20 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



in ordinary vehicles hauled by horses or 

 oxen. The oxen are always preferable 

 for certain characters of vehicle service 

 in spite of the numerous objections, in 

 recent years, to bringing the ox-carts 

 through the streets of the cities. 



The writer is convinced that the Am- 

 erican express wagons would sell here. 

 There are already quite a few American 

 designs of express wagons on the island, 

 but there is room for more. 



A Wide Tired Cart Satisfactory. 



The use of two-wheeled carts on the 

 country roads is causing the department 



of public works a great deal of worry. 

 As long as the use of narrow-tired, two- 

 wheeled carts is permitted Cuba's roads 

 will never be in good condition. The 

 tires cut great holes in the surface of 

 the roads, which a heavy rain make much 

 worse. Mr. Atkinson, an American sug- 

 ar planter near Cienfuegos, tells of ex- 

 periments with carts with wider tires. 

 These carts have proved satisfactory, 

 which tends to discredit the statements 

 made to Governor Magoon some time 

 ago, when the question was up that it 

 would be impossible to use any other 

 carts in the cane fields than those now 

 in use. 



CUBAN FOOTWEAR IN CAMAGUEY. 



Some Quaint Descriptions and Styles. 



Tn Cuba one may learn much about 

 shoes as they ought not to be. Shoe- 

 making is not a lost art, but one not 

 yet discovered, though in many a tiny 

 shop along our ancient streets they are 

 struggling with rudimentary knowledge. 



Some of the shoes they produce are 

 not so bad to look at, but if a lining does 

 not fat or if both straps button to the 

 right or the left "that is nothing," they 

 assure you. 



The leather used is either hard and 

 stiff as a board or so spongy it has no 

 staying qualities whatever. The mate- 

 rial in the infants' shoes seems more like 

 paper. I have seen no shoes made here 

 that were sewed, but instead they show 

 a line of shiny nail-heads, and cur,y,e up- 

 ward at the toe. Some being laced with 

 leather and some fastening with a buckle. 



The shops are decorated with row up- 

 on row of their product hung upon lines 

 across the room and ranged upon open 

 shelves. The doorway also shows a va- 



Spanish Correspondence Necessary. 



Practically all business houses in Cuba 

 employ one or more English-speaking 

 clerks, but all communications should be 

 in Spanish, so the owners can read the 

 letters and not have to hand them to a 

 clerk for translation, who in nine cases 

 out of ten never conveys correctly the 

 ideas expressed. Besides, it facilitates 

 correspondence, and undoubtedly im- 

 presses the merchant, coming as it does 

 from a foreign country. It tends to 

 create confidence in the sincerity of the 

 foreigner's intention to establish lasting 

 business relations; it puts the prospec- 

 tive customer on the right track, and 

 produces that friendly and familiar feel- 

 ing so necessary for success which is al- 

 most impossible to obtain by means of 

 interpretation. — U. S. Consular Report. 



riety, many designed after old fashioned 

 carpet slippers and of gay colors. Here 

 and there along the sleepy streets you 

 meet a little cart drawn by a benevolent- 

 looking goat and swinging idly from the 

 framework are dozens of pairs of shoes, 

 mostly for children, of red, purple, pink- 

 and white, for all the Cuban children 

 wear shoes, though possibly nothing else. 



A friend of mine brought some taps 

 from the United States for his own shoes 

 and took a pair to a Cuban cobbler to 

 have them put on. The cobbler put them 

 on after a fashion, but refused to try 

 another pair, saying such leather was no 

 good, it was so "tough," and broke his 

 awl and dulled his knives. 



A firm in Havana is making shoes af- 

 ter American patterns, selling them as 

 American shoes. Cubans who can af- 

 ford it wear a cheap American shoe, but 

 the majority buy the native product. — 

 Correspondence American Shoemaking, 

 Boston, Mass. 



Cuba's Orange Crop 500,000 Crates. 



U. S. Consul Max J. Baehr, of Cien- 

 fuegos, reports that 500,000 crates is a 

 conservative estimate of this year's 

 Cuban orange crop, the largest in the 

 history of the island. Until a few years 

 ago thousands of crates of oranges were 

 brought to Cuba from Florida and Cali- 

 fornia every year, but for the last three 

 seasons these shipments have become 

 less, and will possibly cease entirely 

 within another year. Orange cultivation 

 on a scientific scale did not begin in 

 Cuba until about eight or nine years 

 ago, and may be considered in its in- 

 fancy, but is progressing rapidly, and 

 even at this early stage is now in posi- 

 tion to supply the local markets. The 

 orange business on the island is con- 

 trolled almost entirely by Americans. 



