Agricultural Finance .& Co-operation. 428 



[November, 1910. 



help for his own plantation. But the 

 beneficial action of these organisations 

 can be specially demonstrated in the 

 help they can give to the association 

 in order to extend and better their 

 respective crops. For not every farmer 

 has at his disposal the required capital 

 to buy the necessary machinery to 

 plough his land or better his crops, 

 while the organisation of several farmers 

 can raise the fund necessary for the 

 purchase, and the association through a 

 lease or other contract will be able to 

 give to the members for some time and 

 at stated times the use of such 

 machinery. 



There is a continual and widespread 

 complaint against the kind of stock- 

 jobbing and exploitation to which our 

 farmers are subjected by the merchants 

 and their agents. Organisations among 

 farmers can, to a great extent, root 

 out this pernicious practice by means 

 of intelligent co-operation among the 

 members, preventing the bad but com- 

 mon mistake of borrowing money on 

 their future harvests and by adopting 

 such measures as will permit them or 

 their agents to place the products on 

 the market or where the price is 

 higher. It is not wise to exclaim con 

 tinually against the abuses of usury 

 and exploitation, when by our in- 

 different behaviour we are really ac- 

 complices and docile instruments of 

 these abuses. An agriculturist of a 

 province near Manila told me the other 

 day that there was a difference of P2 per 

 picul in the price of sugar between 

 Manila and his town. The freight per 

 picul was, as he told me, P0'50 only. 

 And though this fact was very well 

 known to him he preferred losing PT50 

 per picul selling it in his town instead 

 of bringing it to Manila. It is certainly 

 surprising that sometimes, knowing of 

 such misusages, we do not put an end to 

 them by means which are at hand, 

 instead of passing them by with indiff- 

 erence. 



There is much to be done in the way 

 of stimulating and improving the condi- 

 tion of laboring men. It will be a 

 relief to see these organisations concern- 

 ing themselves with the needs and edu- 

 cation of that numerous group of work- 

 men who by their hard labour and 

 struggles contribute to production. 

 It will be necessary to inculcate in them, 

 by means of these organisations, the 

 idea of seriousness and exactness in the 

 performance of their duties and obli- 

 gations, and to develop in them, with 

 better salaries.'.the desire for a better 

 Style of living than that to which they 



have been accustomed. It would be 

 proper and advantageous for these 

 organisations to allot rewards and com- 

 pensations to the good workman who 

 has cultivated or planted more land 

 duriug a certain period of time, to the 

 labourer, who more zealously attends to 

 the education of his children, to the 

 workman who has saved more during a 

 certain period of time, to the labourer 

 who has improved his dwellings with 

 his own savings, to the labourer who has 

 abandoned the bad customs and prac- 

 tices of his past life. Everything done 

 toward lifting up the ivorking-man's 

 condition, toward furnishing him assis- 

 tance and stimulus for his improvement, 

 will result in benefit to our agriculture, 

 as the work will be more intelligent, 

 active, and exact, and with this the 

 results of agricultural work will be far 

 more satisfactoiy than at present. 



It is a growing custom in developing 

 a country's agriculture to organise fairs 

 with rewards for the agriculturists who 

 have demonstrated ability and merit 

 deserving reward and compensation. 

 This task is one of the most worthy for 

 which the agriculturists' associations 

 might be employed. Nothing will so 

 much incite individual initiative, noth- 

 ing will more exactly show the progress 

 attained in the various cultivations, 

 nothing will better persuade our agri- 

 culturists to improve their methods of 

 planting and cultivation than this kind 

 of exhibitions. The ambition for re- 

 nown and fame has always constituted 

 a powerful incitement to the human 

 heart for the improvement and perfec- 

 tion of work. These shows should be 

 periodical in order to obtain better 

 results. It seems to me it would not be 

 difficult to obtain economical co-oper- 

 ation from the Government for this 

 kind of enterprise, if the shows were 

 organised with seriousuess and probab- 

 ilities of success. 



It would be foolish for me to attempt 

 to indicate more minutely what these 

 organisations should do in order to pro- 

 mote the development of agriculture in 

 such an incipieut stage as ours. I have 

 indicated some general lines somewhat 

 vaguely, firmly believing that you, 

 with more competency, knowledge, and 

 experience in the subject, can better 

 than 1 explore the way in which you 

 must direct your steps. I consider my- 

 self scarcely competent to predicate and 

 advise you on subjects upon which I 

 have little knowledge but let me repeat 

 to you for the last time that it is neces- 

 sary for you to organise yourselves, 

 because the improvement of agriculture 

 means strength for the nation and 



