xxiv. How to Pay for the War 



It would increase the purchasing power of the tropica! 

 countries, and would open up profitable opportunities 

 of employment for young men who wish to go there. 



" I know of no field of Tropical Agriculture that is so 

 promising at the present moment as coconut planting, and 

 I do not think in the whole world there is a promise of so 

 lucrative an investment of time and money as in this 

 industry. The world is only just awakening' to the value 

 of coconut oil in the manufacture of artificial butter of the 

 highest quality and of the by-product, copra-cake, as a 

 food for cattle; this is of very great value, especially for 

 dairy cows, where food is required that will not give any 

 added flavour to the milk or butter.- 



" Given reasonable precautions and care, there is very 

 little risk of failure in coconut planting. Experience has 

 greatly increased in the last ten years, with the result that 

 the possibility of failure is reduced to a minimum. A 

 large amount of capital is not required if the planter is 

 willing to grow and cultivate annual crops during the 

 period that his coconut plantation is coming into bearing. 

 The cost of clearing and planting is not of itself heavy ; 

 it is the loss of interest and the long wait and accumula- 

 tion of expenses during the seven years it takes before 

 a coconut plantation comes into bearing ; but with a 

 planter on' his own estate, cultivating other products for 



* This was in May, 1912. 



^ I wonder how many thousands of times this, now historical, para- 

 graph has been " cribbed " by company-promoting schemers and others 

 without acknowledging its source or referring to the context generally, 

 but merely to dangle it before the eyes of the gullible members of the 

 public with funds to invest. It is easy to realize how the name of its 

 author would appeal to such promoters as being likely to "draw " since 

 he has spoken so strongly on the subject. I.ord Leverhulme's Foreword 

 to the second and enlarged edition of the book, however, it should be 

 noted, deals very fully with this matter, and with the danger and in- 

 justice of putting so valuable a pronouncement to such unfair and even 

 objectionable uses. 



