200 



CUBA. 



ports of merchandise in the year ending June 30, 

 1900, were valued at $71,081,187, and exports at 

 ,$45,228,346. The trade with the principal coun- 

 tries, ir.cluding gold and silver, was as follows: 



The imports of agricultural implements were 

 $441,794, two-thirds of them from the United 

 States and the rest mostly from England; imports 

 of cattle were $10,326,304, three-tenths from the 

 United States, nearly the same from Mexico, and 

 over a fifth from Colombia; imports of flour and 

 wheat were $2,154,702, practically the whole corn- 

 ing from the United States ; imports of coffee were 

 $1,097,796, more than half from Porto Rico and 

 the rest mostly brought from New York; imports 

 of cotton manufactures were $6,688,841, of which 

 England supplied about 45 per cent., Spain 30 



rr cent., the United States 12 per cent., France 

 per cent.; imports of iron were $1,015,256, a 

 little over two-thirds from the United States and 

 less than a third from Great Britain; imports of 

 shoes were $2,283,083, three-fourths from Great 

 Britain and one-fifth from the United States; im- 

 ports of engines were $116,626, practically all 

 American engines; imports of sugar and distilling 

 machinery, nearly all of it American, $252,340; 

 imports of olive-oil were $759,334, nearly all 

 Spanish; imports of crude petroleum were $759,- 

 334; imports of paints and colors were $264,383, 

 more of them from England than from the United 

 States; imports of paper were $779,517, from 

 Spain, United States, Germany, and France; im- 

 ports of meat, salted and pickled, were $2,998,519, 

 nearly half of it from the United States, and over 

 two-fifths from Uruguay; imports of lard and 

 tallow were $2,542,158, practically all of it from 

 the United States; imports of rice were $3,414,388, 

 the main part from England and some from Ger- 

 man ports; imports of silk manufactures were 

 $490,307, over three-fifths from France; imports 

 of potatoes, $884,211, seven- tenths from the 

 United States ; imports of wines and cordials were 

 $2,354,187, practically all coming from Spain; im- 

 ports of woolen knit goods, coming from England 

 and Germany, were $736,551. The exports of wood 

 and manufactures thereof in 1900 were $649,959, 

 of which $404,396 went to the United States; of 

 rum, $189,024, about $100,000 going to England; 

 of iron ore, nearly all of it to the United States, 

 $637,846; of cacao, mostly to the United States, 

 $281,211. 



Navigation. During 1899 the port of Havana 

 was visited by 3,488 vessels, of 2,272,000 tons; 

 Cienfuegos by 394 vessels, of 473,302 tons. In 

 1900 there were 3,276 vessels, of 2,078',126 tons, en- 

 tered and 3,226, of 2,079,802 tons, cleared at Ha- 

 vana. The largest tonnage was American, after 

 which came the Spanish, British, Cuban, Norwe- 

 gian, German, and French. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. There 

 are 950 miles of railroad, of which 551 miles be- 

 long to English companies. 



The telegraph lines have a total length of 2,300 

 miles. Telegraphs and telephones are the prop- 

 erty of the Government, but the telephones are 

 leased for a limited time to a company. Cables 

 connect Havana with Santiago de Cuba and 



Cienfuegos, with Jamaica, Porto Rico, and other 

 West Indian islands and Panama, with Florida, 

 and with Hayti, Venezuela, and Brazil. 



The postal service has been reestablished and 

 extended by the American military government. 

 The expenses considerably exceed the income. 



The Constitutional Convention. By the 

 joint resolution, declaring that the people of Cuba 

 are and of right ought to be free and independent, 

 adopted by the United States Congress on April 

 13, and approved by the President on April 20, 

 1898, the United States disclaimed any intention 

 to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control 

 over the island except for the pacification thereof, 

 and asserted the determination to leave the gov- 

 ernment and control of the island to its people 

 when that w r as accomplished. The President of 

 the United States on July 25, 1900, directed that 

 a call be issued for the election of members of a 

 Constitutional Convention to frame a Constitu- 

 tion on a basis for a stable and independent gov- 

 ernment. The military Governor ordered such 

 election to be held, and it was duly held on Sept. 

 15, 1900. The convention assembled at Havana 

 on Nov. 5, 1900. The military Governor informed 

 the delegates that it was their duty to frame and 

 adopt a Constitution, which must be adequate to 

 secure a stable, orderly, and free government, and 

 in the second place to formulate the relations 

 which in their opinion ought to exist between 

 Cuba and the United States, after which the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States would doubtless 

 take such action as would lead to a final and 

 authoritative agreement between the people of the 

 two countries to the promotion of their common 

 interests. 



The Constitution was completed and accepted 

 by the convention on Feb. 11, and was signed on 

 Feb. 21. A committee, composed of Diego Ta- 

 mayo, Gonzalo de Quesada, Juan Gualberto 

 Gomez, Enrique Villuendas, and Manuel Ramon 

 Silva, was appointed after the practical comple- 

 tion of the Constitution to prepare a project con- 

 cerning relations to the United States. Sugges- 

 tions of what President McKinley thought those 

 relations should be were communicated to the 

 committee by the military Governor, but these 

 were not heeded. The project submitted by the 

 committee and adopted by the convention on Feb. 

 27 practically placed the United States on the 

 same footing as all other foreign powers. It was 

 declared that there should be no treaty with any 

 power impairing the independence of Cuba or al- 

 lowing any military or naval occupation of any 

 part of the island. No naval stations were to be 

 conceded to any foreign power, and Cuba should 

 not serve as a base of war operations against 

 the United States or any other foreign power. 

 These were the demands of President McKinley 

 as against third powers, not against the United 

 States. He stipulated for the cession of naval 

 stations to the United States, claimed the Isle of 

 Pines as American territory on the ground that 

 it w r as only administratively connected with Cuba 

 by the Spanish Government, and demanded a 

 financial supervision over the Cuban Government 

 and control of its foreign policy wherever the in- 

 terests of the United States or the independence 

 of Cuba were involved. Other conditions that 

 President McKinley formulated on behalf of the 

 United States were accepted. The acts of the 

 military government were declared to be valid. 

 Cuba acknowledged all obligations imposed by 

 the treaty of Paris. The basis of commercial 

 relations with the United States w'as to be reci- 

 procity with a tendency to free trade. Meanwhile 

 the Platt amendment, embodying the President's. 



