484 
THE AM ERIC AN-SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW 
A Well in Finland 
their origin in large measure to Dr. Hannes Gebhard, “father of Fin¬ 
nish co-operation.” Its funds are loaned to it by public-spirited citi¬ 
zens and by the government, and it makes its loans in turn to the rural 
member banks at a rate so low that they can lend again to their own 
members. All loans to the small farmers are for definite purposes 
connected with the improvement of their farms. Not a mark is wasted, 
nor can a loan be renewed. 
Only fifteen members are required to start one of these banks, 
although some have as many as two hundred members. Their busi¬ 
ness is of the simplest. There is no overhead. The affairs of the 
banks are conducted by a local committee who entrust the bookkeep¬ 
ing, at first without compensation, to a competent member of the 
community, often the schoolmaster. With their very limited resources, 
the committee have to be very strict in passing on the requests for loans. 
In Iwana’s bank, taking up new land and opening new homesteads, 
in other words, breaking up the korpi, require most money, with 
seed second and cattle food third in the items of development. Many 
is the field lying idle in Finland and two lusty arms eager to plant it 
if only the rural credit bank can find the money for the seeds. But 
the Central Co-operative Bank has never enough to go around. 
