THECUBAREVIEW 27 



HISTORY OF THREE SUGAR FACTORIES 



AN INTERESTING STORY OF DEVELOPMENT WORK IN EASTERN CUBA 



"The Conquest of the Tropics," is the attractive title of a most interesting historj- of the 

 United Fruit Company's activities and successes, written by Frederick Upham Adams and 

 published by Doubleday, Page & Co. It is the first volume of a series planned to describe 

 certain big businesses in whose histories and operations the public is interested. 



The volume is attractiveh- bound, enriched by numerous fine half-tones of West Indian 

 scenery, and is well worth reading. To the Cuba Review readers, the operations of the 

 company in Cuba po.ssesses the most interest and liberal extracts from the book follow, 

 showing the company's operations in the republic. 



.Mr. Adams' deductions, saj' the pubUshers, stand on his reputation as a student and an 

 analyst of issues of public concern. He says in part as follows: 



'T was fairly familiar with the sugar industry in Cuba twelve years ago when the United 

 Fruit Company was coiLstructing its great mill in the Banes district, and I remember well the 

 comments of the recognized heads of the leading sugar concerns; who laughed at the attempt 

 to raise sugar cane along the east coast of Cuba. According to these prophets, none of the 

 requisites of soil, rainfall, labor or any other requirement was at the command of the inex- 

 perienced fruit men who had dared engage in the sugar industrj'. 



But the prophets were wrong. The region which the experts igiiored and rejected has 

 become one of the world's important sources of sugar supply, and has been made a steady 

 and conservative field of revenue to the company wliich had the courage to undertake its 

 development . 



The Boston Fruit Company was the founder of the present prosperity of the Xipe and 

 Banes Districts. It originally acquired a section of land near the Httle Cuban town of Banes 

 antl devoted part of it to banana cultivation. A year or so prior to its purchase by the United 

 Fruit Company the Boston Fruit Company decided to engage in sugar cultivation, experiments 

 having proved that an excellent quality of cane could be raised in fields adjacent to its banana 

 plantations. It thus came about that in the first year of the life of the United Fruit Company, 

 President Preston was able to report that the company has 7,803 acres of growing sugar cane 

 in its Banes plantations and a miU lapidly approaching completion. This was in 1900. 



At about this time the Dumois-Xipe Company was formed and began extensive operations 

 at Saetia, a favored spot along the southeast shore of Xipe Bay, and fifteen miles or so from 

 Banes. This company devoted its activities largeh' to fruit, and raised large quantities of 

 bananas, oranges, grapefruit and other tropical products. The United Fruit Company- was 

 the largest purchaser of these fruits, and continued so until it decided to abandon banana 

 cultivation and handling in Cuba, which was in 1906. From that 3'ear until 1912, the Dumois- 

 Xipe Compam' disposed of its fruits to various concerns, but in that year it was decided that 

 sugar could be raised to greater advantage and to more profit, and the Saetia Sugar Company 

 was formed, the United Fruit Company furnishing most of the capital and owning control 

 of the stock. 



The success of the Ignited Fruit Company at Banes soon led to the formation of the Xipe 

 Bay Companj-, a concern largely financed by investigators who had learned to have faith in 

 the judgment of the heads of the United Fruit Company, and this new company purchased 

 a large tract of undeveloped land along the south coast of Xipe Bay and reaching almost to 

 ihe town of Antilla. It thus came about that three American enterprises were located in a 

 sweeping semi-circle about the waters of Xipe Bay and Banes Bay, with modern sugar mills 

 at Banes and on the property of the Xipe Bay Company. The latter mill is known as the 

 "Central Preston" and the pioneer mill near Banes as "Central Boston." Both oi these 

 great mills are fitted with every device and employ every scientific process necessary for 

 the speedy and economical extraction of sugar from the raw cane. 



Early in 1907 the United Fruit Company purchased a majority of the common stock of 

 the Xipe Bay Company, and in that j^ear the latter harvested and ground its first crop, which 

 yielded 32,000,000 pounds of sugar and nearly 1,000,000 gallons of molasses. This company 

 still maintains its corporate entity, but its operations are conducted by the United Fruit 

 Company in co-operation with the other two gi-eat divisions in this locality. In 1913 the 

 company acquired by purchase the remaining outside stock of the Saetia Sugar Comjjany, 

 with its 35,000 acres of land near the Xipe Bay Companj', more than 6,000 of which are already 

 planted to cane. 



The Banes, Xipe Bay and Saetia districts contain a total acreage of 255,000, of which 

 58,000 acres are now planted to sugar cane. The Xipe Bay Company has about 25,000 

 acres of cane under cultivation, with additional tracts of 82,000 acres, much of which is available 

 for cane. There are also 12,500 acres devoted to pastures, the feeding places of the thousands 

 of oxen, mules and other live stock required on a modern sugar plantation. The original, 

 or Banes division, has a total acreage of 92,000, of which 28,000 acres are planted to cane 

 and 20,000 acres used for pasture. 



