42 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



and pineapples that the small grower does not receive any 

 large acre profit, it should be remembered that the profits of 

 large corporations growing cane and pineapples in Hawaii 

 average over $75 to $100 per acre per year as compared with 

 the $12 to $20 profit to the small grower. This difference, 

 however, is due not to better management but, as already in- 

 dicated, to the underpayment of labor. 



In connection with our tropical possessions we need a con- 

 sistent and definite policy, a policy scientifically and economi- 

 cally sound, a policy in which all interests will receive due 

 consideration, namely, homesteaders, laborers, capital, and the 

 welfare of the United States as a whole. It is perfectly futile 

 to set ephemeral politicians at the business of running and 

 developing the Tropics. Thus far such a system of managing 

 the Tropics has merely developed a feudal system for the ex- 

 ploitation of land and of cheap labor. The whole problem 

 presented by the tropical possessions of the United States 

 should be in the hands of trained men and should involve the 

 cooperation of the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Com- 

 merce, Labor, War, and Navy. A definite policy could then 

 be framed, announced, and consistently pushed forward with 

 the assurance that greater and greater beneficial results would 

 flow from it every year. 



