{"value"=>"<p>Series 2, the records of PEC's relationship with the Central Bank of Cooperative Institutions in Palestine, Ltd., consists primarily of correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, financial statements, and statistical information. Central Bank was organized in 1922 by the Palestine Cooperative Company, Inc., in conjunction with the Reconstruction Committee of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Colonization Association (ICA), and the Economic Board for Palestine of London. Its object was to facilitate the development and growth of the cooperative movement in Palestine, by granting credits exclusively to societies and credit unions formed on a cooperative basis. Funds from these loans were then made available to the cooperative's members, who were collectively responsible for the loan's repayment.</p> <p> Cooperatives entered nearly every aspect of economic life in Palestine. Through them, farmers, laborers, merchants, and artisans obtained loans to carry on their businesses. These businesses, in turn, depended upon the resources of other cooperatives for their sustenance and growth - such as the special water cooperatives through which water for irrigation was obtained, or the various cooperatives created for the marketing of goods.</p> <p> PEC took over the merged Palestine assets of the JDC and the Palestine Cooperative Company in 1926, most of which pertained to the operations of Central Bank. Under PEC's direction, the bank concentrated its credit activity on young and otherwise struggling cooperative societies, an endeavor of calculated risk that, in the absence of similar support by more established and conservative institutions, served as the principal stimulus for the growth of the cooperative movement in Palestine. The Bank's support was far more inclusive than the provision of credit, and extended to assisting the organization of new societies, supervising their activities, and providing instruction in cooperative principles and practice.</p> <p> An important feature of the Bank's lending, instructional, and supervisory activity was the involvement of Advisory Committees. Their members shared in the supervision of the loan-granting process, and were active in the formulation of lending policy.</p> <p> Agricultural operations were the locus of most of Central Bank's activity, and short-term loans were extended for operating capital, seed purchases, and crop advances. Beginning in 1926, with PEC's acquisition of interest in the Bank, capital funds for farm loans of the intermediate- and long-term repayment class were supplied by PEC. These funds were put to machinery and livestock purchasing, building construction, irrigation system installation, and the development of orange and almond groves. The provision of this type of credit for agricultural development was unknown before its instigation by PEC through the Central Bank.</p>"}