THE CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN GOVERNMENT MATTERS 



BILL TO ENCOURAGE FOREIGN LABOR 



A bill sui)portecl by the planters and sugar 

 mill interests of Cuba has been introdueed in 

 the Cuban Senate. Under the terms of the 

 measure, $2,000,000 would be ai>propriated 

 annuall}- for a jx-riod of five years to pay the 

 ocean ])assage of foreign laborers coming to 

 Cuba to seek emj)loymeut. 



Prominent sugar men say that at least 50,- 

 000 men will be needed and that it is impos- 

 sible for them to bear the exjiense of bringing 

 these men into Cuba. 



Leading sugar men of Cuba have urged the 

 Government to ]>as,« an immigration law that 

 will i)revent crowding the country with in- 

 ferior labor and to furnish money necessary 

 to permit the bringing in of a considerable 

 number of men from Eurojjc f(jr the next croj). 



REFUND FOR CENSORED CABLES 



The U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic 

 Commerce has been advised by the chief 

 cable censor that the repayment of tolls for 

 cables originating in the United States which 

 are stopped by the United States censorship 

 before leaving the United States is not abso- 

 lutely prohibited by censoiship. Requests 

 from cable useis for lefunds are considered 

 individually and on their merit, and the cable 

 companies are allowed to make refunds when 

 evidence of nondcliverv is presented and when 

 no military objection exists. Refund is in- 

 frequently denied when requested by loyal 

 firms. 



FUNDS FOR CENSORSHIP 



On the recommendation of the Secretary of 

 Government, President Menocal has signed a 

 decree appropriating .?386,SC0 for the sup- 

 port of the postal censorship during the fiscal 

 year 1918-19. It is expected that censorship 

 offices will be established in the cities of 

 Matanzas, Cardenas, Caibarien, Cienfuegos, 

 Manzanillo and Santiago de Cuba. 



ADMISSION OF CUBAN CITIZEN TO U.S. 

 MILITARY ACADEMY 



The House of Representatives has author- 

 ized the entrance of a citizen of Cuba, Aurelio 

 Collazo, as a student to the "West Point Mili- 

 tary Academ}', by the adoption of a Senate 

 resolution permitting the Secretary of War to 

 do so. 



CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS 



President Menocal has recommended the 

 ex|)enditure of -SI, 317,941 for the constniction 

 of national highways in Cuba as follows: 



Province of Pinar del Rio $205,3.")! 



Province of Havana 200,700 



Province of Matanzas 103,273 



Province of Santa Clara 222,817 



Province of Camaguey 130,800 



Province of Oriente 320,000 



FOOD CROPS 



Director of Subsistence Andre has sent tc? 

 all the mayors of the Island a circulai of the 

 Department of Agricultun; admonishing them 

 to enforce in their respective municipal limits 

 the regulation that each landholder or tenant 

 shall devote three per cent, of his cultivated 

 land to food crops and that all owners of 

 estates whose contracts with tenants here- 

 tofore have contained clauses forbidding their 

 tenants to plant food crops shall consider 

 those contracts annulled and shall replace 

 them with other contracts requiring that 

 three per cent, of the land be devoted to such 

 crops. 



CUBAN COFFEE 



The coffee growers of Oriente Province have 

 appealed to the Director of Subsistence to 

 limit importations of coffee into Cuba to 

 80,000 sacks per year. The coffee growers 

 claim that unless this is done, the Cuban 

 coffee growing industry will be ruined, as the 

 exclusion of coffee from some of its accustomed 

 European markets is causing the South 

 American growers to sell large quantities 

 of their coffee in America at prices with which 

 the Cuban grower cannot compete. 



CUSTOMS RECEIPTS 



Customs receipts of Cuba for 1917 amount- 

 ed to $37,232,968, as compared with .$36,646,- 

 583 in 1916. The ports which produced over 

 a million dollars in revenues in 1917 were: 

 Habana, $27,651,939; Santiago de Cuba, 

 $2,272,465; and Cienfuegcs, $1,670,408. The 

 ports producing less than $1,000,000 but over 

 $500,000, were: Matanzas, $845,843; Cai- 

 barien, $820,766; Cardenas, $739,770; Mpe, 

 $692,391; and Manzanillo, $549,793. 



