378 
SAFE INVESTMENT OF MERCANTILE CAPITAL IN INDIGO. 
annual inundations of the Ganges, unfit for 
any native cultivation ; but so adapted for the 
growth of this plant, as to have raised the 
value of such land at least 100 per cent. 
Mr. Alexander states that opinions differ as 
to the value of the speculation in this. 
There are many who consider it the 
safest investment of mercantile capital ; while 
others have contended that we are fast ap- 
proaching the point where production will 
exceed consumption. Mr. Alexander dis- 
cusses this question. 
“ How far the inci-eased production is met 
by an increased consumption ; for it is obvi- 
ous, that if causes exist, which restrain the 
cultivation of indigo, and that the average 
increase of production is equalled by a like 
increase of consumption, the speculation is in 
an equally flourishing state, whether the 
average crop be one hundred, or five hun- 
dred thousand maunds. 
The opinion, that we are yearly extending 
our indigo cultivation in Bengal, careless of 
the consequences, has gained considerable 
credit in England, and is founded on two pro - 
positions ; first, that the high prices of indi- 
go, for the last six or seven years, have so 
enriched the indigo planters, that they are no 
longer under the controul of the houses of 
agency, and that, in consequence, each indi- 
vidual of that body will extend his own cul- 
tivation for his own advantage, without tak- 
ing a general view of the effect such an in- 
crease of cultivation will have on the crop ; 
the second proposition is, that any quantity 
of land, applicable for the cultivation of in- 
digo, is procurable in Bengal, and, therefore, 
putting these together, they deduce, that no 
limits can be assigned to the quantity of 
indigo which will be produced. 
The first of these propositions takes for 
granted, that we have the same indigo plan- 
ters in India that we had seven years ago; 
all now become wealthy and independent men 
from the large profits on the trade during 
that period ; this, to commence with, is erro- 
neous ; we are all aware, that, during the 
last seven years, numbers have annually re- 
tired with their savings, and without continu- 
ing interested in the concerns they have left. 
This annual secession of the wealthy leaves 
the body of the planters little changed ; they 
have better prospects of realizing fortunes, 
but cannot be said, as far as this country is 
concerned, to be increasing in wealth ; and 
most of them are still dependent on the hous- 
es of agency for support. But, even suppos- 
ing this proposition to be true, and that the 
indigo planters are wealthy, and not to be 
controlled by the houses of agency, nor like- 
ly to listen to their advice ; still their own 
interests would soon hinder them from in- 
creasing the cultivation of indigo, unless 
they found it profitable to do so on an ex- 
tended scale ; they must find land equally 
Wfll suited with that which is already culti- 
vated ; for, if they cannot, and are obliged to 
have recourse to poorer soils, the extent of 
cultivation must be regulated by high and 
low prices. If high prices tempt the planter 
to increase his cultivation on land not so pro- 
ductive as that occupied by his former moije 
limited cultivation, low prices will again 
force him back within his own boundary. It 
is, however, taken for granted, by those who 
contend for the powder we possess of unlimited 
cultivation in Bengal, that all parts of the 
country are equally adapted for the production 
of indigo. Mr. Wilkinson, who takes this view 
of the speculation, in a paper published in 
London last year, states, “ There is no ques- 
tion, that the means of producing indigo in 
India are unlimited ; quite as regards any ratio 
to the means of consumption in this quarter 
of the globe, or the whole world, as things 
now are. The neio lands, and these are in 
abundance, are more productive than those 
in used’ 
Now the foregoing assertion is made on 
grounds indisputably just, and adds to the 
opinion we have given all along as to the 
resources of this country. Indigo planters, ge- 
nerally speaking, have hitherto had little capi- 
tal of their own, and have therefore laboured 
for others ; for all their profits have gone to 
pay off their debts. This is not so much the 
case now ; and we have no doubt the culti- 
vation will be profitable to almost all en- 
gaged in it, excepting where the situation 
may be against the cultivation. Mr. Alex- 
ander considers the cultivation of indigo in 
this country analogous to the cultivation of 
corn in England during the time that prices 
have been so high. In both countries, says 
our author, high prices have tempted the 
cultivators to raise produce in poorer soils, 
and at a higher cost of production. 
“ Here, however, we have no law to keep 
up the price of indigo to a certain standard ; 
and when prices fall, the planter must give 
up his poor soil, as the farmer in England 
would do, were the corn laws repealed*. The 
question of the greatest importance in this 
investigation is, whether Mr. Wilkinson is 
* Many also consider that the ryot, who 
cultivates indigo, receives’a very unequal share 
of its value, and give this as a furrher argu- 
ment of our power of extending cultivation, by 
being more liberal in our advances to the ryot; 
but those who think so, only look to the large 
profits of particular factories, at particular 
seasons ; if we take any average of years since 
the extended cultivation has taken ])lace, and 
consider the certainty with which the ryot is 
paid, and the uncertainty of the returns to the 
planter, we will find that the ryot gets his fair 
share in most factories ; indeed the fact of so 
many factories being unsuccessful, is of itself 
proof, that the competition arising from in- 
creased production has, in many parts of the 
country, increased the advance to the point 
which renders the speculation a bad one. 
