20 



THE CUBA R K I' I K W 



United States Trade with the West Indies 



The proximity of the West Indies to the 

 United States, and the fact that they pro- 

 duce largely a few raw products, especially 

 sugar and tobacco, for which this country- 

 furnishes a natural market, while they pro- 

 duce almost no manufactured articles and 

 not even enough of certain important food- 

 stuffs, gives them an importance in our 

 trade quite out of proportion to their 

 population or area. It is a fact not gen- 

 erally known that the comparatively small 

 island of Cuba takes more than two-thirds 

 as much of our exports as the whole of 

 South America, and in many recent years 

 more than Mexico. In 1921 our exports 

 to Cuba were nearly three-fourths of our 

 total exports to the West Indies and the 

 island furnished nearly seven-eighths of our 

 total imports from the West Indies. 



The trade with the West Indies in 1921 

 was much larger in value than in 1913-14, 

 especially in the case of exports, which 

 amounted to $252,200,000, as compared 

 with 898,200,000 in the pre-war year (in- 

 dex 256.8 per cent.). The exports of 1921. 

 however, were only two-fifths (39 per 

 cent.) of those of the preceding year, which 

 was one of extraordinary prosperity in 

 these islands (especially in Cuba), the 

 sugar crop of 1919 having been marketed 

 at unprecedented prices. The depression 

 in the sugar market in 1921, with prices 

 receding to or below the pre-war level, 

 naturally reduced greatly the buying power 

 of the West Indies. Even in 1921 the 

 West Indies took a decidedly higher per- 

 centage of our total exports to the entire 

 world than in 1913-14, 5.6 per cent., as 

 compared with 4.2 per cent. 



Our imports from the West Indies, the 

 changes in which are dominated by those 

 from Cuba, amounted to $264,500,000 in 

 1921 — equal to 173.2 per cent, of those of 

 1913-14, but only one-third of those of 

 1920. The changes, however, were in con- 

 siderable measure due to the rise and sub- 

 sequent rapid fall of the price of sugar, 

 which constitutes the great bulk of our 

 imports from this group. The West Indies 

 in 1921 furnished more than one-tenth of 

 our total imports from all sources, as 

 against about 8 per cent, in 1913-14. 



This group has at all times had a favor- 

 able balance in its trade with the United 



States, but the excess of our imports over 

 our exports was much less marked in 1921 

 than before the war. This excess of im- 

 ports, moreover, appears only in the case 

 of Cuba. Our exports to the other West 

 Indies, including Bermuda, taken together, 

 have in all three of the years compared 

 e.xceeded our imports from those countries. 



Effect of the Sugar Market ox the 

 Trade with Cuba 



It is unfortunate that Cuba is so de- 

 pendent on its one major crop — sugar — 

 for its prosperity. An improvement in 

 our exports to the island can be expected 

 only when the sugar situation again be- 

 comes normal. It can not be expected, 

 however, that this commodity will soon 

 again reach the figure of 1920. Indeed, 

 it is generally conceded that in that year 

 there was much overbuying and that stocks 

 of various goods were piled up beyond 

 the consuming capacity of the population. 

 This has been conclusively demonstrated 

 in the case of rice and textiles. 



While there was an enormous decrease 

 in our exports to Cuba during 1921, the 

 figures for that year being $187,726,000, 

 as against $515,208,000 in 1920, it should 

 be noted that the figures for the last year 

 showed an increase of almost $125,000,- 

 000 over those of 1913-14. 



The exports of the United States to 

 the West Indies include almost every kind 

 of manufactured goods, together with con- 

 siderable quantities of grain and other 

 foodstuffs. The agriculture of these islands 

 is largely confined to a few specialized com- 

 modities. 



Type of Tires in Santiago de Cuba 



There are from 565 to 575 passenger 

 cars in Santiago and surrounding territory, 

 less than 10 per cent, being on metric 

 clincher tires and 50 per cent, being 

 equipped with inch clinchers, while the 

 balance operate on inch straight sides. 

 All tires available are American made, with 

 the exception of some German Continental 

 tires, which have found their way in from 

 Habana. There are about 155 motor 

 trucks in the district, one-third of which 

 are light delivery trucks, all of this latter 

 type being equipped with pneumatic tires 

 and the larger trucks with solids. 



