PROVISION OF BORROWING FACILITIES. 299 



by restoring to it the capital diverted by usurious debt, () by 

 providing cheap capital for improvements and for family purposes^ 

 (c) by bringing into industrial circulation the petty hoards of capital 

 available but unused is a third ; a fourth object is the reduction of the 

 general rate of interest by means of institutions of good security 

 working on a large scale with cheaply borrowed capital, thus breaking 

 the monopoly of the usurers, or of other imperfect methods of supply, 

 and governing the rate at which capital could be properly lent. The 

 Credit Foncier of France and the institutions based on its example 

 are noteworthy examples of this class. A fifth object is found only 

 in the modern joint-stock pattern, where capitalists seek a good 

 investment for their funds, and establish banks for the purpose of 

 earning dividends as high as security and competition will allow them. 

 A sixth object is that of loans to public bodies communes (villages), 

 district boards, municipalities, &c. for public purposes, the security 

 given being that of the corporate property available, or the local 

 rates and taxes. Here again the Credit Foncier of France led the 

 way and has been followed by societies of that type. A seventh object 

 is found only in a few special banks, viz., the redemption of rent 

 charges, feudal dues, &c., by peasants, especially in Germany, Austria, 

 and Hungary, and the buying in of their lands by the ex-serfs in ' 

 Russia. An eighth and very rare object is that of dealing solely 

 with petty proprietors ; in most land banks no application for a loan 

 will be entertained when the property is worth less than about 

 83, e.g., 1,000 florins, in many of the banks in fact the minimum 

 loan that will be given is 1,000 florins (rupees) ; 

 Real credit institutions in general have, in consequence, done little 

 for the small proprietor. A ninth object is that of lending on urban 

 property either for ordinary loans or for special building purposes; 

 these are all of the modern type, and such operations are expressly 

 excluded from land banks proper such as the German Landschai'U'ii. 

 A tenth subject is the encouragement of thrift by establishing Savings 

 banks, in which case loans are given on mortgage by the Savings 

 Banks, in* order to obtain a profitable investment of their deposits. 

 An eleventh and very important object is that of the new Central 

 banks, formed not to lend direct to borrowers, but, almost solely, to 

 facilitate cheap credit by the issue from a central institution of 

 national reputation, of central debentures in representation of 

 debentures issued by small local banks. A twelfth object- is land 



