cr]6billon 191 CREDIT UNIONS duced when heated. Creatine heated gives off ammonia and hydrocyanic acid, reatine is dissolved by strong acids; it loses a molecule of water, and is con- (^erted into creatinine. Creatine has been formed synthetically. CBEBTLLON (kra-be-yon), PROS- PER JOJLYOT DE, a French dramatic poet; born at Dijon, in 1674. He was in- tended for the legal profession, bat de- voted himself to the tragic muse, and produced "Idomeneus," which met with success. This was followed by "Atreus," "Electra," and "Rhadamistus," which were still more successful. He then led a secluded life for many years, but again resumed his dramatic labors, and pro- duced the tragedies of "Catiline" and "The Triumvirate." He died in 1762. CREOY-EN-PONTKIEU, or CRESSY, a village in the French department of Somme, on the Maye, 12 miles N. of Ab- beville. Oecy is celebrated on acount of the brilliant victory obtained here, Aug. 26, 1346, by Edward III., with 40,000 English soldiers, over a French army amounting, according to Froissart, to 100,000 men under the command of the Count of Alengon. In this great battle perished the flower of the French chivalry, as well as the blind King of Bohemia, who was fighting on the side of France. The Black Prince here dis- tinguished himself greatly, and gained his spurs. CREDIT, in economics, is the post- ponement agreed on by the parties oi the payment of a debt to a future day. It implies confidence of the creditor in the debtor; and a "credit system" ia one of general confidence of people in each other's honesty, solvency, and resources. By means of a credit system a compara- tively small stock of money can be made to do duty for carrying on a number of different transactions ; but it is indispen- sable for every good system of credit that money must be instantly available when required, and this principle applies to every species of transaction where post- poned pavment is concerned. Public credit is the confidence which men enter- tain in the ability and disposition of a nation to make good its engagements with its creditors; or the estimation in which individuals hold the public promises of payment, whether such promises are expressed or implied. The term is also applied to the gen- eral credit of individuals in a nation; when merchants and others are wealthy and punctual in fulfilling engagements; or when they transact business with honor and fidelity; or when transfers of property are made with ease. CREDIT, LETTER OF, an order given by bankers or others at one place to en- aole a person to receive money from their agents at another place. CREDIT EONCIER (kra-de'f dn-sya) , a mode of raising money on land in France, the peculiarity of which is that tho ad- vance must not exceed one-half of the value of the property pledged or hypothe- cated, and that the repayment of the loan is by an annuity terminable at a certain date. Several companies have been es- tablished by the French Government with the privilege of making such loans. CREDIT MOBILIER (-mo-bel-ya') , the name given to a gigantic scheme pro- mulgated in France in 1852, and sanc- tioned by the existing government, the objects of which are: 1. To take in hand and originate trading enterprises of all kinds, on the principle of limited liability. 2. To supersede or buy up trading com- panies; and to substitute script and shares of its own, for the shares and bonds of the company. The Credit Mo- bilier of America was a corporation with a Pennsylvania charter, granted in 1859 nominally to conduct a banking business. The charter passed into the hands of rail- road financiers in 1864, who used it to finance the Union Pacific Railroad and to shield themselves from loss in case the railroad proved a failure. Congress in- vestigated the enterprise in 1872-1873, and two members of the House of Rep- resentatives, Oakes Ames, of Massachu- setts, and James Brooks, of New York, were censured by resolution of the House. CREDIT UNIONS, or co-operative banks, the members of which deposit sav- ings, or invest in shares, and with the funds thus pooled extend credit to one another for individual, family, or busi- ness purposes. These local institutions sometimes federate into national institu- tions and so create powerful financial concerns, such as the Moscow Narodny (People's) Bank, which was doing a busi- ness of over a billion dollars a year be- fore it was taken over by the Soviet Gov- ernment, in 1919. In this country credit unions are of more recent origin, except in the form of building and loan associa- tions, a form of co-operation which has existed in this country for the past two generations. The latter form of mutual credit differs only from the general credit union in that it has the specific object of helping its members finance building operations, while the credit union lends money for all purposes. Mas- sachusetts leads in the formation of credit unions, there being over sixty in that State in 1920, with a membership of nearly 20,000 and assets of about
