Mr. CANTON. No, sir; we do not use it.

The CHAIRMAN. When this land is resting, does it grow a fairly good pasture grass for cattle and sheep, and things of that kind? Mr. CANTON. Well, yes.

The CHAIRMAN. So you do not lose your land. You can plant something and there will be a benfit to be derived from it, I mean? Mr. CANTON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You have a fair amount of cattle in the country, I suppose ?

Mr. CANTON. A fair amount; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Any sheep?
Mr. CANTON. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Any hogs?

Mr. CANTON. Yes, sir. It depends; if we have cheap corn we have plenty of hogs, otherwise all our corn is imported from the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you not raise anything at all there in the shape of grain or some root of some kind that would be good for hogs?

Mr. CANTON. Very little, because when we do not have good rains we lose the whole thing that season, so nobody wants to lose seeds and everything.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not have a great deal of rainfall, do you? Mr. CANTON. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. It is a semiarid region, halfway dry?

Mr. CANTON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. It is a very dry country?

Mr. CANTON. Very, very dry. We do not have rivers; we depend on the rainfall.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not irrigate with the use of artificial water? Mr. CANTON. It is very costly.

The CHAIRMAN. I expected it would be very expensive.

Mr. CANTON. It is very expensive.

The CHAIRMAN. How many trees have you that are valuable for

timber?

Mr. CANTON. We have very fair timber in the Quintana Roo. The CHAIRMAN. Is that a timber that is good to make lumbor? Mr. CANTON. To make furniture and different things, and mahogany logs.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have mahogany?

Mr. CANTON. Not on my plantation; mine is only suitable for sisal. The CHAIRMAN. You could not say, then, that the timber wealth of the country amounts to very much?

Mr. CANTON. Well, no, not in Yucatan-not that part of Yucatan. In other sections, other parts of the State of Yucatan, it was divided, and it is the territory of Quintana Roo.

The CHAIRMAN. But the territory which now constitutes the State of Yucatan that has very little timber?

Mr. CANTON. Very little timber.

The raising any kind of crop, such as we do on the arid lands in the United States-that is, kaffir corn, a great big head which bends over-it grows on very arid lands, and

it is fine for cattle?

Mr. CANTON. -No.

The have never tried that?

Mr. CANTON. We have never tried that.

Senator WADSWORTH. What is the annual rainfall, how many inches?

Mr. CANTON. Not more than 3 or 4 inches.

Senator WADSWORTH. Three or four inches?

Mr. CANTON. At a time.

Senator WADSWORTH. Is that in a year, only 3 or 4 inches in a year? Mr. CANTON. No; at a time.

The CHAIRMAN. I thought you meant a year?

Mr. CANTON. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you tell us how much the annual rainfall would be in inches in the 12 months of the year. How many inches it would amount to?

Mr. CANTON. I can not tell you.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you tell us, Dr. Rendon, what the annual rainfall in inches would be?

Dr. RENDON. Sixteen to eighteen inches a year.

The CHAIRMAN. A year?

Dr. RENDON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. As compared with 56 inches in Louisiana?
Dr. RENDON. Yes, sir.

Mr. FISHER. Might I just ask one question to clear this up?

The CHAIRMAN. Certainly.

Mr. FISHER. Is this Province that you speak of where the timber is-is that under the Yucatan government?

Mr. CANTON. Quintana Roo?

Mr. FISHER. Yes.

Mr. CANTON. I do not think that it is.

Mr. FISHER. Gov. Alvarado governs that section, too, does he not? Mr. CANTON. It is in Mexico.

Mr. FISHER. You have very fine timber there, haven't you?

Mr. CANTON. Yes, sir; we have very fine timber there.

Mr. FISHER. You export a very considerable quantity of mahogany, do you not?

Mr. CANTON. Yes, sir; in Quintana Roo.

Mr. FISHER. And other timber besides?

Mr. CANTON. Dye woods.

Mr. MAYER. But not from Yucatan.

Mr. CANTON. But it was a part of Yucatan, but it was divided.

STATEMENT OF R. CAMARA PALMA, OF MERIDA, YUCATAN.

