thorough knowledge of the general principles and the details 

 of growing their crops and breeding their horses, cattle, 

 sheep and hogs. 



While in every country and at every stop, the commission 

 gathered much of interest and much valuable information, 

 the time at my disposal forbids even a hurried discussion of 

 conditions in all of these different countries. I shall, then, 

 simply endeavor to explain the two systems of rural credit 

 which seem most successful and most applicable to our con- 

 ditions, — the systems now operative in Germany, — and 

 then give you an insight into the methods and results of busi- 

 ness co-operation among the farmers of Germany, Denmark 

 and Holland, with a brief reference to conditions in Austria- 

 Hungary and France, in which five countries, and especially 

 in the first three, both the systems of co-operative credit and 

 co-operative business seemed to have been more fully de- 

 veloped than elsewhere. 



Rural Credit. 



The rural credit systems of Germany have to do with two 

 distinct and necessary forms of credit, — the short-term or 

 personal loan, and the long-term, which is usually the land- 

 mortgage loan. In regard to the personal or short-term loan 

 we found two distinct systems in Germany, — one serving 

 the urban districts, the other operative in rural territory. 

 These are the Sehultze-Delitsche system, which usually oper- 

 ates in cities and towns and is not strictly a local institution, 

 and the Eaiffeisen system, which confines its activities to 

 local rural districts. Our interest centers in the latter type, 

 and I shall therefore not attempt to describe the former, but 

 shall confine my observations to the Raiffeisen loan associa- 

 tions. 



Baijfeisen Loan Associations. 

 Their founder, Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, was born 

 of very poor parents in 1818. Although his education was 

 very meager he developed a deep interest in his fellow coun- 

 trymen which prompted him to make an effort to relieve 

 them from oppression by usurers and " loan sharks," and 



