14 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



ordinary times, is offset also by European 

 costs and freights, and to this is added senti- 

 mental preferences, which are controlled 

 somewhat by the merchant; who usually is a 

 Spaniard. To secure substantial increases 

 in our share of the percentages of exports to 

 Cuba is therefore a matter of time, of educa- 

 tion, and of good business procedure on our 

 part. That is some of the task set for the 

 American exporter in connection with Cuba, 

 and to accomplish it successfully he must know 

 Cuba, and Cuba cannot be known at all well 

 unless there is acquaintance with her peoi)le 

 and her customs. But to end this very brief 

 review of the prominent fact in the commercial 

 statistics of Cuba, it can be stated that even 

 if we do sell Cuba only 53 per cent of her pur- 

 chases, the amount of the bill appears rather 

 satisfactorv, for it meant in 1913 nearly $76,- 

 000,000, or more than $30 per capita. 



With all respect and consideration for the 

 other repul)lics to the southward, it can be 

 said that none presents at present the field 

 offered by Cuba. It is true that Cuba is now 

 essentially agricultural in her leading wealth 

 producing characteristics, but that will not 

 be the rvde for all time. It must not be for- 

 gotten that in Haliana is given the third larg- 

 est city south of Washington, that at Habana 

 two-thirds of all the imports to Cuba enter, 

 that it is a city fast becoming modernized — 

 that its industries are each year requiring 

 more of the raw material which can be sup- 

 • pUed by the United States, and by this district 

 thereof especially, that new enterprises are 

 springing up, that it has excellent banking 

 facilities, and that in nearly every condition 

 of life and business old processes and customs 

 and material are giving place to new. The 

 other cities of Cuba — Cienfuegos, Santiago de 

 Cuba, Camaguey, Matanzas, and others of 

 lesser degree, are following in this march of 

 progress and their wants will be like those of 

 Habana. In the country and in the small 

 towns, this gradual development brought 

 about by closer contact with the Anglo-Saxon 

 world is apparent to a marked degree. And 

 under this inspu-ation, Cuba is becoming more 

 valuable each day. Her lands are increasing 

 in price, her agriculture is being diversified, 

 her industries are expanding and her products 

 increasing. It is not strange that such should 

 be the result. The island lies athwart our 

 busiest coast line; the average distance after 

 eliminating the great peninsula of Florida, is 

 not more than 700 miles from our Southern 

 ports; it is in the track of the Panama canal, 

 which has changed the commercial geography 

 of ourselves and our neighbors to the south- 

 ward. The products of Cuba, aside from the 

 present great staples, will be needed in the 

 United States, and ours, to a larger degree, 

 will be needed there, for, despite the racial 

 differences and climatic conditions, the de- 

 mand for the necessities of Life and ordinary 

 business is much the same, and under the 

 present rate of increase in population and 

 development, this demand must increase. 

 But, while great expanses of partially devel- 

 oped territory exist and while agriculture is 

 essentially the mainstay, there will be limita- 



tions to the requirements. Cuba cannot now 

 be expected to absorb the same classes of sup- 

 plies which would be needed by a thickly 

 jjopulated region any more than a similar 

 district ol our States." 



Mr. Rogers in closing his address dwelt 

 emphatically on the necessity of better inves- 

 tigation of the conditions of the Cuban mar- 

 ket on the part of American exporters and the 

 importance of closer trade relations with Cuba. 



THE OPPORTUNITY IN CUBA 



From " The Americas " published by The Nationa) 



City Bank, New York 



Cuba, in ]3roportion to her population, is an 

 intensely commercial country, which imports 

 nearly everything she consumes, and exports 

 practically all she produces. For the past 

 ten years the balance of trade has tieen in- 

 variably in her favor. During the fiscal year 

 1912-13 her imports, including mone}% 

 amounted to $136,000,000, and her exports to 

 $16.5,000,000. Notwitstanding the statisti- 

 cal fact that Cuba's trade with the United 

 States has expanded from $66,000,000 in 1899 

 to $182,000,000 in 1913, a field of opportuni- 

 ties is yet available to those American pro- 

 ducers or manufacturers who have the pa- 

 tience to investigate carefully the tastes and 

 requirements of the Cuban people, and persist 

 in the pursuit of their trade. To approach 

 this market with hope of success, personal 

 acquaintance with those whose trade is de- 

 sired is of vital importance. Another con- 

 sideration is the ability to extend liberal 

 credit to worthy customers, drafts at 30 days 

 to 6 months, with documents against accep- 

 tance being a very common means of receiv- 

 ing imports. To acquire personal touch two 

 courses are open, either the selection of an 

 agent who is already acquainted with the 

 trade and has an established business, or, the 

 establishment of a branch of one's own at the 

 most convenient centre. 



Credit, in Cuba, is the result of generations 

 of trading with foreign covmtries, which had 

 sufficient confidence in the productive capac- 

 ity of the island and the integrity of its busi- 

 ness men to advance either the Government 

 or the merchants anple funds for their re- 

 quirements. It would seem that tliis confi- 

 dence on the part of the foreign vendor has 

 not been misplaced, for, whUe delayed accept- 

 ances are frequent, failures to meet maturi- 

 ties are comparatively few. 



There has been a steady inclination to es- 

 tablish home industries; nevertheless, with 

 the exception of sugar by-products and fruits, 

 these industries are generally dependent on 

 the foreign market for the raw products used 

 in their manufactures. Most of the capital 

 invested in Cuba is that of foreigners, wluch 

 includes Spanish, American, English, German 

 and French. The person who in any way de- 

 preciates the ability of the average business 

 man encountered in Cuba is doomed to dis- 

 appointment. U]) to the present time a gen- 

 eral business depression has existed through- 

 out the Island, owing to the fact that for the 

 past two j-ears the sale price of sugar has 



