RAIFFEISEN BANKS 131 



productive use, for which purpose a savings bank will 

 be attached to the society." 



One word in the above, viz. " morally," intimates at 

 the outset a distinctive trait. Raiffeisen always kept 

 the moral aspect very prominently before him. He 

 was himself an earnest Christian, and he insisted that 

 all the members of his institution should profess the 

 Christian virtues. In his propaganda he used to the 

 full the one intelligent power in rural districts, the 

 parish priest or pastor. With their help he developed 

 a new parochial life around the village bank. With 

 their help he touched in the present the chord of 

 neighbourly affection and stirred him to give it practical 

 effect. 



The subscribed capital of the bank is practically 

 nil ; there is nothing but the universal unlimited 

 liability of the associating members. Schulze-Delitzsch, 

 dealing with industrialists subject to unseen risks, who 

 operated in trade matters out of sight and control of 

 the society, obliged his associates to subscribe a con- 

 siderable share capital, not only as a proof of thrift, but 

 as a material guarantee for their individual and corporate 

 debts. Raiffeisen, dealing with agriculturists and 

 villagers, demanded no such security, since each member 

 possessed in his little farm, his cattle or implements, 

 material guarantee far beyond those of any subscribed 

 share. In addition he avoided the danger to which a 

 share bank is always exposed, namely, that the concern 

 may be run for the benefit of a few non-borrowing 

 shareholders, rather than for that of the general credit- 

 needing members. 



All profits remain the collective pi^operty of the 

 society, to be used for the society's good. They are 

 divided into two classes of reserve fund : (i) reserve 

 fund proper; (2) foundation fund (Stiftungsfond). The 

 former is regulated in the same way as in town banks. 

 The second corresponds to the shareholders' dividend. 

 It is undesirable to have nothing beyond an ordinary 



