THE CUBA li E V I E W 



PROPOSED TELEPHONE CABLE 

 BETWEEN CUBA AND THE 

 UNITED STATES 

 Linking Havana to the United States 

 and Canada h\ n direct oalde telephone, 

 as the first step, and later spreading a 

 network of cable connections with the 

 South American countries was definitely 

 undertaken recently as a $2r,,0(:H».(MiO 

 Cuban iiroject by the Cuban Telephone 

 Company. I'orto Kican Telephone Com- 

 pany and the Cul>an American Telephone 

 & Telegraph Company. The great com- 

 bination of interests will place 250,000 

 shares of $100 valuation and intend capi- 

 talizing the undertaking at a high figure 

 so as to enal)le trade expansion on a large 

 scale for the next thirty years. The most 

 powerful financial interests in Cuba are 

 back of the enterprise and every cent ot 

 the stock will he i>ut on the market to 

 favor the stockholders that now have in- 

 vestments in the various companies. Al- 

 though the shares will be listed in the 

 various metropolitan centers it has been 

 arranged that the control will not pass 

 out of Cuba, 



Of considerable interest to American 

 business men trading with Cuba is the 

 plan to install telephone connections with 

 Key West, through which the business 

 man in Cuba will be able to communicate 

 with any point in the United States or 

 Canada. The work of laying the cable is 

 planned for next October and will be 

 completed as rapidly as possible. It is 

 expected that by the end of the year the 

 work will have been completed and Ha- 

 vana will be in direct contact with the 

 countries to the North. Mr. Sosthenes 

 Behn, president of the Cuban Telephone 

 Company, and one of the principals in 

 the transaction, stated that this was one 

 of the largest cable enterprises ever 

 launched. The name of the company is to 

 be the International Telephone & Tele- 

 graph Company, with headquarters in 

 Havana. It is the ultimate aim of this 

 company to consolidate all of the tele- 

 phone and telegraph companies operating 

 in the West Indies and to South America. 

 The shares will be placed in all of the 

 big world markets and the stockholders 

 will derive the first benefits. For eacti 



slian- held by any one in the three parent 

 companies one sbarc and a (luarter in the 

 new company will lie issued. The market 

 price of tile shares will he .$S;o, but to the 

 older stockholders ii will be ST.j. Each of 

 the iiarent companies will maintain its 

 identity as it now stands, liut ea<li will he 

 a snlisidiary of the International Com- 

 pany. 



By way of illustrating the great possi- 

 bilities for telephone development, we 

 quote some figures of population and the 

 number of telephones for the population 

 at present. In South America, that is 

 everything in the Western Hemisphere 

 except the United States and Canada, 

 there are 90,000,000 people and for this 

 vast number there are only 300,000 tele- 

 phones. Contrast this with the situation 

 in the United States where for a popula- 

 tion of 103,000,000 persons there are more 

 than ll,000,OfiO telephones. 



Extensive alterations are now being 

 made in the Cuban Telephone Company's 

 building at Aguilar Ifil preparatory to 

 running the new cable lines into it. This 

 building will remain as the headquarters 

 and additional changes will be made as 

 the business expands. 



NEW AMERICAN CLUB BUILDING AT 

 HA\'ANA 



The frontispiece, page 6, is taken from 

 an architect's drawing of the proposed 

 .$1,000,000 steel clubhouse of the American 

 Club at Havana. 



It will occupy the site of the present 

 club at the Prado and Virtudes Streets, 

 Havana, including the building next door 

 to the present clubhouse, which has been 

 acquired for $12.5,000, and will be demol- 

 ished along with the present club build- 

 ing to make way for the new site. The 

 plans for the new building include a beau- 

 tiful roof garden, restaurant, and prac- 

 tically every modern club and hotel con- 

 venience. 



The membership of the American Club 

 in Havana exceeds six hundred members 

 and the new clubhouse will make its home 

 the finest club building in the West Indies. 



Kenneth Murchison of New York and 

 Havana is the architect. 



