12 THE CUBA REVIEW 



tioned that it was in a very mild form here, but there seems to have been a renewal 

 of the outbreak and the fatalities appear to be greater than heretofore. 



AMERICAN EXPORT LICENSES: Under date of Dec. 9th the American Min- 

 ister at Havana made the following announcement in this connection: 



"The Legation of the United States of America desires to announce for 

 the benefit of importers of American merchandise in Cuba that, beginning 

 Dec. 6, 1918, all export licenses issued after that date and all export licenses 

 issued before that date which have not expired on or after Nov. 15, 1918, 

 shall be valid until revoked." 



AMERICAN PASSPORTS: The American Minister issued a notice on Dec. 4th 

 giving the following information in regard to passports: 



"For the convenience of reputable business men and others, who are 

 residents in Cuba and who have need to make frequent visits to the United 

 States, American Consuls to whom such facts are demonstrated will give a 

 vise for six months at a time, which will, for that period, enable the holder 

 of the passport to enter into and depart from the United States without other 

 requirements." 



WHARF STEALING: The theft of merchandise from the various wharves of 

 the government and private warehouse companies has finally reached such propor- 

 tions that active steps are being taken in order to stop this. When this stealing 

 was unimportant no particular attention was paid to it, but as it has become so 

 prevalent a committee has been formed by the Chamber of Commerce, insurance 

 companies and other commercial organizations to develop plans to combat this evil. 

 The harbor laborers have generally been charged with these shortages, but they in 

 defending themselves allege the Custom House employees on the wharves are the 

 guilty ones. 



HORSE RACES: The opening of the winter meet at Oriental Park, Marianao, 

 originally set for Thanksgiving Day, was postponed on account of the official parade 

 to be held on that day in honor of the United States, but the meet opened on Dec. 8th 

 with a very large attendance. The strike of transportation lines last week caused 

 a suspension of the races for a couple of days, but the meet is now again under way. 

 CIGAR EXPORTS: We have referred to the constantly increasing quantities of 

 cigars being exported. During the present year up to Oct. 31, the amount is given 

 as 122,980,311 cigars as against 85,484,263 for the corresponding period of last year. 

 During the same time in 1916 the total was 99,051,784 and correspondingly for 1915, 

 95,319,907. England continues to be the greatest market for Cuban cigars, her im- 

 ports during the ten month period mentioned above being 49,064,947 cigars as against 

 17,726,438 during the same period of 1917. 



Comparative figures of exports of cigars to the eight principal consuming mar- 

 kets from January 1st to Nov. 30th, 1918, as against those for the corresponding 

 period of 1917 are as follows: 



Destinations Eleven months of 1918 Eleven months of 1917 



England 54,248,652 23,173,682 



United States 39,601,719 41,186,570 



Canada 2,202,142 2,427,900 



France 12,440,625 8,616,022 



Australia 3,635,144 4,048,110 



Argentina 2,854,928 2,243,897 



Spain 10,780,877 8,029,045 



Chile 3,245,703 2,443,477 



Total 128,973,790 92,168,703 



