El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-07

and they go out from them to their
labor. The officials and foreman are
whites, and the responsible parts of
the work are done by Americans sent
here from the United States. These
men are the best Of their kind and
they receive excellent wages. The
negroes are paid about the same that
the Jamaicans receive on the Panama
canal, and their labor is about as eff
cient.
A great deal of the work is done by
the piece, and the man gets so much
for clearing, so much for planting and
cleaning and so much for picking the
fruit. As it is now, il costs about $50
ayers can tell you just how much
every plant costs. They have cost
sheets like those of a great factory
ana can tell to the tenth of a cent the
outlay spent on each bunch of bananas
and where every cent goes 1t is only
by such methods that bananas can be
sold at the prices they bring in the
states and still give a profit. The
whole business is one of petty
economies, which in the aggregate
mean a saving of hundreds of thou
sands of dollars.
Not n whiting business.
AS 1 walked through the fields and
watched the great green punches being
cut by the hundreds and carried off to
the cars I asked one of the foremen if
American to come here and start
rival fruit trust, and whether a man
with a small amount OF money could
not engage in the business at profit
He replied:
1T might seem so if you did not
know the facts The truth is this is
no whiting business. You have got
to have a big capital, and enough to
take care of all kinds of accidents
Sometimes a disease will wipe out a
nlanf1fiOn blows
up and we lose the whole crop. Just
a few months ago we had a hurricane
here which destroyed 10000 punches
of bananas in the space of five min
utes. That happens every now and
then. and if the property was that of
a small farmer it would mean total
ruin. A big concern like this can stand
it on account of the profit it receives
from it's other plantations As it is
now, there are many small plantations,
but they sell their bananas to US. we
pay them 2S cents a bunch, and at
that they can do very well. Neverthe-
less, the total product of such men
about here is only 1000 punches a week,
which is a bagatelle in comparison with
the 100000 punches we ship during that
time. AS to a rival trust, that might
succeed, but it needs good lands and
a fleet of ships, and also good market
ing facilities in the United States"
Our Big Banana Business.
One hundred thousand punches
week. The men utter these words as
though they meant nothing. Never
theless, they were astounding to me.
Have you any idea what 100000
punches a week means? 1t means s.
20O, 900 punches of bananas a year, for
the banana business goes on all the
year through. A single bunch contains
$50 bananas, and from this place alone
they are sending forth something like
$50, 100000 per annum. We have 10O,-
10000 people in the United States, in
GLIDING Alaska and the Philippine
islands These plantations could give
every one of US seven bananas and
have $4,000, 600 to spare. It could give
50 to every family.
But this is only one of the estates
of the United Fruit company. The |
banana trust has scores of others. and
it ships from Costa Rica almost double |
as many bananas as from here.
It ships a vast deal from Cartagena, |
and it is building up in Guatemala big !
which I hope to visit with |
in the next few months. The business |
is increasing and the demand for ba- J
nanas is increasing as we'll
The United States is now using Co.
0O0, 600 punches of bananas every - /
months. or about 900, 100000 fingers per |
annum. You can now get a good ba- |
mana for a cent or two almost any |!
where in our country, and the business !
has TO be big in order to pay.
am told that it pays well. 1t pays |