THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



shipments has greatly decreased as shown above, yet a higher price than ever known before 

 was obtained for these cigars, averaging $85.32 per thousand. As regards unmanufactured 

 tobacco, during 1917 there were 291,618 bales exported, being 60,602 less than the previous 

 year, but these also brought a record price averaging $65.73 per bale. The 1917 exportation 

 of cigarettes amounted to 12,047,530 packages, being 808,022 more than in 1916. The ex- 

 portation of smoking tobacco was 261,461 kilograms, or 60,197 less than in the former year. 

 While as shown above there was a heavy falling ofT in the exportation of cigars last year, the 

 consumption of cigarettes has increased in Cuba as well as aborad, and this is also true here of 

 cigars. It is stated that the value of the tobacco manufactured and consumed in Cuba during 

 1917 was twice the amount of that exported, the domestic consumption amounting to $19,- 

 682,419 as against $10,207,015, the value of the manufactured products exported. 



We had occasion some time ago to refer in one of our letters to a concession granted by the 

 Cuban Government covering the operation of a telephone cable between Havana and Key 

 West in conjunction with the Cuban Telephone Co.. which has a monopoly of the telephone 

 service in Cuba, and in the United States with the Bell Telephone Co., thus permitting com- 

 munication between the principal cities in Cuba and the United States. Since then nothing 

 further has been reported in this respect, but a company has been organized called the Inter- 

 continental Telephone & Telegraph Co., and it is stated the cable will be laid from Chorrera, 

 near Havana, to Key West. The inventor and organizer of this company is an Italian, Dr. 

 Guiseppe Musso, who is expected here shortly in connection with this project. 



Development in building in Havana, both in the town proper and its suburbs, continues 

 at a very satisfactory rate, particularly in respect to the latter, as new subdivisions are being 

 brought out and extensive improvements aie being made to others, so Havana will soon 

 possess a suburban district that she may well be proud of. 



CUBAN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



CREAM SEPARATORS 



The dairying industry has not been 

 developed to any extent in Cuba, but the 

 Province of Camaguey, of which Xuevitas is 

 the principal port of entrj', is devoted quite 

 extensively to cattle raising, and there is a 

 greater production of butter and cheese in 

 this Province than in any other section of 

 Cuba. A few cream separators have been 

 imported, principally by American farmers 

 located here, but the demand has never been 

 sufficient to encourage the establishment of 

 agencies here for their sale. The few machines 

 imported have been ordered direct from the 

 manufacturers in the United States. 



There are several factors that operate 

 against the extended use of cream separators 

 in this country, among which may be men- 

 tioned the high prices received for milk by 

 dairymen who are located near the centers 

 of population, the impossibility of securing ice 

 a distance from the larger cities, the low 

 butter-fat content of the milk produced, and 

 the fact that the people in general are not 

 accustomed to the use of butter as a regular 

 article of diet. 



There is, however, a large consumption in 

 Cuba of lard and other edible fats, and now 

 that there is such a scarcity of these articles it 



might be possible to arouse an interest among 

 the dairymen in the use of cream separators 

 and the manufacture of butter. 



It has been customary in Latin America to 

 grant rather liberal terms of credit to dealers 

 in agricultural machinery, but there must, 

 of course, be a proper basis for this credit. 

 Many of the best firms prefer to take advan- 

 tage of cash discounts (cash against shipping 

 documents) rather than purchase at higher 

 prices with long terms of credit. The few 

 cream separators that have been imported 

 into this country up to the present have been 

 of American manufacture. — Consul Henry M. 

 Wolcott, Nuevilas. 



[A list of firms in Camaguey and Nuevitas 

 who may be interested in the sale of cream 

 separators can be obtained at the Bureau of 

 Foreign and Domestic Commerce or its 

 district or cooperative offices by referring to 

 file No. 95667]. 



IMPORTS FROM ISLE OF PINES | 

 There were 109,070 crates of citrous fruits 

 valued at $196,326 invoiced at the American 

 consular agency at Santa Fe, Isle of Pines, 

 Cuba, for the United States during 1917. 

 Among the other items with their value were: 

 Pineapples, $3,372; peppers, $52,032; egg- 

 plants, $6,068, and tomatoes, $863. 



