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Granaries (pósitos): a source of finance for Spain's small farmers, 1900–1950

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2015

ÁNGEL PASCUAL MARTÍNEZ-SOTO  and
SUSANA MARTÍNEZ-RODRÍGUEZ
ÁNGEL PASCUAL MARTÍNEZ-SOTO
Affiliation:
History and Economic Institutions Section, Department of Applied Economics, Economics and Business, University of Murcia.
SUSANA MARTÍNEZ-RODRÍGUEZ
Affiliation:
History and Economic Institutions Section, Department of Applied Economics, Economics and Business, University of Murcia. Campus Mare Nostrum – International Excellence Campus of University of Murcia.
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Abstract

Under the Ancien Régime in Spain local granaries (in Spanish, pósitos) acted as welfare institutions designed to help small farmers in times of crisis. During the first third of the twentieth century they were subject to an intense reorganisation in Spain and this transformed them into the only microfinance institution to which a significant part of the country's rural population had access. However, as the granaries were beginning to get their finances in order, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the ensuing change in political regime meant that from 1950 onwards they found themselves relegated to the financial margins. The longevity of the granaries makes them an interesting example of a type of financial institution that was able to adapt to different political regimes by changing the way they operated while maintaining their core objective of supporting small farmers.

Les granges (pósitos): une source de financement pour les petits fermiers espagnols, 1900–1950

Sous l'Ancien Régime, en Espagne des granges locales (pósitos en espagnol) fonctionnaient comme des institutions d'aide sociale, conçues pour venir en aide aux petits fermiers en temps de crise. Pendant le premier tiers du XXe siècle, elles furent réorganisées en profondeur et transformées en institutions de micro-financement auxquelles une très large proportion de la population rurale du pays avait accès. Cependant, alors que les granges commençaient à mettre leurs finances en ordre, le déclenchement de la guerre civile espagnole (1936–1939) et le changement de régime politique qui la suivit firent qu’à partir des années 1950 elles furent reléguées à la périphérie du système financier. Leur longévité fait des granges un exemple intéressant d'institution financière, d'un type capable de s'adapter à différents régimes politiques en modifiant son mode opératoire, tout en préservant sa fonction fondamentale de venir en aide aux petits agriculteurs.

Getreidespeicher (pósitos): eine finanzquelle für spaniens kleinbauern, 1900–1950

Im Spanien des Ancien Régime dienten örtliche Getreidespeicher (span. pósitos) als Wohlfahrtseinrichtungen, um Kleinbauern in Krisenzeiten zu unterstützen. Während des ersten Drittels des 20. Jahrhunderts waren sie in Spanien einer intensiven Reorganisation unterworfen, durch die sie zur einzigen Mikrofinanzeinrichtung wurden, zu der ein ziemlich bedeutender Teil der ländlichen Bevölkerung überhaupt noch Zugang besaß. Gerade, als die Getreidespeicher ihre Finanzen in Ordnung zu bringen begannen, führten der Ausbruch des Spanischen Bürgerkrieges (1936–1939) und der anschließende politische Regimewechsel jedoch dazu, dass sie ab 1950 finanziell an den Rand gedrängt wurden. Auf Grund ihrer Langlebigkeit sind die Getreidespeicher gleichwohl ein interessantes Beispiel für einen Typus von Finanzinstitution, der sich unterschiedlichen politischen Regimen anpassen konnte, indem sie ihre Funktionsweise änderten, aber zugleich ihr Kernziel, Kleinbauern zu unterstützen, aufrecht erhielten.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , August 2015 , pp. 251 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 Beatriz Armendáriz and Marc Labie eds., The handbook of microfinance (London and Singapore, 2011).

2 González-Vega, C., ‘Profundización financiera rural: políticas públicas, tecnologías de microfinanzas y organizaciones robustas’, Microfinanzas y Banca Social 1 (2011), 7–52Google Scholar.

3 T. W. Guinnane, ‘The early German credit cooperatives and microfinance organizations today: similarities and differences’, in Armendáriz and Labie, The handbook of microfinance, 77–100.

4 Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Primer Censo Agrario de España (Madrid, 1962), XXIII.

5 M. García Isidro, Historia de los pósitos españoles (Madrid, 1929), 12–13.

6 Aceña, P. Martín, ‘La conformación histórica de la Industria Bancaria Española’, Mediterráneo Económico 8 (2005), 21–44Google Scholar. For example, in 1900 in Spain, deposits in savings banks amounted to 133.3 million pesetas (purchasing power parity, hererafter PPP); in Italy this figure was 1,504.7 million pesetas (PPP), and in France it was 4,274.2 million pesetas (PPP).

