24 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



COTTON PIECE GOODS IMPORTS 



A Mr. L. F. Bailey made, in the Journal of 

 •Commerce, a few weeks ago, a statement that 

 he "left Havana harbor with the thought that 

 ■efforts to extend the business of the United 

 States in Cuba could be better expended in 

 other directions. 



To this Mr. R. Olney Hough, editor of the 

 American Exporter, replies by stating that 

 ^'Cuba to-day is buying $50,000,000 a year 

 more of American products than she did 

 prior to the war with Spain." 



Mr. Bailey, it appears, did not like the looks 

 of the Cuban markets for cotton piece goods. 

 He explains that the goods he found selling in 

 'Cuba were bought from Barcelona at 4 cents 

 a yard and that no American mills could sup- 

 ply anything of the sort. Undoubtedly he 

 was and is right, replies Mr. Hough. "None 

 the less, whereas prior to our war on Cuba's 

 behalf we were selling Cuba only from $50,000 

 to $60,000 worth of cotton piece goods a year, 

 we are now selling her of the same goods more 

 than $1,500,000 worth a year. True, the 

 latter is not a very imposing figure, but the 

 goods we are selling are not 4-cent goods — 

 they average more than 6 cents. And no one 

 who knows anything at all about our cotton 

 piece goods business, or has ever run counter 

 to the astonishing inertia of our cotton mills 

 and selhng agents, can have the smallest doubt 

 that American business in Cuba, as in prac- 

 tically every other importing market in the 

 world, might be multiplied by itself many 

 times over were we to forget those spec- 

 ialties which Spain and Manchester can 

 make satisfactorily, but which we cannot 

 produce, and devote our thought and energies 

 to making the other goods which, with com- 

 paratively little effort and little change in 

 mill organization and methods, with but in- 

 isignificant expense or investment, we might 

 make in a satisfactory fashion. "Even cuts," 

 "splits," solid cases of colors and designs as 

 wanted (in prints), not assorted, as the custom 

 of our mills is to-day, will not call for any se- 

 -vere extra tax on the ingenuity or the finan- 

 cial resources of the cotton goods manufac- 

 turer who would really like to increase his 

 productiveness or enlarge his field." 



CUBA'S IMPORTS OF TASAJO 



During September Cuba imported from 

 Montivideo 760,000 kilogramsofTasajo. From 

 January 1st the exports totalled 4,886,500 

 kilograms as against 9,385,700 kilograms in 

 1913. 



HAVANA'S CUSTOMS COLLECTION 



The custom house collections of Havana 

 for the month of November compare as fol- 

 lows: 



1914 $1,532,556 



1913 1.929,107 



1912 2,191,747 



1911 2,022,293 



1910 1,769,859 



1909 1,759,682 



1908 1,446,351 



1907 1,739.743 



CUBA'S RICE IMPORTATIONS 



During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1914, 

 Cuba imported over 289,000,000 pounds of 

 rice. 



The countries supplying the rice, the quan- 

 tities and the values are given as follows : 



Pounds Value 



England 109,368,639 2,737,727 



Germany 88,512,649 2,075,844 



British India .... 63,626,270 1,168,770 



United States .... 13,854,566 322,572 



Holland 7,214,695 194,793 



Belgium 3,480,435 82,990 



Spain 3/236,850 111,059 



Canada 1,414 370 



Total 289,295,518 '/ ,204,125 



SANTIAGO'S CUSTOMS COLLECTION 



Santiago port receipts for October show a 

 decrease as compared with the same month in 

 1913 and a pronounced increaseas compared 

 with 1912. The official figures follow: 



1914 $5,914.71 



1913 6,774.41 



1912 4,643.97 



OCTOBER'S EXPORTS 



The exports of the United States to Cuba 

 during the month of October compare as 

 follows: 



1913 $6,933,471 



1914 6,937,986 



• — Figures of the United States Department of 



Commerce. 



The first consignment of salted hides ever 

 :shipped from Cuba came in to Boston on 

 November 25th.- — ^Boston Post. 



The establishment of a company to de- 

 velop the cotton industry at Puentes Grandes, 

 near Havana, is noted by the press. 



The company, it is said, may plant cotton 

 in addition to manufacturing the imported 

 product. 



