THE CUBA REVIEW 



PANAMA CANAL AND THE WEST INDIES 



While the commerce of Xorth and South 

 America, of Europe and the Far East will 

 be profoundly affected b}- the opening of 

 the Panama Canal, the West Indies, lying 

 in the track of so great a part of the 

 world's future ocean traffic, will in a 

 peculiar manner feel the effect of the 

 numerous changes in ocean shipping routes. 

 It may be taken for granted that as a 

 result of these changes an impetus will 

 be given to the development of the re- 

 sources of these fertile islands, which will 

 bring immigration of labor where most 

 needed : the competition of various lines 

 for the imjiort and export trade will bring 

 lower freight rates ; the question of direct 

 and more frequent European mails will be 

 settled : and increased passenger traffic will 

 make the advantages of the equable climate 

 of these islands better known, especially 

 in Europe, as a place of permanent resi- 

 dence or of resort to escape the severe 

 winters of northern countries. That a 

 new era of prosperity will thus come to 

 the West Indies seems to be assured. — 

 I'liiicd States Consul Julius D. Drelier. 



HOW ONE MAY SEE HAVANA 



With a little comprehensive guide book 

 in hand, it is quite possible to see Havana 

 without a guide, without any knowledge 

 of Spanish and without useless expendi- 

 ture. One should have in his pocket two 

 varieties of coinage, Spanish silver and 

 American money ; while the silver is the 

 general currency, American money is used 

 to pay all street car and railway fares. 

 A stranger, lost in Havana, has a choice 

 of two simple procedures for reaching his 

 temporary home. There is Central Park 

 in the heart of the city, which nearly all 

 street cars pass at some time in their 

 course. Your guide book will teach you 

 which cars follow the suburban routes, so, 

 l)oarding any one of the other cars, you 

 have only to "sit tight" and show the con- 

 ductor a card on which is written Parque 

 Central, having previously learned the lo- 

 cation of your boarding place with refer- 

 ence to the park : then, arriving at the 

 celebrated square, you may easily make 

 your way homeward. Or, if you prefer, 

 you may step into a coche, show your hotel 



business card to the driver, and, for the ^ 



sum of twenty cents in Spanish silver, be " 

 driven to your lodgings. Even if you ORE IN OPEN MARKET 

 have wandered beyond the twenty-cent ,,-,,. , ,, 

 limit, the additional' charges will be very The output of Cuban iron ore of the 

 small, for the public carriage service in Ponupo Manganese Company operating m 

 Havana is astonishingly reasonable.^L//r, Oriente Provmce on the south coast, which 

 New York ^i^s heretofore been absorbed by the Penn- 

 ^ sylvania Steel and Maryland Steel Com- 

 panies, will not be taken by them during 

 GROWTH IN MINING CONCESSIONS 1912, and as a result, this tonnage, aggre- 

 gating from l.-.CXOOO to 175,000 tons an- 

 There were in existence at the termina- „uallv, is now being offered in the open 

 tion of Spanish control in Cuba the fol- market to eastern furnaces, savs the Iron 

 lowing mining concessions, covering as- j,.^^^ Revieiv of Cleveland. This, the 

 phalt, copper, iron, manganese, coal, ^^.^,1^..^, further says, is the hrst time that 

 marble, gold, silver, petroleum, precious q^^]^^^ ^re in large quantities have been 

 stones and lead. offered freely to eastern buyers during the 



Pinar del Rio Province 22 past few years. This circumstance made 



Havana Province 9 Andrew Carnegie very sanguine of the 



Matanzas Province 18 possibilities of the Cuban ore fields as 



S:^gv^^pr^r"":::::::;:;:::::::::::::::::::;:::::::::::: 28 enlarging their usefulness. He made this 



Oriente Province 120 Statement on January 12th. while testifying 



before the Stanlev Investigation Commis- 

 A total of :;04. sion at Washington. 



Since the termination of Spanish control, "^ 



and up to December ?A, 1910. the follow- Among the nominations sent to the 



ing extraordinary growth is recorded : United States Senate on February 12th 



„.,,„.„. ,7^ was that of Edward Bell of New York to 



Pniar del Kio Provmce l/o , r ^i tt -i. j Ci. ^ 



Havana Province 63 be second secretary of the United States 



Matanzas Province 59 legation at Havana. Mr. Bell is a graduate 



Santa Clara Province 161 gf Harvard and has been in the foreign 



C^maguey Province 28 g^j-vice since 1909, serving as vice and 



Oriente Provmce /oy , , , . r- • i 



deputy consul general at Cairo, and as 



Or a grand total of 1270 concessions secretary of legation at Teheran, 



have been granted. » 



The acreage covered bv these conces- ^, -,-, r-^ ^ z n i 

 sions aggregates 149,4.^8 hectares.* , The Havana Chamber of Commerce and 

 the Agrarian League urge the removal of 



*A hectare equals 2.471 acres. customs barriers against the United States. 