7 For further information on granaries in the nineteenth century, see Soto, P. Carasa, ‘Los pósitos en España en el siglo XIX’, Investigaciones Históricas 4 (1983), 249–304Google Scholar; J. Carmona, ‘Los pósitos como instituciones de crédito en el siglo XIX: una reflexión’, in University of Barcelona ed., Seminario Crédito urbano y consumo en la Europa preindustrial (1650–1850) (Barcelona, 1998); and Soto, A. P. Martínez, ‘Los pósitos en el siglo XIX: una red pública de microcrédito agrario (1800–1914)’, Historia Agraria 43 (2007), 485–530Google Scholar.

8 In Italy the Decree of 4 May 1924 put an end to the Monti Frumentari, finishing with credit in kind as it was considered to be: ‘incompatibile con la profonda transformazione che l'agricoltura nazionale andava subendo’. G. Muzzioli, Banche e agricultura. Il crédito all'agricoltura italiana dal 1861 al 1940 (Bologna, 1983), 237. S. Bruno, I Monti Frumentari. Le casse rurali di prestiti (Turin, 1922), 324.

9 For further information on celeiros comuns, see J. del Negro y Franz, Memoria sobre el crédito agrícola en Portugal (Madrid, 1909) and A. de Castro, ‘Celeiros comuns’, in Joel Serrão ed., Dicionário da História de Portugal (Lisbon, 1971).

10 More information in J. Francisco Grilo, Crédito Agrícola e Mutualidade em Portugal (Lisbon, 1916).

11 The SNCA (Servicio Nacional de Crédito Agrícola) was created by the Royal Decree of 24 March 1925, and was configured as a centralised institution, dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture, operating from Madrid and lending only to credit institutions (granaries, credit cooperatives, cooperatives and agrarian associations).

12 Data provided by Jesús López Sánchez-Cantalejo, Chairman of the Rural Relationships Institute (Instituto de Relaciones Agrarias), in M. C. Fernández Hidalgo and M. García Ruipérez, Los pósitos municipales y su documentación (Madrid, 1989), 7.

13 For further information on this matter, see A. P. Martínez Soto, ‘Crédito y ahorro popular. El crédito agrícola institucional en la Región de Murcia’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Universidad de Murcia, 1994); P. Carasa Soto, ‘El crédito agrario en España durante la Restauración, entre la usura y el control social’, in B. Yun Casalilla ed., Estudios sobre el capitalismo agrario, crédito e industria en Castilla (siglos XIX y XX) (Salamanca, 1991), 289–343.

14 J. B. Delgado and A. Gallego, Los pósitos agrícolas (Madrid, 1947), 17–18. They have also been described as exclusively local charitable organisations offering monetary credit under the oversight of the state and whose purpose was to protect the respective activities of farmers and fishermen. E. Roca, Los pósitos municipales (Madrid, 1965), 48.

15 Report submitted to the Tribunal de Alta Instancia by the Inspectorate-General of Granaries on 2 June 1924.

16 Martínez-Soto, A. P., Martínez-Rodríguez, S. and Méndez, I., ‘Spain's development of rural credit cooperatives from 1900 to 1936: the role of financial resources and formal education’, European Review of Economic History 16, 4 (2012), 449–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 Dirección General del Instituto Geográfico, Catastral y de Estadística, Censo de la Población de España (Madrid, 1910, 1920, 1930).

18 Muzzioli, Banche e agricultura, 237.

19 For further information, see Martínez Soto, ‘Los pósitos en el siglo XIX’, 512–13, Carasa Soto, ‘Los pósitos’; Carasa Soto, ‘El crédito agrario en España’; F. Rivas Moreno, El crédito agrícola y el ahorro. Propaganda agrícola (Murcia, 1902).

20 Gaceta de Madrid, ‘Ley de pósitos’. 24 January 1906, 303.

21 The Salamanca granaries named Cuatro Sexmos de la Tierra were a group of granaries (discussed in section 4.1) belonging to several towns in these provinces. Their central organisation was in the capital of Salamanca itself. For further information, see T. Marcos Escribano, El pósito de los Cuatro Sexmos de la Tierra de Salamanca (Salamanca, 1928).

