"If the Javanese wishes to increase his comfort or his income, he can do so by obtaining a second crop, of which thecultivation is entirely free and independent."At different times the Dutch chambers have discussed the question of introducing in Java individual property, by promotingthe partition of the common domain of the d e ssa among the inhabitants. The partizans of this measure pointed to theexample of Europe. The village communities to be found in Java, they said, are not peculiar to Asia: they existed formerly inthe majority of European countries, where they were met with in the form of the mark . The same customs, which are stillobserved in the dessas of Java, were formerly in force in the Slavonic and Germanic marks. Agricultural processes have beenimproved, and agricultural produce has increased in proportion as individual property has replaced common ownership inEurope. Why should not the same be the case in Java? Property is the best stimulus of labour; for it gives full efficiency tothe essential principle of responsibility. Besides, the system of collective possession of the soil cannot be maintainedindefinitely. The population increases annually by from 300,000 to 400,000 heads; and, consequently the lots assigned toeach family are continually diminishing. No doubt there remains much cultivable land as yet unreclaimed. According toRaffles, only one-eighth part of the soil capable of cultivation was occupied; according to other authorities there might beone-fifth or sixth part. In any case, vast spaces remain to be brought under cultivation; but this is only to defer the difficultywithout solving the problem. The time must arrive when the partition will only give each holder an inadequate portion. It is,therefore, advisable to provide against this final crisis, by adopting at once individual property, which would be lessfavourable to the increase of population.
The partizans of the Javanese system of community replied that a blow should not be lightly struck against an agrarianorganization, which dates from time immemorial, and is in close harmony with the system of agriculture practised in thecountry. The proper irrigation of the rice-fields demands works of art: canals to bring the water, and ditches to retain anddistribute it. These are objects of common interest, the expenses of which ought to be supported by the whole village. Toderive full benefit from the irrigation, the different agricultural operations of planting, weeding, and watering, are executedby common consent; and collective cultivation thus leads naturally to collective ownership.
The Javanese, like all Asiatics, is improvident: he is induced to sacrifice the advantages of a secure position in the future forpresent enjoyment. Give him property over which he has absolute power of disposition, and he will soon sell it to Chinesespeculators, who in a very short time will have accumulated in their hands the whole soil. In the 33,000 dessas there are atthe present time some two million families of agriculturists having a share in the ownership of the soil. They form the solidbasis of society, as being interested in its maintenance; for their life is happy and contented. Once make a definite division ofthe communal property, and at the end of a certain time a class of proletarians will be formed with nothing to attach them tothe social order, which will henceforth be constantly harassed and threatened.
Such are the principal arguments employed in a discussion which is still being carried on.
Hitherto the Dutch government has respected the ancient communal institutions of the colony, and has acted wisely in sodoing. No attempt has ever been made to impose on the Javanese the partition of the collective domain; there was only thewish to authorise the inhabitants themselves to decide by the vote of the majority, whether a definite division should beeffected, exactly as was done in Holland for the marks, which still existed in considerable numbers in that country, at thetime of the introduction of the civil code. In Java the communal territory is absolutely inalienable; it is extra commercium . Itsunimpaired preservation is a matter of public interest. Hence it results that even a majority can strike no blow against it. It isthe inheritance of future generations, and those of the present may not dispose of it at their will. Persons well acquaintedwith the manners and ideas of the Javanese assert, that a law, which authorised partition, would remain a dead letter: andthat in no dessa could a majority be found to attack this primordial institution, which they venerate as much as the adat orcustom itself. (11)
Opinions differ as to the origin of village communities in Java. Some writers trace it to the conquest and to Mussulmanlaws: while others maintain that they come from India. The latter opinion is probably the correct one. The same institutionsexisted, as a matter of fact, in India; it is to this country that Java owes all its ancient civilization; and, moreover, thosedistricts of the island, where Hindoo influence has been strongest, are the parts where the system of village communities ismost general. Yet, community of the soil being the system natural to primitive peoples, it was probably already in existencebefore the influence of Indian institutions made itself felt.
In Java the collective system seems favourable to the increase of population, although the case is quite otherwise in Russia.
