234 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



time back — there most fixes attention and catches the fancy of people 

 interested is that of the German landschaften, which, in truth, pos- 

 sess a splendid record of excellent results obtained, and can show 

 that they have worked a vast amount of good, alike for rural bor- 

 rowers, for investors of cash, and for the great public, which benefits 

 by increased production. In this country Mr. Hugh de F. Mont- 

 gomery called marked attention to the institution some thirty or 

 forty years ago in the Contemporary Review. Since then their 

 methods have been very fully demonstrated, with great lucidity, 

 first, by Sir Frederick Nicholson in his admirable " Report regarding 

 the Possibility of Introducing Land and Agricultural Credit in the 

 Madras Presidency," and more recently by Mr. J. A. Cahill, in his 

 " Report on an Enquiry into Agricultural Credit and Agricultural 

 Co-operation in Germany." Both last-named reports are fully 

 accurate in the data recorded with laudable minuteness — Mr. Cahill 

 bringing the review up to date. But, as a matter of course, they 

 do not travel beyond their official reference and attempt to do 

 more than explain how the service is organised. The " American 

 Commission " of 1913 seemed — like its organiser, the late Mr. 

 D. Lubin, distinctly "bitten" with the idea of transplanting the 

 landschaft into the United States. However, the American public, 

 after examination, judged differently — and more soundly — and 

 rejected the proposal. 



The point being, undoubtedly, one of importance in its bearings 

 upon Rural Reconstruction, and likely to evoke interest, a brief 

 review of the various most typical methods of land credit in 

 practice may be held not out of place. 



The methods of the German landschaften are evidently totally 

 unsuited to the conditions prevailing in our own country. 

 However, the principle which underlies those methods must be 

 admitted to be excellent. And, fortunately, it is capable of applica- 

 tion in more ways than those half-mediaeval ones characteristically 

 enough cherished in Germany. 



The governing idea is this. Supposing that you can raise your 

 mortgage loan in the shape of a negotiable security — the condition 

 of negotiableness is a conditio sine qua non — you can extend the 

 period for which it is to run to any length of time, thus securing to 

 the borrower the use of the money for as long as he may please with- 

 out any risk of its being called in, although, on the other hand, per- 

 mitting him to determine his indebtedness whenever he chooses, 

 either after notice or by buying in the bond ; and, furthermore, 

 you can give him the option of repaying the loan, if he so pleases, 



