Cuban Cane Sugar 



the enlistment of citizens in the 

 armies, it became almost an impos- 

 sibility to carry on the sugar in- 

 dustry at all. In spite of the strict 

 orders issued by the Spanish author- 

 ities to continue grinding, the pro- 

 duction, in 1897, went down nearly 

 to 200,000 tons. 



As can be well imagined, the 

 industry recovered but slowly when 

 this period of misery and destruction 

 had come to an end; factories had 

 been destroyed; the working popu- 

 lation had been reduced and made 

 more or less unfit for work; work- 

 cattle, representing the sole means of 

 cultivation and conveyance, had been 

 wantonly destroyed; the financial 

 situation was such that manufac- 

 turers were unable to raise the funds 

 necessary for rebuilding factories or 

 equipping them; and a general period 

 of reconstruction and centralization 

 set in. 



[621 



