THECUBAREVIEW 31 



times a groat task — seem now Mell nigh insurmountable. What we shall do to meet our obli- 

 gations to the United States and to those countries with whom we are associated IN THE 

 GREATEST OF ENTERPRISES, must rest on a thorough appreciation and co-ordination 

 of every interest concerned. 



Anu)ng other obstacles that beset us in our active operation, we suffer the disadvantage of 

 having to import (naturally from the United State s) all material, all supplies that enter into the 

 growth of cane and manufacture of sugar. In all these essential imjjortations there is not an 

 article — with scarcely an exception — whos ■ primary cost is not three or four times the normal 

 price; coal soUl for $20 per ton as against $5.50 per ton formerly; bags as high as 65c. against 

 15c. formerly; and the ocean freight on i)ractically every article in use is quadrupled. 



As in niost industries, the largest item entering into its cost is labor. For every stalk of 

 cane now i)lanted, cultivated and harvested, the total expenditure is three times the price paid 

 under normal conditions. How we are to reconcile the outlay for labor and for material with a 

 compensating price for sugar, is a matter for mutual consideration. 



With Respect to Cosla. — In the advices we have received covering total costs of production 

 for the season just ended, we append those at hand — they are probably on a scale with the 

 average in all the Western part of Cuba. The figures here given, let us remind you, constitute 

 the actual price for the year in many important items that were bought beforehand— before 

 the advance of to-day— and neither the material nor labor, represent prices for the same items 

 that are being charged now. 



Briefly, however, it may be truly said, that scarcely an item that enters into the cost of 

 sugar is not distinctly higher to-day than was paid in the season now ending. Even so, with 

 whatever advantages the planter had in the past year with 4.60c. as the basic price of his 

 proc uct, a large majority of them enter the new year with less cash than in the beginnii g of 

 the year just closing. . , ,,. 



We accompany this report with statements of such plantations, mainly m the, V\ cstern 

 Provinces, that have liquidated their year's business to date. In the aggregate, as you will note, 

 these estates show an average increased cost of production and a relative out] ut of one year 

 with the other. 



Cost Output 



1917 3.3550c mr lb. 1917 5,822,440 bags 



1918 3.8800c. * " 1918 6,383,500 " 



Increased cost 52.50c. i.or lb. 



Other statements as may be desired wiU be furnished as fast as received. 



In presenting these figures as representing the need of the industry, we de( m it unnecessary 

 to remind you that whether considering any other article of food or of raiment, or steel or 

 wood, and chiefly labor that figures so largely in every production, of aU these essentials sugar 

 will be found the cheapest in the list, and apart from flour is distinctly the most important 

 product in providing a well-balanced ration. 



One of the notable influences now affecting the value of sugar arises from the loss of two 

 and one-half miflion tons heretofore provided for export of which the world is deprived; besides, 

 other countries that have heretofore produced their own requirements must draw on exporting 

 countries for needed supplies. 



In t.tie present emergency Cuba is the main and sorretimts the sole dependence :or ship- 

 ments to Western Europe, as weU as to England and the United States. If these are to be con- 

 sidered as they must be, and the movement cf sugar were free, the price of today would probably 

 be doubled and this would result in an unsatisfactory condition for the consumer and in a fever- 

 ish, unhealthy state for the industry — for these reasons we welcome the control exacted by the 

 Govermnent of Cuba and the restrictions imposed by the Govermnent of the United States. 

 The representative subscribers heremito enter upon t.he relations estabhshed willingly ard with 

 confidence, that the true economy of tlie situation will be preserved. 



On the rightful determination of this question will depend the quantity of Cuba's output 

 for the coming year, and especially for the year 1920. T.he question is, shall we pursue our 

 course so that the enthusiastic conduct of the producer shall be won— that he may proceed full 

 tilt, and with the energetic apphcation called for, supply in full tlis great necessity-y-or s) all it be 

 curtailed? A quarter or a liaK cent, or even a cent would not l)e so much considered by the 

 consumer as the possibiUty of a deprivation of his wants. The question of price wifl at once es- 

 tabhsh the difference between a scarcity and an abundance of supphes. If this question needs 

 to be argued as to whether we -wiU have sufficient supphes on a basis of fair remuneration to the 

 producer, or whether we shah be without, then we are obliged to remind you that the buying 

 power of the great majority of consumers to-day is distinctly mere t.han wlien the market for 

 this product, and all other products, wps at its lowest ebb. It has not been many years since the 

 United States had eighteen, nineteen, twenty dollars per capita in current trade; today with a 

 largely increased population they have over fifty dollars per capita for conducting business, or an 



