I20 AGRICULTURAL INDEBTEDNESS 



for there are few, if any, parts more difficult to deal 

 with than the scene of Raiffeisen's first success, while 

 in this presidency (Madras) alone there are 10,000 

 villages far more suitable than Flammersfeld. But 

 the conditions of the country and of the peasantry do 

 not exhaust the factors of the problem ; there must be 

 imported into it, for its solution, the energy, skill, and 

 devotion of promoters of the Raiffeisen stamp. So 

 difficult is the problem that it has nowhere been solved, 

 save by such imported elements, and it is as well to 

 recognise this at the outset. Given a Schulze Delitzsch 

 or a Raiffeisen, and they will bring bread out of stones, 

 credit out of poverty, isolation and ignorance ; without 

 them or some similar influence the problem remains 

 insoluble.'* 



In the associations which Raiffeisen founded ' the 

 principles of action are those of self-help, association, 

 solidarity, prudence, thrift, and public spirit. All 

 profits, less fixed interest on the very small shares — 

 introduced only in obedience to the law — go to a 

 common fund to be used for purposes of general 

 utility, and not for private gain.' Raiffeisen, like 

 Schulze Delitzsch, demanded no privileges for his 

 societies, but was content to base their success on 

 honest, energetic, and prudent action. In the words 

 of S. Wollemborg, who, in Italy, has founded similar 

 institutions, he believed that 'when a whole class, the 

 peasantry, is in danger, when the need is general and 

 abiding, no kind of mere assistance, whether from the 

 State or from individuals, is of any avail ; rather it 

 is mischievous, for it merely leads men to count 

 habitually on such succour — a succour which must 

 fail at last, and render more acute the consequent 

 distress, but it gradually stifles the feelings of self- 

 reliance and personal responsibility.' 



The general feature of the Raiffeisen banks ' are : 



* ' Report on Land and Agricultural Banks,' vol. i., p. 145, 

 Sir F. A. I^icholson. 



