Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
with abandon.'' The revelry was interrupted by the arrival of a man called
the ''colonel'':
He was an indio, of small stature and dark complexion with a few locks
of hair hanging out from under his Stetson hat. He wore a pistol and a
beltofcartridgesoverhisraincoat...[hehad]acigarbuttinone
hand and a brand new unlit Havana clenched between his teeth.
58
The man ordered all of the field hands to leave before he turned to address
the dozen finqueros who remained. He told the group about a recent trip
to La Ceiba where he had been approached by several shippers who had
become aware that his contract with the Oteri steamship line had expired:
...''Cemori'' [Zemurray] don Vicente and Carmelo D'Antoni
[Standard Fruit], General Pizzati [Oteri], Dr. Reinolds [United Fruit],
that little Cuban fellow who talks like a machine and Peralta were all
there.Everyonetriedtotalktomeprivatelyinordertooffermea
contract with their companies except Reynolds ...theyorderedforme
glasses of champagne, the finest cognacs, rum, Spanish wines and
drink after drink of fine liquors, but they didn't know that I had
already promised Reynolds that I would sign with the Trust [United
Fruit]. And how could I deny that gringo of everything that he asked
me, when he cured minegra of typhoid fever and myself of an andada
deciempiés?
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The colonel added that he had made arrangements for four other local
growers to sell to Zemurrayand D'Antoni under newcontracts that estab-
lished higher prices for the fruit.The companies were even buying the in-
ferior fruit of the ''poorpoquiteros.'' All of the shippers, the colonel noted
withsatisfaction,paidwellwhengrowersdeliveredthemunbruised,eight-
handed bunches (at the time, bananas were not sold by weight; a ''hand''
consisted of clusters of individual bananas, or ''fingers,'' attached to the
fruit stem).
As portrayed in this vignette, the relationship between the shippers
and growers was not entirely one-sided, nor was it a purely commercial
one.Thecolonel—whoindicatedhimselftobethelargestgrowerinNueva
Armenia—signed with United Fruit not for lack of other options but be-
causeofthenatureof hispersonalrelationshipwiththatcompany'srepre-
sentative. In addition, the colonel's amicable relationships with the other
elite shippers prompted him to promise his neighbors' fruit to United's