Mr. SPENCER. Your full name is what?

Mr. CAMARA. My name is Raymond Camara Palma. We always use two family names. Our father's is first and our mother's after it. Mr. SPENCER. You are a native of Yucatan?

Mr. CAMARA. Yes, sir. I was born there. I am an Indian from Yucatan.

Mr. SPENCER. Are you also a sisal planter?

Mr. CAMARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. SPENCER. How long have you been such?

Mr. CAMARA. Well, I was a boy about 12 years ago, when my father started to take me around to his farm, so as to teach me how to raise hemp and how to learn everything about the farm business.

Mr. SPENCER. So, then, you commenced about 1904 or 1905, somewhere around there?

Mr. CAMARA. Oh, no; more than that.
Mr. SPENCER. How old are you now?
Mr. CAMARA. I am 39.

You can say 1899.

Mr. SPENCER. Are you a member of the Comision Reguladora? Mr. CAMARA. Yes, sir; I am a member of the Comision Reguladora that is working now. After the first time I have joined the Reguladora; I have been always nothing else but a farmer; an employer of my father's business.

Mr. SPENCER. When did you become a member of the Comision Reguladora?

Mr. CAMARA. On October last.

Mr. SPENCER. You were appointed by Gov. Alvarado?

Mr. CAMARA. You know it occurred, because we had a meeting and all the farmers came to that meeting and they all made appointments and made selections for the representatives, and that is the reason why I did accept, because I am always busy and have hardly time to devote to these affairs.

Mr. SPENCER. You were nominated by the farmers and appointed by the governor?

Mr. CAMARA. Appointed by the governor; that is it.

Mr. SPENCER. That Reguladora, is that a voluntary association or are all the planters compelled to join it?

Mr. CAMARA. There is a large story about the Reguladora. You know, the Reguladora was instituted years ago, with the only purpose of defending our only product. Our peninsula has a very poor soil, and nothing else than henequen can be cultivated in our land, because, with no heavy soil and with very low and very poor soil, it can only be used for henequen purposes. Nothing else can be raised but henequen, and of course, it being our only product we always plan more and more and always do our best to enlarge our farms, even to privations and money troubles.

Mr. SPENCER. What I meant to say was this: In October of this last year I understand the Reguladora offered to the farmers of uladora for the handling of their sisal. proposition to sign contracts of partnership with the RegWas that purely voluntary on the part of the planters as to whether they should sign those con

Yucatan a

tracts or not?

Mr. CAMARA. Yes; it was purely voluntary. Of course, it was purely voluntary.

Mr. SPENCER. Did substantially all of the farmers of Yucatan sign contracts with the Reguladora?

Mr. CAMARA. Well, these contracts passed always between us and between the familiar way of living, and in a small place like Merida have been where we had contracts and never signed them and have We are not obliged to sign the contracts in each case. Many cases filled them all right, but in this case, as we were looking for a better result on our Reguladora Comision, we had the idea of having everybody

because

We had many kinds of failures in our illusions.
we could make out of the Reguladora.

we thought

That is what

Mr. SPENCER. Now, then, the Reguladora at the present time is on a purely cooperative basis, is it not?

Mr. CAMARA. On a purely cooperative basis; yes, sir.

Mr. SPENCER. It is practically now, as run and as constituted, a farmers' organization for their betterment?

Mr. CAMARA. The only thing.

Mr. SPENCER. Who directs the affairs of the Reguladora in Yucatan? Mr. CAMARA. Well, there is a manager of the Reguladora, what we call a gerente general. That is Mr. Julio Rendon."

Mr. SPENCER. Above him is the board of directors?

Mr. CAMARA. But everything he does is submitted to us.
Mr. SPENCER. By "us" you mean the board of directors?

Mr. CAMARA. The board of directors; yes, sir. Everything that is done. We have a weekly meeting, and everything that is done in the Reguladora during that week is shown to us so as to see how the thing runs, and if anything that is, is not in our judgment in good condition, in form and things running in such way so as to be of the best advantage to our comision in the judgment of the chamber. Mr. SPENCER. In other words, the board of directors of the Reguladora, with the governor-they have the direction and control of the Reguladora business?

