ABSENTEEISM AND MIDDLEMEN. 



81 



five, and not unfrequently twice that number of servants, 

 and as many horses, with the aid of which he keeps an eye 

 to the culture and harvesting of crops, the employment of 

 operatives, and the devising of excuses for the short 

 returns which are sure to follow the indifference, laziness, 

 and dishonesty which in nine cases out of ten characterize 

 his management. 



But this hierarchy of agencies is not yet complete. 

 Each overseer has from one to three bookkeepers, as they 

 are called, the number depending upon the size and pro- 

 ductiveness of the estate. I do not know of an estate w T ith 

 less than two, and I presume they usually exceed than fall 

 short of that number. It is their duty, primarily, to keep 

 the accounts, and incidentally, to act as checks upon the 

 overseer ; and it is the duty of the attorney to act as a 

 check upon both. These different agents have to be paid 

 a compensation averaging for each estate throughout the 

 island, over $3000 a year. This sum has to be earned, 

 not to pay the interest on the land or the improvements ; 

 not to pay for the laborers to cultivate it ; not to bring its 

 produce to market, but mostly, if not exclusively, for 

 services made necessary by the absence of the proprietor 

 from the island. 



His estate has to make a profit of nearly three thousand 

 dollars upon the investment before he can receive a far- 

 thing. If it fails to net that amount, it is insolvent, and if 

 4* 



