Ku20 y . i |'ninii: I I WASHINGTON 1913 ip ii ■ /'.■ u 1^ P | M ' <■ > ' ' ( ' ^ FREDERICK WILLIAM RAIFFEISEN. Mr. Chaieman, Mr. Bttrgomastee, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have prepared a few remarks for this occasion and wish to say that if you have come to hear eloquence or witness the subtle tricks of an actor or a speaker you are quite likely to be disappointed. That gift was not given me. If any gift was given me it was the ability to hold on tight like a bulldog to a proposition that seemed to me logical and right and that moved me. And m the issue before us, in the inquiry we are making, you too seem to be moved by simUar impulses. My friends, we seem to be traveling on a fine line, the line between the sublime and the ridiculous. It reminds me much of the tradi- tional story in the Koran, the story of the departed soul which must walk over a bridge as narrow as a hair, when the wicked fall into the gulf of oblivion and the good continue on to the end until they reach paradise. We are engaged in a great work, a work as great and noble as was ever undertaken in the history of man; greater and nobler than the great work of the old Greek chieftain, Alexander the Great, greater than the work of Pompey, or of Julius Csesar, greater than that of Augustus Csesar, greater than that of Napoleon, for the work that we are engaged in leads to the very gates of divinity, that divinity which we hold so much in awe; that divinity that leads right up to the gates of heaven, the gates of righteousness. If we are single-minded and if our efforts are well directed, we are then on the line of the sublime, but if we are self-seeking or lacking in courage and ability, then we are on the line of the ridiculous. The great line of demarcation between the animal and naan is the demarcation of service. The animal serves himself, and in serving others only does so under compulsion; but man, the real man, is placed here on earth in order that he may serve his feUows, not imder compulsion, but freely and of his own wiU and with eagerness. In the service before us we have nothing to apologize for, not even to the great founders of religion, not even to the great Apostles nor to the grea-t prophets, not even to God Almighty Himself; for, if we are trufy within the precincts of this service, then are we truly within the precincts of His holy temple, and are therefore priests and soldiers fightmg for might and power and with might and power, fightmg such a fight the privilege of which was given to but the few among the sons of man, for not even the prophets of old had a greater mission. ■ At the present time we are come to learn; we are come to learn, so that presently we may be enabled to teach, to teach not merely the American people, but the people of the North American Continent and the people of the South American Continent, and presently the results of the efforts of the American commission shall permeate everywhere, from land to land, from the beginning until the end, 3 4 PEEDEEICK WILUAM EAIFPEISEN. and round about the whole world. We are beginning to discern with clearness that the task before us is not merely economic amelio- ration, but that it is higher than that. It reaches upward until it strikes the true keynote of political stability, insurmg peace and eqtiity, not merely for the people of the United States, but political peace and equity Vher ever the principles underlying these doctrines shall take root. At the present time we are here, at the feet of this master. Father Kaiffeisen, and at the feet of the German people to learn, but be it ever remembered that it is not merely a trait of the American people to learn but to teach, and if we are distinguished in anything from other nations of the world it is by this very trait — that the American people learn ia order to teach. We hope, therefore, to be enabled to pay back to our teachers of the European countries benefits in terms of service for the benefit their service has been to us, and to pay this back with iaterest and with compoxmd interest. We hope presently to add our amendment to the really great work begun by Father Raiffeisen; we hope to show that the very root and secret of our work is not merely to find amelioration for the farmer — for it would be just as charitable to find amelioration for the shoemaker and for the carpenter — the scope of our work goes beyond that. In its final analysis this work will be found to insure not merely amelioration for the American farmer, but stability for the American Republic. If this statement be based on fact, if it contain an imderlying truth that can be harnessed to service^ which may insm-e the sta- bfiity of the American Republic, then it establishes the sanctity of otir mission. If there be no such truth, then is aU this work an illusion. But is it an illusion? Do we not see here, all around us, in the great European countries that we have visited, the oper- ations and results of rural cooperation and its beneficent and far- reachiag effects? This is no mere abstract statement; it is a fact that any ordinary mind can readily prove for itself, a fact which should be understood not merely by us. here but by statesmen, the people that govern the United States. We