20 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



A Cuban Road in the' Winter Season. 



colored. The annual increase of the population is estimated at 90,000. Since the in- 

 troduction of sanitary measures during the American occupation the country has 

 been unusually healthful, its death rate of 12.54 per thousand being one of the lowest 

 in the world. About one-seventh of the total population of Cuba is found in Havana. 



HAVANA THE STARTING POINT IN SALES OF AMERICAN GOODS. 



As Havana is but 100 miles from Key West, there is much travel between the 

 two cities and the standards of living are similar in many respects. The methods 

 of developing trade are essentially the same as those followed in the Middle West of 

 the United States, questions of price, terms of payment, quality, promptness of deliv- 

 ery, and other conditions entering into the trade here as elsewhere. Many large 

 American firms have well-located branch houses in Havana, usually in charge of 

 capable American citizens. Other concerns have their business in charge of sales 

 agencies, sometimes American, sometimes Cuban or other, which handle several allied 

 lines. A few of these agencies have attractive buildings and carry extensive stocks 

 for several factories. To a great extent dealers in American lines place orders with 

 traveling salesmen who visit Cuba, or they send their own buyers to New York and 

 other markets to purchase direct. 



The general practice in entering the Cuban market with new makes of motor 

 trucks or pleasure cars is to open a general sales office or contract with an estab- 

 lished firm in Havana, allowing this office to appoint agents in the Provinces who 

 receive a portion of the sales commission allowed by the factory. In Havana auto- 

 mobiles are displayed in attractive show rooms. In other Cuban cities the principal 

 garage owners act as sub-agents for Havana representatives of American cars, and 

 these provincial agents do a constantly increasing business in both passenger cars 



