153 



selves to it, and it will be a great pity if the authorities 

 fail to take advantage of the stage of feeling which in- 

 duces many to attempt something towards solving the 

 question of the well-being of our farming and the gen- 

 eral progress of agriculture. By the plethora of pro- 

 jects appearing in print it would seem that the pre- 

 sent state of affairs has become well nigh intolerable 

 and everybody feels the necessity of immediate action. 

 It will, indeed, be regretted if ? despite all, Ihe oppor- 

 tunity is not taken advantage of, and, the occasion let 

 slip for a serious attempt to once and for all put our 

 house in order. 



OBJECTIONS TO WARRANTS AND CREDITS 

 ON THEM. 



Let us examine what are the objections that are 

 advanced by those interested in the perpetuation of the 

 present system, against the initiation of credits on 

 warrants . 



The chief objection advanced is that warrants are 

 impracticable to begin with since they need elevators; 

 such deposits or elevators, require time to construct 

 and need the inversion of huge sums of money ; there 

 is no money in the country sufficient to provide for 

 an adequate system, and foreign loans are out of ques- 

 tion, and as the matter is one for quick and simple re- 

 medies that cost nothing at all, to advocate the con- 

 struction of elevators under present circumstances is 

 Utopian . 



It is also claimed that warrants will not free the 

 farmers from debt, or the incubus of having to contract 

 debts ever year, on the contrary they will still further 

 increase his facilities for borrowing, while they will not 

 provide money either for sowing, or for harvesting pur- 

 poses, much less for the ordinary needs of cultivation. 



That they will lessen security in general, that is to 

 say, they will tend to still further borrowings and in- 

 debtedness, without corresponding security for past 

 debts; will offer greater occasion for bad faith. 



That the possession of the warrant will end always 

 in the hands of whoever advances money to the farm- 

 er, whether banker, " almacenero ", or grain broker, 

 without having achieved any advantage to the farmer, 

 and even if this is not the case, it will be worse in the 

 end because warrants, and such facilities, will only be 

 taken advantage of for speculative purposes, which 

 means that instead of one group of speculators we will 

 have all the country speculating. 



