DANGER OF FACILE CREDIT m 



such remedies require, lest the ryots learn too easily 

 to borrow with a light heart, the lighter that the terms 

 are favourable and repayment so easy and so gradual. 

 In what way does it benefit a peasant to owe £200 at 

 4 per cent, to a bank instead of £100 at 8 per cent, to 

 a money-lender unless it is absolutely certain that the 

 whole difference has been spent in the improvement 

 of the estate, a hypothesis absolutely in contradiction 

 with the European evidence, which shows that land 

 improvement banks are the latest in development and 

 the least in demand, and that the loans are for "family 

 purposes," for the repayment of previous debt, for the 

 purchase of land, the payment of taxes and the like. 

 What does it matter to a peasant whether he is ruined 

 by a bank or by a money-lender, by the too facile 

 credit of the one, or the too usurious terms of the 

 other ?' 



