ast coast of
Sumatra the work is done by contract, the workers usually being bound
for three years. In both islands the laborers are mostly Javanese
coolies.

Under the contract system, the worker is subject to laws that compel him
to work, and prevent him from leaving the estate until the contract
period expires. Under the free-labor system, the laborer works as his
whims dictate. This forces the estate manager to cater to his workers,
and to build up an organization that will hold together.

As an example of the working of the latter system, this outline--by John
A. Fowler, United States trade commissioner--of the organization of a
leading estate in Java will indicate the general practise in vogue:

The manager of this estate has had full control for twenty years
and knows the "adat" (tribal customs) of his people and the
individual peculiarities of the leaders. This estate has been
described as having one of the most perfect estate organizations in
Java. It consists of two divisions of 3,449 bouws (about 6,048
acres in all), of which 2,500 bouws are in rubber and coffee and
550 in sisal; the remainder includes rice fields, timber,
nurseries, bamboo, teak, pastures, villages, roads, canals, etc.

The foreign staff is under the supervision of a general manager,
and consists of the following personnel: A chief garden assistant
of section 1, who has under him four section assistants and a
native staff; a chief garden assistant of section 2, who has under
him three section assistants, an apprentice assistant, and a native
staff; a chief factory assistant, who has under him an assistant
machinist, an apprentice assistant, and a native staff; and,
finally, a bookkeeper. The term "garden" means the area under
cultivation.

The bookkeeper, a man of mixed blood, handles all the general
accounting, accumulating the reports sent in by the various
assistants. The two chief garden assistants are responsible to the
manager for all work outside the factory except the construction of
new buildings, which is in charge of the chief factory assistant.
The two divisions of the estate are subdivided into seven
agricultural sections, each section being in full charge of an
assistant. A section may include coffee, rubber, sisal, teak,
bamboo, a coagulation station and nurseries. The assistant's duties