If labor were cheap and abundant the whole trend of tropical agriculture in the eastern valleys would be toward intensive cultivation and the production of expensive exports. But labor is actually scarce. Every planter must have agents who can send men down from the plateau towns. And the planter himself must use his labor to the best advantage. Aguardiente requires less labor than cacao and coca. The cane costs about as much in labor the first year as the coca bush or the cacao tree, but after that much less. The manufacture of brandy from the cane juice requires little labor though much expensive machinery. For chocolate, a storehouse, a grinding stone, and a rake are all that are required. So the planter must work out his own salvation individually. He must take account of the return upon investments in machinery, of the number of hands he can command from among the “faena” or free Indians, of the cost and number of imported hands from the valley and plateau towns, and, finally, of the transportation rates dependent upon the number of mules in the neighborhood, and distance from the market. If in addition the labor is skilfully employed so as to have the tasks which the various products require fall at different periods of the year, then the planter may expect to make money upon his time and get a return upon his initial investment in the land.[11]
| Fig. 49—Fig tree formerly attached to a host but now left standing on its stilt-like aërial roots owing to the decay of the host. | Fig. 50—A tiny rubber plant is growing under the tripod made of yuca stems tied with banana leaves. Growing yuca is shown by the naked stalks to the left and right of this canopy, and banana plants fill the background. A plantation scene at Echarati. |
The type of tropical agriculture which we have outlined is profitable for the few planters who make up the white population of the valleys, but it has a deplorable effect upon the Indian population. Though the planters, one and all, complain bitterly of the drunken habits of their laborers, they themselves put into the hands of the Indians the means of debauchery. Practically the whole production of the eastern valleys is consumed in Peru. What the valleys do not take is sent to the plateau, where it is the chief cause of vicious conduct. Two-thirds of the prisoners in the city jails are drunkards, and, to be quite plain, they are virtually supplied with brandy by the planter, who could not otherwise make enough money. So although the planter wants more and better labor he is destroying the quality of the little there is, and, if not actually reducing the quantity of it, he is at least very certainly reducing the rate of increase.
The difficulties of the valley planter could be at least partly overcome in several ways. The railway will reduce transportation costs, especially when the playas of the valleys are all cleared and the exports increased. Moreover the eastern valleys are capable of producing things of greater utility than brandy and coca leaves. So far as profits are increased by cheaper transportation we may expect the planter to produce more rather than less of brandy and coca, his two most profitable exports, unless other products can be found that are still more profitable. The ratio of profits on sugar and brandy will still be the same unless the government increases the tax on brandy until it becomes no more profitable than sugar. That is what ought to be done for the good of the Indian population. It cannot be done safely without offering in its place the boon of cheaper railway transportation for the sugar crop. Furthermore, with railway improvements should go the blessings that agricultural experiments can bestow. A government farm in a suitable place would establish rice and cotton cultivation. Many of the playas or lower alluvial lands along the rivers can be irrigated. Only a small fraction of the water of the Rio Urubamba is now turned out upon the fields. For a large part of the year the natural rainfall would suffice to keep rice in good condition. Six tons a year are now grown on Hacienda Sahuayaco for local use on account of the heavy rate on rice imported on muleback from Cuzco, whither it comes by sea and by trail from distant coastal valleys. The lowland people also need rice and it could be sent to them down river by an easier route than that over which their supplies now come. It should be exported to the highlands, not imported therefrom. There are so many varieties adapted to so many kinds of soil and climate that large amounts should be produced at fair profits.
The cotton plant, on the other hand, is more particular about climate and especially the duration of dry and wet seasons; in spite of this its requirements are all met in the Santa Ana Valley. The rainfall is moderate and there is an abundance of dry warm soil. The plant could make most of its growth in the wet season, and the four months of cooler dry season with only occasional showers would favor both a bright staple and a good picking season. More labor would be required for cotton and rice and for the increased production of cacao than under the present system. This would not be a real difficulty if the existing labor supply were conserved by the practical abolition, through heavy taxation, of the brandy that is the chief cause of the laborer’s vicious habits. This is the first step in securing the best return upon the capital invested in a railway. Economic progress is here bound up with a very practical morality. Colonization in the eastern valleys, of which there have been but a few dismal attempts, will only extend the field of influence, it will not solve the real problem of bringing the people of the rich eastern territory of Peru into full and honorable possession of their natural wealth.