CUBA. 



239 



Spain. The duties on Cuban and Porto Rican 

 sugars to be abolished Oct. 1, and foreign su- 

 gars to be increased on Jan. 1, 1885. 



Plantation Wages. In November a meeting 

 was held by Manzanillo planters for the pur- 

 pose of regulating and determining the wages 

 to be paid during the coming season, the fol- 

 lowing figures being agreed upon: Ordinary 

 field and factory laborers, 65 cents a day; 

 cartmen, 73 cents a day of eleven working 

 hours ; extra labor to be paid at the rate of 7i 

 cents an hour. .Similar agreements were made 

 at Santa Clara, Ranch uelo, and La Esperanza. 

 At the same time it was generally admitted by 

 planters that the low prices of sugar render 

 absolutely necessary the introduction of every 

 improvement in its manufacture, and the most 

 rigid economy, in order to derive any benefit 

 from the industry. Unfortunately, the bad 

 financial condition of the majority of the plant- 

 ers prevents the purchase of new machinery, 

 but large reductions in running expenses have 

 been made. A large number of planters, with 

 their families, have moved to the estates, which 

 they now conduct themselves. 



A Sngar- Refinery. The first sugar-refinery 

 was built in Cuba in 1884, at Cardenas, at a 

 cost of $673,258. The establishment refines 

 40,000 kilogrammes daily, or about 1,000 tons 

 monthly, and, allowing for two months of in- 

 termission every year, it will produce 10,000 

 tons yearly, or about one sixth of the sugar con- 

 sumed in the island. Should the Cuban con- 

 sumers fail to favor the new enterprise, the 

 company contends that the low price at which 

 it can offer its product will be such that Spain 

 and other countries will find it to their advan- 

 tage to buy of the Cardenas refinery. 



The Spanish-American Treaty. The President 

 of the United States, in his message to Congress 

 of Dec. 2, 1884, expressed himself with refer- 

 ence to the Spanish West Indies in the follow- 

 ing terms: 



This Government has more than once been called 

 upon of late to take action in fulfillment of its inter- 

 national obligation toward Spain. Agitation in the 

 Island of Cuba hostile to the Spanish Crown having 

 been fomented by persons abusing^ the sacred rights of 

 hospitality which our territory affords, the officers of 

 this Government have been instructed to exercise vigi- 

 lance to prevent infractions of our neutrality laws at 

 Key West, and at other points near the Cuban coast. 

 I am happy to say that in the only instance where 

 these precautionary measures were successfully eluded, 

 the offenders, when found in our territory, were sub- 

 sequently tried and convicted. The growing need of 

 close relationship of intercourse and traffic between 

 the Spanish Antilles and their natural market in the 

 United States, led to the adoption in January last of 

 a commercial agreement looking to that end. This 

 agreement has since been superseded by a more care- 

 fully framed and comprehensive convention, which I 



shall submit to the Senate for approval. It has been 

 the aim of this negotiation to open such a favored re- 

 ciprocal exchange of productions, carried under the 

 flag of either country, as to make the intercourse be- 

 tween Cuba and Porto Rico and ourselves scarcely less 

 intimate than the commercial movement between our 

 domestic ports, and to insure a removal of the bur- 

 dens on shipping in the Spanish Indies, of which in 

 the past our ship-owners and ship-masters have so 

 often had cause to complain. The negotiation of this 

 convention has for a time postponed the prosecution 

 of certain claims of our citizens, which were declared to 

 be without the jurisdiction of the late Spanish- Ameri- 

 can Claims Commission, and which are therefore re- 

 mitted to diplomatic channels tor adjustment. The 

 speedy settlement of these claims will now be urged 

 by this Government. 



The treaty that the President submitted to 

 the Senate was not approved. 



Commerce. The following tabular statement 

 shows the chief articles of merchandise im- 

 ported into Havana in 1883 : 



Jerked beef, quintals 253,718 



Codfish, American, quintals 84,566 



Codfish, European, quintals 45,681 



Flour, barrels 198,669 



Kice from Spain, quintals 8,270 



Eice from the East Indies, quintals 941,570 



Lard, American, quintals 180,897 



Wine, Spanish, pipes 80,010 



Oil, olive, jars 26,513 



Hogshead-snooks, American 101,977 



Box-snooks, American 32,652 



Boards, American, 1,000 feet 1,861 



Coal, European, tons 176,262 



Coal-oil, American, quintals Not given. 



While the sugar-crop of 1883-'84 only pro- 

 duced about 460,000 tons of sugar, that of 1884- 

 '85 was estimated at 700,000 tons. 



* From January 1 to June 30, 1883. 



American Trade. The exports from the United 

 States to Cuba were : 



The imports from Cuba into the United 

 States in 1883-'84 were : 



