e societies and he was able to appeal to
them on philanthropic grounds. This class of people have a leading
part in the administration of the societies of which they are members
and have contributed greatly to their success.

At the outset the Raiffeisen societies had to rely chiefly on
borrowing for the acquisition of the capital needed, but with time and
success savings deposits, surplus funds accumulated out of profits,
and lastly the proceeds of the sale of shares have played an
increasing role. At the present time many societies are not obliged to
borrow at all, and not a few have surplus funds which are placed at
the disposition of other societies which are still obliged to borrow.

Like the Schulze-Delitzsch societies the Raiffeisen associations have
federated. At present there are thirteen so-called unions, and at the
head of all is a central bank with head office at Berlin and branches
at Koenigsberg, Danzig, Breslau, Cassel, Frankfurt, Coblenz, Brunzwick,
Strassburg, Nuremberg, Posen, and Ludwigshafen. The central bank is a
joint-stock company, organized on the principle of limited liability,
the stock of which is owned by the local societies. It formerly had
close relations with the Imperial Bank, but is now associated with the
so-called Centralgenossenschaftskassa, endowed by the state of
Prussia, in such a way that advances and discounts are extended to it
on favorable terms.

The Raiffeisen societies rival the Schulze-Delitzsch in the rapidity
of their growth and in the role they play in the economic life of
modern Germany. In 1908 they numbered 5,047, of which 4,340 were
credit associations. The collective balance sheets of these societies
in 1907 showed 490,734,834 marks assets, 489,234,357 marks
liabilities, and a membership of 405,819.

While Germany was the pioneer in the establishment of land credit
institutions, and while such institutions have attained a greater
variety of form and a higher degree of perfection in that country than
in any other, other countries have advanced along similar lines and
now have institutions and a fund of experience well worthy of study.
The institutions of Germany have in most cases served as models in
these other countries, the mortgage banks and the Schulze-Delitzsch
and Raiffeisen societies having been most frequently copied. These
models have been adapted to foreign conditions and modified in
interesting and instructive ways as well as copied without essential