THE CUBA It E V I i: W 13 



At the present rate of shlpmenl the vali f our automobile trade with Cuba 



in the present fiscal year will exceed thai of L918. n has already exceeded the 

 total value of fehe 1917 exports'. However, the rate of exports of passenger '-ir- has 

 decreased this year, though the average value of the cars shipped has risen from 



$1,018 in the lasl fiscal year to $1,474 In the first olne i iths of the 1919 fiscal year. 



There has been ;i remit gain in the number of passenger cars exported, us the average 

 monthly number from January to March, Inclusive, l'.H'.t. was 151, while from July 

 to December, Inclusive, 1918, the average per month was 145. There was also a gain 

 in monthly shipments of commercial cars from an average of 16 in trie last six months 

 of the 1918 calendar year, to 58 in the first three months of 1919. The table above 

 simw-. n marked rise in our exports of automobile parts and tires to Cuba in the 

 current fiscal year, the total value of these two items [n the nine months ended 

 March 31, 1919, exceeding the total for the whole fiscal year 1918. February <>r r.»lf) 

 was a particularly good month for motorcycles, as 26 such machines, or a third of 

 the total for nine months, were exported to Cuba in thai month. February's ship- 

 ments of 213 passenger cars ^\■as the largest monthly record since the shipment of 

 214 in July last. 



NUMBER OF AUTOMOIM LES IX CUBA. 



No exact census of automobiles in Cuba is available, hut the United states has 

 shipped to that island in the last seven years 13,043 passenger cars and l.ls:; com- 

 mercial vehicles, making a total of 14,526 cars, or one for every 180 persons. This 

 estimate does not take into account any cars shipped info Cuba before 1913, either 

 from the United States or Europe, nor, on the other hand, does if consider the curs 

 discarded because of breakage or worn-out condition. Some of the cars accredited 

 to Cuba are forwarded to the Isle of Pines, where about a fifth of the population 

 is American, and where, according to a 1917 estimate, there are at least 250 cars. 

 Good roads in the Isle of Pines have aided in the sale of automobiles. 



Havana, the capital and largest city in Cuba, with a population of about 400,000, 

 was reported in 1915 to have 3,400 automobiles in vise. Since that year we have sent 

 11,164 passenger cars and 1,420 motor trucks to Cuba, most of these going to Havana, 

 the chief distributing center of the island. Cuban statistics for 1917 show that 3,325 

 cars were received at Havana in that year, 38 at Nuevitas on the eastern coast of 

 Camaguey Province, 34 at ports in Santa Clara Province, 30 in the Province of 

 Oriente, 14 in Matanzas Province, and 12 in the Isle of Pines. Santiago, the second 

 largest city in Cuba, the capital of Oriente and the principal port on the southern 

 coast, with a population of 55,000, has about 400 cars. Camaguey, the capital and 

 chief city in the Province of the same name, with a population of about 50,000, was 

 reported in 1918 to have about 200 cars, while adjacent towns had from 10 to 50 each. 



USE OF MOTOR CARS AND TRUCKS IX CUBA. 



The remarkable increase in our shipments of cars to Cuba in the last five years 

 indicates the growing popularity of the automobile in that island. The motor car 

 not only appeals to the class of people of Spanish descent who are fond of driving 

 through city boulevards on late afternoons, hut it also supplies a need for both 

 urban and rural transportation of passengers and merchandise. Havana has one of 

 the finest boulevard systems in the world, boasting nearly 200 miles of paved streets. 

 Naturally, therefore, with the easy demonstration of the automobile on these boule- 

 vards, it won immediate favor. An autobus service was inaugurated in Havana 

 last year, connecting the suburbs of the city with the water front. The fare rivaled 

 that for street car service, and the new bus line proved so popular that the munici- 

 pal authorities recently received a request for permission to establish nine more auto 

 lines. The cars used in this service are of American make and carry about 10 pas- 

 sengers. 



Motor trucks are replacing the mule-drawn, two-wheeled carts in city streets, 