are hving not far distant from a time when it was fashionable to think that our welfare, our world centered round our own vicinity, our own fit tie village, o-ur own State, our own Nation. But is there not a greater and a higher law ? Is it not the welfare of all the nations of the earth which is the best guarantee of the welfare of oiu- own Nation and of our own individual welfare ? Do not darkness and an unprogressive state in one nation act and react upon the others? What benefit, for instance, is it to the world that there is such a cotintry as Morocco? To whom is it a benefit? It is not even a benefit to the poor barbarians and beggars that live there. Let that country be developed, let the sun of progress and civilization shine upon it, let development pursue its course, and in the place of its few thousand indigents it would become filled with millions of progressive prosperous people, blessing by their imports and exports their fellow men of other lands, of other coimtries. It is the amount of develop-, ment and the progress of any nation and of aU nations that make for the greater sum of human happiness, and a diminution of that prog- ress and development in any one coimtry necessarily diminishes the happiness of the whole. FBEDEKICK WILLIAM EAIFFEISEN. 5 I am fully aware that I am not expected to give a historic sketch of Raiffeisen or of his system, for we are here on the scene, among the Eeople with whom he dwelt, the people for whom he labored, of whom e was an integral part. It is to those very people that we have come, asking them to teach us, and shall we presume to tell them of Raif- feisen and of his system of cooperative rural credit ? Shall we pre- sumptuously start our labors of inquiry by attempting to teach our teachers ? In speaking of Raiffeisen and of his work at this time we feel impelled to say that whatever be the results, whether the American people profit by this inquiry or not, there can be no question as to this — that the people of Germany and of other European countries are gainers through Raiffeisen and through the Raiffeisen system. This IS so evident that it is impossible to refute it honestly. Nor is this all, for it is not alone Germany, but many other European countries which are indebted, which are imder lasting obligations to this beneficent pioneering force, this force which has so powerfully affected the eco- nomic hfe of the nations. Nor is it merely the economic Ufe ; it is also the poUtical hfe of the nations which has been affected. The coalescing forces in social life were never more in evidence than in this early part of the twentieth century. At no time in the history of social life was this phenomenon more in evidence than it is to-day. Coalesced dollars and coalesced brains seem to have as intense an affinity for each other as oxygen has for hydrogen, and in those instances where there is an absence of dol- lars there is the same coalescing tendency of numbers, as witness the labor unions. And so the time has come when almost aU the world of social life has crystallized itseK into a series of coalescing forces, all in militant array, struggling and fighting for advantage. We must marvel at the keen foresight which brought into line within the coalescing field the formerly uncoalesced rural forces of Germany; and ri^ht here is the great merit of Raiffeisen and of his rural credit system. Raif- feisen evidently foresaw that the action and reaction of the coalesced urban forces upon the uncoalesced rural forces would end in the elimination of the independent land-owning farmer of Germany. He must have further realized that the great political value of the independent land-owning farmer really consists in this, that he is a conservative. We may observe that the farmer is the last man to change the style of his garments, the manner of his speech, the trend of his thoughts, his habits, and his rehgion. AU this renders him a conservative, and as such he acts and reacts upon the progressive and radical urban much the same as a "governor" regulates the pressure of the steam in a boiler; the conservative farmer holds in check the urban radical. Raiffeisen must have realized that the weakening of the independent land-owning farmer would mean the weakening of the pohtical life of the nation, and so he sought a way for bringing about the working of a coalescing force in the field of rural economy, a way which should enable the German farmer to keep at bay and overcome the destruc- tive influence of the coalesced urban. In so far as this has been accomplished to a greater extent m Germany than in other countries, in so far is it safe to say that the pohtical hfe of Germany is more sound to the core, contains within 6 FEEDEKICK WILLIAM EAIFFEISEN. itself a greater resisting power, than the political life of other coun- tries, ft is therefore safe to say that the people of Germany and of other European countries are gainers through Raiffeisen and through the Raiffeisen system. It now remains to be seen whether it would be practicable to adopt this system in the United States. As a mode of procedure it was deemed expedient to make an exhaustive inquiry along these lines through the medium, as you know, of the American commission, all of which