June 1896.] GERMAN CO-OPERATIVE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, 3 



were instituted mainly to supply the needs of the artisans 

 and small shopkeepers in towns rather than of the rural popula- 

 tion. On the other hand, the agricultural credit associations, 

 which, as regards their peculiar characteristics, were first insti- 

 tuted by the late Burgermeister Raiffeisen in Neuwied, have 

 already attained a considerable extension throughout the whole 

 of rural Germany, and are continually gaining additions and 

 support. Some of them are affiliated to the Central Agricultural 

 Credit Association in Neuwied, but there are numbers of inde- 

 pendent organisations in Baden, Hesse, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, 

 Westphalia, Hanover, Silesia, East Prussia, and the province of 

 Saxony. 



Briefly, the characteristic features of the Raiffeisen agricul- 

 tural credit associations, as opposed to the Schultze-Delitzsch 

 institutions, are that they are constituted on the principle of 

 unlimited liability, they have practically no share capital, and 

 pay no dividends, and they grant loans for long periods on 

 personal security at a low rate of interest. 



For an illustration of the operations of these associations, 

 reference may be made to the accounts of the transactions of 

 463 of the credit societies included in the General Union of 

 German Agricultural Co-operative Societies. From these ac- 

 counts, it appears that the total turnover of the 463 associations 

 amounted in 1893 to 4,385,000?., or an average of 9,900?. for 

 each society. Their working capital amounted to 2,420,000?., or 

 an average of 5,200?. for each society, while their total reserve 

 funds were returned as amounting in the aggregate to 65,000?. 



The agricultural co-operative-purchase societies, of which 

 there are 894, are associations formed for the purchase of 

 manures, feeding stuffs, seeds, and implements. Their function 

 is to obtain goods at a cheap rate by purchasing large quan- 

 tities, and to secure the best quality by agreement and proper 

 control. As a rule, their operations are conducted on lines 

 similar to those which have been so successful in the case of 

 the French agricultural co-operative societies, of which a detailed 

 account was published by the Board of Agriculture in 1894."* 

 By regulating prices and preventing fraud, the associations of 

 this class exercise an influence far beyond the limits of their 

 own membership, and they have enabled agriculturists generally 

 to obtain better terms from manufacturers of farming requisites. 



The published accounts of 422 of these societies show that in 

 1893 their purchases were of the value of 780,000?. Their 

 trading capital amounted to 210,000?., and their net profits on 

 the year's operations represented an average of 34?. for each 

 society. The business on behalf of the individual societies is 

 generally done through the central unions, and it has been 

 estimated that the transactions of all the societies in Germany 

 represented purchases to the value of at least 1,700,000/. in 1893. 



* Journal of ihe Board of Agriculture, Vol. I , No. 1, p. 7. 



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