I9i i.'J 



Notes on Agriculture Abroad. 



693 



bership of 1,111,174, have issued detailed reports for the year 1908. 

 According to these reports they held ^1,048,880 in share capital; re- 

 serves, ^2,184,850; ^66,915,880 savings; and ^9,421,930 liabilities on 

 current account. On the other hand, they had outstanding in advances 

 on current account ^20,570,945 and ^48,375,830 loans for fixed periods. 

 The total advances granted in 1908 amounted to ^36,998,300; 10,402 

 societies showed a profit of ^359,320, but 1,193 had a loss of ^68,775. 



Other central federations worth mentioning are the Baden Federa- 

 tion with 399 loan funds, the Wiirttemberg Federation with 1,115, tne 

 Trier (Treves) Federation with 334, and the Union of Farmers with 57. 

 These credit societies have proved extremely useful to agriculture ; it 

 has been said of them that they take the place of the village banker, 

 as they entirely adapt themselves to the requirements of agriculture ; 

 they are easily reached, they work cheaply, grant loans at a low rate 

 of interest, and offer a safe deposit for savings. They educate the rural 

 landowner to a systematic economy. The interest demanded by these 

 societies varies in different parts of Germany. In contrast to the town 

 societies they often make advances for longer periods; thus the 

 Raiffeisen organisations had in 1908 granted 21 per cent, of their 

 advances for periods up to one year, but no less than 65 per cent, 

 for periods of from one to ten years. 



Besides the credit societies there are in Germany agricultural co- 

 operative societies for building, colonising, distilling, steam threshing, 

 steam ploughing, buying and selling, for the sale of grain, the purchase 

 of coal, the erection of silos, the sale of milk, of dairy produce, and of 

 the produce of mills, for horse breeding, slaughtering, sale of alcohol, 

 sale of tobacco, sale of cattle, letting of pasture land, societies of 

 vintners, of brick-kiln owners, &c. In the case of the Raiffeisen 

 organisations, the credit societies are also obliged to furnish their 

 members with manure and fodder. In 1908 this purchase amounted to 

 ^3,936,770 for 7,251 societies. 



While the associations were originally founded exclusively on the 

 principle of self-help, the practice has now been adopted of also placing 

 State aid at their disposal. In 1895 the Prussian Central Co-operative 

 ' State Bank (Zentral Genossenschafts Kasse) was founded for this pur- 

 pose with a capital of ^250,000, since raised to ^3,750,000. This bank 

 — for short called Preussenkasse — which has been capitalised with State 

 money, grants the Central Co-operative Federations cheap advances. 

 The amount of these advances is regulated according to the total mem- 

 bers' liability, deducting a pro rata sum as a safeguard. One of the 

 conditions imposed on the associations by the Preussenkasse is that if 

 they take advantage of its cheap loans they must deal exclusively with 

 the Preussenkasse. At the end of 1909 the total loans made by this 

 Central Bank to thirty-three Agricultural Co-operative Federations 

 amounted to ^4,341,227. 



The importance of the agricultural co-operative association system 

 in Germany can be finally illustrated by certain figures. The purchase by 

 the associations of kainit in 1908 amounted to 580,000 tons, from which 

 sales they received a discount of ^"17,500. The total purchase of salts 

 for manure was more than 400,000 tons. In the Imperial Federation 

 I the total turnover amounted to ^"295,550,000. The assets were 

 .£16,700,000. The working capital amounted to ^16,590,000, of which 



