120 KURAL LIFE IN CANADA 



rate of interest paid by farmers is 4.4 per cent. They 

 form the foundation on which the whole structure of 

 co-operation in Germany is built. Never, even during 

 the stress of the Franco-Prussian war or the later agri- 

 cultural depression, has there been the failure of- a 

 single one. A Commission appointed by President 

 Taft recommends their adoption in the United States. 

 The Raiffeisen system has improved social conditions. 

 Our mortgage system lowers them. In Germany the i 

 directors are the borrower's neighbors. To them he \ 

 must explain his need of money and his hope of repay- 

 ment. When an intemperate man is given a loan after 

 promising to leave drink alone it is to the interest of his ; 

 neighbors to keep him sober. German pastors affirm j 

 that the Raiffeisen system is one of the strongest moral ] 

 influences in the community. 



It is, finally, through the adoption of the co-operative 

 principle that we shall at length attain the political 

 unity and efficiency of rural communities so greatly 

 needed not for class legislation, which is only evil con-; 

 tinually but for rendering forever impossible class 

 legislation hostile to the farmer, and for linking in one! 

 upward movement of civilization the forces of reform 

 in city and country, 



In building up our Northern Land to be 

 A vast Dominion stretched from sea to sea, 

 A land of labor but of sure reward, 

 A land of corn to feed the world withal, 

 A land of life's rich treasures, plenty, peace, 

 Content, and freedom both to speak and do, 

 A land of men to rule with sober law 

 This part of Britain's empire, next the heart, 

 Loyal as were their fathers, and as free!* 



* William Kirby, "Canadian Idylls," p. 136. 



