessities. Premier Zahle set this out iftia speech. ''Denmark,! V.he said, not afford a foreighvptsiwy^oi seritiiiderit daring 'the war. DenrHaSg'js prospering^ aid if she thinks only of prosperity her f qfreign policy ? will take .care if itself. Neutrality m. a- great war/ is more fighting, and Denmaifk's wealth, '.ivjlly-have more than doubled" if "she Tkeeps but of the war and 4f the* war lasts another cbuple of years,," .„, . , ... ; , w - A PROSPEROUS NEUTRAL, v Denmark flourishes more than any E-u*ope.{m ; , v^.e^^Mgfc v tl^ de ri bufcter-^usuajly ,>F.Qrth £8,000,1)00 "a year, is estimated Ior 1 19 l6 !S a^Jii2,oo^ooo/ Thd additional £14,000,000 is a present to the Danish f armers, , f or. the production has not increased. 'Biaiilway 'takings on the two chief lilies Kave goiie up 57 per cent., and shipping takings 53O.vpeBJ. ceut. ! After "the shipping^epmpanies 'Denmark's farmers :p£?fit In South Jutland thp, banks are so congested with money Vtliat they refuse to pay interest ori deppsits. BefOTe the war they paid A per '.cent. are • turning capitalists. Before the war the farmers sold Germaay. -butter at lOd a pound; now they sell \% at 2s Id. Nearly all the bld-fashion«*-^a«nw ; »i»V. Jutland a're ! being puilfeid dekwia^and- replaced with handsome sariiiiafy ah*d iihpicturesque Imildings with bathraom&^and. electric instaltetions. , The f arxner? ? baVe n6t enough cattle to supply ihe foreign deitfftntr; -.■and thfty-JtEKJ^^ e fcvmQre.^f i rwn. Denmark and N"6rwayr^ut s there conditions are the sameil3BS^nilch cows have jrone up 300 per t!«-*r-"M»*«dueT """ . FOR ILIJ2GI3gOT2CCP r- HflApE. *• Denmark is reWgwig-^normous profits from illegitimate^GuSetl The illegitimate traders are i ';i!iujU)lyj"aot Danes, but subjects of belljffiwa»aCEowers, but the money is earned •yi'4jujll''g'pent m Derimark, and Denmark profits. In spite of Germany's prohibition against export — which was specially excepted m the case of the submarine. Deutschland— a big trade is done m aniline dyes. Oil the Jutland-German, frontier cases of dyes are smuggled,! the $iyonfe lioethod f being to float them, acifcFS the KoeMwau frontier stream. The dyes to Russia, which manufactures none. Germany winks at this traffic;, because m exchange for aniline dyes she gets light Russian goods. '■ Denmark will not risk her wonderful prosperity by participating- m the jwar. As the chief danger is supjposed. to come from the German side, the Zahle Cabinet concentrates on avoiding offence to Germany. The censorship exhibition of the .mosj^-^-snt^iograph pictures, and the te^^^Kpepsorship'Btdps even the throughrf r^psmissioir'ojti British news, which shows Germany's prospects m unfavorable light. Letters from Denmark are opened and read^and if .they compromise Denmark's niufrality .'they are destroyed. Newspaper correspondents are summoned., to the censorship or foreign office and t-uld precisely what they may say and may not say. Nevertheless^ Denmark is making war preparations. Late Defence Minister Munck proclaimed that . "no defence whatever is possible and' we must seek our defence m diplomacy/ ." The chief obstacle is penmarkV; perverse, geography. Copenhagen I'jMid^ rtearly na^f Denmark's population are on Zealand 1 Island, which an enemy fleet can surround and cat off from the Jutland mainland and the other islands of the kingdom. On Zealand' Island is an army which, with local reserves, could not be raised to more than 50,000 men, which is barely enough to man Copenhagen's forts. If war broke out, the rest of the .»rmy_would be severed, and

if the campaign were fought m Jutland the 50,000 Zealand soldiers could not be sent there. The Riksdag Defence Commission says that no part ot' v Denmark could be defended unless Denmark had an ally with a superior fleet, and the superior fleet would have to risk entangling itself m the narrow straits. Denmark, is so. flourishing that "insurance against peace" is the order of the day. Farmers, land speculators, gamblers m the ruble . and mark, and contraband kings all take out policies against peace as they would against death, marine loss, or any other misfortune. Wise Danes believe that if only the war lasts another couple of years all the belligerents' wealth will be m neutral possession, only the neutral countries wilkibe wealthy, and Denmark m proportion to its microscopic population, will be richest of all. No wonder that business, butter, and sound diplomacy are the watchwords of every Dane.