12 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES 



CUBAN ORE PROPERTIES IN AMERICAN 

 HANDS 



The Southern Steel Co., capitaHzed at 

 $30,000,000, is reported to have completed 

 arrangements ensuring the construction of 

 an extensive plant on the river front near 

 Mobile. It has purchased 8,000 acres, 50 of 

 which virill be occupied by buildings and 

 machinery representing an investment of 

 $5,000,000, the daily output to be 1,000 tons 

 of steel rails and other products. 



The company is being organized by C. V. 

 Mead of Denver, president of the Inter- 

 Locking Rail & Structural Steel Co. of that 

 city and Chicago ; J. F. Barnhill of Chi- 

 cago, engineer of the Inter-Locking cor- 

 poration and inventor of the interlocking 

 steel rail ; L. C. Davis of Chicago, consult- 

 ing engineer of the company; A. G. Wood, 

 a New York engineer; Rupert Fry of Mil- 

 waukee, president of the Old Line Life 

 Insurance Co., and other capitalists. 



An official statement from Mr. Barnhill 

 to the Manufacturers' Record of Baltimore 

 states that the parties have acquired an im- 

 mense tract of land on the island of Cuba, 

 containing vast deposits of high-grade iron 

 ore. This tract of land embraces an area 

 of over 500,000 acres. This tract of land 

 is heavily wooded with the finest grade of 

 mahogany, lignum-vitae and other hard- 

 wood common to the island. The land is 

 advantageously situated with a sea front- 

 age with a land-locked harbor. 



Having secured this ore deposit, the par- 

 ■^ies have been seeking a suitable location 

 on the gulf coast, convenient to coal flux- 

 ing, transportation and the like. 



NEW ELECTRIC LIGHT AND ICE PLANT 



A limited company has been formed in 

 Santa Isabel de las Lajas, Santa Clara 

 Province, with a capital of $25,000 to estab- 

 lish an electric light plant. The bonds is- 

 sued draw 8 per cent annual interest and 

 the common stock will also receive a 

 dividend. 



The bonds have all been bought by the 

 business men of the neighborhood. A re- 

 frigerating and ice plant will be installed in 

 the building soon to be constructed for the 

 necessary machinery for producing the 

 light. 



The new company has made a contract 

 with the city council to supply a public 

 light service for ten years at an annual 

 cost of $3,600. 



Ramon Ruiz Cabrera has asked for a per- 

 mit to install an electric plant at Manacas, 

 Santa Clara Province. 



AN ALPARGATA FACTORY IN REGLA 



The enterprise is conducted along mod- 

 ern lines with up to date equipment. Very 

 little hand work is done, machinery taking 

 its place, contrary to the custom in foreign 

 countries where hand work is the largest 

 factor. Don Victor Vidaurrazaja, a Cuban 

 and the owner, has invented a good part 

 of the operating machinery. The output 

 consequently compares advantageously with 

 the foreign made goods both in quality and 

 in price. 



The owner is something of a philan- 

 thropist and having in mind the many poor 

 families in the town sends out work which 

 may be finished by hand at home. The 

 force of the factory is 100 workmen. At 

 home the women can earn seventy cents to 

 one dollar per day. 



Alpargatas are shoes or slippers made of 

 canvass with rope soles. They are univer- 

 sally worn by the poorer workmen and re- 

 tail at a low price, about 30 cents per pair. 



A NEW BRICK FACTORY 



La Lucha's correspondent writes that 

 certain elements in Cienfuegos are annoy- 

 ing the American Mr. Allen who is build- 

 ing a brick factory in the city, inciting the 

 laborers not to carry any materials for his 

 very important and new enterprise. 



They demand that Mr. Allen should not 

 be allowed to remove the sand from the 

 river Arimao, which he requires in his 

 work and which is his exclusive privilege, 

 so decided by the former Secretary of the 

 Treasury, Mr. Gutierrez Quiros, in accord- 

 ance with the Spanish Mine Law in force 

 in Cuba and Mr. Juan del Campo, the then 

 mayor of Cienfuegos. 



Mr. Allen with his stone and construc- 

 tion materials business represents an in- 

 dustry of great benefit to the city as it 

 affords work to a large number of laborers 

 in Arriete, in Ciego Montero and Cien- 

 fuegos. 



GAS STOVES INTRODUCED 



The Havana Electric Light and Power 

 Company will establish in a prominent cor- 

 ner of the Prado a permanent exposition 

 showing the advantages of cooking by gas. 

 The present cooking system of hotels and 

 private kitchen is carried on with charcoal 

 as a fuel and small tiled stoves. The com- 

 pany plans a reduction in the price of gas 

 which will encourage a wider use of the 

 ranges. All the known cooking appliance 

 familiar to northern users of gas will be 

 exhibited and explained. 



