134 APPENDIX 



presided over by a single occupant — the accountant 

 (Rechner). Business is apt to proceed desultorily ; a 

 small child brings in a few savings ; an hour afterwards 

 a palsied old man, signing by a cross, draws out a 

 couple of pounds, and so on to the end of the day. 

 But this is the unimportant part of the business. The 

 really important part is the weekly meeting of the 

 directors, half a dozen in number, who meet to discuss 

 the various credit claims v/hich have arisen. They are 

 unpaid, as by the nature of their work they can afford 

 to be. The accountant, their executive clerk who keeps 

 the books, " the soul of the society," as Raiffeisen called 

 him, is the only salaried official. The committee of 

 supervision and the general assembly function as in the 

 town banks ; except that their control is more decided, 

 probably because their knowledge is more on a level with 

 that of the directorate, which is itself unspecialised. 



The average credit advanced per member is 500 marks. 

 The average size of the definite loan is slightly below 

 this. The average rate of interest is not exactly known ; 

 it appears to be between 4 and 5 per cent, i.e. nearly 

 I per cent cheaper than in the town bank. The duration 

 of loans varies between one and ten years in accordance 

 with the requirements of agriculture. They are repay- 

 able in small instalments, covering principal and interest, 

 although the member may repay in lump if he wishes. 

 The loan can always be called in on four weeks' notice, 

 but the right is never exercised, unless the borrower is 

 allowing his property to deteriorate or is becoming 

 insolvent through extravagance or has misapplied 

 money lent for a particular purpose. The inculcation of 

 punctuality in payment, as a moral duty, was the hardest 

 of Raiffeisen 's tasks, as it was his greatest triumph. 



If it be asked finally what Raiffeisen banks have done 

 which other banks have not, it may be replied that 

 Raiffeisen created out of hopeless chaos the only kind 

 of credit organisation possible for small agriculturists. 

 — Fay, "Co-operation at Home and Abroad." 



