22 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



is conliscatcd. Slioiild an in\uice he re- 

 jected for the reason tliat it is faulty, the 

 merchandise is generally placed in a ware- 

 house, the charges being paid by the re- 

 ceiver in Havana until such time as a 

 corrected invoice is certitied by the consul 

 and presented at the custom house by the 

 consignee. Therefore it is of the utmost 

 imiiortance that manufacturers should pre- 

 pare their invoices in the proper manner, 

 because if the consignee has difficulty with 

 the shipment, he will place his next order 

 w'ith another merchant who can give him 

 the articles he desires without compelling 

 him to have difficulties with the customs 

 authorities. In the preparation of bills 

 of lading great care should be taken, espe- 

 cially where the bills of lading are through 

 bills" of lading from an interior point, in 

 wrhich case the specifications should give 

 the name of the initial railroad or other 

 route and the name of the steamship or 

 steamship company, giving the names of 

 the consignee and the shipper or firm in 

 full, so that there will be no misrepre- 

 sentation either at the point of shipment 

 or at the point of reception. If it is 

 possible, where a firm has a name such as 

 lose Rodriguez & Compan3^ it should not 

 be abbreviated to Rodriguez & Company, 

 for there may be three, four or five firms 

 of that name' in that city, and it will lead 

 to a delivery of the merchandise possibly to 

 the wrong person. 



BETTER DIRECTIONS REQUIRED 



It very often happens that in strolling 

 along the wharves in Havana you will ob- 

 serve a huge box or barrel containing 

 glass ware with this inscription : "Handle 

 W'ith Care — Fragile." It is plain that the 

 shipper, filled with a most laudable 

 patriotic enthusiasm, imagines that the 

 English language is universal and that 

 away off, 800 or 900 miles from the ship- 

 oing point, the workmen on the wharf will 

 be able to read and understand the recom- 

 mendations that these words carry with 

 them. How^ easy it would be to put those 

 words in the language of the country to 

 which merchandise is going. — Exporters' 

 Review. 



A LOAN RUMOR DENIED 



On September 21st there was a rumor 

 that there was a movement on foot in 

 Cuba to make a loan of $100,000,000 to 

 take up the existing debts of $79,000,000. 



The banking house firm of Speyer and 

 Co., it was said, would float the loan. 



At the office of the latter firm it was 

 stated that there was no truth in the re- 

 port. 



TRADE MARK LAW DEFECTS 



'i here are defects in tlie Cuban trade 

 mark laws, which may cause grave damage, 

 in the estimation of United States Minister 

 Jackson, to the American persons or 

 firms to whom these badges of trade right- 

 fully belong, and he urges firms to take 

 the trouble to properly register their trade 

 marks in the republic. 



The Harrishurg (Pa.) Telegraph, com- 

 menting on Aiinister Jackson's advice, 

 which it says all manufacturers should 

 follow, also says that the State Department 

 "should endeavor to have the Cuban gov- 

 ernment correct the grave errors in its 

 trade mark law. As was pomted out by 

 Secretary Knox at the recent convention 

 of an international association for the 

 protection of trade marks, this is an era 

 of courtesy between nations. The days 

 of commercial piracy are past and it ill 

 becomes Cuba, of all nations, to annoy the 

 business interests of the United States in 

 this manner. 



"Xo doubt a word from Washington to 

 Havana will be as the word to the wise 

 which is sufficient." 



PITCH PINE MARKET CONDITIONS 



Cuban trade is at present less active than 

 that with other islands. The decline in 

 interest may recover when freights return 

 to a lower basis, as there seems no spe- 

 cial reason for interruption. Import 

 through recent months was small, and 

 business conditions in Cuba, as evidenced 

 by customs receipts, bank statements and 

 railway returns, are in satisfactory state. 

 If the sugar crop turns out as anticipated, 

 the outlook for Cuban planters is a par- 

 ticularly rosy one. 



Something over two million feet went 

 to Cuba during the week, all by steamer, 

 except one Cardenas cargo. The feature 

 of most note was clearance of a million 

 and a half feet by steamer from Galveston, 

 the vessel carrying no other cargo. There 

 were no clearances for West Indian ports, 

 other than Cuba, during the week. — 

 G'tif Coast Record, September 30th. 



RAW SUGAR IMPORTS 



The imports of raw sugar of the United 

 Kingdom for eight months to the end of 

 August, 1910, and 1911, from Cuba were 

 as follows: 



1910 96,33.T tons Value il.371,613 



1911 ... . 3,R61 „ 29.010 



^Martinique's import trade with Cuba -in 

 1910 amounted to $315,000 worth. 



The department of the Cuban treasury 

 i'^sred a check September Ifith in favor of 

 the Cuba Railroad for $247,877.70. The 

 pavment is on the subsidy voted by Con- 

 gress to the company for luiildingnev; roads. 



