Evening star., 1901-03-19
Agriculture on the Installment Plan a
Delusion.
WEALTH PROMISED SMALL INVESTORS
Financial Schemes That Have Ended
in Disappointment.
ONLY WAY TO SUCCEED
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence or Inc Evening star
CITY OF MEXICO, March II, 1901
1t is probable that if any honest and dis
Interested American who is familiar with
the language, people and conditions in
Mexico was asked his opinion of tropical
agriculture as an investment. his reply
would contain the following ideas in one
form another.
Tropical agriculture as an investment
for people who live and intend to remain
in the temperate zone is largely delusion
and a snare There is certain reasonable
profit to be made upon the conduct of a
tropical farm when all conditions are
favorable. The most favorable combina-
tiOn of such conditions is where the plant
is extensive and long established, the
products varied and of definite market
value, the management practical inter-
ested, energetic and familiar with the
Spanish language and the handling of
Mexican labor Such a management.
whether representing limited pa tnership
o: a corporation, will in favorable years
bring a reasonable and perhaps a very
satisfactory return upon the capital in
vested. This it must be remembered is also
the case with agriculture in any country
in the world where there are staple crops
to be raised and markets In which to place
them.
The citizen of the United States who
buys stock in one of these tropical agricul-
turaI companies must consider his invest
meut from a practical point of view, or
else prepare himself for disappointment.
If the plant in which he purchases an in
terest or becomes a stockholder is capt.
taliZed for no more than it is worth and
is managed intelligently, economically and
by those who understand the country as
explained above his holding will return
him fair interest. If he pays for his share
of the plant nearly as much as the whole
thing cost originally, as is often the case,
cor if he buys stock based upon a captali
cation ten times the real money invested
he is evidently playing into a scheme the
promotion of which was of greater moment
to its originators than the outcome, and
it is doubtful whether he ever receives
adequate interest upon his investment from
legitimate dividends, to say nothing of be-
ing able at any time to convert his interest
or stock holdings again into money.
There are thousands of Americans who
are in one way or another interested in
tropical agricultural schemes. Some of
these men are members of syndicates con-
trolling ample capital and in possession of
valuable concessions. With all these ad-
VantageS, however the record of such en-
terprises shows a small percentage of sue
cess as compared with the disaster, failure
and disappointment which have attended so
many of these efforts. Other Americans
have come together in a limited partnership
and one of their number has gone to the
tropics to assume control and manage
ment of the community property. Where
such man was of the right kind and
where the investment is wisely situated
the results, while being far from exhila-
rating, do not promise badly for the future
InstnIInieut Plan Investment
From a point Of numbers the manner in
which people of the United States have be-.
come interested in tropical agriculture is
through the small holding in stock certif-
Gates or by the weekly or monthly contlf-
buttons to the company funds. or what
might be called the installment plan invest
ment. Some of these tropical agricultural
concerns make speCialties of certain classes
of people. such as the employees in a GER
tain department of the government, con-
ductors on railroads, conductors on Pull
man cars, and many others. These men
pay so much a month into the general fund
and in return they are promised a paid-up
undivided share of the companys property
or else a divided interest represented by
twenty, forty or one hundred acres as the
case may be, planted in coffee, rubber hCa
constructors. or blue-tailed monkeys or
whatever the speciality of their particular
company may happen to be. With a full
appreciation of the storm OF prot est which
will meet this statement. it is a consarVa-
tive view of this latter class of investment
to consider it practically hopeless as a
source of profit to those furnishing the
money for carrying on the business"
ThankIess Task.
1t Is thankless and almost a hopeless
task 10 advise men not to put their money
into something which strikes them favor
ably, no matter how strenuous you may
make your argument AS rule one ineurs
abuse of those interested in securing his