22 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



CATTLE FROM VENEZUELA 



Iii 1S99 and the first few years of the 

 present century the exportation of cattle 

 from Venezuela was a business of consid- 

 erable magnitude, in which a number of 

 small steamers were constantly engaged. 

 As soon as the restocking of the Cuban 

 ranges had been completed the business 

 died out. 



At present, however, the representative 

 of a Cuban firm is in Caracas and states 

 that he has contracted for 20,000 head of 

 cattle for shipment from the port of 

 Guanta to Havana. The cattle will have 

 b» be dipped for tick eradication before 

 being shipped. The representative says 

 that the permanency of the business de- 

 pends entirely upon the condition in 

 which the cattle are found to be upon 

 inspection. — Consul Homer Brett, La 

 Ouaira, Venezut la. 



MANUFACTURE OF MEDICINES 

 Cuba, like many other Latin American 

 countries, lias suffered from the high cost 

 of drugs as well as their scarcity. In an 

 effort to remedy the situation, there has 

 been formed a company known as the Na- 

 tional Medicine Products Company, com- 

 posed of Cuban capital, whose object is to 

 study the products of the Island and other 

 Latin American countries in order to man- 

 ufacture medicines for home consumption. 



AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

 Mr. F. L. Craycraft, Vice-President and 

 Manager of the American Steel Company, 

 has been appointed Chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Custom House Affairs for the 

 American Chamber of Commerce, Havana. 

 For many years Mr. Craycraft had been 

 in the Cuban customs service and closely 

 associated with harbor matters. 



ERECTION OF FUEL OIL TANKS 



In view of the contemplated establish- 

 ment at Antilla of a fuel oil station by 

 The Texas Co. (South America), the 

 United Fruit Co. has begun the erection 

 of fuel oil tanks on its properties at Banes 

 •and Preston, Oriente Province, Cuba. Six- 

 tanks will be erected at present by an 

 American construction company. They 

 will be of iron and are sectional, the pieces 

 having arrived at Antilla by direct 

 steamer from New York on July 0, at 

 which time the superintendent and five 

 foremen also arrived. The laborers will 

 be recruited in Cuba with the exception 

 of the supervising officials mentioned. 



Three tanks will be erected on each 

 division of the property. On the Banes 

 division two tanks of 20,000 barrels ca- 

 pacity each will be erected at Macabi, 

 where Central Boston, the sugar mill, is 

 located. Macabi is nine miles from Banes, 

 where the head offices are, and where the 

 third tank, having a capacity of 5,000 bar- 

 rels, will be built. On the Preston di- 

 vision two tanks of 20,000 capacity each 

 will be erected near Central Preston, the 

 sugar mill, and a third tank, of 5,<HJ0 bar- 

 rels capacity, will be located at Guaro, 

 ten miles from Preston on the company's 

 narrow-gauge railroad. 



These two sugar mills of the United 

 Fruit Co. are perhaps the first in the dis- 

 trict to substitute oil as fuel in place of 

 the coal, wood, and bagasse (cane waste), 

 formerly used. The main fuel tanks for 

 the use of the sugar mills only — those of 

 20,000 barrels capacity — will be erected at 

 least 300 feet from the mills, the distance 

 prescribed by Cuban regulations. 



It may be added that a site has been 

 selected for the fuel oil station in Antilla, 

 and a representative of The Texas Co. is 

 here superintending the preparations for 

 active construction, which will begin 

 shortly.— Vice Consul Joseph F. Buck, 

 Antilla. 



