THE CUBA REVIEW 



17 



The secret of successful farming in Cuba lies 

 in the growing of staple foodstuffs anil truck, 

 and not in fruit-growing. The man who will 

 forget citrus fruit-growing, and who will in- 

 telligently ])uy and cultivate a small patch of 

 land, should be rewarded l)y a comfortable 

 subsistence and secure an income here more 

 easil}^ than in almost any other place. 



Land such as is generally considered very 

 satisfactory for farming piu'jjoses in oiu' agri- 

 cultural States, and which is within r:)Ossible 

 reach of a port, may be ])urchased in Cuba for 

 $25 per acre, and the jjrice in many cases 

 ranges down as low as SIO. Of course, such 

 soil is not adapted to the cultivatioil of 

 oranges or tobacco, and therefore the land has 

 escaped the fancy prices demanded Ijy the 

 owners of citrus land, where prices often nru 

 from three to five times as high. ^Moreover, 

 Ijy growing ordinary garden truck, the farmer 

 is avoiding tlie liigh cost incident to estab- 

 lishing and maintaining a citrus grove; he is 

 meeting with very little competition; and he is 

 assured of a good market for his jjroduce, not 

 only in Cuba, but in the eastern markets of the 

 United States. 



Industries in Cuba 



It is noteworthy that although Cuba raises 

 considerable amounts of wheat, corn, rice, 

 beans, potatoes, etc., yet it imports these com- 

 modities in large quantities from the United 

 States. As I show Ijelow, Cuban im])orts of 

 corn last vear from the United States were 

 valued at .|l, 700,000; potatoes, $900,000; oats, 

 $460,000; beans, $430,000; wheat, $50,000; 

 onions, $30,000; while imports of rice fluc- 

 tuated from $250,000 in 1912 to about $30,- 

 000 in 1913. I am of the opinion that the 

 island of Cuba desei'ves considerable study, 

 not only on the part of the manufacturer with 

 a view to increasing his trade, but more par- 

 ticularly on the i)art of those who desire to 

 make a moderate investment of money and 

 labor where a good return is promised. 



In a talk wliich I had in Havana with our 

 consul, Mr S])ringer, I learned that the mer- 

 chandise imported bv Cuba for the fiscal year 

 1912-13 totaled $1.32,000 000, or .$58 per 

 capita. Of this total 53 per cent was supplied 

 by the United States. Of the more important 

 imports received during that year the greater 

 part of $6,800,000 worth of iron and steel came 

 from the United States; j-et Germanv, the 

 United Kingdom and Belgium supplied a 

 share which should hereafter be available to 

 the United States. Considering the fine iron 

 mines in Cuba, these imports seem largely un- 

 necessarv. 



Of $4^200,000 worth of chemical products, 

 the United States supplied the larger part; 

 nevertheless a good quantity of salts, phar- 

 macy products, vegetable oil and soa]) mater- 

 ial came from the United Koingdom, France 

 and Spain. These last three maintained a 

 long lead over the United States in cotton 

 manufactures and mixed woven goods, the 

 value of which was $12,000,000, and Ireland 

 and the I'nited Kingdom su])))lied virtually 

 the entire amount of fine linen fal>rics. Ship- 



ments of $3,600,000 worth of lumber came 

 almost entirely from the United States. Of 

 $1,700,000 in paper and cardboard, one-third 

 came from countries other than the United 

 States. The leather goods, including boots 

 and shoes, were valued at $5,000,000, $900,- 

 000 of which came from Germany and Spain. 

 Of $4,700,000 vegetable fibers, including sugar 

 sacks, the United Kingdom furnished the great- 

 est part, the amount coming from the United 

 States being less than $1,000,000. 



The general machinery imports from the 

 United States, United Kingdom and Germanv 

 were valued at $11,000,000. Of $4,500,000 

 sugar machinerv, CJermanv and Belgium sup- 

 plied $1,800,000. Of the" meat products im- 

 ported, valued at $12,(K)().(l()(l,a large quantitv 

 of salted pork and $6,000,000 in lard came 

 from the United States, and tasajo, or jerked 

 beef, from Argentina and Uruguay. Here 

 again, with the great opportvmities for cattle 

 raising in Cuba, these imports seem wholly 

 unnecessary. 



Codfish was supplied by Canada, the United 

 Kingdom and Norway. The bulk of canned 

 fish came from Spain. The United Kingdom 

 supplied $1,100,000 of milk as against $800,- 

 000 furnished by the United States. Den- 

 mark furnished .$200,000 in canned butter, 

 and $300,000 in cheese was sui:)plied almost 

 whollv bv Holland. The value of cereals im- 

 l^ortcd was $16,000,000. Of $7,700,000 in rice, 

 s:-!.2( )(),()( 10 was supplied bv Germnav, $3,- 

 800,000 l)y the United Kingdom and British 

 India. Vegetal)le and garden produce im- 

 ported was worth $5,500,000. Of $1,500,000 

 in onion, Spain and the Canarv Island fur- 

 nished more than half. Of $1 ,000,000 in sweet 

 peas, slightly over one-half was supplied by 

 the United States and the remainder by Mex- 

 ico. Mexico, Germany and France furnished 

 more than half of the beans valued at $1,- 

 500,000. 



Potatoes came largely from the United 

 States and Canada. Spain su])plied nearly 

 the entire consumption of canned vegetables, 

 the $1,000,000 worth of this article and olive 

 oil being double that which Cul)a ex-ported to 

 that country. The coffee consumption in 

 Cviba was .$3,800,000, of which nearly all came 

 from Porto Rico, and the rest from the I'nited 

 States. There were .$1,200,000 of United 

 States eggs, which retailed seldom below 48 

 cents a dozen, and double that amount could 

 have been used to advantage. — ^Philadelphia 

 (Pa.) Public Ledger. 



JAVA'S SUGAR PRODUCTION 



1912 1913 1914 



Short tons(2,000 lbs.) l,o.32,9.1o 1,60(5,417 1,580,092 

 Equivalent to long 



tons... (2,240 lb.s.. 1,368,74.5 1,434,286 1.410,797 



IMPORTS OF CUBAN SUGAR—GREAT BRITAIN 



1 mo. end. ]\Iar. 31. 3 mos. end. Mar. 31 



1914 38,458 tons 1914 65,430 tons 



1915 11,407 tons 1915 31,715 tons 



