A FULL REWARD FOR THE TILLER. 391 



landowners, who, for want of it, had to pay considerably 

 higher interest than their cases warranted, to the notaires 

 and to small capitalists. For the powerful Credit Fonder, 

 which provides credit liberally for urban and also for large 

 rural properties — barring the very important item of forests 

 — shows itself chary in dealing with small men. The difficulty 

 was, on a very small scale, overcome by M. Louis Durand, at 

 the head of the French Raiffeisen Union, who made co-opera- 

 tive money available, just to teach the grabbers a lesson. In 

 the second place France possesses no machinery for bringing 

 about a readjustment {rememhrement) of intermingled pieces 

 of land, such as in Germany has been found extremely 

 useful. A movement is now on foot in France for intro- 

 ducing such correction of boundaries, making rememhrement 

 (readjustment of plots) allowable on the application of a 

 considerable majority of votes, in the place of the unanimity 

 which, under the present condition of things, is indispensable. 

 In Germany, on the other hand, in certain districts, par- 

 ticularly appropriate to subdivision, with the help of read- 

 justment, not only is subdivision not felt in the least as a 

 hindrance to production, but on the contrary, as a distinct 

 help. And so far from subdivision proving progressive, 

 as is sometimes alleged in this country, an official inquirj^ 

 instituted some twenty years ago in South- Western Ger- 

 many, where subdivision is greatest, has shown that the 

 number of holdings was then practically precisely the same 

 that it was at the close of the Thirty Years' War, two 

 hundred and seventy years ago. ^^'here there is freedom 

 of action, these things regulate themselves according to 

 requirements. As regards over-encumbering, by reason of 

 facilities for borrowing, we shall have to recognise the 

 unfortunate fact that, whether the pledge be land or any- 

 thing else, improvident running into debt cannot be pre- 

 vented. Nobody has ever proposed that we should place 

 hindrances in the way of commercial or even private borrow- 

 ing, apart from actual usury, on the ground that credit 

 is sometimes unfortunately abused. Then why cripple 

 Agriculture alone among all callings by an interdict ? 

 However overburdening agricultural estates in Germany 



