30 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE SUGAR DUTY 



The treaty with Cuba has been operative 

 since December 27, 1903. It provides that 

 in return for certain tariff concessions 

 granted by Cuba to the United States the 

 United States agrees to admit Cuban to- 

 bacco and sugar at 20 per cent less than 

 the regular duty rate. The treaty provides 

 that while it is in force "no sugar imported 

 from the Republic of Cuba and being the 

 product of the soil or industry of the Re- 

 public of Cuba, shall be admitted into the 

 United States at a reduction of duty greater 

 than 20 per centum of the rates of duty 

 thereon, as provided by the tariff act of the 

 United States, approved July 24, 1897, and 

 no sugar, the product of any other foreign 

 country, shall be admitted by treaty or con- 

 vention into the United States, while this 

 convention is in force, at a lower rate of 

 duty than that provided by the tariff act of 

 the United States approved July 24, 1897." 



The •Underwood-Simmons law reduced 

 the then existing (Dingley) rate of duty 

 by 25 per cent, effective March 1, 1914, and 

 placed it on the free list beginning with 

 May 1, 1916. The framers of the new tariff 

 law inserted in section IV of the act a pro- 

 vision to the effect that nothing in the law 

 shall be construed as abrogating or in any 

 manner impairing the Cuban commercial 

 reciprocity agreement or the act of Con- 

 gress passed for the execution of the same 

 except as to the proviso of article 8 of the 

 treaty, which was abrogated and repealed. 

 The extract from the treaty quoted above 

 is part of article S. 



According to lawyers in New York an 

 act of Congress supersedes any commercial 

 agreement or treaty that may be in force, 

 and there was nothing wrong in reducing 

 the duty on sugar, even though it was in 

 violation of the Cuban reciprocity conven- 

 tion. The question that now arises is : Will 

 Cuba give notice of its intention to termi- 

 nate the agreement in view of the United 

 States having violated one of its provisions 

 by reducing the tariff rate on sugar pro- 

 vided in the Dingley law of 1897? The ab- 

 sence of any protest on the part of Cuba 

 so far is taken to indicate that the republic 

 is not inclined to object to our tariff 

 changes. 



Article X of the reciprocity convention 

 reads in part : 



"It is hereby understood and agreed that 

 in case of changes in the tariff of either 

 country which deprive the other of the ad- 

 vantage which is represented by the per- 

 centages herein agreed upon on the actual 

 rates of the tariffs now in force, the coun- 

 try so deprived of this protection reserves 

 the right to terminate its obligations under 

 this convention after six months' notice to 

 the other of its intention to arrest the 

 operations thereof." 



The opinion of Attorney General McRey- 

 nolds advising the propriety of admitting 

 Cuban sugars at a duty of 20 per cent less 

 than the new rate, effective March 1st, is 

 said to govern the situation at the present 

 time, but some time before May 1, 1916, 

 when sugar goes on the free list, the matter 

 will have to be readjusted. It is believed 

 that before then the treaty itself will be 

 changed or cancelled. 



THE CROP IN CAIBARIEN 



Up to April 1st the following centrals 

 in the Caibarien district had reported their 

 output as follows : 



Zaza 73,975 



San Jose 49,706 



San Pablo 21,745 



Victoria 74,300 



Reforma 66,615 



Fe 53,144 



Narcisa 58,040 



Adela 45,389 



Fidencia 15,860 



Altamira 32,969 



Rosalia 19,336 



San Agustin 42,844 



Carmita 4,371 



Julia 2,086 



Total 560.380 



INCREASE THEIR ESTIMATE 



Guma & IMejer of Havana made an esti- 

 mate on December 8th last of 2,479,600 

 tons for the 1913-14 sugar crop of Cuba. 



Early this month they revised this esti- 

 mate increasing it by 70,000 tons. Their 

 estimate accordingly is now 2,550,000 tons. 

 Production to March 31st was 1,462,381 tons 

 as compared with 1,231,979 tons in 1913 and 

 !)9S,539 tons in 1912 for the same period. 



RIO CANTO SUGAR COMPANY 



The Rio Canto Sugar Company was in- 

 corporated at Albany, New York, on Octo- 

 ber 29th last. Capital, $1,000,000. The 

 directors ,are : Jerome B. Sullivan and 

 August Miller of Brooklyn and W. A. 

 Wagner of New York City. 



FAIR ACREAGE IN LOUISIANA 



Notwithstanding the discouragements of 

 the Louisiana planters, some reports say 

 that a fairly full acreage ha's been planted 

 in sugar cane. A good growing season is 

 especially desired by sugar planters to 

 "make ends meet from now on." 



Central "Ciego de Avila" began grinding 

 February 19th. 



