THE ECONOMY OF INDO-CHINA
Indies they now represent two-fifths of the facia-planted land in the
world. Their strong position makes any restriction of output a very
business, for no matter how low the price of rubber may fall, if
the native planter can still sell it at all, he will continue to pknt hevea
because it is much less trouble than rice. THs does not mean, however,
these crops are mutually exclusive. Three years of depression have
created a vicious and confused struggle for survival. All the rubber
companies were threatened with indefinite production at a loss, and
with an exhaustion of their capital. The situation became so bad that
natives replaced hevea with banana trees, which would give them
at least the assurance of nourishment.
Indo-Chinese rubber planters enjoy a privileged position in the
world—state aid in both the colony and France, while the governments
of Ceylon, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies impassively witness the
tgonies of their planters. It is interesting to note that the colonists
who are loudest in their criticism of the evils of etatisme are the first to
plod for state aid in time of trouble. The government granted tax
exemptions and reduced the export tax, but the bad side of its pater-
nalism is the cultivation of a careless dependency. A policy of drastic
economy and cost prices pared to the bone can only be forced on the
planters when they must depend on their own efforts for survival. In
Irido-China the large proportion of small or middle-sized property is a
cause for anxiety. The government cannot indefinitely continue to assure
salvation to its rubber planters. It might also be better for them if their
activities were co-ordinated and concentrated. The almost insuperable
drawback to such a solution is the attitude of many of the planters who
apparently do not appreciate the gravity of the situation, but continue
their peevish demands for aid.
Hie great lack is a rubber policy, and this is the responsibility of
government and planters alike. Neither of them has undertaken a con-
sistent study, research, or experimentation, and such insouciance is
conspicuous when 'Compared with the patient investigations of Dutch
tad Engish planters who have organized to facilitate their work.
The Saigon Syndicate of Rubber Planters is a group of individual
proprietors in which the big rubber companies have no representatives
in spite of the fact that their concessions equal half of the total hevea
surface under cultivation. 'The smaE planters recognize the importance
of this omission, but fear to accept what might become an onerous
tutelage by the big financial interests. In their turn the large companies
equally fear that their interests might not be wholly harmonious. They
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