Mr. CAMARA. Yes, sir.

Mr. SPENCER. Which is carried on by the general manager, Dr. Rendon?

Mr. CAMARA. That is it exactly.

Mr. SPENCER. Will you give us the names of the board of directors? Mr. FISHER. I think that was given to the stenographer this morning.

The CHAIRMAN. The stenographer informs me that it is already in the record.

Mr. SPENCER. Are all the members of that comision planters?

Mr. CAMARA. Well, those members that are on this list were not the same when I was there. I left Merida a month and a half ago, and there are a few new ones that I see here. Mr. Solis, the first one, has been in the Reguladora a long while. Mr. Miguel Camara Chan has been in the Reguladora a long time also. Mr. Faustino Escalante joined it when I did, in October. Mr. Rafael Cen, he is new. He is a farmer and a business man also and a great importer of corn. R. Camara Palma-that is myself. I am a farmer and am in business also. Mr. Alonzo Aznar G., he has been there for a long while also. He himself is not a farmer, but I think the family has a farm. I am not sure of it. Mr. Umberto Peon-I could not inform you about what time he has been in the Reguladora, but he is a large farmer. Augusto Camara Z., he joined with me. He is one of the largest farmers in Merida. Lorenzo Peon Casares, my brother-in-lawhe is a farmer also, and lately appointed. Mr. Elias Espinosa is also a farmer, and he is one of the latest that joined the Reguladora. They are all farmers, everyone in here.

Mr. SPENCER. What was the necessity that urged the farmers of Yucatan to form this Reguladora?

Mr. CAMARA. Well, the only necessity has been since we have been raising hemp to get rid of the monopoly the only necessity.

Mr. SPENCER. Who would you say had the monopoly prior to that time, what persons?

Mr. CAMARA. Well, that was Mr. Peirce and Mr. Montes; they say, but it was Mr. Montes that had the monopoly. Mr. Peirce had a little part of it and everything that he had was because Mr. Montes

wanted him to have it.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you have any experience with any of these farmers' associations that were formed before the Reguladora was formed? Did you ever join any of them?

Mr. CAMARA. Oh, yes, indeed; I joined every one of them when they were started.·

Mr. SPENCER. Were they successful?

Mr. CAMARA. Never.

Mr. SPENCER. Why not?

Mr. CAMARA. Because you know farmers are always scared about giving money, in our place, here, and every place, I think. I may be mistaken, and, of course, the money is the first thing that any of these institutions needs in great amount, to get rid of something like a monopoly.

Mr. SPENCER. Well, they did not have the money?

Mr.CAMARA. We never did have money. We never did succeed because there was money on the other side.

Mr. SPENCER. How would Mr. Montes fight you? What did he do? Mr. CAMARA. With nothing else but the money which he had for himself and for the International.

Mr. SPENCER. Then he succeeded in putting you out of business right along?

Mr. CAMARA. If he succeeded?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes; if he succeeded.

Mr. CAMARA. Oh, yes; indeed. I wish we all could have what

he has.

Mr. SPENCER. Was there any competition between Mr. Montes and Mr. Peirce in regard to the fixing of the price of hemp?

Mr. CAMARA. Competition-you mean by fixing the price?

Mr. SPENCER. I say "competition." Was there competition between them? Were they bidding together or was there any agreement between them to bid the same price all the time?

Mr. CAMARA. They did it as often as there was any special inquiry or demand on henequen.

Mr. SPENCER. What do you mean?

Mr. CAMARA. We have had several seasons, that is, during the year we have had several seasons where the hemp demand has been more active than the supply, and it is then when they have had a fight, when the season when everything was good and they had the market at the low price, as low as they could, and of course they would not have to fight.

Mr. SPENCER. Certainly they went down there and fought like

tigers in 1909.

Mr. ISHER. Let him tell you about it.

Mr. CAMARA. I can tell you everything on that; just like an Indian, I have been working, and I can tell you everything about the inciMr. SPENCER. Now, then, you say that when the supply was good they would pay the same price?

Mr. CAMARA. No. When, for any reason, they had a large demand in the States for our hemp, then they would fight.