WORKING CREDIT FOR FARMERS. 269 



because we grudge the money, that so little is said about grants- 

 in-aid by the State, but because the best advice and the teaching 

 of experience are at one in the conclusion that unrestricted 

 Government assistance is a dangerous, and may be a fatal, gift. 

 ' Prolonged and indiscriminate State aid,' says Mr. Henry Wolff, 

 who is an unrivalled authority on the matter, ' is destructive 

 of self-help. . . .' For similar reasons no special powers of 

 recovery of debt have been given to the societies. The object is 

 to foster a spirit of responsibility and self-reliance ; and it is 

 because the societies must be dependent for their success on 

 their own care and caution in the disbursement of their funds 

 that it has been possible to dispense with restrictions on their 

 powers in the Bill that would otherwise have been necessary. 

 Government aid will be forthcoming when necessary, and there 

 is more danger to be apprehended from excessive liberality than 

 from the withholding of assistance where there is a prospect of 

 its proving advantageous." 



The " further help " here spoken of has proved quite 

 unnecessary. Quite on the contrary, even the small help 

 given very soon proved superfluous. A certain proportion 

 has been retained, because the Government loans were 

 offered free of interest for three years. But the amount 

 has shrunk to a comparatively paltry sum, £87,000 at 

 midsummer, 1916 — in comparison, be it noted, with £235,000 

 deposits from members only, that is, from those " poor 

 rayats " whose practice of thrift in such form had been 

 pronounced hopeless.^ In addition to that, the first offer- 

 ings from that vast concealed hoard of savings in precious 

 metals, so uselessly and unprofitably stowed away, to the 

 dismay of financiers, have come forth from their hiding 

 places, in aid of what is felt to be a " national " cause. 

 And what State money there still is in the coffers of the banks 

 has been since some years declared unnecessary by the very 

 people who first clamoured for it. 



The result has shown that in refusing larger State aid 

 and summary powers of collection Lord Curzon acted 

 altogether judiciously. The Co-operative Credit movement 



^ Members have besides subscribed and paid up ;^5io,ooo in share 

 capital and accumulated reserve funds to the amount of £402,000. 

 The societies hold ;^235,ooo in deposits from non-members and 

 /i, 980, 000 in loans from banks and other institutions, which shows 

 that they are not wanting in well-established credit. 



