CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT BANKS 49 



and trading classes in general, rather than of 

 the agricultural classes in particular, and they 

 operated on a wide basis, without any restriction 

 as to locality. The Raiffeisen banks, on the 

 other hand, are essentially local in their charac- 

 ter, each dealing only with its individual members 

 in the district in which it has been set up ; so 

 that any individual seeking to borrow money 

 from the bank is likely to be known alike to the 

 manager and to the majority of the other 

 members. Then the direction of the Raiffeisen 

 banks is purely honorary, being controlled by a 

 committee of the shareholders, who receive no 

 remuneration, and loans to local residents are 

 made only under clearly defined limits ; whereas 

 the administration of the Schulze-Delitzsch banks 

 are paid for their services, and the loans are prac- 

 tically unlimited, according to circumstances. 



The banks formed on the Schulze-Delitzsch 

 principle have been taken great advantage of 

 by the agricultural as well as by the industrial 

 community of Germany ; but it is the Raiffeisen 

 system, with its more thoroughly co-operative 

 basis, that has especially commended itself to 

 the German farmers. Its fundamental principle, 

 not simply of co-operation, but also of the un- 

 limited liability of the members, has been much 



criticized, and of late the tendency in Germany 



1 



