16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN COMMER 



WAR TRADE BOARD RULING 



The War Trade Board announces in a 

 new ruling (W. T. B. R. 270) that consuls 

 in Cuba have been instructed to certify 

 invoices for sugar without official notifi- 

 cation of the import number, irrespective 

 of the provisions of W. T. B. R. No. 234 

 issued September 18, 1918, in which it 

 was announced that American consular 

 officers would certify no invoices for any 

 ocean shipment made on or after October 

 1, 1918, to the United States, except upon 

 receipt of official notification from the 

 War Trade Board of the issuance of an 

 import license and of the import license 

 number. The earlier procedure as to the 

 shipment of sugar from Cuba is still in 

 effect, any provisions of W. T. B. R. No. 

 234 to the contrary notwithstanding. 



COFFEE IMPORTATION 



The following ruling regarding coffee 

 importation into the United States has 

 been made by the American Legation in 

 Havana : 



No further license will be granted for 

 the importation of coffee into the United 

 States except to the United States Sugar 

 Equalization Board, Incorporated. All 

 outstanding licenses for the importation 

 of coffee have been revoked as to ship- 

 ments made after October 18, 1918. 



Notwithstanding the fact that Ameri- 

 can consuls may have received official 

 notification of the issuance of import 

 licenses, they should certify no invoices 

 whatsoever covering shipments of coffee 

 after October 18, 1918; and, furthermore, 

 they should consulate no invoices on or 

 prior to October 18, 1918, unless they 

 shall have satisfied themselves that the 

 shipments are covered by bona fide 

 through ocean and-or-through railroad 

 bills of lading to the United States, dated 

 on or prior to October 18, 1918. 



The foregoing instructions concerning 

 the certification of invoices do not apply 

 to shipments consigrfed to the United 

 States Sugar Equalization Board, In- 

 corporated. 



CIAL MATTERS 



STRIKES 



At about the time the harbor strike in 

 Havana was settled, November 18th, a 

 strike of the employees of the Cuba Rail- 

 road in Camaguey was called. Labor 

 leaders went to the Department of Gov- 

 ernment and threatened a general strike 

 in Havana, and on December 6th Presi- 

 dent Menocal sent a commission to Ca- 

 maguey to study the situation and try to 

 procure a settlement. The strikers re- 

 fused to accept arbitration. An anony- 

 mous committee, known as the "Circum- 

 stantial Committee", issued orders for a 

 general strike in Havana on the night of 

 December 9th, which, they announced, 

 would be called off as soon as the Cuba 

 Railroad strike was settled. A settle- 

 ment of the railroad strike was reached 

 on December 10th and notice to that 

 effect was published in the Official Ga- 

 zette on December 11th. In spite of all 

 announcements of the settlement of the 

 railroad strike, the "Circumstantial Com- 

 mittee" refused to be informed of the 

 fact, and the general strike in Havana 

 continued. It was not until the evening 

 of December 12th that the "Circumstan- 

 tial Committee" gave orders to their 

 comrades in the general sympathetic 

 strike to return to work. 



The most serious feature of the tieup 

 was the great difficulty the people had in 

 obtaining food, and had the situation 

 been prolonged there would have inevi- 

 tably been serious outbreaks by the 

 starving. 



All restaurants were closed and the 

 proprietors of hotels served their guests 

 with canned goods, waiting on the tables 

 themselves. Not a street car was run- 

 ning for two days and many privately 

 owned automobiles had their tires cut by 

 broken glass and tacks, scattered through 

 the streets. The sugar industry, ship- 

 ping, and all other industries were para- 

 lyzed and suffered severely. 



CONDENSED MILK 



The War Trade Board at Washington, 

 through its Havana representative, Mr. 

 H. H. Morgan, has authorized the ship- 

 ment to Cuba of 60,000 cases of con- 

 densed milk monthly. 



