WORKING CREDIT FOR FARMERS. 237 



presided over by Lord Mersey. That Committee reported 

 strongly in favour of its acceptance. And in due course 

 the Bill was passed by the House without a dissentient 

 voice. A very curious Bill, dealing with the same subject, 

 prepared by the Board of Agriculture during the same 

 session, met with so poor a reception in the House of Commons 

 that it was voluntarily withdrawn. 



And there the matter remains. The only sequel is the 

 arrangement actually put in force, under which, as already 

 explained, the Government undertakes to guarantee loans 

 made to individuals, which secure the approval of the 

 County Council Committee. 



Even that is not all that has stood in the way of the 

 adoption of Co-operative Banking in this country. There 

 seemed to be a perfect conspiracy of hostile forces arrayed 

 against it. There are many honest well-wishers to the 

 cause. However, most of them do not appear to be able 

 to approach the question from the right side. They start 

 with the truism that " if there is to be credit, there must 

 first be money " ; and, building in a wrong way on that 

 premiss, practically putting the cart before the horse, they 

 address themselves above all things to the search for funds, 

 upon which they have fruitlessly bestowed great pains. 

 That practically means not seeing the wood for trees. As 

 it happens, there is plenty of money in the country, money 

 " overflowing in the coffers of the bankers," as the late 

 Lord SaHsbury put it — money waiting, eager for employ- 

 ment. To borrow such money on the mere chance of being 

 able to do business with it in lending it out to farmers, 

 means making straight for bankruptcy. For you cannot 

 have money without paying money for it. Having money 

 in hand means an almost irresistible temptation to look for 

 employment, instead of waiting for a demand for employ- 

 ment to come to you ; and to judge such demands as 

 come over-benevolently, when, on the contrary, in the 

 interest of safety you want to be absolutely strict in deaHng 

 with them. It was the presence of cash, for which there 

 was no demand, which wrecked Napoleon the Third's well- 

 endowed and pretentious Credit Agricole. The expected 



