32 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



PLANTATION CARS OF ALL KINDS 



ALSO THE PARTS FOR SAME 



No. 902-L (Palabra de clave ZPUGJ) 



El grabado ensena uno de nuestros carros de acero para cana, con piso, extremos y pared de madera. 



Fabricamos un gran numero de carros para cana para uso en Cuba, Puerto-Rico, America Central y 

 Mexico, one tienen jaulas de acero o de madera y construidas para los distintos tipos de carga y descarga 

 de la cana. 



AMERICAN CAR & FOUNDRY CO., NEW YORK, E. U. A. 



Direccion telegrafica: NALLIM, New York. Produccion annual de mas de 100,000 carros. 

 Representante para Cuba: OSCAR B. CINTAS, Oficios 29-31 Havana. 



STATUS OF THE COLONO 



A recent conversation with a leading merchant of the flourishing commercial City of Cien- 

 fuegos, elicited some interesting information regarding a little known class of hard workers 

 in Cuba, the colono who leases much land from the owners of sugar lands, tills it, manj' 

 times financially assisted by the company, and afterwards sells his product to the factory. 

 Should he desire to extend his acreage, and having some money of his own, he can easily 

 secure all the financial assistance he may require and make such arrangements as may eventu- 

 ally make the leased land his own property. The colono is very fortunately situated and 

 has apparently the better part of the bargain with the central, which is usually for 10 or 15 

 years. He sells his cane by weight and should there be much rain and little cold weather, 

 the gi-een cane saturated with water is very heavy and he gets his sugar for his cane, although 

 the sugar content of his product may be very small. Should the colono own his own land 

 and be surrounded by sugar mills, as in Havana, Matanzas and Santa Clara provinces, he 

 is again in a fortunate situation as in that case he does not make a contract with any mill 

 for more than a year, and furthermore he visits each mill in their turn and invite.s offers for 

 his cane, long before it is harvested. One mill may offer 6 reales, others 6H, and still another, 

 which has installed more machinery and is consequently in a position to grind more cane and 

 will require more cane to keep its plant running, will offer 7 reales and colono, natm-aUy 

 seeking the highest price, closes with the best offer. As cotton is king in our own southern 

 states, so is sugar king in Cuba, and at the last analysis, despite incursions into other agri- 

 cultural products, sugar will remain king. There is no other business which yields so large 

 a return or more surely than cane and there is no doubt that stories of options on large estates 

 being bought by American and foreign interests are true and indicate that a full realization 

 of the enduring value of Cuba's cane is very general. Said my informant, "If any one tells 

 you that sugar cane growing is a precarious business and the profits irregular, set him dowm 

 for a falsifier, for such statements are far from the truth. Carelessness in management, 

 thriftlessness, prodigality in expenditure, can reduce the profits to the vanishing point; but 

 remove these, give careful attention to business, watch the leaks, husband your resources 

 and profits are sure and very large." 



My informant had something further to say regarding credits necessary in his business. 

 Long credits are given, the colonos being generous buyers, long before their monetary returns 

 come in. In February they begin to liquidate their bills as money comes to them from the 

 mills, and up to May payments on outstanding accounts are generous, and in a measure 



