THE CUBA REVIEW 11 



HAVANA CORRESPONDENCE 



Havana, Auk ist 31, 1918. 

 Military Service Bill. — The principal legislation made effrctive since our last advice was 

 the passing by Congress of the Obligatory Military Service; Bill, which was then being debated, 

 and which was promptly signed by the President. As in the United States, immediately upon 

 the passage of this bill, there was a large increase in the number of marriage licenses issued, but 

 the Cuban Government has ruled that such marriages will not .serve as exemption from military 

 service. Registration of all Cubans between 21 and 28 years will begin on Sept. 16 and prepa- 

 rations are now being made for the taking of same. In connection with the President's decree of 

 August 14th restoring constitutional guarantees, he issued an address to the Cuban people 

 stating it was his desire that the national elections should be held ne.xt November as customary, 

 and that no restrictions would be i)laced upon the voters in exercising their right of franchise at 

 that time. Until this announcement was made, there had been some doubt as to whether these 

 elections would be held in November on account of abnormal war conditions. 



Havana Electric Railway, Light and Power Co. — In our last letter we referred to an embargo 

 being placed by the representative of the American Food Administration in connection with the 

 selling of coal to the Havana Electric Railway, Light & Power Co., due to the latter having 

 supplied this commodity to the breweries, which has been i)rohibited. This embargo was 

 lifted shortly afterwards, and Mr. Morgan has also informed the coal importers that if they 

 first secured permission from the Food Administrator of Cuba, they could furnish coal to the 

 breweries ^s well as the bottle manufacturers making bottles for the breweries, as the restric- 

 tions against same had been removed. 



Footwear. — We have previously made mention of the fact that the Cuban Food Adminis- 

 trator had published a decree announcing that the Government would intervene as regards the 

 sale of footwear, due to the alleged excessive prices being charged. Various meetings have been 

 held between the Food Administrator and the manufacturers of footwear, and it was finally 

 decided to adopt a type to be called "Calzado Economico Nacional," which may be translated 

 as "National Economical Footwear," to be sold at prices ranging from $2 for children to $4.50 

 for men. In view of the shoe factories' agreeing to manufacture this type of shoe, which will be 

 sold practically at cost, they will be permitted to import better grades and sell them without 

 restrictions as to prices other than that they must be reasonable. 



Electric Current. — Reference was made last month to the matter of again restricting the 

 consumption of electric current. Since then the Food Administrator has ruled that the public 

 lighting system would begin a half hour later than usual and be shut off one hour earlier, also 

 that electric signs should not be illuminated until 8 P. M. and should be discontinued after 

 11.30 P. M. 



Gasoline. — There has been considerable shortage of gasoline in Havana, both of the im- 

 ported article as well as that manufactured here by the West India Oil Refining Co., a branch 

 of the Standard Oil Co. As a result, the Food Administrator published a decree fixing 46c. per 

 gallon as the maximum price to be charged for the domestic article and 59c. as maximum for 

 the imported article. 



Sugar Production. — The Department of Agriculture, Commerce & Labor issued a state- 

 ment on Aug. 10th announcing that the total sugar production of the crop of 1917-18 amounts 

 to 3,408,878 tons. The total output in bags for each Province is as follows: 



Pinar del Rio 521,022 bags 



Havana 2,452,593 



Matanzas 4,827,298 



Santa Clara 6,586,092 



Camaguey 3,222,467 



Oriente 6,252,146 



Making a total of 23,861,678 bags 



