Cuba— The Pearl of the Antilles 



54* 



nao, Cardenas and Jucaro, and Matan- 

 zas railways are held by another group 

 of London financiers. These lines form 

 a network of communication through the 

 west-central portion of the island, the 

 great sugar and tobacco producing and 

 the most fully developed and thickly pop- 

 ulated part of Cuba, and serve Habana, 

 Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Caiba- 

 rien, Sagua, and Batabano. Sugar ship- 

 ments constitute the bulk of the freight 

 to the coast. Inward loads and passen- 

 ger traffic are also dependent upon this 

 staple, for the power of the rural popula- 

 tion to purchase general merchandise 

 and the ability of the country folk to 

 travel over the lines is regulated by their 

 sugar profits, direct or indirect. 



The sugar crop of the four provinces 

 traversed by these railroads has been 

 estimated for 1906 at 7,746,800 bags. It 

 is probably not unsafe to say that fully 

 80 per cent of the total, or 6,197,240 bags, 

 were carried by the British railroad lines 

 at an average rate of between 20 and 80 

 cents, or 50 cents a bag, giving an ap- 

 proximate annual earning of $3,098,620 

 from this source alone. 



EXTENSION OE RAILWAY SYSTEMS 



Habana, the principal port of the 

 island, with a population of 275,000 and 

 a total trade worth $105,025,676, of 

 which $65,183,479 are imports and $39,- 

 842,197 exports, is served by both the 

 Western and the United Railways. The 

 former runs through a rich tobacco and 

 pineapple country to Pinar del Rio. The 

 Cuban Central connects Cienfuegos, 

 whose imports and exports aggregate 

 $19,367,000, with Sagua, with a like total 

 of $6,611,000, and then with Caibarien, 

 where foreign trade reaches $5,755,000. 

 Other cities on the line are small in size, 

 such as Santa Clara, Cruces, Camajuani, 

 and Placetes. This district produces 38 

 per cent of the sugar output as well as a 

 considerable tobacco crop. • 



The United Railways connect Habana 

 with Matanzas, the foreign trade of 

 which reaches $11,750,000, and also with 

 the small cities of Batabano on the south 



coast, Guana jay, Guines, Regla, Jovella- 

 nos, and Guanabacoa. The company 

 controls the Marianao suburban passen- 

 ger line and the Cardenas and Jucaro 

 Railway, the latter running through a 

 cane and tobacco country, the principal 

 port of which is Cardenas, where the im- 

 ports and exports aggregate $12,241,459. 

 It is stated that the United Railways in- 

 terests have in addition purchased the 

 Matanzas Railroad for $10,000,000. 

 Matanzas is the only point at which it 

 reaches the coast, but it connects with 

 other roads and its inclusion in the sys- 

 tem greatly strengthens the whole. 



The Habana Electric and Habana Cen- 

 tral are under aggressive American man- 

 agement, but their capitalization, includ- 

 ing the investments represented by the 

 Insular Railroad Company and the Cuba 

 Electric Company, totaling $16,000,000, 

 is to a considerable extent English and 

 Canadian. The Habana Electric is the 

 older company, while the Habana Cen- 

 tral, having been organized for little over 

 a year, is as yet in course of construction. 

 It is hoped that when the latter is com- 

 pleted it will be able successfully to com- 

 pete with the established roads which 

 now handle the tobacco and sugar in 

 Habana Province. A large proportion 

 of the year's pineapple shipments has 

 been made over the company's newly laid 

 tracks, and the fruit farmers in the vicin- 

 ity of Habana have been well satisfied 

 with their treatment. 



The Cuba Company, with an author- 

 ized capital of $20,000,000, is controlled 

 by a Canadian president, Sir William 

 Van Home, although 80 per cent of the 

 stock is supposed to be held in the United 

 States. It runs from Santa Clara to 

 Santiago, a port handling $10,771,000 in 

 foreign trade. 



The road has been hastily built, and the 

 company, by the erection of sugar mills 

 and special inducements to settlers, is en- 

 deavoring to develop the country in order 

 to create its own traffic. An extension 

 to Holguin, to connect with the Holguin 

 and Gibara Railroad, reaching the coast 

 at the latter place, is under construction, 



