THE CUBA REVIEW 



25 



Glass and Glassware Importations 



The imports of glass and glassware into 

 Cuba, according to customs classification 

 and the countries whence imported, during 

 the fiscal year 1907-8,* the latest year for 

 which statistics are available, show that in 

 imports, composed largely of table service, 

 Germany holds a very leading place, about 

 56 per cent, of the whole, the United States 

 following, with about 17 per cent, of the 

 whole. There is a distinct demand for 

 bottles of the higher priced kind, such as 

 toilet water and perfumery bottles, etc. 



The retail and wholesale prices of glass- 

 ware do not vary greatly from those which 

 prevail in the United States. The imports 

 of American glassware are sold at prices 

 to meet the prices of the German products, 

 and that means very little advance over 

 American prices. 



The glass trade of Cuba is probably more 

 limited than that of any other country of 

 equal population. 



The one glass factory in the island 

 manufactures colored glass bottles, such as 

 are used for bottling beer, wine, etc. 



A canvass of the Cuban glass tradet by 

 American salesmen who can speak the lan- 

 guage and who can offer as good terms and 

 products as the European manufacturer, 

 would result in a larger importation. In 

 order to secure such trade the American 

 salesmen would have to conform to the 

 wishes of customers in relation to styles, 

 types of bottles, etc., as well as to labels 

 and all other features now so generally ob- 

 served by the European salesmen, and the 

 packing would have to be absolutely as ef- 

 ficient as that of the European houses, 

 which entails only a small percentage of 

 loss in transit. 



*The figures for the 1909 have just been 

 printed in the official bulletin of the Chamber 

 of Commerce, Industry and Navigation, and these 

 show importations into Cuba as follows: 



GLASS AND CRYSTAL 



United States $275,093 



Germany 351,945 



Spain 103,129 



France 117,746 



All other countries 267,176 



EARTHENWARE, CHINAWARE AND PORCELAIN 



United States $197,389 



Germany 105,598 



Spain 113,695 



France 118,297 



England 122,120 



All other countries 110,007 



Editor, Cuba Review. 

 t A list of leading houses handling and import- 

 ing glass and glassware is on file in the Bureau 

 of Manufactures. 



of the circular all declarations of merchan- 

 dise, invoices and bills of lading made to 

 the custom house must be written in Span- 

 ish, which is the official language of the 

 republic. 



The circular is based upon an interpre- 

 tation of Article XII of the custom house 

 ordinances. 



Modification of Order 



Cuban Treasury Circular No. 11, of 

 April 18, 1910, requiring the exclusive use 

 of Spanish in all invoices and bills of lad- 

 ing after July 18th, has been materially 

 modified by circular No. 12, of the Cuban 

 Treasury, under date of May 12, 1910. A 

 translation of the important provisions of 

 this circular follows : 



"In view of the petition of the Chamber 

 of Commerce of this capital and of 

 Santiago de Cuba and requests from other 

 commercial bodies, and desirous of har- 

 monizing the interests of the State with 

 those of the commercial classes, the Treas- 

 ury Office has decided to modify circular 

 No. 11, of April 18th last, hereby making 

 provision that invoices in a language other 

 than Spanish, presented with declarations 

 of merchandise, shall be accompanied by a 

 translation of the same to be signed by the 

 receiver of the merchandise." 



Bills of lading shall be admitted as here- 

 tofore, the portion of said circular relat- 

 ing to them being hereby repealed. 



Cuba longs for Spain, says R. W.Wooley 

 in Pearson's Magazine for June. He says 

 further : '"If Cuba were given the choice 

 of once more becoming the colony of 

 Spain, that lied to her and cheated her, 

 and pitched her patriots to the sharks, 

 90 per cent, of her citizens would vote 

 for the renewal of the old ties." Which 

 opinion the Dayton (O.) News disputes, 

 saying : "It is pretty hard to believe that 

 the estimate of the number of persons who 

 would favor a return to the protection of 

 Spain is so great as stated. That there 

 is a considerable number of Cubans who 

 would welcome Spanish rule again, there 

 can be no doubt, but we do not believe 

 that anything like 90 oer cent, of the popu- 

 lation would do so." 



Merchandise Declarations in Spanish 



A circular was recently issued by Sub- 

 Secretary of the Treasury, notifying all port 

 collectors tliat ninety days from the date 



The vSitiiation of the National 

 Treasury 



According to the statement of the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, the receipts during 

 the month of JNIay last, up to the 31st of 

 said month, and taking into account the 

 balance of $2,428,439.75, existing on the 

 30th of April, amounted to $5,799,680.34. 



After all the obligations of May Lad 

 been allowed for, there remained a Imlance 

 of $1,930,366.85. 



