CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



75 



According to men who hire help on their farms, 

 farm labor is less efficient than formerly. "No one 

 today wants to work like they used to," complained 

 a farmer. "I have a terrible time getting my work 

 done." "These boys nowadays," remarked an- 

 other farmer, "don't want to fegd no fesado {ffrab 

 hold of the heavy). They think life in the field 

 is too hard for them." 



Into this situation of increasing restlessness, 

 news of what seems to be a more advantageous life 

 in the towns, as is clear from the foregoing re- 

 marks, is beginning to filter. Although, in this 

 area, the attraction of the metropolis of Sao Paulo 

 in the past has been quite limited, it is increasing 

 and may soon be felt in sufficient strength to alter 

 materially life in the community. 



Beginning late in the nineteenth century and 

 receiving its first major impetus about 1915, there 

 has sprung up, in and about the city of Siio Paulo, 

 as has been indicated, the principal manufacturing 

 center in Latin America. This development was 

 accompanied by a sizable increase in population, 

 owing in part to natural increase but more par- 

 ticularly to immigration from Europe and to 

 migration from rural areas, especially the interior 

 of the State. Thus the city which in 1890 had a 

 population of only 64,000, is now a metropolis with 

 nearly 2,000,000 inhabitants. Tlie need for man- 

 ufactured goods which previously had been im- 

 ported from Europe and whose supply had been 

 shut off by war conditions, added impetus to this 

 movement during "World War I and again, more 

 recently, during the second World War. The de- 

 mand for labor increased markedly and wages 

 responded to this demand, climbing higher and 

 higher, until they came to constitute to many rural 

 inhabitants who heard of them for the first time 

 and who were ignorant of the increased costs of 

 living in the city, an attractive and eventually over- 

 whelming lure, to which they in turn responded by 

 migrating into the city in considerable numbers. 

 This migration appreciably reduced the number of 

 farmers in certain rural areas, the lack of whose 

 labor in no way was offset by the introduction of 

 labor-saving machinery; consequently, food pro- 

 duction has declined. At the same time, the 

 swollen population of the city has augmented the 

 demand for food, a demand which, due to a lack 

 of roads, insufficient transport, and the necessary 



organization, is not being adequately supplied by 

 imports from other areas of Brazil where sur- 

 pluses exist, and food prices in the city, aided by 

 the current inflation, have risen to unprecedented 

 levels. 



Any further decline in agricultural production 

 will make increasingly acute the food shortages 

 already being registered in the price levels of Sao 

 Paulo, especially if, at the same time, the popu- 

 lation of the metropolitan area continues to in- 

 crease. Although these shortages may not become 

 as serious as a local resident predicted when he 

 said, "Some day people in the city will be getting 

 a wad of money from their employers and there 

 won't be any food to buy with it," the problem of 

 food in the cities is a crucial problem and at pres- 

 ent it is increasing in intensity. 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



Domestic animals in the community include 

 horses, burros, mules, cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, 

 chickens, guinea fowl, dogs, cats, and songbirds. 

 Of these, the most important are the horse, burro, 

 and dog, although the cow is growing in import- 

 ance yearly, as cattle raising and dairying in- 

 crease. Chickens are kept by almost every family 

 in the village and on the surrounding farms. The 

 principal kinds raised are called locally Ugorne 

 (Leghorn), amarela (yellow), and carijo (Plym- 

 outh Rock). Oxen, sheep, turkeys, geese, and 

 guinea fowl are relatively rare. Hogs are com- 

 paratively few since a severe epidemic of cholera 

 a few years ago killed off virtually all hogs in the 

 community. On the fazenda which lies just out- 

 side the village, there are 14 horses, 4 oxen, 2 

 burros, 15 milk cows, and 35 head of other cattle, 

 18 hogs, 2 sheep, 50 chickens, 8 geese, and 2 dogs ; 

 there are no goats, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowl, or 

 cats. On another fazenda, there are 3 horses, 3 

 burros and mules, 24 milk cows, and 93 other head 

 of cattle, 3 hogs, 60 chickens, 4 geese, 1 dog, and 

 3 cats ; there are no sheep, goats, ducks, turkeys, or 

 guinea fowl. 



Of 15 sitios visited, 1 had 30 milk cows and 151 

 head of other cattle. Only two other sitios had 

 any cattle : on one there were two milk cows and 

 on the other, six milk cows. Tlie average number 

 of other domestic animals on each farm was: 

 horses 1.1, burros 1.4, hogs 5, sheep 1.5, goats 2.1, 



