CH. VI] CAPITALIST OR ESTATE AGRICULTURE 187 



total collapse. Well-known instances are (1) coffee in Ceylon, 

 whose failure and disappearance were due in the first place 

 to disease, and in the second to the competition of Brazil ; 

 (2) cinchona in Ceylon, which failed owing to over-production 

 and the competition of Java, the latter country adopting scientific 

 treatment for the continual improvement of the barks ; (.3) sugar 

 in the West Indies, whose depression and almost complete 

 collapse were due to loss of the cheap slave labour in the first 

 instance and afterwards to the competition of beet sugar (bounty- 

 aided), to better methods, newer land, and cheaper labour in 

 other countries. 



If the staple industry collapse, widespread disaster follows 

 in a country so organised. Coolies and others are thrown out 

 of work, and often have no laud of their own to support them- 

 selves upon, the subsidiary trades of transport, supply of clothing, 

 etc., suffer, the Government revenue decreases, and everything 

 becomes more or less disorganised, with risk of famine, rioting, 

 or other troubles. 



It would be wrong, however, to suggest that such a state of 

 affairs must necessarily occur in a country organised on the 

 system we are considering. Disease may be taken in time, 

 natural advantages of soil or climate, or labour, or of suitability 

 of the country to a particular crop, may be so great as to allow 

 no chance of profitable competition to rival countries, planters 

 may be enterprising and progressive, and the kind of crop, its 

 quality and yield, the methods used in cultivating and preparing 

 it for market, and other features, may be continually improved 

 by aid of science, to such an extent as to keep the country 

 ahead of its rivals. It seems improbable, for instance, that 

 Java will be ousted from her position of supremacy in cinchona 

 cultivation, or India and Ceylon in tea. 



It would be equally wrong to infer that under this system 

 the country itself, even if its planters and its labourers be both 

 foreign (as is largely the case in Ceylon), is not enriched. All 

 kinds of subsidiary trades flourish upon the planting industry, 

 the planters and the coolies spend large sums in the country, 

 the revenue is large, and consequently the Government can do 

 much for the opening up of the country by roads, railways, 



