22 



TH E CUBA REVIEW. 



COMMERCIAL MATTERS. 



American Shoes in Cuba. 



A consular report recently issued says of 

 the import shoe trade of Cuba. The import 

 shoe trade of Cuba is now controlled by the 

 United States. We find in competition, 

 aside from the native manufactured prod- 

 uct, Spanish shoes and extremely limited 

 number of women's fine goods of French 

 origin. The following table shows the im- 

 ports of all footwear into Cuba for the 

 following years, according to Cuban sta- 

 tistics 



MEN'S FOOTWEAR. 



Countries — 1903- i90S- i907- 



Spain $433,623 $692,689 $446,896 



United States.. 162,003 458,081 1,123,405 



Other countries. 709 1.041 2,642 



Total $596,335 $1,151,811 $1,572,943 



WOMEN'S FOOTWEAR. 



Spain $565,936 $376,756 $240,037 



United States.. 530,231 981,202 i,445.i55 



Other countries. 785 610 1,867 



Total $1,096,952 $1,358,568 $1,687,059 



CHILDREN'S FOOTWEAR. 



Spain $106,986 $108,384 $151,257 



United States.. 94,255 177,824 434,i40 



■Other countries. 9 3i3 326 



Total $201,250 $286,521 $585,723 



The American shoe is light and preferred 

 by the large majority (the United States 

 now holds about 85 per cent, of the total 

 trade of Cuba), both for its good wearing 

 qualities and the great variety of shapes 

 and styles which our manufacturers pro- 

 duce. 



A Tireless Business Competitor. 



It goes without saying that the Ameri- 

 can manufacturer seeking the trade of other 

 countries, must improve on his methods. 

 Our consuls have many times warned our 

 business men against inexcusable careless- 

 ness and indifference in all the details of 

 crating, packing, shipping and invoicing 

 their goods. The Boston Transcript praises 

 the German traders' thoroughness. It says: 



Because Cuba will purchase the rifles for the 

 Cuban army in Germany we need not conclude 

 that the Kaiser is promoting a "conspiracy" in 

 the Caribbean. He is pleased to see an order 

 placed in Germany which might have gone 

 to the United States, and it is only natural 

 that he should be. He frankly backs with all 

 his prestige every German effort to obtain trade. 

 His policy is well known and entirely respect- 

 able. But our real competitor is not the Kaiser 

 except so far as he seconds the enterprise of 

 German traders. Our competitor is the German 

 "drummer," who is tireless, tactful, and what 

 is more, trained. Throughout South and Cen- 

 tral America, and in the West Indies, an army 

 of drummers from "the fatherland" who speak 



the language of the country in which they ex- 

 hibit their wares, are "pushing for business." 

 The result of their intelligent energy is seen 

 in a great expansion of German trade. German 

 houses follow the German drummer. German 

 steamers, subsidized, bring German goods direct 

 to all the leading ports to the southward of us. 

 One of the congressional party which has just 

 returned from a tour of inspection of the Pan- 

 ama Canal noted that many if not most of the 

 leading commercial and banking establishments 

 on the Isthmus were German. There were 

 others still retaining Spanish, English or Amer- 

 ican signs, which are manned by German clerks. 

 Throughout the West Indies so far as he ob- 

 served on his return journey, "the German inva- 

 sion" was a fact, or on the way towards be- 

 coming one. — Transcript. 



We remember hearing an Englishman say 

 in substance the same thing, comments the 

 Leominster (Mass.) Gazette. As we were 

 going up to London, he referred to the 

 fact that Germans were fast getting 

 the trade in England, and said that the 

 Germans were ready to make goods just 

 the style the customer wanted and could 

 sell, but the Englishman must insist upon 

 making an article as he always had made 

 it. The German, of course, secured the 

 trade. It is this invasion which is to be 

 feared. 



American Manufactures in Cuba. 



Among the various articles of American 

 manufacture sent to Cuba in 1908, a report 

 of the U. S. Department of Commerce and 

 Labor mentions the following : 



$85,000 worth of American plows and 

 cultivators. 



$2,000 worth of American billiard balls. 



$188,000 worth of candles. 



$167,000 worth of American automobiles. 



Copper in Cuba. 



In Cuba, the only producers of copper 

 of any account are the mines of El Cobre, 

 near Santiago Bay, which up to 1868 pro- 

 duced ore valued at $50,186,225, probably 

 in depreciated Spanish currency. Under the 

 management of the Cuba Copper Co., or- 

 ganized in 1907, they are producing about 

 6,400,000 pounds of fine copper yearly. — 

 Wall Street Journal, June 9, 1909. 



To Introduce the Lace Industry. 



The commission appointed by the boards 

 of trade throughout the island to study the 

 proposed introduction of the lace industry 

 in Cuba has made a favorable report. The 

 necessary raw material will be produced 

 in the country. About 4,000 workers will 

 find employment should this industry be es- 

 tablished. At present most of the lace is 

 imported from England. 



