MORTGAGING OF LAND PREVENTED 117 



credit. ' The Code Napoleon attempted to safeguard 

 him from embarrassing himself by making his debts 

 recoverable only at common law in the ordinary civil 

 courts. This is, as elsewhere, a very lengthy, costly, 

 and somewhat uncertain proceeding, and the result 

 has been that the peasant has been not only safe- 

 guarded, but fettered. Loans are so difficult to recover 

 that they are only granted on much higher interest 

 than similar loans to "commergants"; hence, as he was 

 bound to borrow, his debts are an unnecessarily heavy 

 burden. One of the most persistent agitations in 

 France is to obtain the modification of this law, so 

 that agriculturists may be placed on a common level 

 with commercial or artisan borrowers.'* 



The complete solution of the problem of agricultural 

 indebtedness appears to lie in some system which will 

 provide the peasant with facilities for borrowing at a 

 low rate of interest, and at the same time devise safe- 

 guards against his inveterate tendency to borrow im- 

 prudently. Both of these conditions are satisfied by 

 the popular banks or co-operative credit associations 

 which have worked such a beneficial revolution in 

 Germany and some other countries of Europe, and 

 which therefore deserve the closest study by those 

 who would ameliorate the condition of the Indian 

 peasantry. But it is well to bear in mind that a system 

 of co-operative credit cannot be introduced by slap- 

 dash legislation, but only by the gradual elevation of 

 the people to a higher plane of thrift, prudence, and 

 self-restraint. The example of the popular banks of 

 Germany is valuable because it points out how this 

 education of the people can be practically taken in 

 hand, and does not condemn us to the sterile alter- 

 native of waiting for the slow influences of civilization 

 and progress to reach the masses. 



The organization of co-operative credit in Germany 

 is due to the practical example and unwearied exer- 



■* F. A. Nicholson's Report, vol. i., p. 46. 



