THE CUBA REVIEW 31 



Stockholders 

 To show the distribution of the stock of your corporation, the number of stock- 

 holders at the end of the last five fiscal years is given in the table below: 



1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 



Holders of Preferred Stock 3,840 4,494 4,880 5,755 6,246 



Holders of Common Stock 1,843 1,860 2,584 2,204 4,164 



5,683 6,354 7,464 7,959 10,410 



General Remarks 



As already stated and as shown in the Profit and Loss and Surplus Accounts, 

 substantial reserves have been provided for the revaluation of inventories of unsold 

 sugars and materials and supplies, as also for doubtful accounts. 



For convenience of operation the following four Eastern mills of the corporation, 

 viz., Moron, Stewart, Jagueyal and Lugareiio, were leased to the Eastern Cuba Sugar 

 Corporation, whose entire capital stock is owned by the Cuba Cane Sugar Corporation. 

 The Eastern Cuba Sugar Corporation thus owns the central Violeta and through the lease 

 of the other four plantations operates the entire five Eastern mills. 



Review of the Sugar Situation 



In last year's report we dwelt very extensively upon the uncertainties facing the 

 sugar industry when it became known that the United States Government would not 

 accept the Cuban offer, through the Cuban Commission, to sell the 1920-1921 crop to the 

 U. S. Sugar Equalization Board, in order that the process of de-control of sugar might 

 be done in an orderly manner. In this connection we think it fitting to pay tribute to 

 the farsightedness of the late Mr. Robert B. Hawley, and therefore copy the following 

 extract from the letter of the Cuban Commission to the U. S. Sugar Equalization Board, 

 of July 29, 1919. 



"If, on the contrary, the opportunity to serve — not the American people alone, 



but the universal welfare — is for any reason, technical or otherwise, not availed of 



through one medium or another, there is not a community anywhere in America, in 



Europe, or Asia that will not feel the consequences of our failure to provide a stable 



price for this most necessary article of human consumption." 

 The consequences have indeed been felt in all parts of America, Europe and Asia, and 

 many decades will pass before the events of 1920-1921 will have been forgotten. 



When a commodity of such vast magnitude as sugar is released from government 

 control some supervising program of de-control is required to lessen, if not eliminate, 

 any possibility of economic or financial disturbance. The de-control of sugar in Great 

 Britain was accomplished without causing a ripple. 



In last year's report we outlined the circumstances that caused the decline of sugar 

 from 22i/^c. to 7c. c. & f., which was the figure the market reached in September-October, 

 1920. Contrary to general expectations, the decline continued without any favorable 

 reaction, and when the 1920-1921 crop started in January, prices had gone as low as Sj^c. 

 This rapid decline, combined with the financial crisis in, Cuba, brought about a general 

 paralysis of the Cuban crop, many plantations being deterred from starting operations. 



It was during those days of national depression that, at the request of many Cuban 

 and American planters and of colonos. President Menocal created the Sugar Finance 

 Committee, under which all Cuban sugars that had not prior to February 22, 1921, been 

 contracted for sale, were to be disposed of, shipped and delivered by the committee whose 

 function it was to sell the sugars produced "in an orderly manner in conformity with the 

 natural laws of supply and demand so as to prevent hoarding or the creation of artificial 

 prices." 



Once it was generally known that the formation of such a committee was imminent 

 confidence was to a great extent restored, planters started to grind and prices advanced 

 rapidly from 3>^c. to 4^c. Under these circumstances bankers were more favorably 

 disposed to make the necessary advances and Cuba made the usual crop, a crop perhaps 

 too large for her own interest. 



I 



