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Thursday, May 9, 1912.]
THE CAROLINA UNION FARMER
Page Five
Co-operative Credit
in Europe
(This is another installment of a
series of articles about rural condi
tions in Europe, as they relate to the
business side of farming and is re
printed from the Texas Farm Co-
operator.)
The rural banks felt from the be
ginning the need of combination
amongst themselves for common pur
poses. The need was two-fold. On
the one hand a common organization
was required to direct the movement
and to give it uniformity; on the
other hand, there was need of 'cen
tral institutions which might equalize
the need of credit of the individual
banks, supplying them with money
when required, and employing their
surplus funds.
For the first of these objections
the Federations were formed; for the
second, the Central Institutions.
The Federations of co-operative so
cieties are unions formed for propa
ganda, education, and mutual de
fence. They embrace not only rural
credit societies, but rural co-opera
tive societies of every kind.
We have already mentioned the
existence of two Federations which
embrace the whole Empire within
their sphere of operations—the Fed
eration of Agricultural Co-operative
Societies, with headquarters at Neu- :
wied, founded by Raiffeisen in 1877, ■
and the National Federation of Ger
berg, containing
societies in 1908.
1,383 co-operative
man Agricultural Co-operative Socie
ties, which was founded in 1883, and
has its headquarters at Darmstadt. lunm lh« »ume
For a long time these led a separate I functions for the rural banks whlc^
existence, each propagating its own | the rural banks fulfill for their mem-
(b) The Central Banks.
As we have already indicated, the
second method of centralizing rural
banks and co-operative societies in
general is the formation of central
banks. Between these and the fed
eration there is no confusion of func
tions, but they mutually support one
another. The central banks under
take the provision of capital for the
rural banks and the utilization of
their surplus funds, when they have
any, always keeping in touch with
the corresponding federation, to
which they are usualy linked by the
fact that the same persons manage
the business of both institutions.
Further, the central banks, as a rule,
only admit co-operative societies
which already belong to the federa
tions of their province.
The provincial central banks are
co-operative societies with limited li
ability. The Bank of Darmstadt
alone is a company with liability lim
ited by shares, having been founded
before the law of 1889 allowed the
formation of central co-operative so
cieties composed of other co-opera
tive societies.
In 1910 there were affiliated to the
National Federation thirty-six pro
vincial central banks, of which thirty-
five various regions of Germany and
one was in the German colony of
southwest Africa.
Speaking broadly, it may be said
that the central banks fulfill the same
Jefferson Standard Life
Insurance Company
HOME OFFICE, RALEIGH, N. C.
ideas; sometimes, too, there was hos
tility between them. Finaly, in 1905
the Neuwied Federation became af
filiated to the National Federation of
Darmstadt. There is now, therefore,
a single organization, the National
Federation of Darmstadt, which em
hers.
Strong, Conservative and a
Sure Protection
SURPLUS TO POLICYHOLDERS, $500,239.15
As in the case of the rural banks,
the working capital is furnished by
the share capital, by the deposits of
the co-operative societies, and by the
sums which they procure by loans
from the general central banks, or
plans of legitimate insurance at
LOWEST RATES CONSISTENT WITH SAFETY,
’ I num Liie general central oanks, or
Draces agricultural co-operative socie- the Prussian Central Bank (of which
ties. It contained on June 1, 1910,
bo less than 18,962 co-operative so
cieties, including in seventy-eight cen
tral co-operative societies, 2,028 co
operative dairies and 1,885 co-oper
ative societies of other kinds.
The National Federation is, in
Reality, composed of Provincial Fed
erations. In fact, only five co-oper
ative societies, of which four are cen
tral institutions, are directly affiliated
to the National Federation, while all
the rest are indirectly attached to
the National Federation by being af
filiated to the respective Privincial
^derations. These are federations
^hich embrace the co-operative so
cieties in a defined portion of the ter
ritory of the Empire, and which, al-
hough affiliated to the National Fed
eration, enjoy a large degree of au
tonomy.
Besides the work of instruction, or
ganization and propaganda, they ful
fill the very important function of in
spection, assigned to them by the law
18 89. For this purpose they em-
fi oy inspectors, who, by frequent vis-
s> supervise the management and
he conduct of the business of the af-
liated societies.
fo indicate the importance of the
By giving us your insurance, North Carolina reaps a benefit and
at the same time you get “Value Received" for your investments.
we shall speak presently) and from
other banks, or private bankers. In
like manner as we have seen in the
case of the separate rural banks, the
most important part of the working
capital is formed by the deposits of
the members. This is clearly shown
by the following table, which indi
cates the working capital of the pro
vincial central banks at the end of
1909:
I^ercentape
Marks , of total
Paid-up capital ...$21493,532 8.2
Reserve fund .... 4,321,500 8.2
Deposits of the
members 187,345,775
Loans from the
general central
banks and the
Prussian Central
Bank 19,047,687
Loans from other
banks or from
private individu-
alsand liabilities
i n respect o f
bills 28,616,679
Other items 1,990,123
JOS. G. BROWN, President.
Virp p CHAS. W. GOLD,
Vice Pres. & Gen. Mgr. Sec’y & Supt. of Agents.
Do You Want to Make Money?
71.3
7.2
10.9
0.8
Total 4262,815,596 100.0
— . From these figures we see that of
Provincial federations, it is sufficient j the working capital of the Provincial
^ say that of the 23,845 rural co-
Perative societies existing in Ger-
bny in 1910, no less than 21,830
. • 6-. 92 per cent) were organized
fi Moderations. The number of Pro-
incial Federations affiliated to the
g.^Mional Federation is forty-one. Be-
os these, there are some indepen-
j fit federations which embrace
fi^'ted number of co-operative so-
a
Banks 9.8 per cent is formed by the
funds of the banks themselves (share-
capital and reserve), 71.3 per cent by
deposits and 18.9 per cent by loans
contracted with third parties. If we
compare these percentages with the
corresponding figures for the rural
banks, we shall see that the funds of
the banks themselves, though repre
senting, in both cases only a small
KJL ail VC au- i iii uulu uciacs Oniy a SHiail
^^oties and of which the most im- I proportion of the total available cap-
^tant is the federation of Wurtem-J (Continued on page 9.)
Wc Want a Good Man in every
County in North Carolina to solicit
subscriptions for the Carolina Union
Farmer.
Do Not Apply Unless You Mean
Business and Can Deliver the Goods,
Good Pay lor Right Parttes
Send name and address and tell us how
much time you can devote to the work,
and we will give you full instructions’.
Carolina Union Farmer
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
Raleigh, North Carolina
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