T H E C U iJ A R E \' I 1£ W 



THE FLTURE OF XIPE AND EASTERN CUBA 



NIPE TO RI\AL HA\"ANA 



THE RICH SUGAR LANDS OF THE PRON'INCE 

 TO BE DE\"ELOPED 



In the recent visit made by Sir \\ illiam 

 \'an Home to Xew York Citi' he had op- 

 portunity to explain to some of his friends 

 many of the features of the development 

 of Cuba in which he is taking — both as an 

 executive and capitalist — so prominent a 

 part. He is as confident that the railway 

 development in Cuba will, relatively, as 

 greatly stimulate the prosperity of the is- 

 land as did the railway development by 

 the Canadian Pacific for Canada. 



As soon as this railway development is 

 completed, the commodious ocean port at 

 Xipe, near the eastern extremit\" of the 

 island, will probably become a great rival 

 of Havana, at least so far as foreign com- 

 merce is concerned. This port will serve 

 for the commerce entering into or depart- 

 ing from the eastern half of Cuba and will 

 therefore considerably lessen the cost of 

 transportation, since now all the traffic de- 

 signed for foreign trade must be hauled 

 from interior Cuba to Havana. 



The railway development in Cuba, how- 

 ever, is only a part of a verj- compre- 

 hensive plan for opening up to cultivation 

 much of the rich farming land of interior 

 Cuba. At present the railroad depends 

 chiefly for its traffic upon sugar and 

 lumber, but it is Sir William Van Home's 

 plan greatly to diversify the agricultural 

 production of Cuba, believing that the is- 

 land will not reach its highest state of 

 prosperity until the farmers cease the al- 

 most exclusive growing of sugar. It is for 

 this reason that Sir William has worked 

 out thoroughly plans for the establishment 

 of farming communities in Cuba. The 

 farmers there, he says, have always been in 

 dread of forest fires, and this apprehension 

 has caused the agricultural industry of in- 

 terior Cuba to be greath- retarded. Further- 

 more, unlike the farmers of Canada, the 

 farmers of Cuba prefer to live in close 

 proximit}- one farm to another, and to con- 

 centrate their houses so as to form con- 

 venient villages. 



Sir \\ illiam, therefore, has already put in 

 operation plans which will meet the wishes 

 of the farmers and which at the same time 

 will provide ample protection against the 

 spread of forest fires. This plan provides 

 for the bisecting of each section, six hun- 

 dred and forty acres or a square mile, by 

 two broad highwaj's, so broad that should 

 any forest fire break out. the width of these 

 streets will be sufficient to keep it witliin 

 a small area. At the four comers where 

 these highways meet the village is to b:; 

 concentrated. The church, the store, the 

 schoolhouse and the market are to be estab- 

 lished there and the allotted portions of the 

 section to each farmer will be so surveyed 

 that behind each of the farmhouses there 

 will be a convenient patch for the raising 

 of kitchen vegetables, leaving the rest of 

 the allotment for the cultivation of such 

 products as are to be marketed in the large 

 cities of Cuba or in the United States. 



The feeders of the main line of the Cu- 

 ban railroad that are now under construc- 

 tion are to be so built as to give conve- 

 nient approach to these sections. 



The plans of Sir William A'an Home are 

 regarded as quite as broad in their scope 

 and as reasonably based upon as great an 

 expectation of the development of the 

 country as were those which animated him 

 when he undertook the completion of the 

 construction of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 road, if due allowance be made of the 

 difference of size between Cuba and the 

 Dominion of Canada. There is no diffi- 

 culty about obtaining all the capital that is 

 needed for the complete agricultural, in- 

 dustrial and railway- development of Cuba. 

 Henry M. Flagler is fully as . enthusiastic 

 over the development of the island and the 

 profitable increase of its commerce with 

 the United State? as is Sir William him- 

 self and is. in fact, interested with the 

 capital which has this great development 

 under way. — Holland in the IJ'all Street 

 Journal. 



PITCH PINE MARKET CONDITIONS 



About twelve and a half million feet of 

 pitch pine have gone to Cuba within the 

 last four weeks, an unusually large quan- 

 titj- for the season. The total for Cuba 

 since January- is 100.4.37.240 feet, which 

 shows some decline from the last A^ear. but 

 indicates a larger business than in any 

 of the half dozen years preceding. Cuban 



trade looks somewhat better than it did 

 a short time ago. both orders and inquiries 

 having improved materially. The outlook 

 for general business in Cuba seems fairly 

 promising, and will be nmch more than that 

 if the sugar crop turns out of good volume, 

 with prices greatly advanced by shortage 

 in other parts of the world. 



From the Gtilf Coast Record. Xoxemher 

 11. 1911. 



