In this paper we examine the economic conditions of the Sugar plantations and their influences on the peasants' economy in Java in 1910s. After breaking out of the world war I there continued a favourable time for them for about 2 years, but since the end of 1916 the situation became seriously worse because the want of shipping hinderd the export. Then came the after war boom and Java-sugar was exported extensively at the very high prices which continued to the middle of 1920, when suddenly came slump.
The levels of the rents on wages which the sugar plantations payed to the peasants, however, didn't necessarily reflect the above-mentioned situations directly. Generally speaking, nominal value of them became higher throughout the latter half of 1910s.
But when we examine the real value of them, they declined seriously because of the speedy rise of the cost of living since 1918, which reached its pesk in 1920. And these situations were thought to be severere for the unpossessed on small-scale peasants than for the large-scale peasants because the former had to rely on the sugar plantations more than the latter.