THE CUBA REVIEW 



13 



CUBAN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



AMERICAN CUTLERY IN CUBA 



It has been noted t.hat Ijy far the greater 

 part of the cutlery used in the hotels, barber 

 shops, households, etc., of tliis district are 

 German products and bear the trade-marks 

 of Solingen and Remscheid firms. The rea- 

 son for this apparent predominance of Ger- 

 man cutlery' vaW probaljly be foimd in the 

 thoroug.hly organized foreign sales depart- 

 ments, the more Hbeial credits extended by 

 the German manufacturer, and, of course, the 

 very low prices. 



For obvious reasons cutlerj- usea in Culaa 

 is at present almost exclusively purchased 

 in the United States, and so long as the war 

 lasts the United States will no doubt con- 

 tinue to he the chief source of supply. The 

 efforts of American cutlery; manufactiu-ers, 

 however, should be directed toward retain- 

 ing this trade after the war, and it is con- 

 sidered not impossible for them to do so. 



German manufactm-ers and exporters will 

 likely make every effort to regain the lost 

 market, but owing to the great increase in 

 the wages of Gennan cutleiy workers it is 

 more than doubtful whether they will be in 

 position to offer their waxes at the iormer 

 exceedingly low prices. Another feature is 

 the absence in Germany of large accumulated 

 suppUes of cutlery that could possibly be 

 "dumped" on the Latin American market 

 after the termination of hostilities. All the 

 Sohngen and Remscheid factories have been 

 almost exclusively engaged in the manufac- 

 ture of war materials, and this fact, together 

 with the lack of skilled workmen, owing to 

 the large number of men called to the colors, 

 the difficulty of obtaining certa^in suppUes, 

 such as mother-of-pearl, bone and hartshorn, 

 for the handles of certain cutlery products, the 

 difficulty of procming certain metals, such as 

 brass and even iron and steel for other than 

 mihtarj' purposes, have made it impossible 

 for the German manufacturer to lay aside a 

 stock of goods against the end of the war. 



There is apparently no prejudice against 

 American cutlery m this market, and the 

 more favorable credit and lower pricer were 

 no doubt the cardinal reasons for the more 

 ready sale of the German product. The 

 question as to whether Ameiican manufac- 

 tiu-ers can successfully retain t.he cutlerj' 

 trade after the war seems to narrow down to 

 a question of price or whether a possible Amer- 



ican large-scale production can compete with 

 t.he German "home worker" and cheaper 

 labor. Wages in Germany, while they will 

 hardly retain their present abnormal height, 

 will not hkely gf) back to their low pre-war level. 

 The average pre-war wages of skilled German 

 cutlery workers varied from 3 to 7 marks 

 ($0.71 to $1.67) per day. 



The customs tariff of Cuba allows a duty 

 reduction of 30% of the general rate on cut- 

 lerj' mamnactured in the United States. There 

 is transmitted a list of dealers in tliis distnct 

 who sell cutleiy ana hardware, which list 

 may be of interest to American cutlery manu- 

 facturers. The attention of manufactmers is 

 called to the importance ot addressing the 

 listed firms in Spanish, the language of the 

 country, thereby greatly facihtating negotia- 

 tions and creating a closei commercial con- 

 tact. — -Chas. S. Winans, Cienfuegos. 



MEDICINE REGULATIONS 



According to a notice in the British Board of 

 Trade Journal, the enforcement of the Cuban 

 regulations for the sale of foreignj pharma- 

 cutical preparations, originally enacted in 

 1913, and suV^sequently suspended imtil 

 Sept. 10, 1917, has been deferred for a further 

 period of two years. 



MILK 



Natural milk is sold in almost all part of 

 Cuba, but condensed milk is in very general 

 use, and is consumed in relatively large 

 quantities. According to the census of 1907 

 there were at that time 2,579,492 head of 

 cattle in the republic, which number, it is 

 estimated, has now risen to above 3,000,000. 



GRAPEFRUIT EMBARGO 



An embargo has been declared against the 

 shipment of grapefruit from Cuba in order to 

 conserve space for war essentials on ships 

 leaving there. 



Pineapples and bananas are the only fruits 

 which do not come under the embargo. 



SHIPPING 



Cuban shipping interests will shortly sub- 

 mit proposals to build all-steel freighters of 

 8,000 to 10,000 displacement^ for United 

 States, if latter will permit exportation to 

 Cuba of necessary materials. 



