10 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



WAR WILL BRING PROSPEROUS TIMES TO CUBA 



SOME PREDICTIONS OF PROMINENT MEN 



THE CUBAN MINISTER'S VIEWS 



Dr. Carlos Manuel de Caspedes, Minister 

 of Cuba at Washington, has sent to the Sec- 

 retary of State a report relative to the com- 

 mercial situation brought about between 

 Cuba and the United States by reason of the 

 European W"ar. 



The Minister's views may be summed up as 

 follows : 



The steamship companies with steamers 

 plying between the United States and Cuba 

 propose to continue, without any change 

 whatever, their present service. 



The transportation of the next sugar crop 

 of Cuba will be entirely reahzed in the normal 

 period. 



The United States will purchase the great- 

 est amount possible of sugar in Cuba. 



There is no demand for sugar in the markets 

 of the States on the part of South America, 

 but there will be from Canada. 



The Refiners Trust will not advance any 

 money to the sugar producers of South 

 America to compete with the price of Cuban 

 ugar. 



The prospect of our importations into the 

 United States is most excellent. 



At present it would not be possible to ex- 

 port with advantage new products from Cuba 

 to the United States. 



Finally, the banking relations between this 

 country and Cuba are excellent and that the 

 rates of exchange have not changed. 



BIG OPPORTUNITIES FOR MERCHANTS 



There is a big field for American manufac- 

 turers in Cuba and the West Indies, particu- 

 larly at this time when retailers in these 

 localities are unable to get their supplies from 

 Europe, according to Walter H. Bartholomew, 

 former secretary of the Dress and Waist 

 Manufacturers' Association, but now man- 

 ager of the floating trade promoting expedi- 

 dition which with the yacht "Eclipse," is 

 showing American-made goods at various 

 ports in Cuba. 



"The retail business in Havana and the 

 West Indies," said Mr. Bartholonew, "is 

 transacted in the small shops which are 

 replicas of the establishments in the Rue de 

 la Paix in Paris. The goods they carry are 

 exquisite. In the larger ports they want the 

 very best merchandise as lines. Wliile the 

 cheaper and medium grades might do for the 

 sections populated by negroes only, goods of 

 the first grade will do for the little specialty 

 shops which abound in Havana and other 

 similar ports. 



"These people want American goods and 

 they want them more today than they ever 

 did before." Mr. Bartholomew continued. 

 "They cannot get from Germany and France 

 what they have been accustomed to receive 



and they are tiu-ning to the United States. 

 The door is wide open there for our merchan- 

 dise, but our manufacturers must realize that 

 conditons are not the same as they are in this 

 country. The average credit man here is ac- 

 customed to look for a big surplus in the 

 financial statements of a prospective cus- 

 tomer before shipping goods, and they erron- 

 eously size up the Havana or West Indian 

 merchant as a 'piker' and refuse to ship be- 

 cause the figures in his financial statement 

 are not big enough, notwithstanding that the 

 retailer placing the order has a reputation as 

 a hard worker and for paying his bills when 

 due. What do they expect to find in Havana, 

 a lot of Altman's and Wanamaker's?" 



Mr. Bartholmew referred to the report 

 of one of the large commercial agencies on 

 Havana firms. They indicated that the re- 

 tailers mentioned were good workers, bore 

 excellent reputations and paid their bills 

 promptly, but because of the size of their 

 businesses did not, of course, show large 

 assets. 



"And because of this," he added, "many 

 American firms look upon these retailers as 

 too insignificant to bother with, whereas 

 they are excellent credit risks. We have big 

 opportunities there if we will only try to con- 

 form our ideas to their methods, as Germany, 

 France and England have done, as our manu- 

 facturers who have done business there before 

 are now doing." 



CUBAN BUSINESS MEN SANGUINE 



Cuban business men are inclinded to be 

 sanguine in forecasting i)rospects for the sea- 

 son. No other country in the world is 

 promised such gain through the disturb- 

 ances of war, enormous profits in the sugar 

 industry appearing certain despite any possible 

 reaction from the present range of prices. 

 Planting of cane will be largely increased and 

 if the next crop is even moderately successful, 

 Cuba's return from exports should exceed 

 all former records. The lumber trade 

 should share liberally in accompanying 

 prosperity, stocks on the island having become 

 depleted while improvement work has also 

 been postponed. — Gulf Coast Record. 



STATES WILL BENEFIT GREATLY 



"Cuba's prosperity will be of great benefit 

 to the United States, as this is now the only 

 available market for its needs, as attested 

 by recent heavy exports from here to the 

 island republic. It now remains for the 

 American merchants to retain this trade 

 diverted to the United States from Europe 

 after the war ends." — /. T. Monahan, 

 manager of the New York agency of the 

 National Bank of Cuba. 



