THE GENERAL RAIFFEISEN FEDERATION OF NEUWIED 



The business of the co-operative banks is shown by the following table 

 which gives several items of the_balance sheet of 1914. The numbers 

 refer to marks. 



Turn-over 



Credit Account with 

 members 



Credit Account with 

 banks 



State bills held 



Debit Account with 

 members 



Debit Account with 

 banks 



Deposits 



Cologne 



500,000 

 468,476 



I,udwigs- 

 haten 



448.339 



Strasbourg Total 



1,224,500 5,187,200 

 1,522,147 

 83,000 



25,561 



1,335.662 

 442,725 



58,014 



839,553 

 90.393 



431,557,966 



17.704,815 



202,406 

 152,061 



4,065,159 



4,01 r, 488 

 8,960,953 



As statistical data for 1915 are lacking, changes brought about by 

 the war cannot be shown ; yet it may fairly be stated that the war has 

 produced in the business of these institutions the same changes as those 

 we have noticed in the business of the Central Bank. 



§ 3. The Co-operative Stores (Zentralwareninstitut). — The co-operative 

 stores, of which the first was formed in 1909, aim at ensuring to the rural 

 co-operative societies the advantage of buying and selling in the gross. 

 They have direct relations only with the co-operative societies, that is to 

 say they buy and sell merchandise on behalf of the societies, not on behalf 

 of the members of these. Until 1909 the purchase and sale of goods on behalf 

 of the societies was practised by the Central Bank, by means of its sections 

 which were especially responsible for the goods. Since that year the Cen- 

 tral Bank has sought to supersede these special sections by the co-operative 

 stores which it is endeavouring to form. 



At the end of 191 5 there were nine co-operative stores of which two had 

 been formed in December, so that onty seven practised the purchase and 

 sale of goods in 191 5. These stores are at Berhn, Brunswick, Breslau, 

 Dantzig, Erfurt, Cassel and Coblentz. The special sections belonging to 

 the Central Bank still exist at Frankfurt-on-Maine, Koenigsberg, Ludwigs- 

 hafen, Niiremberg and Strasbourg. 



The legal form of the co-operative stores is that of registered societies 

 of Umited Hability. Only one of them, that at Berlin, is a stock com- 

 pany (i). 



(i) In 1914 a Centre of the Co-operative Stores was formed with the object of buying and 

 selling merchandise on behalf of these stores. 



