THE CUBA REVIEW 13 



CUBA'S SUGAR INDUSTRY — A CONTRAST 



II. 0. Neville. 



The production of sugar in Cuba in the early years of the Eighteenth Century of 

 some 40,000 tons, the further production towards the close of the War of Independ- 

 ence in 1898 of some :500,000 tons, and the tremendous contrast between these mod- 

 erate quantities and the over 4,000,000 tons predicted as the crop of 1918-1919, gives 

 an invitation to look back over the history of this by far the most important of Cuba's 

 industries, upon which the welfare and happiness of fully nine-tenths of her inhab- 

 itants depend, to note the different conditions under which sugar has been produced 

 and the methods which have been employed at different periods. 



Imagination, naturally, carries us back to the days of Columbus's discovery of the 

 Island, when, beyond a doubt, the eyes of those on board his vessels, if a bird's-eye 

 view of the Island had been permitted them, would have seen a vast semi-tropical 

 forest extending from Cape Maisi to Cape San Antonio and broken in large areas 

 only in the central portions of Camagiiey Province, the western part of Santa Clara 

 Province, the eastern part of Matanzas Province, and the western portion of Pinar 

 del Rio Province, where the sandy soils are found which have since been so successfully 

 used for the production of Cuba's famous tobacco. These clearings left by nature 

 were undoubtedly augmented, though only to a very small extent, by the small open- 

 ings in the forest made by the native Indians in carrying on their crude agriculture. 



History indicates that at this time sugar cane was unknown to Cuba, but also 

 informs us that not many years after the occupation of the Island by the Spaniards 

 and at about the time Diego Velazquez had been made Governor, sugar cane had 

 been introduced and its production was being given considerable attention, its plant- 

 ings being doubtless confined largely to the eastern portion of the Island. Thus it 

 was that in 1792 some 493 small mills produced about 14,600 tons of sugar, while in 

 1802, only 10 years later, the number of mills had increased to 870, producing approxi- 

 mately 40,800 tons, while in 1870 some 1,200 mills produced about 610,000 tons of 

 sugar, thus showing an average of about 500 tons or 3,500 of the present-day bags 

 per mill. As has always been the case in conquered countries occupied by a foreign 

 race, the number of natives in the Island decreased steadily after the advent of the 

 Spaniards, so that it was found necessary to introduce slaves. This was done about 

 1834, and was continued until well along in the Nineteenth Century, and the condi- 

 tions under which the slaves were housed and fed doubtless influenced greatly the 

 character of mill and mill surroundings found by the Americans during the period of 

 American occupation. 



The earliest mills used in the Island were the very crudest of affairs. Short ver- 

 tical or horizontal rollers were used, moved by animal power, and the canes were 

 inserted between the rollers, one or two at a time, by a man employed for this purpose. 

 Frequently it was found necessary to bruise the ends of the cane in order to allow 

 it to be inserted and grasped promptly by the roller. The juice extracted was carried 

 by hand to the evaporating kettles, large open affairs somewhat similar to, though 

 much larger than, those in which clothes are boiled in the country districts of the 

 United States, and here over a fire maintained by the use of wood and the refuse 

 cane, stoked by a human attendant, the juice was evaporated to as great a degree as 

 possible without burning. The material thus secured was taken from these kettles 

 and placed in hogsheads, in the bottom and top of which holes had been bored and 

 stalks of cane inserted, these openings thus allowing the molasses with which the 

 sugar was mixed to drip out gradually. Later on animal power was substituted by 

 steam and more perfect grinding was accomplished, but even under the best circum- 

 stances sugar was obtained only to the extent of 5 or 6% of the weight of the cane 

 ground, as compared with from 12 to 14% in our modern mills. During this period 



