Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen: Review of Ertl and Licht (1899)

Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen’s 1899 review of Moriz Ertl and Stefan Licht’s Das landwirtschaftliche Genossenschaftswesen in Deutschland combines an appraisal of a practical handbook with a defence of agricultural cooperation. Moving from agrarian distress to institutional organization and Austrian application, Schullern treats German cooperative experience as a resource for strengthening agriculture through association and public support.

The review presents the authors’ understanding of cooperatives as a step toward broader occupational organization. Their justification extends beyond economic efficiency:

Dabei übersehen sie nicht, dass neben rein wirtschaftlichen Rücksichten auch ethische und nationale den Fortbestand einer lohnenden und genügend umfangreichen Landwirtschaft und die Blüte der conservativsten und sesshaftesten Bevölkerungsklasse fordern.

English translation: In doing so they do not overlook the fact that, alongside purely economic considerations, ethical and national ones as well demand the continued existence of a remunerative and sufficiently extensive agriculture and the flourishing of the most conservative and most settled class of the population.

Agriculture’s importance thus rests partly on the social and political value attributed to a settled rural population. This premise frames Schullern’s response to possible objections to Ertl’s diagnosis of agricultural distress. Inadequate statistics on indebtedness and land fragmentation cannot demonstrate that these problems are absent. Germany’s general economic expansion and recent improvements in grain prices likewise do not suffice to dismiss agricultural complaints. Owners’ attachment to their holdings can obscure hardship, since reduced consumption, intensified cultivation, and technical improvements may sustain production despite deteriorating circumstances.

Man würde aber auch deswegen irren, weil es nicht nur einen absoluten, sondern auch einen relativen Verfall gibt.

English translation: But one would also err for the reason that there exists not only an absolute decline, but also a relative one.

The distinction between absolute and relative decline supplies the review’s central analytical move. Agriculture can fall behind other sectors without visibly collapsing. For Schullern, broadly shared advancement matters, and the size and public significance of a disadvantaged occupational group strengthen its claim to assistance. Yet he does not settle whether agriculture suffers absolute decline, relative decline, or neither. The widespread perception of crisis itself warrants investigation and consideration of preventive or remedial measures. His endorsement of cooperation consequently does not require acceptance of the strongest diagnosis of agrarian deterioration.

Association promises to strengthen landowners, just as comparable organization is widely accepted as beneficial in industry. Schullern considers voluntary cooperation while leaving open the possibility of legal compulsion. Beyond that general presumption, institutional design remains an empirical question:

Alles weitere ist dann quaestio facti, insbesondere auch die Frage, ob und in welcher Weise der Grossgrundbesitz in den Organisationen Platz finden kann.

English translation: Everything further is then a quaestio facti, in particular also the question whether and in what manner large landed property can find a place within the organizations.

The handbook matters because it supplies practical evidence for such choices. Schullern follows its division of labour: Licht examines agricultural personal credit, moving from local savings and loan associations to federations, central institutions, and the Prussian central cooperative bank. The review praises the combination of institutional explanation, statistical material, legislation, and model statutes. Ertl’s treatment of purchasing and marketing organizations complements this account. Whereas credit cooperatives counter monetary usury, purchasing and marketing associations address exploitation in commodity transactions. Slow growth in independent purchasing cooperatives need not demonstrate failure, since existing Raiffeisen organizations and other arrangements can perform similar functions.

Marketing receives particular emphasis. More direct connections between producers and consumers can reduce intermediary losses and the disadvantages imposed by farmers’ urgent need for cash. Better price formation may therefore benefit consumers as well as producers. Dairy cooperatives offer a possible partial compensation for declining cereal returns under overseas competition. The discussion also encompasses grain marketing, milling, baking, wine, livestock, and slaughtering. Model statutes, procedural rules, and bookkeeping examples make the handbook an instrument of organization rather than merely a descriptive survey.

Schullern recommends selective adaptation of German experience to Austrian circumstances, not mechanical imitation. His concluding endorsement links practical self-help with legislative encouragement and public persuasion: stronger food and raw-material producers can benefit other productive groups. Cooperation also reinforces the rural population’s attachment to its homeland. The review’s distinctive argument is therefore both institutional and political, presenting the handbook as a store of usable experience and as support for the expansion of Austrian agricultural cooperation.