The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Schulze-Delitzsch, Hermann

SCHULZE-DELITZSCH, shoolt'sĕ-dā'lĭch, Hermann, German politician and economist: b. Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony, 29 Aug. 1808; d. Potsdam, 29 April 1883. After legal courses at Leipzig and Halle, he entered the Prussian public service; but from 1841 devoted his attention to the economic betterment of small farmers and artisans. Among his various activities, the most important was the establishment of the “people's bank” system, inaugurated at Delitzsch. In these banks, the subscribers made small deposits, obtaining proportional credit and dividends; the management being vested in a board composed of subscribers. In 1859 the more than 200 such banks were centrally organized under the direction of Schulze-Delitzsch. At the time of his death there were in Germany alone 3,500 branches with more than $100,000,000 in deposits; while the system had been extended to Austria, Italy, Belgium and Russia. He published ‘Chapters of a German Workingman's Catechism’ (1863); ‘The Laboring Classes and Associationism in Germany’ (2d ed., 1863); ‘Money Advance and Credit Associations as People's Banks’ (5th ed., 1876). Consult his life by Bernstein (1879).