THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



GENERAL COMMENT ON CUBA AFFAIRS 



still raging fm-iouslyin October. The report, 

 however, should be very satisfactory. 



It is interesting to hear that steps are being 

 taken to increase the area inider sugar 

 cultivation and improve the grinding capacity 

 of the mills in Cuba in view of the stop- 

 page of sugar suj^plies from the Contin- 

 ent. 



Hitherto the bulk of the Cuban sugar has 

 been disposed of in the United States. If 

 the war lasts any length of time we shall 

 see more antl moi'e coming to this country. 

 It is just such a fillip as this that Cuba wants 

 Large as is the present output there is still 

 an enormous ai'ea of fine sugar land as yet 

 unexploited. If this is developed good 

 traffics to the i-ailwaj's would, of course, 

 result. — Outlook, London. 



EUROPE AND PRICE OF SUGAR 



The advance in the price of raw sugar in 

 the last three months was, said Mr. Edwin F. 

 Atkins on Sept. 2, the most rapid he had ever 

 seen in his 40 years' experience. In June it 

 was 2 l-5c a pound; in July it was 334c; on 

 August 13 it was 6.52c. For this he held the 

 war responsible. 



Russia, Austria, Germany, France, Bel- 

 gium and Holland all produce part of the 

 sugar tliey consume anyway. None of them 

 has ever bought in this country. England has 

 never bought here either, but has got more 

 than half her supply from her continental 

 neighbors. When mobilization began to take 

 men from the fields, Europe had to find 

 new sources of supply. In the last thirty 

 days England alone has bought 400,000 tons 

 of sugar, raw and refined, here; and there 

 have been orders here within a week from 

 Greece, Demnark and Holland. 



This extraordinarj' English demand was, 

 Mr. Atkins thought, the foundation of the 

 recent rise in prices. England began buying 

 in Cuba, and raised competition there which 

 American refiners had to meet. 



The total consumption of sugar by Eng- 

 land last vear was 2,100,000 tons, and bv the 

 United States 3,743,000 tons, Mr. Atkins 

 said. England will have to make up a deficit 

 in her regular sugar consumption of a million 

 tons, he estimated, even after the demand 

 there has been reduced by general economy 

 and by the stopping of certain lines of manu- 

 facture which use this staple largely. The 

 400,000 tons England bought here last 

 month are intended, Mr. Atkins said, to 

 take care of the rest of this calendar j'ear. 



While this very heavy demand from Eng- 

 land is at the bottom of the whole thing, Mr. 

 Atkins said, and the Continent is buying 

 here for the first time, the countries to the 

 south of the United States are making the 

 outside demand still larger than usual. 

 South America always got its sugar in Eng- 



land. Now South America, Central America 

 and ^Mexico are also coming to us. 



Asked what he thought this meant the 

 future course of sugar prices would be, Mr. 

 Atkins said that that was very uncertain, 

 but he believed they would fluctuate rapidly 

 for the next year. 



Mr. Atkins did not believe an embargo on 

 the exportation of sugar would be either 

 effective or desii'able. Since Cuba could not 

 be controlled and would simply sell the supply 

 of raw sugar needed here to others and would 

 refine more extensively herself; the ultimate 

 effect reacting unfavorably on prices in the 

 United States. 



He said also that while the buying and sell- 

 ing are done through brokers, so that it is 

 impossible to say positively, he believed that 

 European governments, as such, have placed 

 large orders here. One for a million bags not 

 long ago was supposed to be for the British 

 Government, and he thought that the Gov- 

 ernment of Norway has also been making in- 

 quiries lately. 



COMMENTS OF MINISTER GONZALEZ 



While in Columbia, S. C, recently, William 

 E. Gonzalez, the LTnited States Minister to 

 Cuba, gave an interview to a representative 

 of the Spartansburg (S. C.) Herald and ex- 

 pressed himself as follows: 



"Cuba's prospects are satisfactory. The 

 republic has passed through a hard year on 

 account of the low price of sugar and an un- 

 satisfactory tobacco crop, but the promises 

 for the next year are bright. The changed 

 condition is brought about by the advance 

 in the price of sugar. Immediately upon the 

 declaration of war sugar began advancing, 

 and within two weeks those so unfortimate 

 as to hold sugar realized splendid jirofits. 

 Unfortimately for the planter, most of the 

 sugar of the last crop had passed into other 

 hands, and had gone out of the country. 



"Cuban i)lanters ex"]3ect greatly advanced 

 prices for several years. If those expectations 

 are realized, a period of unexampled prosper- 

 ity will result. 



"While the war has seriously affected the 

 the Cuban tobacco industry, that source of 

 revenue is much less than that derived from 

 sugar growing. The country is absolutely 

 peaceful and orderly. President Menocal 

 has the respect of all the people, although 

 his party is a minority in congress. He is 

 generally conceded to be patriotic and to be 

 a man of the highest integrity. 



"There is in Cuba a very large American 

 colony engaged in many lines of business and 

 with interests that aggregate a large total." 



The Post believes that if absent congress- 

 men were fined theii' day's pay a quorum 

 could be secured for every session. 



