The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-08
FARMS in The TROPICS
WARNING TO WOULD-BE INVESTORS
IN SOUTHERN COUNTRIES.
1t Is a Safe Rule to Investigate with
Care-Risks of Central Amer
fcan Investments.
Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles Times.
Is tropical agriculture safe investment?
This is the question that is going the rounds
nowadays. shall 1 put my money In rub
Der land in Mexico?" "How about banana
growing in Costa Rica?" "Will truck gar
dening pay in Panama. do you think
there is anything in raising oranges In
Porto Rico?" 'Is banana culture in Jamaica
a good thing?" These are samples OF hum
dreds of inquiries the American consuls In
the various tropical countries are being be-
sieged with. The man who knows nothing
whatever aboutethis form of investment,
and who starts out to investigate for him
self, is soon bewildered by a mass of con-
Trajectory opinion.
IN the morning you meet the fellow who
has tropical land TO sell. You know he is a
promoter and naturally jealous in the cause
he is exploiting, but his argument sounds so
plausible that you begin to wonder If you
really have been negecting the chance to
get rich quick. He points short cut TO
wealth, and you finger your money and hes
itate. In the afternoon you call on the gov
eminent representative. He does not boil
over with enthusiasm. Neither does he pro-
nounce against the venture. He says
great deal in a pleasant way. but on the
whole is rather noncommittal. You go
away wondering. In the evening you meet
another fellow who has a lot of detrimental
things to say about tropical agricultural
schemes in general. He does a real good
Job of what is vulgarly but expressively
known as knocking" This difference of
to your original state of doubt, and you
go to bed without writing the promised let
ter to your friends at home settling the
VI q a
thing.
REFLECT UPON 1T.
After you have time to think ii over you
will draw conciusions-of your own. You
will ask yourself: IF this land is likely to
pay several hundred per cent. profit on the
investment, why do the men who il
want to sell it?' IF Ii is such good thing
why is 1T being peddled around in small
pieces, when any capitalist would be glad
| of chance to invest his means where such
a return is probable?" You wonder why
you had not thought of this before, and
make up your mind to ask the promoter
about it. He says he has not got the money
to develop property, and as a consequence
Is forced to dispose Of a certain portion of
his holdings in order to get start. He
| says the professional money loaner won't
| take any chances because the field of in
vestment Is too far away, and the condi-
| tons surrounding 1t too uncertain for him
| to risk.
This is the truth. There are many trop-
ical promoters who have put every dollar
| they own and every cent they could get
| from their friends into the scheme and
| having failed to secure money from the
| banks, as they expected they would be able
| TO as soon as they made a start, have been
h, to peddle their stock in every posi-
| lot of money to develop tropical planta-
ton. A whole lot Of money has got to go in
before any will come out
REASON FOR IT.
| The reason why the professional money
| loaner and the rubber man cannot get to-
| gether is this: While the business of pro-
ducing it may be one of great promise, it is
still in an experimental state and the expe-
rienced capitalist never likes to have other
men experimenting with his money. He is
| always friendly to anything that promises
| well, but the rubber men are too sanguine
| for him. Their claim that the Industry is
capable of earning enormous profits may
| be all right, but these profits are not yet
visible. This is easily and conclusiyely
| proven (using Mexico as an example) by
| the fact that the official list of exports
does not contain any such item as culti-
waited rubber. IL the business had advanced
| to the stage where it was profitable there
would certainly be some evidences of it in
| the market.
There is no disposition on the part of any
| one to discourage worthy endeavor along
any legitimate line of enterprise, but many
| or these men, in the glow of their en-
| thusiastic anticipation. have become TOO
| strong in their claims. Some of them are
| guaranteeing impossible profits to small
| investors. The clerk and farmer and labor
| er are going into IL believing that il is a
| sure thing while ii is merely an experiment.
1t may be promising experiment. but it is
| an experiment for all that and things
| should be called by their right name
| KEEP ON SAFE SIDE.
! 1t is always safe rule to go slow on any
| get-rich-quick proposition The official or
writer who advises the public against pro-
noters who are Offering several hundred
per cent. profit TO investors are not enemies
to honest enterprise. A scheme that will
bring returns like these is hard to find. and
| doesn't have to go begging when it is dis
covered. A warning against such is really
protection to the well meaning To say
| that the rubber business in Mexico is yet
in an experimental state. and, further. that
| the most money that has been realized there
has been made by the men who sold the
| land. is not pronouneing agains. the future
prospects OF the country or the particular
| industry in question. IL is merely making
the truth known to head off the sharks who
| are despoiling the public on the pretense
| that it is bonanza now yielding riches 10
| the investors. No honest operator who is
| doing business 1.-The square can take any
! exception truth-and this is the
| truth.
Honest endeavor in any line of develop
| ment always attracts swindlers who initiate
| the operation OF legitimate concerns ON
account or the cleyernese and resourcefll-
ness OF the gentry who live by preying on
| the cqpidity OF the public Ii is hard to tell
| the sheep from the goats. A favorite trick
| of the tropical swsndlers i'm showing a party
| Of prospective buyers Of land over planta-
ton Is to produce specimens OF products
purported to have been grown on the place
An ex-employe of one plantation told me
ployers to exhibit coffee which they claimed
to have raised on the land themselves. but