THECUBAREVIEW 23 



The bank's President, William A. Merchant, was chairman of the Liberty Loan Com- 

 mittee, and Jos6 Lopez Kodrigiiez.Vice-President of the institution, i)ersonally contributed the 

 sum of $1.50,000 to the last loan, thereby lending a strong iK^rsonal feature to the work. An 

 active cani])aign was made by Manuel Escobar, Vice-President, and others, among the bank's 

 depositors, and a Liberty Loan Department created, for which there was a special booth at 

 the head office decorated with the national emblems of "Cuba y America," was a conspicuous 

 feature to draw public attention. 



^^'hen the European war broke out in the summer of 1914, Cuba had just financed her 

 ])revious record sugar crop of 2,597,732 tons. The planters and business men stood the finan- 

 cial shock without a tremor, but a new condition arose which brought into play the best thought 

 and moral strength of those who stood at the head of financial and government affairs. A 

 national monetary system had to be adoi)ted to replace the crumbling one that had j)revailed 

 for nearly a century. At last the Spanish gold dollar standard, with French and Spanish coins 

 circulating freely at their daily commercial ratios, had been put to the test and found wanting. 

 The foreign coins were needed at home, and speculation raised their price far beyond their 

 metallic values, there being no possible means of coining new issues of the same species. 



At this jioint the Cuban Congress passed a law adopting a national gold standard, declar- 

 ing the Cuban gold peso, of weight and fineness equal to the American dollar, to be the unit of 

 value, and further ado}jting United States currency as lawful money at a parity with gold, be- 

 sides providing for the circulation of Cuban silver dollars and minor coins on a practical basis. 

 The new system proved a great success, and the adoption of the American dollar at a i)arity 

 with Cuban gold has served to knit even closer than before the ties of mutual intercourse and 

 interest between the two countries, already inseparably connected by the events leading to the 

 creation of the Cuban RepubUc, nearly two decades ago. 



To the National Bank of Cuba, the Government Fiscal Agent since the institution was 

 created in 1901, the contract for coinage of the new Cuban money was awarded, and the entire 

 issue was struck off at the Philadelphia mint during the course of 1915 and 1916, by courtesy 

 of the American Government. 



No financial measure has ever merited greater applause, or been passed at a more oppor- 

 tune time, than the Cuban monetary system, working as it does in perfect harmony and con- 

 junction -\\-ith that of the United States; and the Cuban Government is entitled to the high- 

 est recognition for the way in which this most delicate of all governmental problems has been 

 handled, at a time when the world's finances are being put to the test. 



Cuba's marvellous development since she became a nation has been due to the business 

 sagacity of her people in utiUzing the means at their command for producing and distributing 

 her enormous wealth. 



When the National Bank of Cuba opened up a new era in the year 1905 to the agricul- 

 tural interests of the country, by extending its system of loans on sugar collateral on a safe and 

 comprehensive basis, it enabled the sugar mills to adopt the latest and best scientific devices for 

 getting a maximum result from their crops, which represent the bulk of the country's wealth. 

 Branch banks were opened in the leading cities and districts, and today the institution has 43 

 branches besides scores of agencies throughout the RepubHc, to supply all local needs. 



In Havana the bank owns and occupies the finest office building in Cuba, and a five story 

 annex is being put up adjoining it, to meet the ever-increasing demand for working space. It 

 owns a dozen handsome buildings in the leading cities of the Interior to accommodate its 

 branches there, all of which are considered models of classic architecture. 



The best evidence of the bank's progress is found in a comparison of its latest balance sheet 

 with its first published statement in ISOl, as shown by the following summary: 



Oct. 31, 1901 Dec. 31, 1917 



Cash in vaults $1,215,013.05 $12,932,136.61 



Total cash 1,926,422.90 24,410,489.94 



Loans and discounts 1,489,646.93 49,-325,200.74 



Capital and surplus 1,000,000.00 9,000,000.00 



Deposits (not bankers') 3,083,700.17 67,749,616.40 



