72 KKAKCK - CREDIT 



It will be seen from this that the use of agricultural warrants has 

 become satisfactorily general in the districts of certain appeal courts and 

 it is no less certain that the French farmer is not yet quite famihar with 

 the use of this system of credit on pledge. 



In many regions the farmers still hesitate to have recourse to this mode 

 of credit, either because they have an imperfect knowledge of it, or are indis- 

 posed to go through all the formalities it entails. Others, chiefly tenant 

 farmers and metayers, make little use of this method of borrowing, as it 

 obliges them to inform their landlords of their position, when temporarily in 

 difficulties. Finally and most of all, the creditors in most cases are indisposed 

 to accept the security of a perishable pledge, the value of which may 

 sometimes be uncertain, on account of the principles the Civil Code 

 establishes in the case of personal estate, and notwithstanding the re- 

 strictions of the law of 1906. 



All these reasons explain the often considerable disproportion observed 

 between the amount of the loan granted on the warrant and the value of 

 the security offered by the borrower. In fact the average proportion of the 

 amount borrowed to the value of the pledge, in the whole of France, is not 

 more than 45 34 %• 



Nevertheless, the law of April 30th., 1906, if it has not yet had the wide 

 appUcation that might fairly have been expected, has, however, so far been 

 fruitful in good results, especially as it has allowed many peasants, desirous 

 of assuring the progress of their farms, to escape from the exaggerated claims 

 of certain money lenders. The Agricultural Department leaves nothing 

 undone in inciting its agents to make the most active propaganda in behalf 

 of a mode of credit which may give the humblest field labourers an opport- 

 unity of obtaining all the money they require and offering their creditors 

 the best possible security. 



