The Washington herald., 1913-05-25
What the American Com
mission 0nAgricultural
Cooperation Learned
in Italy Of the Benefits
Of a Farmers Banking
system.


has changed the Italian farmers from
bankrupts to bankers has now been seer
/ by the members of the American Com.
mission on Agricultural Cooperation
1 with their own eyes The Commission
| has completed his first lap of its tour
trough fourteen European countries
hich il is taking under the auspices OF
the Southern Commercial Congress to
investigate the cooperation systems
whith have welded the millions Of
European peasant farmers into organiza-
tons welding incredible power.
Italy is the first country visited by
the commission The landing was made
at Naples, that mystifying city which
hides so much poverty under the in
spring beauty sof its white shore line
streaked between the ultramarine of the
Mediterranean and the blue of the south
Italian skies. From Naples the COM
mission journeyed north 10 Rome and
there was welcomed by the King and
Queen of Italy and the International
Institute of Agriculture. number of
the delegates left the ship at Genoa in
order 10 hasten TO Rome. Then going
north from Rome. through the central
Italian provinces and picturesque Tus-
cany the commission ended its Italian
trip in the northern province of Lom-
hardy.
Surely il was a test to have made
the country about Naples the starting
point for the study of this commission:
for il was not easy for the American
delegates to realize that the ragged
Italian peasants who stood by the road
side gazing at them or as frequently
begging from them, as they drove to
Campagna and who made their homes
in the one-storied thatched-roofed huts
near by could possess a business sys-
tenn worthy the study of American
farmers.
But the worst jolt which these Yam
kee commissioners received was their
first introduction to a cooperative bank.
II was located in a little village near
Rome Several of the commissioners
journeyed there by street car or tram
way. as they are now saying, and by
hack They were escorted to wine
shop. the prototype of a score of such
shops passed by the tourist in a days
tramp. The bill stickers' art has not
swamped Europe as ii has the United
States and the impression of the aver
age American tourist is that the shop
keepers are trying their durndest to
keep the location Of their shops an un-
fathomed secret. There was no outward
indication of the building which the COM
missioners entered being a bank. Inside
were placed a half dozen deal tables
worn black with age and polished with
the rubbings OF countless elbows. At sew
eral of the tables sat groups of peas
ants slipping wine and gossiping AT
one a man scrubbed figures into a well
worn note book That was the bank.
Could such an institution be power
in the land-a force for progress ana
the uplift of thousands of farmers But
the first lesson that the delegates had
to learn was that they must Keep
eternally on their guard against snap
judgments.
Italy represents the supreme test OF
the soundness of principle of the Coop
erative banking societies which II is
hoped to spread among American farm
ers as a means to better their credit Ia
cilities. increase their production and
lower their expenses. The whole plan
rests upon the theory that a society
of farmers can be trusted with the
savings Of the community wherein
they reside or with loans from outside
sources, and can safely be depended
upon the distribute those funds among
themselves in such WAYS that they
will be proftably invested in their
farms and returned to the lenders with
reasonable interest. Now, II the farmers
of Italy who are poor for the most part
according to American standards, who
are little educated, and have few OPP
portunities to gain business experience,
can conduct such little banking So
cieties without loss, how can it be con-
tended that American farmers could not
he depended upon TO succeed in similar
undertakings? Therefore, though II may
at first have seemed unwise to take the
American commission to Italy at the
start as a matter of fact the commits
sioners have seen with their own eyes
the very severest test TO which these So
cieties could be put. And they have
seen these farmers banks conducted
without loss: they have seen villages
intrusting their savings to their Gus
tody because they know them 10 bel
safe: they have seen farmers, without
a twentieth part of the advantage that
perhaps a majority of the American
farmers have. improve their stock, in
crease the yield Of their farms. decrease
their expenses and bring a country not
overblessed with fertility to a strong
position among nations as a producer
of agricultural products. The entire
plan in Italy is on an humble scale but |
even so. Italy is progressing more rapid |
" agriculturally than the United States |
The accomplishments of the Italian |
rural banks when they are contrasted ]
with their humble beginning is astound- |
ing.
About thirty years ago DR.. Leon VOL |
ltmborg, moved by the great burden |
placed upon the poor farmers of his /
home in the Venetian parish of Loreg-
gia, decided to copy the German idea |
Of cooperative banks. The farmers
among whom he started his task were
paupers even IN a poor land. Securing
some thirty members for his banking
society. Dr. Wollemborg. who was a man
of private means, contributed $500 HIM
self and scraped together within the
first half year of the existence of his
society s1.4oo more. the most of which
he contributed himself. This money was
loaned among the members of the soci-
ETY. and later a further loan was secured
from a savings bank. All of this was
paid back. Today the savings banks are
willing to lend at any time TO the rural
banking societies. They have never lost
a cent from funds intrusted to them.
DR.. Wollemborg's original bank is still
in existence. 1t no longer has to de-
pend upon his loans or charity from any
source TO secure funds. 1t has a re-
serve and has become fixed institu-
ton in the community. And from this
initial investment of 5000 has sprung
a system of banking societies that covers
nearly all Italy. /
The commission has seen and is be-
ginning to comprehend the principles and
the methods by which these individually !