262 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



freed from the money-lenders which for the most part were usurers, 

 they have been united in a community of interest that has widened their 

 circle of acquaintance, given them a sympathetic interest in each 

 other's welfare and has largely displaced the jealously so commonly ex- 

 isting in rural communities. 



Among the peasant classes where the Eaiffeissen savings and loan 

 banks were established with unlimited liability of the members, min- 

 isters have frequently testified that they have been as important factors 

 in the moral life of the people as the church itself. Intemperance and 

 immorality is not permitted among the members. If a farmer takes to 

 intemperate drinking his loan is called in by the bank. If he is neg- 

 lecting the work on his farm the loan is called in. So that every 

 •farmer feels he is under the constant watch of the other members and 

 since they are united together in a cooperative association, where if one 

 man fails the others must pay his losses, they are all interested in each 

 •other and anxious to see every one succeed. 



The application of the cooperative principle of "one for all and all 

 for one" serves as an incentive to the individual farmer and inspires 

 him to do his best. 



Need in the United States 



The farmers of the United States as yet have not appreciated the 

 value of organizing to improve their credit. In the southern states the 

 cotton crop must be marketed as soon as harvested to meet outstanding 

 loans that the farmers have made at exorbitant rates of interest. The 

 grain dealers throughout the central states know that they will be 

 flooded with wheat and corn just before tax-paying time by farmers who 

 .are compelled to sell in order to raise money to pay taxes. Intensive 

 systems of farming that must be adopted to adjust American agricul- 

 ture to present needs means a larger working capital for the farmer, he 

 must use more labor, more commercial fertilizers, better seed and he 

 .must drain his land. The European farmer gets twice as large a crop 

 yield per acre as the American farmer because he spends twice as much 

 •capital in producing it. He cultivates better, fertilizes better and he 

 takes better care of his land. 



Interest rates in general are lower in the United States than they 

 are in Germany and yet the German farmer is able to secure his credit 

 through his cooperative organizations at two thirds the rate of interest 

 ordinarily paid by the American farmer. In addition the loans are 

 made on much more favorable terms and the times and methods of re- 

 payment are adjusted to suit the business of the farmers. 



The advantages of the farmers organizing to sell their credit for 

 what it is worth are not all on the part of the farmer. But for the 

 capitalist seeking a safe investment for his money they offer a security 



