[136] Norelius, _Svenskarnes Historia_, 30-38.
[137] Norelius, _Svenskarnes Historia_, 34.
The Danish immigration began much later than the Norwegian and Swedish, and its proportions were inconsiderable until after the Civil War. Not until 1869 did the annual influx of Danes reach 2,000. Tho the population of Denmark was and is somewhat greater than Norway's, yet the Danish immigration has never in any one year equalled the Norwegian, and in but seven years has it been more than one-half. As against Norway's total of nearly 600,000 from 1820 to 1905, Denmark's is only about 225,000.[138] In calculating the immigration, however, a large allowance must be made. Since the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were acquired by Prussia in 1864 and 1866, their emigrants have of course been recorded as German. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the movement from Denmark has lacked momentum; its proportions are relatively small; and the influence of the Danes in the United States is much less important than that of either of the other Scandinavian nationalities.
The causes of the smaller emigration from Denmark are to be found in the nature of the people and in the conditions of the kingdom itself. Generally speaking, the Danes are not highly enterprising, adventurous, or self-confident; instead of daring all and risking all for possible, even probable, advantage, they remain at home, for,
"Striving to better, oft we do mar what's well."
Want is practically unknown in Denmark outside the slums of Copenhagen. The condition of the common people has steadily improved since the beginning of the nineteenth century, when nearly all the land was in the hands of the nobility; at the present time, six-sevenths is owned by the peasants. While this change has been going on, another, of even greater significance, has taken place. Improved methods of cultivation, in the course of a hundred years, have multiplied the productive power of the land by ten, which is equivalent to increasing tenfold the available area of the kingdom. No nation, except the United States and Canada, has in recent times had such agricultural prosperity.[139]
[139] Bille, _History of the Danes in America_, 8 n2, summarizing H. Weitemeyer, _Denmark_, 100.