CHAPTER XT. 



Accumulations of land — No middle class — Labor not capital. 



I have referred to the insolvent condition of the Jamai- 

 cans previous to the emancipation of the slaves, and have 

 shown that even then, the whole business of the isjand was 

 done upon credit, given upon the most ruinous terms. I 

 have also given my reasons for believing that the Emanci- 

 pation Act did not cause, but only precipitated a result 

 which was inevitable ; it compelled a balance to be struck 

 between the debtors and the creditors, which revealed, 

 rather than begat, the poverty which now, no effort can 

 conceal. 



But the question arises, why have not the properties 

 been sold by the necessitous and purchased upon terms 

 that would admit of careful and remunerating cultivation ; 

 in other words, why have not the laws of supply and de- 

 mand dispossessed the absentee landlords, converted the 

 mortgagees into resident proprietors, and thus restored the 

 equilibrium between labor and capital ? 



This is the Jamaica problem. Without presuming to 



