THE CUBA REVIEW 



25 



CUBAN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



The Gregg Company, Ltd., announces that 

 their business in Cuba will, hereafter, be 

 handled by The Gregg Company of Cuba, a 

 new corporation organized under the laws of 

 Cuba. 



The Gregg Company of Cuba will at once 

 open a store at No. 118 Aguiar St., Havana, 

 where a stock of railroad supplies will be 

 found to meet the needs of the planters. 



Mr. Wm. C. Gregg, President of The Gregg 

 Company, Ltd., is also the president of The 

 Gregg Company of Cuba, and he will give 

 much of his personal attention, as usual, to 

 the plantation trade ot Cuba. 



Mr. W. G. Woodside, who has conducted 

 the business in Cuba so successfully for the 

 last twelve years, is to be transferred to the 

 United States where, as manager of the prin- 

 cipal selling office at No. 80 Wall Street, New 

 York City, he will keep m constant touch with 

 exports to Cuba. 



CANNED GOODS FOR SANTIAGO DE CUBA 



An inspection of the stock of caxmed and 

 bottled goods carried by provision stores of 

 Santiago de Cuba, discloses the fact that a 

 considerable quantity has been imported in 

 the past from Europe, such as asparagus, 

 pickles, chow-chow, pickled meats, sausages, 

 jellies, jams, preserves, potted meats, sar- 

 dines, soda biscuits, and sweet biscuits, aU 

 of which could be substituted by those 

 manufactured in the United States. 



An Opening for the Extension of American 

 Trade. 



Since the beginning of the war, however, 

 there has been a great diminution of imports 

 of this character from Europe, and the 

 present seems an opportune time for Ameri- 

 can manufacturers interested in extending 

 their business to make a careful study of 

 the market. American canned goods of all 

 kinds are popular in Cuba. The proximity 

 of the LTnited States, which assures cheaper 

 freight rates, the rapidity of deUvery, the 

 guaranteed purity, and the preferential 

 duties are factors most advantageous as far 

 as competition with European manufactur- 

 ing and exporting houses is concerned. 



The city of Santiago de Cuba has at 

 present about 65,000 inhabitants and the 

 population of this consular district, which 



embraces more than half of the area of the 

 island, is about 750,000. 



The duty on canned meats, fish, sauces, 

 condiments, etc., from the United States is 

 about 25 per cent ad valorem; on canned 

 fruits 19.5 per cent ad valorem; and on 

 vegetables, pickled or preserved in any man- 

 ner, the duty is about 23 per cent.' — Consul 

 P. Merrill Griffith, Santiago de Cuba. 



CAM AGUE Y 



Daniel Weill, Inc., general merchant of 

 Camaguey and specialist in textUe and cotton 

 goods for the island, announces that he will 

 in the very near future commence the erection 

 and installation of a factory at Camaguey for 

 the manufacture of trousers, overalls and 

 shirts. The factory wiU be equipped with 

 machines of the latest type for making 500 

 dozen garments per month. Owing to the 

 war and the high tariff on this class of manu- 

 factured goods entering Cuba, Mr. WeUl has 

 the right idea in establishing his own business 

 for the manufacture of these articles if only 

 for the reputation he will receive by the 

 "Made in Cuba" slogan. 



IMPORTANCE OF QUOTING DELIVERED 

 PRICES 



Extract from letter of Special Agent Harris 

 of the United States Department of Com- 

 merce to a correspondent in Wisconsin wiU 

 be of general interest, and applies to all firms 

 contemplating business with Latin America: 



"Let me urge upon you the importance of 

 being able to quote dehvered prices at the 

 nearest port. Prices in New York mean 

 nothing to the man in Cuba or somewhere 

 else. If you find it difficult to quote him 

 prices at his nearest port, just imagine how 

 bewildered he is when he tries to find out 

 what the goods will cost him laid douTi there. 

 He has very few facilities for finding this out 

 compared with those open to American firms. 



"Put one of your bright young men to 

 working this out. Figure the cost price laid 

 down at Santiago, at Behze, at Colon, at San 

 Salvador. There is where Europeans have 

 had the advantage of our salesmen. I have 

 seen American salesmen compelled to o^^^l up 

 that they did not know how much the goods 

 would cost; and I have seen a German sales- 

 man go into his pocket and from a Uttle red 

 book not only call out what sardines would 

 cost per case laid down in Santiago, but what 

 each can would cost on the shelves. Get the 

 information on every important point and 

 then work it out. It will pay you." 



