16 



THE CUBA REX'IEW 



TRADE OF ST. LOUIS WITH CUBA 



St. Louis exported to Cuba in 1910 ma- 

 chinery to the extent of $205,613.15, which 

 is an increase of $120,114 over 1909. The 

 shipments of hardware have almost dou- 

 bled. In 1909 St. Louis shipped $10,970.38 

 worth, while in 1910 the figures were 

 $20,681.05. 



In 1909 Cuba imported from the United 

 States 1,972,639 bushels of corn and in 

 1910, 2,454,417. The financial aggregate 

 was $1,434,131 and $1,628,949, respectively. 

 Of this amount St. Louis contributed more 

 than a third. The figures for 1909 were 

 $609,009.25 and for 1910, $628,089.92. 



The total yearly export amounts to ap- 

 proximately $2,250,000, and with few ex- 

 ceptions every line of industry represented 

 shows an increase year by year. 



WANTS NO DUTY IMPOSED 



Application has been made by the Cuban 

 Engineering Companj^ to the Havana 

 custom house to have the stone blocks, 

 which are the regular Boston granite, im- 

 ported under paragraph 331 which fixes 

 no duty. They are to be used in paving 

 Havana's streets. 



Paragraph 2 of the tariff says that 

 manufactured or hewn stones shall pay 

 a duty of five cents per 100 kilograms, 

 and the customs ofiicials have been ap- 

 praising the shipments which have thus 

 far arrived under that paragraph. 



Under paragraph 331 the blocks, if con- 

 sidered as hewn or manufactured stone, 

 would come in free of duty. 



The treasury department, it is believed, 

 will hand down a resolution favorable to 

 the compan3''s contention. 



A STOREHOUSE OF WEALTH 



Cuba is one of the most accessible and 

 potentially one of the richest spots on 

 earth, yet .at the same time one of the 

 least developed and the most sparsely 

 populated. Only about one-twentieth of 

 its area is under any kind of cultivation, 

 and its people number not more than two 

 millions. The eastern end of the island 

 especially — and it is here that the agri- 

 cultural and industrial future of Cuba lies 

 — is a storehouse of natural wealth clam- 

 oring for men, highways and capital to un- 

 lock it. It is possible for any well-organ- 

 ized concern to go into what is now an 

 uncleared wilderness, and in five or six 

 years build up a great and prosperous in- 

 dustry in sugar, timber and fruit. — Syd- 

 ney Brooks in the London Times. 



STRIKE NOT CONTEMPLATED 



Twenty-four union? were represented at 

 a general assembly held by the Federation 

 of Tobacco Leaf Selectors at Artemisa, 

 Pinar del Rio Province, on May 20th, to 

 consider the idea of a general strike. 



Resolutions were approved that no gen- 

 eral strike shall be called at present, but 

 there is much dissatisfaction elsewhere. 



On May 24th two thousand five hundred 

 of the leaf packers engaged in handling 

 the Partido crop in warehouses at San An- 

 tonio de los Banos went on strike. Their 

 demand is, to be paid in American cur- 

 rency instead of Spanish. 



MOBILE S TRADE 



Cuba's trade relations with the port of 

 Mobile for the month of May will exceed 

 in valuation that of April by more than 

 $200,000 and may even establish a new 

 high record for exports with that republic. 



At the office of the collector of customs 

 it was stated on ]May 27th that the exports 

 to Cuba for the month already amounted 

 to $884,000 as compared with $648,000 for 

 the month of April. 



LA GLORIA IMPRO\'EMENTS 



The road from Port Viaro, on the 

 North Bay, to La Gloria is now completed, 

 and the long-talked-of imperative need of 

 the colony is now an accomplished fact. 



All the transportation advantages that a 

 first-class macadam road will give is now 

 available 365 days in the year. 



Work is also moving along satisfactorily 

 on the dredging of the Sabinal Canal on 

 the bay between Port Viaro and Xuevitas. 

 When it is through the canal will be eight 

 feet deep at low tide. 



President Gomez will support former 

 Secretary of the Interior Nicolas Alberdi 

 for governor of Santa Clara. 



THE TEST TOO SEVERE 



"It is absurd to expect from Cuba, in 

 her present stage of development, the same 

 political methods and principles that one 

 looks for, without, however, always find- 

 ing, in English-speaking countries. Such 

 a test is much too severe. Judged in the 

 light of her past and by comparison with 

 other Spanish-American countries, judged, 

 that is to say, by the only standards that 

 are really applicable to her case, Cuba is 

 making a valorous effort to keep a decent, 

 progressive, self-governing republic in be- 

 ing. The task is an extremely difficult one, 

 but I am very far from despairing of its 

 success. Indeed, the most gratifying re- 

 sult of a tour of observation through the 

 island to-day is that it leaves one seeing 

 no definite reason why the United States 

 should ever again be troubled with Cuba's 

 affairs." — London Times. 



