PROVIDING THE FUNDS 167 



business — having among other customers about three hundred other 

 co-operative banks to do business with — began in 1865 with a sub- 

 scribed capital of just £28. To satisfy a jeering public of the good 

 conduct of its business it posted its balance-sheet outside its door 

 every night. By the end of the year its position had become estab- 

 lished. The co-operative banks of Cremona and Novara have 

 lately outstripped it in business. Supported by branches, they 

 cover large areas with their transactions. 



It is the same thing in Germany, where the Schuke Delitzsch 

 Union now numbers more than 3,000 societies, and does a business 

 which means £150,000,000 to £200,000,000 kept steadily circulating 

 and fructifying in the country. Most of the business done, both in 

 Germany and in Italy, is of an industrial character. But very large 

 sums, running into hundreds of millions, have been provided for 

 agriculture. The large bank of Cremona just spoken of — one of the 

 very best co-operative banks existing — is distinctly a bank mainly 

 for agriculture. Its district is a district of large farmers and small 

 cultivators, working side by side. Other Italian banks, such as those 

 of Lodi and Rovigo, are likewise predominantly agricultural in 

 character, as are also in Germany the banks of Insterburg, Gotha 

 and Cosel — and plenty more. This type of bank has certainly 

 brilliantly proved its quality, and deserves much greater attention 

 than has been accorded to it by our intending rural reformer. 



However, its type of business will not suit every one. That 

 business presupposes the taking up of a share or shares, which to 

 small cultivators in country districts may be inconvenient, and to 

 poor cultivators, village tradesmen, costers and labourers may be 

 impossible. It is, however, not only poverty which may hinder 

 the taking up of shares. The industrialist deals with money and 

 keeps his cash liquid. Money is to him part of his trading appa- 

 ratus, intended to be kept crossing and recrossing his counter. The 

 agriculturist has his money, whatever it may be, locked up in farm 

 equipment and produce, and it is produce rather than ready money 

 in which he deals. Furthermore, the industrialist requires his 

 borrowed working capital only for a short time. He turns it over 

 quickly. It comes back to him in, say, three months. The culti- 

 vator requires his money for very much longer. For there is only 

 one harvest in the year, and that one harvest sometimes fails. And 

 improvements and outlay often enough take several years to repay 

 themselves. However, to the limited liability share bank long 

 credit is a snare, because it locks up capital. 



It was not only these considerations which led F. W. Raiffeisen 



