THL 

 CUBA RLVILW 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA" 



Copyright. 1914, by the Munsox Steamship Line 



Volume XII 



JANUARY, 1914 



Number 2 



GOVERNMENT MATTERS 



LOAN MADE $10,000,000 APPROVED BY CONGRESS PORTS COMPANY 



MATTER IMPROVED AMNESTY LAW VETOED 



The national loan bill passed 

 Loan Congress December 19th, 



Made but for $10,000,000 instead 



$10,000,000 of $15,000,000 which the 

 government sought. The 

 $10,000,000 was accepted by the government 

 as a compromise at the last minute, Pres- 

 ident Menocal having given his consent. 



The Senate approved the house bill with- 

 out amendment and Congress adjourned to 

 January 14th. The vote cast in favor of the 

 measure in the House where the bill had 

 the greatest opposition on the part of the 

 Liberal Miguelistas, was 63 to 2 ; and in 

 the Senate by 19 to 1. 



President ^lenocal and the Cabinet called 

 for bids for the loan for January 15th. 

 Bidders were to send sealed tenders under 

 assurance that the loan would be awarded 

 to the bankers making the best bid. 



Assurances had been given that the gov- 

 ernment did not expect to respect the claim 

 of Speyer & Co. Their claim for prece- 

 dence in such matters was fully explained 

 in the December issue of The Cuba Re- 

 view. 



According to information received in Ha- 

 vana on December 24th, the government 

 proposes to ask immediately for $5,000,000 

 with which to cancel the Morgan promissory 

 notes and payment to creditors of the De- 

 partments of Public Works and the In- 

 terior. The remaining five millions will be 

 used exclusively in the work of continuing 

 the sewer and paving work. 



Propositions to underwrite the loan 

 were, it is said, made by J. P. Morgan & 

 Company, Speyer & Company. The Ameri- 

 can Bank Note Company, Morgan & Harjes 

 of Paris, the Credit Lyonnais and a Ger- 

 man banking house. 



The JVall Street Journal javs that when 



earlier in the year J. P. Morgan & Co. 

 loaned the Cuban government $2,000,000 on 

 short term bills, it was understood between 

 the bankers and the representatives of the 

 ^Nlenocal administration that the bankers 

 would be invited to consider the purchase 

 of any long term bonds that might in the 

 future be offered for sale. If they did not 

 receive the contract it was further under- 

 stood that the government of Cuba would 

 pay J. P. Morgan and others the sum of 

 $100,000. This sum was to be in lieu of 

 commissions which the bankers refrained 

 from charging until the ne.xt loan was ne- 

 gotiated. 



President Menocal issued a statement re- 

 garding the loan which was also sent out 

 from the Cuban legation at Washington. 

 It reads in part as follows : 



"In accordance with a law promulgated 

 and declared in force on the 20th inst., and 

 in conformity with the provisions of its 

 last article, the President of the Republic 

 of Cuba has been authorized to issue bonds 

 for a foreign debt to the amount of $10.- 

 000,000 in money of the United States of 

 America at the rate of $4.86 each pound 

 sterling, or the equivalent thereof in other 

 foreign moneys. 



"The law provides that the bonds shall 

 bear interest at the most favorable rates 

 obtainable, and they shall be amortised 

 within such time as may be fixed and from 

 such dates as may be stipulated, endeavor- 

 ing to secure the most favorable terms for 

 the public treasury, the Cuban Republic 

 giving as a guaranty for the payment of 

 the debt the good faith and credit of the 

 republic, so that it will always attend the 

 punctual payment of the interest on said 

 debt, as well as to the amortisation of the 

 bond?, ina?much as the law expressly au- 