22 Article 2 of the Law of the 26 January 1906: ‘…not only to loan grain to farmers, but to also loan them cash, act as savings banks, help them acquire fertilisers, equipment and machinery, breeding stock and any other items that may be of use in agriculture and livestock farming…’.

23 This regulation was passively rejected by local corporations and other expeditious methods had to be used to obtain this information. J. M. Zorita, Los pósitos en España. Memoria de la Delegación Regia de Pósitos (Madrid, 1907), 35.

24 Zorita, Los pósitos en España condemned these irregularities.

25 García Isidro, Historia de los pósitos españoles, 121.

26 Delegación Regia de Pósitos, Memoria que presenta el Delegado Regio al Gobierno de S. M. en cumplimiento de la Ley de 23 de enero de 1906 (Madrid, 1909), 24.

27 F. Marín Lázaro, Memoria que eleva al gobierno de S.M. el Delegado Regio de Pósitos (Madrid, 1920); García Isidro, Historia de los pósitos españoles, IX.

28 Curtis, Daniel, ‘Is there an “agro-town” model for Southern Italy? Exploring the diverse roots and development of the agro-town structure through a comparative case study in Apulia’, Continuity and Change 28, 3 (2013), 377–419CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 Regarding the regulation of the institutions, the achievements were more debatable: 16.5 million pesetas in old debts were cancelled and 4 million pesetas were recovered, but the balance in old debts was still 39 million pesetas in 1923. See V. Burgaleta y Pérez Laborda, Inspección General de Pósitos: memoria que con referencia a los años 1920 a 1923, en que funciona la suprimida Delegación Regia eleva a S.M. (Madrid, 1923), 48–9.

30 In 1906 the number of borrowing farmers reached 335,285.

31 By way of example, in 1909 the capital corresponding to uncollectable accounts amounted to 33.4 million pesetas and in 1911 this figure had increased to 38 million pesetas. E. Gullón, Delegación Regia de Pósitos, Memoria que eleva al gobierno de S.M. el Delegado Regio (Madrid, 1912), 18–19.

32 Gaceta de Madrid, ‘Reglamento General de Pósitos’, 5 May 1923, 509–10.

33 The credit cooperatives appeared in Spain throughout the first third of the twentieth century. Martínez-Soto, Martínez-Rodríguez and Méndez, ‘Spain's development of rural credit cooperatives’.

34 Marcos Escribano, Instituciones de Crédito Agrícola. Federación de Pósitos de Salamanca. Pósito Provincial (Salamanca, 1929). This provincial federation was dissolved on 4 September 2007. At that time it was called: Pósito de los Cuatro Sexmos de la Tierra Provincial de Salamanca y Caja de Ahorros.

35 Gaceta de Madrid, ‘Reglamento del Pósito Social de Aragón’. 18 January 1926, 300.

36 Royal Order, 22 July 1920. On these institutions: Ansola, A., ‘Una pesca feliz: Alfredo Saralegui y sus pósitos de pescadores (1915–1936)’, Historia Social 57 (2007), 3–26Google Scholar; Morales, M., ‘Los pósitos de pescadores en la costa occidental (1920–1937)’, Cilniana 14 (2001), 98–102Google Scholar.

37 Memorias Anuales de los Pósitos (Madrid, 1945), 12–13.

38 This ratio has been calculated by dividing the total volume of the mass of loans granted by the granaries by the number of borrowers. This information comes from the Memorias Anuales de los Pósitos.

39 Reports by Regulatory Agency officials showed that the granaries in some provinces in this region (Salamanca, Soria, Segovia and Palencia) operated correctly, having cleared their granaries quickly and put their accounts in order.

40 González-Vega, ‘Profundización financiera rural’.

41 This number of farmers gives an average for the period of 2.31 per cent of the active population in the sector.

42 This figure comprises the new borrowers for each year, plus the borrowers with loan extensions, plus old borrowers (loans more than 10 years old or from before 1909).

43 During the 1900–1936 period, the median number of rural saving banks was lower than 500 units. Soto, A. P. Martínez and Casaña, J. Cuevas, ‘La expansión y consolidación de las Cajas de ahorros en el sistema financiero español, 1880–1936’, Revista de Historia Económica 1 (2002), 65–110Google Scholar.

44 González-Vega, ‘Profundización financiera rural’.

45 Royal Decree, 16 October 1914.

46 Royal Decree, 12 July 1917.

47 Martínez-Soto, Martínez-Rodríguez and Méndez, ‘Spain's development of rural credit cooperatives’.