ARGENTINA - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



the land of the Repubhc has need of labourers, but of labourers resident 

 on the spot, of colonists who arraiguen as the people of the country say, 

 that is become landowners and constitute a permanent rural population. 

 Such settlers are now called for with greater insistence by the upper classes 

 who see in them the most efficacious means for extirpating the germs of agri- 

 cultural socialism which are taking root in the most fertile and popul- 

 ous provinces of the grain region. There has been no lack of bills indeed 

 on the matter: an entire scheme of agricultural reforms, (i) in connection 

 with the institution of the Banco agricolo nacional, which is to be founded, 

 has for some time been before Congress, awaiting discussion. 



Meanwhile, some of the leading persons of the Defensa Agraria Nacio- 

 nal (2) have submitted a memorial to the Minister of Agriculture, in which 

 they lay down the lines for a system of colonisation on a co-operative basis. 

 Taking advantage of the sympathy shown by some landowners who have 

 offered land for the purpose, and rel5dng on the assistance of the Bank of 

 the Nation, until the special credit institute is founded, the Defensa Agra- 

 ria hopes to be able to form prosperous groups of colonies by applying the 

 co-operative principle on a large scale, starting with collective purchase 

 and gradually going on to the other more complex forms of credit, 

 sale etc. 



A new institution, the agricultural register, must serve as a witness 

 to the economic and moral situation of the colonist, and so smooth his 

 way in working the farm. " Industry and honesty," says the report, " are 

 a valuable capital." The colonist who possesses these qualities, when he 

 desires to obtait: a holding of his own and a credit at the bank, will enter his 

 name in the agricultural register. Until the law appoints special offices for 

 the purpose, the register shall be kept in those of the Defensa Agraria. 



Each colonist, when registering, shall declare his true financial and 

 economic situation, subject to prosecution for false declaration ; he shall 

 indicate his place of origin, the number of members in his family, the live- 

 stock he posserses and the method he proposes for purchasing the lot and 

 shall oblige himself not to employ paid labourers. If he has debts he must 

 declare them. 



The Defensa Agraria shall foim agrictdtural colonies consisting of 

 at least 100 f amiUes on land granted by private owners ; the colonists must 

 be entered on the register. Every colony shall be formed into a co-operative 

 credit society ; every family may thus obtain a loan from the Bank of the 

 Nation, redeemable in three years' instalments. The amounts received on 

 credit shall be administered by the Defensa Agraria, which shall first of 



(i) See Bulletin of Economic and Social Intelligence, October, 1913 : " Some Indications 

 of the Economic and Agricultural Progress of Argentina" and December, 1913, "The 

 Co-operative Movement in Argentine Agriculture ". 



(2) An institution founded as a result of the agricultural crisis produced by the 

 drought in the south of the Provincie of Buenos Aires and in Pampa: its object is to 

 protect the common interests of the farmers and to encourage the development of agricul- 

 ture and livestock improvement. 