explains the reason of our pilgrimage tlirough the European countries and in a measure of our presence here to-day. When the publications of the International Institute of Agriculture, setting forth the Raiffeisen and other European cooperative rural credit systems, reached the United States they created a profound impression, resulting in the mission set on foot by the people and by the Government of the United States to send abroad the American commission, so that the duly accredited representatives of the various States of the Union and the representatives of the Nation might acquaint themselves with the facts, the operation, the environ- ment of those cooperative rural credit systems, and with the results of th^ir operations. The commission is to embody its inquiry in the form of a report, to which report it is to append its findmgs for the purpose of presenting the same to the Congress of the United States. The presence here of the American commission, our presence at this monument, our presence at this house where Raiffeisen lived, may therefore be regarded as one of the results of the beneficent labors of Raiffeisen, as an evidence of the high esteem in which he is held, not merely by the people of Germany, not merely by the people of other European countries, but also by the American people. In this period of our inquiry it is too early for this commission to pronounce in favor of the adoption by the American people of the Raiffeisen system. Further inquiry may determine a conclusion in the affirmative; but whatever be the ultmiate conclusion, there is no denying the hope — the strong hope — that we may, toward the end of our inquiry, be justified in settmg forth in our finding, if not the Raiffeisen system as in operation in Germany, then some derivation of that system. Our visit to-day to this house, formerly occupied by Raiffeisen, is to be considered m the Ught of the highest tribute that it is possible for our commission to pay to his memory. It is intended to illustrate the fact that the truly beneficent are not merely citizens of the coun- try of their birth, or of the country in which they hved, but that they are citizens the whole world over and for all time. The time wiU soon be here when every self-respecting coimtry will deem it its duty to set up the bust of Raiffeisen in its public parks and before its pubhc buildings. Shall the world not honor the seer, the prophet, and the pioneer in the field of economic betterment, so long as it honors poet, musician, and soldier? The poet writes 'his poem, and forthwith is honored; the musician produces his music, and the world sings his praise; the soldier wins his battle, and 10,000 "hochs" fill the air. But for the seer, the prophet, and the pioneer in the field of economic betterment there is what ? What but stub- born and persistent opposition ? What but wrath, contempt, humih- ation, ostracism, and oblivion ? And yet it is these very seers, these very prophets, these very pioneers fr ''^.; f;^ ] ' . .. , ' " FEEDEKICK WILLIAM EAIFEEISE2S1 . that laboriously paved the way so' that the world may have paths and byways, paths proudly strutted over by the much-honored poet, musician, and soldier, with no thought in their heads of the patient builders of these paths. These seers, these pioneers must wait for recognition; they must wait to receive it after they are dead. Fortunately for the world, these pioneers knowing all this, realizing all this, nevertheless persist in their work,.unweariedly forging ahead with their mind's eye ever fixed on one goal, accomplishment; and, like patient donkeys, they labor on, pulhng the load steadily, even though their food be thorns and thistles seasoned plentifully with kicks and curses. All honor, therefore, to these heroes, to that in- domitable pioneer, to that pathfinder, Frederick William Raiffeisen. We go to the museums and bring our children there to see the armor that was worn by the knights of old. We relate to them their heroic achievements, their Imightly deeds. But have we no knights in modern times ? Are not the modern knights as chivalrous, as brave, and as generous as those of old? Who then are these knights? They are men like Raiffeisen, Biiring, Schulze-Delitsche, Luzzatti, Wollemborg, and others of their kind. These modern knights are as chivalrous, as brave, and as generous as the knights of old, and more so; for the influence of these modern knights is infinitely more beneficent; the penetrating rays of their activity per- meate in every direction, blessmg all peoples for all time. May this visit to the house of the departed pioneer, the venerable Father Raiffeisen, be to us, the American commission, a good omen. May the life he led be a lesson to each one of us^ so that we as pupils may catch the inspiration to profit by the high example his Uie has furnished. And if there be a conscious communication of the spirit of the departed with the living, and if that consciousness be expressed in the mode of our cognizance, it would surely follow that our visit here wiU be most pleasing to him whose spirit we have come to honor. David Lxtbin. Coble!nz, Germany, June 12, 1913. O The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013776319 \ '\ , %• w&. wm. w mM^-