It admits of larger business, and has, in fact, produced such
quantitatively out of all comparison with that of Village banks,
much more numerous though the latter are. The large farmers
of the Lodigiano, of Upper Bavaria, of the Insterburg and other
districts, could not possibly be adequately served by rural loan
banks, "Village" banks as I call them. They are admirably
served by Share banks. Where, on the other hand, population
is sparse, but fixed on the soil, where money is scarce and
whatever may be required to buy a share can be raised only
with difficulty, unlimited liability banks will be the form to



SHARE BANKS 45

adopt. They do not lend themselves to individually as large
business as the others; but they penetrate where the others
could not possibly go — into every crevice, like a root-fibre
pushing its way down to the barren gravel of the subsoil, to
the very bedrock of destitution. Such strata the founders of
Share banks deliberately refused to cultivate, except as a matter
of charity and of almsgiving, not of membership. They made
ability to buy a share the sine qua non of admission.
For Share banks without doubt Schulze-Delitzsch's golden rule
holds good, that the more varied in respect of callings is the
membership, the safer will be the foundation on which the banks
rest, simply because in different calUngs want and abundance of
money are apt mutually to supplement and equalize one another.
A blending of callings, accordingly, tends to bring about that
ideal state of balance between supply and demand which makes
business easy.
