26 



THE C U r» A ]< E \' 1 E W . 



driven through the tops or bottoms into 

 the ends of the cases entered with the grain 

 of tlie wood of the ends, and were unable 

 to stand the strain of the 48 cans against 

 eitlier top or bottom. Allowing 26,0()0 

 nails m a keg of 5-penny box nails, 720 

 such boxes could be nailed with this quan- 

 tity, there being 36 nails in each. A 4-penny 

 cement-coated box nail should have been 

 used, together with band iron. As a keg 

 contains 45,500 4-penny nails. 1,260 boxes 

 could be nailed with them, and with the 

 strapping these cases would be much strong- 

 er than if nailed with bright nails only, 

 while the saving in nails would pay for the 

 iron. It may, therefore, be held that it 

 would not cost the manufacturer one cent 

 more to use such a nail and a strap than 

 it cost him to ship as he did. The theory 

 is that the heat developed in driving the 

 cement-coated nail causes the melting or 

 softening of the cement coating and its ad- 

 herence to the wood. In any event, whether 

 bright or cement-coated nails are used, all 

 such shipping cases should be strapped for 

 over-sea transportation." 



1910 Sugar Shortage. 

 The continuous increase of sugar con- 

 sumption during the past 50 years and 

 the visible shortage as it now appears 

 in 1910, notwithstanding the fact that 

 the island of Cuba is producing a larger 

 crop than it has produced for many 

 years past, can lead to but one conclu- 

 sion — not only that the development of 

 this tropical cane product in Cuba, 

 Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands 

 must become a profitable venture to 

 American capitalists, but that it will also 

 require the full development of the en- 

 tire sugar industry to supply the con- 

 tinually growing demand for this one 

 great staple of food, not only in the 

 United States, but in the world at large. 

 — U. S. Special Agent Henry Studniczka 

 writing from London. 



Gives Stability to Irivestments. 

 The Cuban cane sugar crop is found 

 to vary under present conditions from 

 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 tons, in round num- 

 bers. This variable element of one- 

 third illustrates the uncertainty of tropi- 

 cal agriculture. P>ut more and more 

 conditions are becoming fixed, and risks 

 reduced, as cultivation assumes a more 

 scientific character. Centralization of 

 the industry, in which planting, cultiva- 

 tion, and manufacture of the raw sugar 

 are under one single management, is 

 doing much to give stability to invest- 

 ments in the sugar fields of Cuba. Un- 

 der thp<e '-nnditions, not only should 



the acreage be larger, but greater yields 

 result. 



Any view of the sugar supply of the 

 I'nitcd States for the future must take 

 these factors into account. Increase in 

 the Cuban output, together with the 

 domestic growth of beet sugar output, 

 will advance us still further in the direc- 

 tion of independence of the European 

 beet sugar supply. Ccunmercial elimi- 

 nation of Europe is all the more in- 

 evitable if, under our minimum and 

 ma.ximum tariff laws, any unfair treat- 

 ment by the sugar exporting countries 

 should encounter maximum duties on 

 the surplus destined for the United 

 States. — Wall Street Journal. 



Cuba Buys More American Shoes. 



Culia offers a splendid market for 

 -American made boots and shoes, and 

 .American manufacturers are very much 

 alive to the trade possibilities. Spain 

 formerly had almost a monopoly, but 

 in the last few years the American 

 l^roduct has taken first place. The last 

 available figures of the Cuban Govern- 

 ment are for the fiscal years 1907-08 

 and show that 2,503,490 pairs of shoes 

 were imported from the United States, 

 and 841,578 pairs from Spain. "It is 

 agreeable and profitable to do business 

 with Cuban business men," said a Lynn 

 (Mass.) manufacturer, recently. In an 

 interview with a local newspaper repre- 

 sentative he said that he had had most 

 friendly meetings wnth Cuban buyers. 

 During several years, in which he has 

 sent many^ thousands of pairs of shoes 

 to Cuba, he had not had a single pair 

 of shoes returned to him with com- 

 plaints of fault, nor had he Inst a dollar 

 on his collections. 



A better mail service between Culm 

 and the United States is being urged by 

 the business interests of Havana. A 

 mail each way everj' day is the minimum 

 service asked for. 



A Fine Record for Belts. 



-V little while back, the Dixon Company, for 

 the first time in eighteen years, took up a belt 

 in one of its mill rooms. 



For eighteen years about thirty belts in that 

 room have been run constantly; the belts are 

 about twenty-five feet in length and si.x inches in 

 width. There is a great deal of graphite dust 

 in the room, yet these belts have run satisfactor- 

 ily without breakage or without being taken up 

 for eighteen years. 



The belts are regularly treated with Dixon's 

 Traction Belt Dressing, which comes in paste 

 form and which is one of the very best leather 

 preservative belt dressings made anywhere. 



