22 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



TOBACCO MARKET IMPROVING 



It is reported that the exportation of to- 

 bacco has now been resumed, and aUhough 

 the exports are far from normal, it is con- 

 sidered by growers antl nicrcliants that the 

 worst of the depression in the tobacco market 

 has been passed. 



TOBACCO FACTORY MAY MOVE 



The matter of moving the cigar factory at 

 Galathea and Parajon from Havana to Guan- 

 abacoa is being seriously considered. 



The Cuban decree of a bounty on raw 

 tobacco and on cigars manufactured in Cuba 

 for direct shipment to a foreign country, al- 

 though promulgated on Nov. 7, 1914, has not 

 yet been put into effect, and probably never 

 will be enforced, according to a cablegram 

 from the American Consul-General at Havana. 



TOBACCO PROTEST OVERRULED 



The Board of United States General Ap- 

 praisers overruled the protest of the St. Elmo 

 Cigar Company against the assessment made 

 by the collector at Los Angeles on importa- 

 tion of imstemmed leaf tobacco from Cuba. 



The appraiser returned 16 bales as wrapper 

 tobacco, 31 bales as containing percentages 

 (15 per cent or less) of wrapper tobacco and 

 the remaining 16.3 bales as filler tobacco. The 

 full contents of the wrapper bales were as- 

 sessed with duty at therate of .|1.65 perpound 

 under the provisions of paragraphs 181 and 

 182 of the tariff act of 1913, less 20 per cent, 

 under paragraph E of section 4, the tobacco 

 being the product of Cuba, and the percent- 

 ages of wrapper found in the 31 bales were 

 similarly assessed, the balance of their con- 

 tents being assessed at 35 cents per pound. 



The protest was limited to 29 bales of which 

 16 were returned as warpper tobacco, the re- 

 maining 13 bales having been returned as 

 containing varying percentages of wrapper 

 leaves The contention of the importers was 

 that the 29 bales in cjuestion contain only 

 filler tobacco, subject to duty at only 35 cents 

 per pound under paragraph 151 



The opinion of the board, written by Gen- 

 eral Appraiser McClelland, reads in part as 

 follows : 



"On the question of whether any of the 

 bales contain leaves suitable for wrapper there 

 is absolutely no variance among the witnesses 

 testifying for protestants, while the percent- 

 ages of wrapper foimd by the witnesses for the 

 Govermnent vary to a greater or less extent. 

 The statements made by the witnesses for 

 both the importers and the Government to the 

 effect that they had examined the tobacco in 



groups and exchanged views as to the charac- 

 ter and qualities thereof, might furnish grounds 

 for questioning whether the respective state- 

 ments of the witnesses represented their in- 

 dividual judgments; but, nevertheless, taking 

 the record as it stands and weighing the evi- 

 dence from the standpoint of value, we are 

 satisfied that by a clear preponderance thereof 

 not only is the classification of each of the 16 

 bales found by the collector to contain wrap- 

 per tobacco abundantly sustained, but in 

 addition a finding is equally justified that each 

 of the 13 bales involved clas.sfied by the col- 

 lector as containing percentages of wrapper 

 tobacco ranging from 6 to 15 per cent of 

 wrapper leaves, do each actually contain 

 more than 15 per cent of wrapper leaves of 

 sufficient size, having the requisite color, tex- 

 ture and burn for wrappers, and that there- 

 fore the entire contents of said 13 bales should 

 have been assessed with duty as wrapper 

 tobacco. The protest is overruled." 



CUBA AND THE CANARY ISLANDS 



Emigration to Cuba. — Although local news- 

 papers frequently publish articles about the 

 large emigration from the islands, there is, 

 under normal conditions, only a highly de- 

 sirable free flow of labor. It is estimated that 

 no less than one-fifth of the people have been, 

 at one time or another, in Cuba or Argentina. 

 Since the war liegan, agricultiu-e has been 

 languishing here and flourishing in Cuba, 

 with the result that the niuuber of country 

 people going to that island has largely in- 

 creased. About 4,000 persons left the islands 

 in 1914, practically all for Cuba. The total 

 was less than for 1913, as the River Plate 

 countries attracted no emigrants last year. 

 The Canary Island peasantry are highly 

 skilled, are intensive cultivators, accustomed 

 to irrigation and heavy fertilization, and are 

 reasonably frugal and have no inclination to 

 seek city employment. 



Tobacco. — All tobacco produced in the 

 Canaries is grown on the Island of La Palma. 

 It is estimated that at least one-fifth of the 

 male inhabitants of this district have worked, 

 at one time or another, on Cuban plantations, 

 and are more or less skilled in the processes of 

 growing and curing tobacco. The seed used 

 is of Cuban origin and the product resembles 

 that of the Remedies district, but is locally 

 considered to be of better grade, though the 

 quality varies greatly according to the season 

 and the care used in curing. 



VALUE OF GOODS IMPORTED FROM CUBA 



1913 1914 



Cuba 256,098 242,321 



— Commerce Reports. 



