, 1890-10-15

as the store-Keeper VIII meet all the orders of
payment drawn against him during the
MonCn' pays rent for the locality he occu-.
pies and settles his account every thirty davs
to reimburse himself of all the cash nrevio,;o
~ advanced. In some plantations the Store
is supplied by the owner, who gives. q nar.
centage to a man that attends the eolI,nr.
anu the latter if he does not know anvthin@
else, knows well enough how to keen tho mo
hts and leave the losses to the planter for the
experiment. Other planters get a hioh rant
lof 6he locality and let the storekeeper fur.
hIS1 MS own merchandise Curing NOTHING
"h@yoVer LOT the e~Xtortlon practised on the
eenp,oy6S ana WORKING hands. This last shape.
OF the business has really transformed tho
store keeper mo an important nersorr on
BGtey OF a sugar plantation. He absorbs the
Whole financial transactions of the Mace he
ln0f!gues with the planters to remove tbis
Or mat employe that does not succumb to bis
grasplng methods; he recommends othorg
for the vacant places who will have no Oh
l%ectlcns IN yielding to his ideas; in fact, he
nolds IN his hands the majority of the places.
IN some plantations the storekeeper receives.
GRATIS at i've months time, to cover his dis
oulsenlents, and as a natural consequence he
Will get them discounted to meet his oblioa-
tlons but good care is taken that somebody
else be made to pay for the amount lost in
the bargain. The planter does not care who.
may be the victim; maybe, never suspccting
GLaC ne may be the very one to lose in the
long run. Ihe storekeeper is the real bank
er Of the plantation. Such are some of ano-
males seen in this anomalous country. Verv
few planters in the island are the executions
TO TINS system, and these are characterized j.,
by their upright dealings. They know what
they are about, and consequently, the labour-
ing man, after seeing that at the end of the
month all his hard aorpirOc hove -. -
the hands of the storekeeper. rebels against
hlm, denounces the place as a nest of thieves,
seeks another locality and keeps trying place
ait + place until he finds one of the few above
mentioned, where, after paying for his month
Iy living expenses, he has a few dollars left for
a rainy day.
Many planters are already noticing that
those plantations that suffer more from the
scarcity OF hands and where every branch of
work IS topsy-turvey, the store business is in
a tourshlng condition, while on others. where
the owners have put a stop to all this mangu-
Vrelng' labourers are numerous and steady.
Comparisons are often odious, but some
times they are absolutely necessary to enable
q man to secure the full worth of his money:
hence, allow me to compare the manual Ia.
bour with its rivals, the imported cultiyatinr
Instruments. Let us take the crop froaa
1883 to 1889, where we made 4 $4,000 tons of
sugar, ana granting that the average of luce
extracted was 60 per cent all over the island
with a sugar co-eficient of 1850 in weight,
yielding per acre 134 tons of cane hence the
$4,000 tons of sugar represent an area of
ground not less than $4,000 acres, and since
one man can take care of 63 acres of cane,
the $4,000 acres represent 1856 men en-
ployed; and as it is not less true that cult
waiting instruments have so advantageously
superseded the old fashioned hoe, the econo-
my therefrom would have been no less than
80 per cent, which, had il been applied 10
all the plantations on the Island would have
saved the labour of 3S,2S0 men, equivalent
to as many immigrants.
To prove the above account, a cane tenant
tried six Instruments drawn by one OK, going
over 335 acres of cane in eleven days they
moulded the SAM ground in three days, and
cleaned the side roads in two, hence we can
give a perfect cultivation with the same in
struments by cleaning twice, moulding three
times, and leaving the side roads cleaned
also, with the following expenses f.
66 wages in each of the two cleanings,
at OH ....---"..sss ...-.--..-
gold, including cattle, per acre
1854 acres) 103.24
33 ditto in each of three mouldingsr
(335 acres 8l.18
q ditto SIDE roads ...........~ 9.8l
Total :. >. - 1925
In round numbers 500, which gives a