Cuban Investments 26 



MONEY LEGISLATION IN CUBA 



From Article by W. H. Morales 



The Monetary Law of Cuba, as it stands, is a 

 result of the European War, forming as it does 

 part of the plan of national defense enacted by 

 the Cuban Congress, and approved by President 

 Menocal on October 29, 1914. 



Such a sweeping measure of legislation became 

 necessary to meet the falling off of exports by the 

 European nations, and after providing for various 

 forms of public economy, the law prescribes a 

 national coinage, based on the single gold 

 standard. 



While a change from one money system to 

 another is usually the result of slow evolution 

 and wide preliminary discussion, there are cases 

 where the public emergency needs immediate 

 action. This occurred in Cuba in the Fall of 

 1 9 14, when the unprecedented rise in the price of 

 Spanish and French coins made it imperative for 

 the Cuban legislature to authorize a national 

 currency which would emancipate the country 

 from a European system, costly and inadequate 

 for local needs, and enable Cuba to buy gold and 

 silver in the open market and coin them in the 

 mints of the United States, which is provided 

 in the same law. 



The demand for money in Cuba has grown apace 

 with the tremendous increase in her national 

 wealth and industries. Her foreign commerce 

 has doubled in the last ten years, and with a 

 prospective sugar crop of 3,000,000 tons this 

 season, as compared with 2,597,732 in 1914, 

 representing an expected total of $250,000,000 

 in comparison with only $129,886,600 for the 



