126 AGRICULTURAL INDEBTEDNESS 



people themselves. Schulze Delitzsch and Raiffeisen 

 both rejected all forms of State aid from the conviction 

 that such assistance was injurious and not helpful. 

 What the country really needs is an Indian philan- 

 thropist who would work in his own neighbourhood 

 upon the same lines as Raiffeisen, a man who would 

 be ready, for the good of his people, to live a laborious 

 and yet humble life, who would not be daunted by 

 much coldness and indifference, and who would have 

 the ascendancy of character which compels the esteem 

 and the obedience of men. There are to-day many 

 Indians who are dedicating their lives to the work of 

 religion or of education : will not one or two be found 

 to devote themselves to the material well-being of 

 their fellows ? 



The Government has taken the lead in this matter 

 to the limited extent of its power. In 1904 a Co- 

 operative Credit Act was passed to remove all legal 

 impediments that might hinder the creation of popular 

 banks and smooth the path of the Indian Raiffeisen, if 

 haply one shall be found. The Act, which aims 

 especially at pointing out the lines upon which the 

 people themselves should take action, is printed in the 

 Appendix. 



The Raiffeisen banks have been examined in this 

 chapter because they suggest the most hopeful method 

 of dealing with the canker of rural life in India — the 

 chronic indebtedness of the peasantry. But the 

 organization of co-operative credit results in very 

 much more than the alleviation of a particular form of 

 distress. It is also the means of bringing into the 

 agricultural industry that capital of which it stands so 

 much in need. Left to himself, the peasant is more 

 apt to spend a loan in unproductive uses than in im- 

 proving his farm ; under the guidance of the bank, he 

 is more likely to use it as capital than in gratifying 

 his personal wants and desires. But, important as is 

 the application of capital to agriculture, this is not the 



