DEBTS FOR 'LAND IMPROVEMENTS' 95 



it is said that " at least seven-eighths of all farms, large 

 and small, are mortgaged to a greater or less extent." 

 In Denmark " the greatest part of the landed property 

 is mortgaged to an extent varying from one-third to 

 two-thirds of its estimated value"; for Switzerland, par- 

 ticularly, it is stated that credit is abused by reason of 

 the facility with which it is obtainable. Precisely the 

 same evidence is afforded by the various authorities 

 who have written on the subject of agricultural credit. 

 In few of them, unfortunately, does agricultural im- 

 provement find any place as a cause of indebtedness, 

 except in so far as the pressure of population and 

 foreign competition are forcing intensive cultivation, 

 and, by consequence, the purchase of manures, 

 machinery, etc. The European peasant is, as ad- 

 mitted even by his admirers and advocates, the most 

 bigoted of conservatives ; " routine " and his father's 

 customs guide him, as they do the Indian peasant, and 

 it is a grave error to suppose that he, any more than 

 his Indian confrere, is thirsting after credit with a 

 view to "land improvements." The matter is of grave 

 importance, for if credit institutions are started in 

 India in its present condition merely to grant cheap 

 credit, with the idea that the ryot is sighing for capital 

 in order to sink it in wells, and permanent improve- 

 ments, and higher cultivation, and decent cattle-sheds 

 and homesteads, the error will lead simply to further 

 unprofitable indebtedness. Even the European im- 

 provement in agriculture of late years is due much 

 more to the teaching and example of the powerful 

 agricultural departments of the State and to the 

 admirable agricultural associations than to facilities 

 for credit. By the example and instruction of the one 

 and by the co-operative efforts of the other the peasant 

 is learning to appreciate, and is now beginning to buy, 

 new implements, better seed, manure, and so forth. 

 What the European peasant, left to himself, requires 

 in credit is the means of buying land at any price, of 



