Advantage of But ^ must not be thought that this tariff concession given 

 Reciprocity to Cuban products by the . United States is without compen- 

 to U. S. satory advantages. The reciprocity provision has given the 



American farmer and manufacturer a large and growing market in Cuba for 

 their products. The importance of this market is partially shown by the 

 dollar value of our imports from and exports to Cuba in recent years. 



Years Exports to Cuba Imports from Cuba 



1919 $278,391,222 $418,610,263 



1920 515,208,731 721,693,880 



1921 187,726,179 230,374,341 



Our Political The people of the United States have a very direct and im- 

 Relationship portant interest in the prosperity of Cuba's sugar industry and 

 there seems to be little likelihood that our tariff laws will ever 

 be so changed as to seriously injure the chief industry of the island. It has 

 been said that the stability of the Cuban government is conditioned upon her 

 economic prosperity and that by virtue of the existing political relationship, 

 we cannot avoid our obligation to facilitate particularly this prosperity. Our 

 whole public policy toward Cuba has been built upon this principle. Prior 

 to the enactment of the reciprocity treaty Elihu Root, then Secretary of War, 

 said, "Aside from the moral obligation to which we committed ourselves 

 when we drove Spain out of Cuba, and aside from the ordinary consideration 

 of commercial advantage involved in a reciprocity treaty there are the 

 weightiest reasons for an American public policy rounding in the same direc- 

 tion, for the peace of Cuba is necessary to the peace of the United States; 

 the independence of Cuba is necessary to the safety of the United States. 

 The same consideration which led to the war with Spain now requires that a 

 commercial agreement be made under which Cuba can live." The late 

 President Roosevelt in his first administration declared that our assistance 

 in maintaining the commercial prosperity of Cuba was "demanded not only 

 in our interests but by our honor." It would seem that the United States is 

 morally bound to frame its tariff legislation with this fundamental principle 

 in mind. 



The Story of Three Eventful Years 



The sugar industry has recently emerged from what has been perhaps 

 the most severe commercial depression in its history. Its troubles, however, 

 have been similar to those experienced by many other industries in 1920 and 

 1921, but in the case of the sugar industry they were greatly aggravated by 

 continuation of government control and uncertainty regarding the date of its 

 termination. Probably the sugar industry will never again face a combination 

 of circumstances similar to those which prevailed in 1919, 1920 and 1921, 



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