VILLAGE BANKS 145 



interest allowed them on their deposits by the 

 village banks (which were based on the usual 

 Raiffeisen principles), and they began to with- 

 draw their money in order to set up Joint Stock 

 banks instead ; while in the poorer districts there 

 was a difficulty not alone in raising capital, but 

 also in getting men of sufficient capacity to act as 

 secretaries. The choice generally lay between the 

 Protestant clergyman, the Roman Catholic priest, 

 and the village schoolmaster ; but all three became 

 ineligible whenever religious difficulties arose. 



Then there was another grave source of 

 trouble. The money-lenders had taken alarm 

 at a movement which threatened to deprive 

 them of a lucrative occupation, and they hit 

 upon a scheme as ingenious as it was unscrupu- 

 lous. Affecting a friendly interest in the village 

 banks, they would hand in substantial deposits 

 in the winter, and the officials would welcome 

 such an addition to the available funds. Rut 

 in the following spring, when practically all the 

 capital had been advanced in loans to the 

 members, the money-lenders would suddenly 

 demand repayment of their deposits, with the 

 result that the village bank, dependent on its 

 own resources, would be driven into bankruptcy, 

 — which, of course, was just what the money- 

 lenders wanted. 



