Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Side 125

ECONOMIC ADAPTATION
ii 9
that at the present time and for generations to come Europe is
and will continue to be overpopulated, because our market
reserves are declining permanently, and this state of affairs can-
not be changed until we can again expand our markets, and as
we have shown in earlier times, this can indeed he done by emigra-
tion.
We have said that emigration provided a natural relief to
the community in overpopulated areas, and as far back as we
can follow history we find this confirmed. Numerous conditions
may, of course, contribute to emigration: religious intolerance,
a belligerent spirit and so forth; but at the back of any large-
scale emigration extending over longer periods we always trace
the food problem. Here in the North we have witnessed the
wanderings of the Cimbrians, the Vikings and the Normans.
When we recall the agricultural crisis of the i88oies it is no
surprise that the record emigration to the U.S.A. — 475878 —
falls within the years 1880—84, and the crisis in the 9oies marks
the next peak of emigration figures: 41,338. If emigration had
been free in recent years and if the crisis of 1929 had not been
so desperately universal, not least in the colonisation countries,
the drain on this country would have been in full progress.
But in 1938 when Venezuela made her offer and there was
a prospect of relief between 5000 and 6000 applied when only
about 300 were required.
With regard to the details of this experiment the reader may
be referred to the account given by the chief of the emigration
office in Socialt Tidsskrift, see above. Briefly speaking we think
that Venezuela’s offer was something entirely unique, and that
her government — apart from certain mistakes, especially that
the houses were not ready, though habitable, when the settlers
arrived, and that the administration acted too slowly — behaved
with unparalleled generosity to those who wanted to or had to
return home, and they behaved like gentlemen to the settlers,
which we certainly cannot say of certain elements among the
emigrants; and, as is usually happens, these influenced weaker
elements among the others and finally produced conditions in
the colony which has led many to regard the experiment as a
fiasco. This view is in our opinion entirely misleading. Let us
examine the facts in closer detail.
On June 4th and 23rd 1938 48 families departed, consisting
of 278 persons — 96 parents, 171 children and 11 single men.