186 



FUNCTIONS OF WEALTH 



the early thirties the coffee market collapsed, 

 Panajachel along with other towns suffered depres- 

 sion: wages went down, people had to put away 

 their flashlights and wear their clothes longer, and 

 fiesta expenses were drastically cut. But by the 

 time this study began, conditions in the world — 

 and the coffee market — were improved, and times 

 were better in Panajachel. However, Panajachel 

 improved more rapidly than most other towns 

 because of a new source of income — the increase 

 of tourists, both native and foreign, the installation 

 of new hotels and more "country homes" on the 

 lake shore, and so on. The tourist business, was, 

 during the period of study, steadily improving, 

 resulting in the opening of new markets for the 

 produce of the town, with better prices, and in a 

 general increase of noncompeting population. 



There was still another factor that tended to 

 improve conditions in many towns, Panajachel 

 among them. It was the mushroom growth of 

 truck and bus lines. In 1936 there was one com- 

 bination truck-bus plying between Guatemala 

 City and SoloU (passing through Panajachel), 

 making three trips each way every week. In 1937 

 there were three truck-busses each day in each 

 direction besides others not so regular. Where 

 Panajachelenos walked to Guatemala City and 

 consumed a week to sell a load of onions, they 

 then rode and spent 2 or 3 days to sell a larger 

 load of onions. Competition cut the passenger 



and freight rates to a point where the saving in 

 time easily made up for the fare. The total residt 

 for the region was that more time could be spent 

 on the production of wealth than previously, with 

 less required for distribution of goods. Since it is 

 the Indian population of the country that takes 

 care of distribution, as well as a good part of pro- 

 duction, the Indians with the use of trucks are 

 able to produce more and have more to consume. 

 (In Panajachel that effect was but lightly felt, 

 however, because with the use of trucks the price 

 of onions in Guatemala City went down.) Pana- 

 jachel has the difficulty of very limited land 

 resources, and there is a limit to how much pro- 

 duction can be increased simply with an increase 

 of available time. With closer communications 

 with the Capital and other towns, however, new 

 crops can be raised and marketed. An example is 

 strawberries, which are profitable only if large 

 markets are quickly accessible; experience in 1937 

 and 1938 showed that dependence upon the local 

 market alone simply brought down the price of 

 the perishable berries when production was 

 increased. 



It is well to recall again, in any discussion of 

 the relations of production and the standard of 

 living that the Panajachel Indians are quick to 

 learn and to take advantage of new economic 

 opportimities. 



FUNCTIONS OF WEALTH 



METHOD 



This section will tie together parts of the whole 

 book, in terms of the associations of different 

 degrees of wealth with (a) different waj's of life 

 and (b) families. It therefore represents a kind 

 of summary of the book, selective as it is; but it 

 adds considerable fact and interpretation. It also 

 attempts to clarify the methods used in the field 

 study. This is an example of a study in a very 

 small society without written records and it may 

 be used to illustrate how in such circumstances 

 data are collected in relation to a problem. 



In the Indian community of Panajachel, virtu- 

 ally only the landscape and the people, and what 

 the people have done to the landscape, are avail- 

 able for study. Some problems are simply solved : 

 for example, one collects folk tales by getting the 



Indians to tell stories, or one learns about the 

 techniques of farming by observing and by asking 

 questions. But the answers to many questions 

 are not "in the heads" of the Indians themselves. 

 For example, one cannot ask an Indian "What is 

 j^our kinship system?" Instead, one collects a 

 great variety of genealogical information, and 

 facts about marriage, residence, the behavior of 

 relatives, and the kinship terms in use, and "works 

 out" the kinship system. Similarly, one cannot 

 ask an Indian "What is the annual income in the 

 community"; so he must collect records and draw 

 his own conclusions. 



These things are true about any community. 

 One cannot in the United States, any more than 

 in Panajachel, ask this sort of question except of 

 the sociologist or economist who is willing to 

 collect records on the basis of which to draw con- 



