12 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



UNITED STATES AND CUBAN NEWSPAPER OPINION 



AMERICAN PRESS CRITICISM, COMMENT AND ADVICE 



Cuba's Purchasing Power 



The commerce of the United States with 

 Cuba wMl this calendar year run nearly, if 

 not quite, to $200,000,000, including both 

 imports and exports. The basis of these 

 enormous trade movements is the phenom- 

 enal expansion of the sugar industry, 

 which has been the chief factor in the 

 advance of our commerce with Cuba. 



Sugar alone for the past nine months 

 ending with September had reached a total 

 of $97,095,000 in our imports. The total 

 exports made to Cuba were nearly 

 $11,000,000 more than the value of sugar 

 imported in the same nine months. As a 

 field of investment Cuba is broadening her 

 purchasing power and giving to her indus- 

 tries a degree of stability hitherto un- 

 known. — Wall Street Journal. 



Cuba may try a high tariff, the Brooklyn 

 Eagle thinks, because President Gomez in 

 his recent message to congress strongly ad- 

 vocated a high protective tariff on shoes, 

 textiles, paper, bottles, soap, etc. But it 

 does not consider these industries very 

 flourishing as yet, and argues as follows : 



"All industries in Cuba are infant indus- 

 tries, save perhaps the raising of cane and 

 tobacco. For a long time to come Cuban- 

 made shoes will give any wearer a pain ; 

 Cuban-made bottles will not hold water or 

 aguardiente; Cuban-made cotton goods 

 will only be fit for negro plantation hands ; 

 Cuban-made paper will fall to pieces easily, 

 and Cuban-made soap will not be so cleanly 

 as the things one tries to wash with it. 

 Productive industry in manufacture de- 

 mands education and experience, but there 

 must be a beginning, and Gomez wants to 

 have the beginning come at once." 



The Guantanamo Naval Station 



The New Orleans (La.) Picayune doesn't 

 like the United States naval station at 

 Guantanamo, Cuba, which, it declares edi- 

 torially, is an "utterly worthless and useless 

 site," and that Guantanamo is to be favored 

 at the expense of certain southern and 

 Atlantic Coast yards, which are to be 

 ■closed. U. S. Secretary of War Meyer, 

 who has just completed a round of inspec- 

 tion of all the navy yards, is repoVted \o 

 have said that there are too many stations 

 in the South. The Picayune believes that a 

 big repair station at Guantanamo would be 



a complete waste of every dollar spent, as 

 the place could not be defended in time of 

 war. It is, moreover, located in a foreign 

 country and is too far away from all 

 centers of supplies. Every iron plate, every 

 foot of lumber and every pound of sub- 

 sistence stores used at Guantanamo would 

 have to be brought from tl.e United States, 

 and in time of war this v/ould be a risky 

 business, with anj' sort of active enemy 

 operating in the Gulf of Mexico or in the 

 Caribbean Sea." 



It says in conclusion that Congress is 

 already prejudiced against Guantanamo. 



El Mundo, an important Havana dail}', 

 reviewing the recent election, comes to the 

 conclusion that there is no place in Cuba 

 for the conservative party. It says in 

 part : 



"The country has again arrayed itself on 

 the side of the liberals. Despite all their 

 errors and misconduct, the countrj- has in- 

 dorsed them. The defeat of the conserva- 

 tives is all the more notable, as they had 

 not before them a united liberal party, but 

 a party hopelessly divided between Mi- 

 guelistas and Zayistas. 



"The defeat of the conservative part3% 

 at whose head are illustrious soldiers and 

 learned professors, is due to its failure to 

 adapt itself to the real conditions. The 

 truth of the situation is that among Cu- 

 bans, with universal suffrage, there are not 

 sufficient elements for the formation of a 

 real conservative party. The conservative 

 party must metamorphose itself into some- 

 thing else if it would live." 



"It is true that in Cuba the Isetter classes 

 would gladly see annexation, because they 

 are intelligent enough to recognize how 

 much American administration would re- 

 dound to their welfare and advancement; 

 but the better classes are in a hopeless mi- 

 nority in all Spanish-American countries," 

 says the Hai'ana Telegraph. 



It is, by the way, rather curious that 

 President Taft in his message had not a 

 word to sav about Cuba. — A". Y. Herald 



In 1912 it is altogether likely that Presi- 

 dent Gomez will be elected for a second 

 term, unless the unexpected happens. — 

 A'. )'. Times. 



