320 



[October, 1911. 



AGRICULTURAL FINANCE AND CO-OPERATION. 



INDIAN ADVOCACY OF, CO-OPER- 

 ATIVE CREDIT. 



(Fron the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXVI., March 1, 1911, No. 3.) 



The admirable speech delivered by Mr. 

 Saroda Charan Mitter at the Midoapore 

 Co-operative Conference is noteworthy 

 for several reasons. This is the first 

 occasion on which an Indian leader of 

 eminence has identified himself whole- 

 heartedly with the co-operative move- 

 ment. What has caused the indifference 

 which has hitherto prevailed among the 

 educated classes in regard to so benefi- 

 cent a reform has not yet been explained. 

 But it is a melancholy fact that Indian 

 journals have either ignored the Co-oper- 

 ative Credit Societies, or have damned 

 them with faint praise, and that the 

 abundant oratory of the period since the 

 movement began contains scarcely a 

 reference to institutions which, if ade- 

 quately supported, are destined to work 

 a mighty change in Indian Agriculture 

 and industries. Mr. Saroda Charan 

 Mitter's address marks, we hope, the 

 beginning of a new epoch in which public 

 men in this country will recognise the 

 great possibilities of co-operation and 

 exert all their influence in its favour. 

 Not only, however, was the speech a 

 pioneer deliverance, but it was a very 

 careful and sagacious statement of the 

 conditions which render a system of 

 Co-operative Credit so thoroughly suit- 

 able to the peculiar needs of India. Mr. 

 Mitter was not content to give the 

 movement his blessiug in a series of 

 platitudes which are easy to string 

 together, but which give neither light 

 nor leading. He has set out plainly the 

 complete problem which has to be solved, 

 and seldom has the pitiable indebtedness 

 of the Indian Agriculturist been more 

 clearly described and analysed. The first 

 conclusion which emerges from a study 

 of the facts is that no mere personal 

 benevolence on the part of the land- 

 owner, or any philanthropist will be of 

 real assistance to the ryot. " My own 

 experience," says Mr. Mitter, "in money- 

 lending to cultivators in a small scale 

 has shown the utter futility of a low 

 rate of interest." We may add that 

 thistestimony can be supported by many 

 who haye made a similiar experiment. 

 The explanation is that the indebted 

 classes among the cultivators are so far 

 demoralised by their chronic insolvency 

 that facilities for obtaining money at a 

 cheap rate are merely inducements to 

 fresh, extravagance. This proposition is 



true in regard to the agricultural popu- 

 lation of every European country, and 

 involves no special discredit to the Indian 

 cultivators. The lesson to be learned is, 

 in the words of Sir F. A. Nicholson, that 

 "it is useless, however amiable, to be- 

 lieve that the ryot is only thirsting for 

 capital in order to invest it at once in 

 the improvement and development of 

 his estate ; that the influx of cheap 

 capital is all that is wanted to enable 

 him to wipe off his old debts in order to 

 start forthwith on self-denying career of 

 productivity." Something other than 

 cheap money is needed. The peasant 

 requires to be brought into an organis- 

 ation in which he can obtain credit under 

 restrictions that will stimulate not to 

 incur. As Mr. Saroda Charan Mitter 

 puts the case, " without checks against 

 improvidence and waste, without moral 

 and social safeguards against dispropor- 

 tionate marriage and funeral expenses, 

 against luxuries in imitation of the 

 costumes and manners of the fashionable 

 world, and without the acquisition of 

 the habit of thrift, we cannot expect 

 improvement in the economic condition 

 of the people." It is as a means of supply- 

 ing these checks and safeguards that the 

 Co-operative Credit Society is invalu- 

 able. In a society of this kind a ryot 

 obtains a loan on the security of the 

 unlimited liability of all its members, 

 and, if they realise their position, they 

 will be careful to see that he is a trust- 

 worthy person, and to use their influence 

 not in favour of extravagant expenses 

 on his part but against them. It is easy 

 to see that an institution conducted on 

 these lines is a school of thrift and a 

 powerful promoter of social reform. But 

 it is equally evident that, without the 

 guidance of someone who understands the 

 principlesof co-operation, and who posses- 

 ses some standing in the community, the 

 illiterate masses are not in a position to 

 save themselves. Under strong leader- 

 ship they can make a fight against cus- 

 tomary extravagance and gradually work 

 their way out of indebtedness, but if they 

 are left to themselves social pressure will 

 be irresistible. Hence it is that the 

 Co-operative Credit movement calls for 

 the assistance of educated men whe feel 

 concern for the welfare of the masses. 

 Officials can provede the framework of 

 an organisation and help by their 

 supervision. But the guidance of indi- 

 vidual societies is a work whi"h they 

 cannot undertake, and in which their 

 intervention would be detrimental. 

 Mr. Saroda Charan Mitter truly says 

 that '• in the operation of the principles 



