July, 1910.] 



8 



and have no roads; no particular educa- 

 tion, or other outside influences, breaks 

 up, as these and other "civilising" in- 

 fluences are brought to bear, into richer 

 and poorer, as exchange ot products 

 begins. Gradually the merchant and 

 the other middlemen and traders get a 

 footing among them, and the differenti- 

 ation goes on, till presently some become 

 comparatively rich, some comparatively 

 poor. So long as there is new land to 

 move to, or so long as the population 

 does not increase, this differentiation can 

 only be slight, but after the land is all 

 taken up, or if the population increases 

 in spite of that, then the differentiation 

 becomes more marked. Be it noted, 

 however, that so long as only agriculture 

 and an agricultural population are con- 

 cerned, the differentiation can reach no 

 great amount. But so soon as it has gone 

 so far as to produce a considerable non- 

 landed population, who must work with 

 their hands for a living, then the chance 

 comes for the man with large capital 

 derived from other sources. He can 

 take up large areas, and with hired 

 labour and machinery can cultivate 

 them so cheaply and well that the small 

 farmer beside him has but little chance 

 in the great markets, unless he combine. 



The great advantage possessed by an 

 estate with capital behind it needs but 

 little dwelling upon, but one or two 

 illustrations may be quoted. The sugar 

 trade of the British West Indies is in a 

 parlous state, because every little estate 

 tries to have its own factory and do 

 every thing for itself. The result is that 

 they have poor, inefficient, old-fashioned 

 machinery, A big estate, such as one 

 for instance upon which we stayed in 



Cuba, and which had over 12,000 acres 

 of sugar in one control, can have the 

 most efficient machinery, and can do all 

 the work more economically. The fruit- 

 giowers of Washington State or of 

 British Columbia, if they grow upon a 

 large scale, can fill whole cars on the 

 railroad, and ship their fruits to the big 

 markets without the middleman who 

 necessarily comes in and of course re- 

 duces the profits to the small grower, 

 who cannot fill a car and must sell to 

 the local buyer. And so it goes. 



The final lesson, at the present stage 

 of agriculture, is now being learnt in 

 Europe and North America, and the 

 small men are combining. Each combin- 

 ation becomes practically a capitalist 

 upon its own account, and can buy seed 

 or manure, sell produce, employ good 

 machinery, or what not, economically 

 and efficiently. 



This is the lesson that requires to be 

 learnt in Ceylau, where the general 

 progress of agriculture is not dissimilar 

 to that in America. 



To end with a reference to the 

 Southern States, progress there has been 

 different. The English capitalist went 

 there at the begiuning, and as there had 

 been no differentiation of poorer labour- 

 ing lolk, he imported slaves and worked 

 up a large and prosperous industry in 

 cotton and sugar, which came to grief, 

 as did the industries of the West Indies, 

 on the abolition of slavery. But another 

 article can easily be made out of this 

 subject. The present is not intended as 

 an exhaustive account of what it deals 

 with, nor is it thoroughly worked out 

 in detail : it is simply a sketch, with 

 Ceylon applications. 



GUMS, RESINS, SAPS AND EXUDATIONS. 



RUBBER CONGRESS AT MANAOS. 



(Prom the India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XLII., No. 1, April, 1910.) 



The Congresso Commercial, Industtiale, 

 Agricola, organized by the Commercial 

 Association of Amazonas, with the 

 suppoit of the Government of the State, 

 and held at Manaos February 22-26, will 

 long be neld in remembrance in connec- 

 tion with the unfolding of the new 

 regime just now developed in the 

 Amazon region. In control for so long 

 of the world's supply of rubber, it is not 

 singular that the North Brazilians should 

 come to regard as impossible any menace 

 to their interests from any source. But 

 the challenge has come— from the rubber 



planters of the Far East— and Amazonia 

 has hastened to the defence. This is 

 the meaning of the Congress at Manaos. 



The new regime on the Amazou of 

 course has its basis and centre in the 

 crude rubber trade which hitherto has 

 been the sole interest of the people of 

 that region. Not only has this been true 

 of the past, but it will be true farther 

 into the future than any one now living 

 can hope to see. But rubber is destined 

 to be produced under changed con- 

 ditions, involving the introduction into 

 north Brazil of agriculture, which in the 

 modern sense of this term in North 

 America and in Europe, has never 

 existed there. The Amazonian serin- 

 gueiros who to-day supply the world 



