138 CUBA AND TOItTO RICO 



remembered that three fourths of the cost of sugar pro- 

 duction belongs to the agricultural side, and only one 

 fourth to the mechanical side, the extent of the opportunity 

 that exists for improvement will be appreciated. 



Roughly speaking, there is an average of two hundred 

 pounds of sugar to every two thousand pounds of cane. 

 Under the most favorable conditions there may be three 

 hundred pounds of sugar to the ton of cane. But if this 

 attainable maximum of fifteen per cent, of sugar could be 

 increased, as it readily might, by more careful cutting, 

 planting, and cultivating, to twenty per cent., there would 

 be an immediate increase of thirty-three per cent, in the 

 yield, with little, if any, increase in the cost of raising and 

 harvesting. 



The advantage which Cuba possesses over all the other 

 West Indian Islands in the matter of sugar-growing has 

 already been alluded to. To this should be added the 

 notable advantage of the possession of deep harbors, ad- 

 mitting of direct shipment without lighterage, and a con- 

 sequent saving in freight, representing an appreciable 

 percentage of profit. That an increased production of 

 sugar would add to the wealth of Cuba and the purchasing 

 capacity of its people is sufficiently plain. Considering, 

 however, that sugar-growing is a branch of agriculture 

 best conducted on a large scale by men of capital, employ- 

 ing, generally, low-priced labor, the regeneration of the 

 island can hardly be looked for from this source. 



The chief opening for American energies will be found 

 in the line of public improvements. Railways must be 

 constructed, cities improved, waterworks and sewerage 

 systems established, harbors dredged, and a thousand and 

 one public works undertaken which Spain has long neg- 

 lected, and which are necessary to the large population 

 which the island already possesses. Concerning the pros- 

 pects in these directions, we can present them no better 

 than by summarizing the opinions recently expressed by 

 Mr. W. B. Scaife, an American engineer who has had long 



