26 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



THE CIENFUEGOS WATERWORKS CONTRACT. 



On June 2, President Roosevelt had 

 an extended conference at the White 

 House with Secretary Root, Secretary 

 Taft, Gen. Clarence R. Edwards, and 

 Major Frank Mclntyre, of the Insular 

 Bureau, regarding the validity of a con- 

 tract obtained by Judge Reilly, a New 

 Yorker, for the construction of the water 

 works for the city of Cienfuegos, Cuba, 

 which had been revoked by the present 

 council of Cienfuegos on the ground that 

 the former council which had granted 

 the contract, had been fraudulently 

 elected and has caused trouble for a 

 long time. 



It was agreed at the meeting in Wash- 

 ington that Secretary Taft should draw 

 up an arrangement whereby the work 

 te taken over and performed by the 

 Cuban Government, but this order com- 

 pelling the Cienfuegos authorities to ac- 

 cept the Reilly contract was opposed by 

 the Cubans. 



On June 12, the decision of the Su- 

 preme Court in the case of the Havana 

 Bond and Trust Company's appeal from 

 the decision of Governor Magoon re- 

 garding the issue of bonds for the con- 

 struction of the Cienfuegos aqueduct, 



Kew Properties of the Cuban-American 

 Sugar Co. 



Negotiations were concluded May 21 

 between the Cuban-American Sugar 

 Company and the Colonial Sugar Com- 

 pany, by which the latter was trans- 

 ferred to the Cuban-American Company. 

 The deal involves approximately $2,000,- 

 OOO. Of this amount about $1,000,000 

 will be given the Colonial company in 

 stock in the Cuban-American Company. 

 As a result of the transaction, the cap- 

 ital stock of the Cuban-American Com- 

 pany, which is now $12,000,000, will be 

 increased. The Cuban-American Com- 

 pany has in view the acquisition of fur- 

 ther properties in Cuba. 



The Cuban-American Sugar Company 

 was incorporated under the laws of New 

 York in September, 1906, for the purpose 

 of taking over the capital stocks of the 

 following companies: Chappara Sugar 

 Company, Tinguaro Sugar Company (old 

 Cuban-American Sugar Company), Cuba 

 Sugar Refining Company, Unidad Sugar 

 Company and Mercidita Sugar Com- 

 pany. Properties of the company have 

 an annual production of 115,000 tons 

 of sugar. The officers and directors 

 are as follows: R. B. Hawley, president; 

 Nathaniel Tooker, first vice-president; 

 Thomas A. Howell, second vice-presi- 

 dent; James H. Post, treasurer, and 

 Henry A. Clark, secretary and assistant 



which the city proposed to issue and 

 which Governor Magoon declared would 

 be illegal, declared that the action of the 

 Ayuntamiento in rescinding the Reilly 

 contract was legal. 



On the same day the Council at Cien- 

 fuegos, to avoid the removal from oihce 

 decreed by Secretary Taft, accepted 

 unanimously the condition suggested by 

 Mr. Taft that the city pay three-fifths 

 of the cost of the new water supply. 



A despatch to the New York Herald 

 later stated that the Cienfuegos water 

 works question was one of the causes of 

 the revolution and the downfall of Presi- 

 dent Palma. It says further, that Mr. 

 Reilly secured his contract during 

 Palma's administration. 



The proposed public improvement is 

 one the city sorely needs, but on June 16 

 Governor Magoon decided not to sign 

 the decree authorizing the construction 

 of waterworks at Cienfuegos until Au- 

 gust 3, which is two days after the elec- 

 tion, for the purpose of avoiding a pos- 

 sible clash between the rival factions, 

 respectively opposing and supporting the 

 Reilly contract. 



treasurer. Besides these gentlemen the 

 directorate includes F. D. Mollenhauer, 

 George R. Bunker, John Farr, Pearl 

 Wight, George C. Kosse, F. D. Can- 

 field, E. A. Longa, M. G. Menocal, H. 

 McCuUoch, and Fred H. Howell. 



The Colonial Sugar Company, which 

 was incorporated in June, 1907, is a con- 

 solidation of the Gramacy Sugar Com- 

 pany, the Gramacy Finance Company 

 and the Damuji Company. It has a re- 

 finery located at Gramacy, La., with a 

 capacity of 1,500 barrels per day of stand- 

 ard refined sugar; a central factory cap- 

 able of crushing 75,000 tons of sugar 

 per season, and four sugar plantations, 

 approximating 6,800 acres, with a pro- 

 ductive capacity of 75,000 tons per an- 

 num. Near Cienfuegos, Cuba, the com- 

 pany owns nearly 55.000 acres of land, 

 of which 13,000 are under cultivation, 

 together with machinery capable of 

 crushing 250,000 tons of cane during the 

 season; a railroad 55 miles in length, a 

 rum distillery, horses, oxen and mules, 

 and all the necessary equipment of a fully 

 equipped plant. The authorized capital 

 stock is $3,000,000, of which about $2,700,- 

 000 is outstanding. The president of the 

 company is John Farr, who succeeded 

 M. R. Spelman, who was one of the orig- 

 inal promoters of the company. The 

 directorate includes among others Stuy- 

 vesant Fish, H. W. Poor, J. C. Atwater, 

 G. G. Thorne and A. H. Larkin. 



