Evening star., 1932-01-03
Machines to Lick Jungle

this way, and whole villages in the hills
are bound to serve in the coffee pick
ing on distant plantations by an in
debtedness renewed continuously in re-
turn for the use of farmlands near the
villages, which the owner acquires for
the purpose of thus guaranteeing his
labor supply.
In many of the countries producing
seasonal crops, as in Cuba during the
sugar r-cutting season and in Argentina
during the wheat harvest, there has
been a steadily increasing movement of
labor from Spain and Italy. These work
ers are facetiously called swallows" a
word that describes their seasonal mi
grstions between their own fields and
those Of Latin America. This move
ment has been interrupted during the
depression, but 1t is an essential factor
in the economic life of the important
agricultural countries of Cuba and Ar
gentina.
In other countries as well there is
some migration Of labor, and Brazil has
sought to tempt such workers to its
coffee fields. Where this course of mi
gratory labor is not available, as in the
coffee countries generally, the workers
vitality necessary for the picking season
are brought from the cities and towns
10 the plantations. The harvest time
Is made a period Of festival not unlike
the harvest festivals Of the Middle
Ages in Europe but not always are liv-
ing conditions such as to invite all the
hilartty, although it does provide much
Of the laXity of ancient times.
Old System Scrapped.
In the economic unfoldment of Latin
the scrapping of the old tradi-
ton Of plentiful labor was thus inevita-
Die. The idea has been sustained
through recent years by the low wages
paid to Workmen But this wage con-
dition has been due, not to a plethora
Of labor and the old law of supply and
demand but because the production of
raw materials to which Latin America
has been chained so long, could not be
carried on except with cheap labor; it
was low wages or no work at all A
nan working in the cane fields or pick
ing coffee could not possibly produce
enough to bring back to him from the
distant world markets more than a
wage. The very heart of the
Of Latin America is here
revealed, and with it the promise of
future change throughout its economic
status by crop diversification and the
developing use of machinery.
When sugar fell to so low price
hat no wages could be paid for its har-
resting the field laborers of Cuba cut
t for nothing, and this cane poured
nto world markets, further to depress
he price of sugar. The meager return
'uficed only to keep the soup kitchens
going on the plantations.
The wages of Latin Americas millions
nave been determined by the value of
heir product, not by the scarcity of
he hands. That is why the use of ma
,hinery in Latin America has been so
effective. BY all the rules
If economics-taking the premise that
abor was cheap because it was plenti-
'ul-Latin America was not ready for
he machine. 1t was the same condi-
ion, the casual observer thought, as in
he Orient, where ships were coaled by
hand because the excess of the labor
supply made this method cheaper. But
his was not the case in Latin America.
The moment machinery was intro
iuced in any industry there production
and higher wages could be
md we're paid. The reason for ma
hines was that there were not enough
hands to do the work. and the reason
or low wages was that the work, done
,y hand competed with the starvation
wages OF Asia ana AFRICA.
Competition KeenIy Felt.
Indeed, in recent years Latin Amer
ca has begun to feel keenly the COM
petition of Asia and Africa in the pro-
1uction of raw materials. The cacao
If Africa already has taken the place
IF some Of South Americas production
of the chocolate bean, and even the
-aising Of lower grade coffee may well
pass to Africa in future years Rubber
has been grown in Asia for years and in
Africa for shorter time. and the trans
er of the plantation crops in general
rom Latin America to these areas of
abundant as well as cheap labor is
inevitable.
The lack of an actual surplus of
abor thus enters definitely into the
ate that DEGREES that Latin America
hall some day cease to be a great
ource Of plantation produce Another
actor is that the newer plantations in
Asia and Africa are being organized on
/ more Soundly modern and thus more
profitable basis The transfer Of the
.ubber industry from Brazil to the East
indies Is a case in point. Wild rubber
,rees dot the forests of the Amazon, but
he stands are not uniform and the
'ubber trees are scattered, from a dozen
% hundred an acre, over immense
areas. The rubber latex. or sap, was
apped by wandering Indians or by
ooSely controlled gangs, often of i'm
pressed workers brought from all over
Brazil. 1t was cured by dipping a stick
nto the white latex and drying 1t over
'pen, smoky fires.
This rubber, dirty. filled with sticks
and leaves, and often enough smoked
and burned so as not to be workable,
vas the worlds only source of supply
1T the dawn Of the automobile era
were projected and some
we're laid out. in Brazil and in Mexico
rs well, but there was neither the labor
nor the organizations to perfect them
20 the extent which was finally achieved
IN the East Indies and the MALAY
Peninsula. There, with seeds smuggled
1ut of Brazil through a sharp Gordon
of inspection, immense areas of rubber
with the trees in long rows
and carefully tended, grew into produc-
.lon. Modern methods Of curing the
ateX were perfected, and this rubber is
,oday the dominating grade in the
world markets The Brazilian industry
has virtually disappeared Recent at
5emptS to create a plantation rubber
industry in Brazil have been DELAYED as
nucn by the lack of the large sources
d labor required as by political condi-
lions.
Organized Planting Needed.
A correlated effect of the continuing
abQr shortage has been the lack of de-
velopment Of organized planting and
Of products other than the
,ong established staples like sugar, cof-
Zee and cacao. Coconuts and other
tropical sources of vegetable oils for
instance, are not produced generally in
Latin America on a plantation basis;
and flbers, gums and other products of
-ropical forests are not available in the
quantities and with the assured supply
nat they are in lands which have sur
plus laborers.
There are but two solutions il Latin
America is to develop the possibilities
u tropical raw materials. One is the
use OF machinery and the concentration
On crops where machinery can be used,
The other is new labor supply. OF
The two, there seems no question as to
.he ultimate and wiser choice Ma
chinery offers tn latin Arnerica ra1oo.o