AGRICULTURAL CREDIT.—DAVIDSON. 475 
But so far the law isa dead letter, and the British Columbia 
Department of Agriculture explains the absence of interest in 
the scheme by the lack of the co-operative spirit. Asa matter 
of fact the legislation seems to be of almost a pure academic 
character, answering to no popular demand and inspired by the 
instinct of revelation which leads people to suppose that an 
institution that has succeeeded elsewhere must be needed and do 
good here. British Columbia is probably the least agricultural 
of all our provinees, and is likely long to remain so; and British 
Columbia is very well supplied with what banking facilities our 
system can provide for the farmer. The failure is not due to 
the absence of the co-operative spirit, but to the absence of any 
great need for co-operation All that is secured so laboriously 
and so painfully by co-operative production and co-operative 
banking in European countries, is without effort secured for us 
in the natural organisation of business. America has few exam- 
ples of co-operative enterprises, because the spirit of co-operation 
is already largely embodied in our every-day business institu- 
tions, and we enjoy in Canada very largely all the benefits 
which co-operative banking secures in Europe without any of 
the inconveniences which accompany conscious co-operation. In 
Europe, co-operation aftords scope for the latent abilities of men 
who have little hope of rising above the class in which they 
were born; in America there is a free career for the latents, and 
the born co-operators become independent managers of men. 
Briefly, the Canadian banking system may be said to do as much 
for the farmer as the European system of popular banks accom- 
plishes there, and it is very doubtful whether, among men of 
our race, co-operative banking would accomplish any good result. 
Our areas are too vast, our population is too much scattered, our 
people too migratory and too anxious to rise to positions of com- 
mand, to make co-operation a success. We have tried and 
abandoned the Scotch Cash Credit System as not well adapted 
to our needs; and as we have already noted the cash credit 
system originally suggested the European co-operative banks. 
It must not be forgotten that there are two distinct questions 
involved in the use of the terms Agricultural Credit, and I do 
