INTEODUCTION 9 



already explained, [was a condition of unfreedom causing a 

 dead level of uniformity in the life and labour of the villagesJ 

 The new scheme is founded on free organisations, which sprang 

 from the claims of practical life, and, above all, from the claims 

 of the peasant to participate in the advantages enjoyed by 

 farming on a large scale. Qp-oper ation in agriculture^as not 

 quite extinct during the interval between' the cessation of the 

 'joint worlmig of theHand^ and the coming into existence of the 

 '[^^Flnodern co-operative undertakings. In the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century a number of mutual cattle insurance 

 societies had been formed — nay, it is even quite possible that 

 societies of this kind were already in existence in the eighteenth 

 century and that they had been carried on quite informally, 

 with handwritten rules and without any keeping of accounts, 

 each loss being at once covered by assessment between the 

 members. These old societies will be mentioned in a later , 



chapter dealing with insurance societies. \ 



The impulse which gave rise tojbbe first co-operative actio© \ 

 un der modern forms was j the necessity of borrowing money ' 

 onjong terms for agricu ltural pSposes. and the first problem 

 ^,^.^. J^lpJOLSplut^^ on co-operative lines was 



. tli^ regulation of agricultural credit on the security of the land 

 by t he formation of, _CreditJl>ssociationsV Before describing 

 the modern Danish co-operative undertakings it will be of 

 historical interest to mention briefly, first the old institutions 

 which have existed in Germany for 150 years and which have 

 served as model for Credit Associations estabhshed both in 

 Denmark and in several other countries, and then the co- 

 operative movement in England and in Germany during the 

 first half of the nineteenth century, the results of which have 

 had a helpful influence on developments in Denmark and in 

 other countries. 



THE FIRST CREDIT ASSOCIATIONS 



jSo long as European agriculture was carried on under 

 meteval conditions farmers paid their rates and taxes, wages to 

 their servants, and other charges, in kind, i.e. either in the form 

 of work performed, or in produce, such as corn, butter, bacon, 



