202 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



chase his produce. When Mr. Henry Wolff 

 proposed some years ago to establish a scheme 

 of co-operative supply and credit for the 

 farmers of Sussex he was informed by one of 

 the most experienced farmers in the county 

 " You will never get these men to join you, 

 they are every one of them on their dealers' 

 books and cannot get off." The almost 

 invincible individualism of the English farmer 

 and curious mistrust of his neighbours which 

 he shares with his labourers renders the 

 establishment of agricultural banks on Con- 

 tinental lines a difficult task. The trader 

 glories in his credit. The larger is his credit, 

 the higher is his repute. The farmer looks 

 upon the use of credit almost as a disgrace. In 

 other words the farmer's finance is thoroughly 

 unbusinesslike. He rarely borrows until it is 

 too late, i.e., not in order to obviate loss, but 

 after the loss has taken place. 



While the farmer finds it difficult to secure 

 adequate credit facilities, the case of the 

 small-holder is even worse. " The poor man," 

 says an Italian writer, Guistino Fortunate, 

 " obtains no credit because he is poor, and he 

 remains poor because he has no credit." 

 Credit in England is still a virtual monopoly 

 of the well-to-do classes. To those who have 

 it it is given, and to these only. The County 



