112 



vantages relatively quickly. The more he can economise 

 the more he will do so, the less profitable the nature of 

 his work, the less he will be induced to economise This 

 might be held in view by many when qualifying the cha- 

 racteristically spendthrift nature of the average country- 

 man. 



f 

 FARML\(J AXI) LAND OWNERSHIP. 



To attain his relative independence, to be able to 

 prosecute his undertakings on a large scale, or invest 

 his economics in permanent security, he is obliged to 

 Jive poorly, to spend little or nothing on the commo- 

 dities of life, to live the characteristic existence of the 

 average Argentine farmer, which we all join in recog- 

 nising falls very short of an ideal existence. 



Statistics demonstrate that the Argentine farmer 

 produces much, and that the average farmer's capital 

 is very low; that he is producing extremely economic- 

 ally in comparison to the capital inverted. By giving 

 him more capital, he would undoubtedly produce more, 

 but he would not produce more economically, that is 

 unless he adopts other methods at the same time. An 

 increase in capital under the present circumstances 

 would mean decrease in profits and more so would this 

 be noticeable, if the increased capital accorded him were 

 invested by him in land, that is if he owned the land he 

 worked . 



If the capital necessary to acquire the land he 

 \vorks were to be advanced at the present rates of in- 

 terest, he could not profit by owning the land. The 

 only way to acquire the land he farms is to do it with 

 the money he economises, therefore under present cir- 

 cumstances it is useless to advance the fact that be- 

 cause he does not own the land, he is labouring in vain. 

 At the present rates of interest he can only ac- 

 quire additional capital at a profit to himself, provid- 

 ed he can turn it over quickly and by rapid returns 

 increase it sufficiently to pay the high rate of inter- 

 est charged normally, and still have sufficient left over 

 to make the venture worth while repeating. Under the 

 conditions ruling to-day, to attain this the cereal farm- 

 er undertakes the exploitation of larger areas than ex- 

 perience demonstrates prudent with the funds at his 

 disposal. With the exiguous capital at his disposal he 

 begins, counting on credit (or a third party as capital- 

 ist) to carry him through. 



To supplement his capital, he does not as a rule 



