20 



THE CUBA REVIE W 



BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN THE ISLAND 



Soda-Fountain Business in Cuba 



The custom of drinking soda water and 

 the numerous mixtures that can be obtained 

 at the ordinary soda fountain in the United 

 States has not reached this part of the island 

 of Cuba. In the city of Santiago de Cuba, 

 with an estimated population of 60,557, 

 there are only three places where ice-cream 

 soda may be purchased and there is not an 

 up-to-date or attractive soda fountain in 

 the city. 



The Cubans are very fond of ice cream, 

 and it is made here in large quantities in 

 six or seven flavors, including some of the 

 native fruits. Ice cream may be obtained 

 in all the best hotels and cafes, and there is 

 one concern that has established an ice- 

 cream factory that produces brick ice-cream 

 of several dififerent flavors. 



The soda fountains in use in this city are 

 very cheap arrangements, really no_ more 

 than a revolving holder for about six fia.- 

 vors attached to a tank of carbonated water, 

 and there is no pretense of making or de- 

 veloping a profitable business from the 

 same, which no doubt could be done with 

 up-to-date fountains conducted as they are 

 in the United States. Aside from the fact 

 that no one has ever attempted to establish 

 a real soda-water business in this city by 

 installing an attractive forntain, there is 

 another reason that has probably prevented 

 the extension of this business, namely, the 

 manufacture of so many kinds of flavored 

 carbonated waters in this city. Besides 

 several kinds of flavored bottled waters, 

 there are two or three kinds of mineral 

 waters, and within the last two months an 

 American coca cola company has also estab- 

 lished a bottling branch of its business in 



Santiago. If the soda-fountain companies 

 would send to this city a first-class repre- 

 sentative who could talk Spanish and ex- 

 plain the enormous volume of business that 

 can be done in this line, and in this coun- 

 try maintained the year round, results could 

 be accomplished and in much less time than 

 by trying to introduce the business by 

 means of illustrated circulars and catalogs, 

 even though they are printed in Spanish. 



On account of the business being new and 

 practically unknown to the merchants here, 

 the firm doing business with them would 

 have to extend a longer term of credit than 

 is ordinarily extended to firms in the 

 United States. It is thought that it would 

 pay some American company to establish 

 attractive soda fountains in one or two of 

 the first-class cafes in this city and allow 

 monthly payments to be made therefor. 

 This plan is suggested simply in order to 

 introduce the business. 



Under the Cuban tarifi^ a soda fountain 



imported into Cuba would pay 20 per cent 



ad valorem. Fruit extracts are dutiable at 



2."> per cent ad valorem if they contain no 



alcohol. Fruit extracts containing alcohol 



pay customs dtuy at $33.15 per 100 liters 



and an internal-revenue tax of 20 cents per 



liter ('1.0.")66S quarts). There is also a port 



charge of approximately 70 cents per metric 



ton levied on all goods imported into this 



island. — A^ice-Consul Harry C. Morgan, 



Santiago. 



* * * 



TThe vice-consul's list of prospective 

 soda-fountain buyers in Santiago may be 

 had from the Bureau at Washington, D. C, 

 and the branch in New York.) 



FEW AMERICAN HORSESHOEING FORGES 



Havana, with its 300,000 population, has 

 but two or three Americans operating shoe- 

 ing shops within its boundaries, all others 

 being of Spanish extraction. The largest 

 shop in the city, conducted by a Spaniard, 

 employs about fourteen men, the price for 

 shoeing is $1.50 for plain shoes, $4.00 per 

 set when the shoes are provided with pads. 

 The horses of the city are mostly of the 

 small size and therefore do not require any 

 shoes larger than No. 4. The wages paid 

 workmen, both fire and floor, is about $1.75 

 per day. Most shoes used are of the hand- 

 made kind and it is said of these that they 

 do not represent much skill, the shoes being 

 rough and unshapely when dropped from 

 the tongs of the maker. 



The shoeing forges are conducted almost 

 wholly by veterinarians who rarely are seen 

 doing any work themselves in the shops, 

 but employ a foreman to represent them. 

 Havana may and may not be a good pro- 

 spect for American shoers, the question of 

 their success depending on the influence 

 that would be used by the Americans over 

 the Spaniards or Cubans to attract business 

 to their forges. — Horseshocrs Journal, De- 

 troit, Mich. 



A starch factory which has been recently 

 established at Rioja, municipality of Hol- 

 guin, Oriente Province, is producing daily 

 from yuca 264 quintals of starch. 



The machinery used in the factory was 

 bought in Germany. 



