The sun., 1919-10-20
NEGLECT OF RESOURCES
CAUSES LOSS IN TROPICS
Foreign Investors Fail to Take Advantage of All Nat
ural Opportunities but Devote Themselves
to Special Lines

the resources available. OF course both
of these involved the more fundamental
lack of managerial talent OF the proper
calibre.
Before pointing out what would have
been the better way of developing this
property from start to finish, 1t may be
we'll to indicate the actual methods used
in its progress to failure.
The labor employed to clear the land
was paid by contract per hectare, and the
price was fixed partly upon the basis OF
the conversion of the timber into char
coal. very common practice. For ex-
ample, the laborers would receive cash
advances sufficient to support them UNI
til a kiln az charcoal could be burned and
the coal marketed. They would receive
the proceeds of the coal. and In this way
little capital was required to get the
land cleared. Most of the timber would
not be used for coal, but would be burned
up on the spot; but an average acre OF
virgin timber will yield fifty tons Of
charcoal and the price of charcoal in the
Panama market has varied between $40
and $50.
The charcoal business has long been
highly profitable to the natives. They
sometimes spend most OF year in burn
ing coal Off a single acre. Charcoal can
be easily transported as compared with
| timber. A mahogany tree of 1000 board
| Feet would be worth 800 at the sea; in
charcoal It would bring about $50. But
the mahogany is difficult to transport.
so 1t often went into charcoal.
Once the land was cleared by this
| method, the planting of the cacao was
| simple. The trees begin to yield In about
five years, and the net profit is usually
| estimated at about $50 per acre, though
mn ha oh olrt 1ad
agement.
Some Losers I'm the Tropics.
| Capitalists. large and small, who put
money In tropical enterprises, often lose
1t from such easily preventable causes.
| have seen such big investors as
Thomas F. Ryan, the Messrs. Guggen-
helm. the late Senator Aldrich, not to
mention others of less fortune, lose
money from those causes 1t is all the
more regrettable when men of such
known ability at home become discour-
| aged in their efforts to develop the
tropics when those countries suffer from
their failures and receive a setback be-
cause of the prominence and influence OF
the losers.
By easily preventable causes ]
mean those which special knowledge
skill and equipment can remedy. not
those political factors which only large
International arrangements can modify
such as those in Mexico. Costa Rica, &C
The causes in question are concerned
| with native and other labor with trop-
| ical sanitation: with the neglect to uti-
lize all the available resources in sight
| upon concessions instead of destroying
| or neglecting a large part in order to
specialize upon some particular product
with failure to get trained directive
talent, or to train it, and with ar
underestimate Of the bearing of social
factors upon business success in those
| regions.
The mere fact that gold, copper. rub
ber diamonds or timber are found IL
paying quantities" within negotiable,
distance of established transportation
does not necessarily mean that the re
sources may be developed and profit,
earned without including many othe
elements in the business problem. TIL
Ave points above mentioned are som
OF these.
Many tropical propositions are intrin
s!cally capable OF development witt
higher profits than those in other re
gions for many reasons. il proper meas
ures be taken.
Living may be made much cheaper
less fuel is required; the soil Is ofte
richer; water more abundant and It
supply more dependable and the specis
products often keenly in demand. Blu
tropical development in almost any di
rection Ia becoming special scienc
involving certain definite modes of pro
cedure as indicated. and these are be
! ing clearly recognized by those VIII
| haya had experience in tho tronics