8 THE CUBA REVIEW 
Havana Correspondence 
June 10, 1921. 
Sucar: The situation in so far as the vast accumulation of sugar at the various 
ports awaiting shipment is concerned, has experienced little if any change during the 
past month. The strike on the Cuba Railroad helped to aggravate an already serious 
situation by keeping the sugar from moving, for lack of transportation, to the outbound 
ports. When the strike was eventually declared at an end, the accumulated sugars 
covering the grinding of several weeks were rushed to the docks, which tended to greatly 
increase the hundreds of thousands of bags of sugar already awaiting removal. The 
grinding season is rapidly coming to a close, some 160 centrals having ceased to grind 
during the past three or four weeks. Many more will close down in the next few weeks, 
which will afford an opportunity to relieve the present congestion at the ports. The 
future outlook is no brighter than it has been for some time, due to the inability 
of the central and colonia owners to secure money for the planting of next season’s crop. 
Many fields are being left uncultivated for this reason as the banks are unable to lend 
money for development purposes and it is impossible to secure funds from other sources. 
This necessarily will result in a largely decreased crop in 1922. 
There seems to be a wide difference of opinion as to the benefits derived from the 
work of the Sugar Finance Commission, and it has been the target for many attacks, 
the most prominent of which being made by the former Secretary of the Interior who 
characterized the Commission as ‘‘A trap set by foreign interests to absorb Cuban prod- 
ucts.” However, the prevailing opinion among those in closest touch with the situation 
and who are in a position to know just what the Commission is accomplishing for the 
sugar industry, is that to abolish it at this time would bring disastrous results. This 
view is shared by former President Menocal, who recently stated that in his opinion the 
abolishment of the Sugar Finance Commission would mean “the economic and financial 
ruin of Cuba.” The question has been discussed by President Zayas and at a recent 
cabinet meeting it was decided to recommend to Congress that the work of the Com- 
mission be continued. 
A bill is now before Congress which, if enacted, will provide for the registration of all 
financial obligations entered into and loans made for the purpose of cultivating or har- 
vesting the sugar crop by the central or colonia owners. This bill is patterned after the 
present law now in effect in Puerto Rico and undoubtedly will be of great benefit to sugar 
interests here if enacted. Under the present system there is nothing to prevent any 
hacienda or colonia owner from contracting as many obligations as he may care to, 
without regard to his financial resources or ability to liquidate same when the time 
arrives. 
A very hopeful sign for the stabilization both in financial circles as well as in the 
Sugar industry was the re-opening on June 16th of the stock exchange, which had been 
closed since the early part of October. The Cuban Sugar Finance and Export Corpora- 
tion, which was created for the sole purpose of lending money to the centrals and growers 
at a reasonable rate of interest until such time as the moneys for the sale of the crop were 
received, is now functioning and has already advanced large sums of money against 
sugar in Cuban warehouses. 
The future immigration of laborers to Cuba from Spain for the purpose of working 
in the cane fields will be largely determined by what means are taken to relieve the present 
unemployment of laborers from this country now in Cuba. At the present time there 
are some fifteen hundred Spanish laborers being taken care of by the Spanish Consulate 
here and the number is increasing rapidly. This may discourage future immigration of 
this type of laborers to Cuba and consequently result in a labor shortage during the coming 
years. 
FINANCIAL Situation: Little surprise was manifested in financial circles when it 
was announced that the Banco Espanol de la Isla de Cuba (Spanish Bank of Cuba) 
had finally been compelled to close its doors. Early in the moratorium period it was 
