18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



COMMERCIAL MATTERS. 



The Lottery Depresses Business. 



Business in Cuba, in the opinion of 3 

 member of a New York export and im- 

 port house, who has just returned from 

 the island, is unfavorably influenced by 

 the national lottery. He says: 



"Money is taken out of business chan- 

 nels and collections delayed. 



Business Conditions : 



"Despite reciprocal relations, there are 

 many articles imported by the island 

 from other countries than the United 

 States." 



The banks, he says, have plenty of 

 money, but are cautious about loans. 

 The average rate is about ten to twelve 

 per cent. 



Hnports of rice, for example, which 

 total between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000 a 

 year, come chiefly from India. Ship- 

 ments from India by way of Hamburg 

 or Liverpool are laid down at Havana 

 at a price from one-half to one cent a 

 pound better than from this country. 



Similarly, potatoes for at least eight 

 months of the year can be brought from 

 Nova Scotia at prices under those of 

 this country. Canadian apples and oats 

 are also imported. Beans, which form 

 a large item in Cuban food, are bought 

 from us in large quantities because of 

 the nearness of supply. But the French 

 and Austrian product can be bought at 

 lower prices. — Journal of Commerce. 



The Balance of Trade. 



Discussing this economic question, the 

 Washington, D. C, Post uses this illus- 

 tration: 



"An American cargo of staves valued 

 at $5,000 at the port of departure is 

 exchangea at Havana, Cuba, for sugar 

 worth in the American market $10,000. 

 One school of economics will teach you 

 that this is criminal waste and prodigal 

 extravagance, for our country has bought 

 more than it has sold; but if that cargo 

 of staves had been exchanged for sugar 

 worth only $2,500, then this particular 

 school would have been in ecstacy, be- 

 cause we have sold goods to the amount 

 of $5,000 and bought goods only to the 

 amount of $2,500, thus making a favor- 

 able balance of trade in the sum of $2,500. 



"There are two theories as to the 

 balance of trade. Mr. John Dalzell will 

 tell you that an adverse balance is ruin- 

 ous, and leads to hopeless bankruptcy. 

 He will show to you that the people 

 who buy more than they sell are doomed 

 to beggary and misery. On the other 

 hand, Mr. Champ Clark holds that a 

 favorable balance only evidences that a 

 people have not received as much for 



what they exported as their goods were 

 worth. 



"There is the quarrel that has been 

 going on in the schools of political econ- 

 omy ever since Adam Smith and Jeremy 

 Benham debated it with such learning 

 and logic in the eighteenth century. 



English Goods in Cuba. 



The Manchester Guardian of recent 

 date says there are signs in the West 

 Indies of a revival in the demand for 

 cotton and other textile goods. Travelels 

 and agents are forwarding orders more 

 freely and the commercial outlook is 

 encouraging. Regarding Cuba's market 

 it says as follows: 



"Cuba continues to be a fair market 

 for all classes of white goods and also 

 for fancy -woven dress materials. 

 Bleached union cloths, lawns, dyed sat- 

 teens and mercerized prints are like- 

 wise in some demand. Ordinary gray 

 drills and sheetings are, however, dull, 

 the preferential tariff in favor of the 

 American manufacturers affecting the 

 sales of English qualities. Spanish made 

 goods, especiallv gray domestic and col- 

 ored cloths, are still in considerahle favor 

 with the old established Havana houses. 

 The more settled conditions in the Re- 

 public are not causing much increased 

 demand for Lancashire goods, except in 

 low specialties and filled white shirt- 

 ings. As the United States control the 

 customs of the country and American 

 currency is general in the larger towns, 

 the tendency of business, both in ex- 

 ports and imports, is decidedly in favor 

 of the New York commission houses, 

 who supply the bulk of all the manufac- 

 tured goods." 



Cuba's Trade. 



The showing of Cuba in the list fiscal 

 year was extraordinary, says the New York 

 Press. Her exports for the twelve months 

 ending with June, 1909, were $115,637,047, 

 as against $97,447,447 for the previous year. 

 While she sold abroad some eighteen mil- 

 lions more, however, she bought some thir- 

 teen millions less, the imports for 1909 being 

 $83,900,234; for 1908, $96,993,134. The 

 ITnited States sold Cuba four millions less 

 than in the year before ; we bought from 

 Cuba eighteen millions more, our purchases 

 accounting entirely for her increase of ex- 

 ports. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1908 the balance of trade against us in our 

 dealings with Cuba was thirty-five millions. 

 For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, it 

 was more than fifty-seven millions against 

 us. 



