MATERIAL AND MORAL ADVANTAGES 123 



whole agricultural position, though still far from 

 representing complete prosperity, has undergone 

 an improvement that is little short of marvellous, 

 considering how recently it was that the Italian 

 peasantry found themselves faced by some of 

 the severest forms of economic depression that 

 any country could well be called upon to meet. 

 Morally, too, the effects have been none the 

 less striking. To be rescued from the grasp of 

 the usurer was in itself almost a revolution for 

 the Italian peasant ; and the revolution was 

 completed when he found that he was no longer 

 a solitary unit, left to struggle against adverse 

 circumstances as best he could, but one of a 

 village community which could draw money 

 from the towns, and would, if only he had the 

 good opinion of his neighbours, advance funds 

 to him, for agricultural purposes, simply on his 

 word of honour. Such a position — coupled 

 with the fact that only individuals of known 

 probity (irrespective of means) were admitted 

 to an organization each member of which was 

 personally liable to refund the sum total of the 

 loans, in case of need — was a moral lesson of 

 immense force, and in many an Italian village 

 men regarded with a certain degree of mistrust 

 have mended their ways in order to gain the 

 desired membership. In other cases illiterates 



