CUBA— THE SUGAR .MILL OL THE ANTILLES 



Photograph by Walter RuKeyser 



A VIEW OF MORRO CASTLE AND THE ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOR OF HAVANA FROM 

 THE BASE OF THE SEA-WALL OX THE CITY SIDE OF THE HARBOR 



situation where dollars are even cheaper 

 than the} - are now in the United States. 

 Tens of thousands of acres of land are 

 being laid out in residence sites, and the 

 Vedado district, the Riverside Drive and 

 the Sheridan Road of Havana, is being 

 extended until it reaches farther from the 

 Prado than Riverside Drive from New 

 York's City Hall Square or Sheridan 

 Road from Chicago's Loop. 



There are no advertising signs on these 

 lots. But as one motors along one sees 

 nestling close to the ground inconspicuous 

 little boards, about a foot long, and half 

 a foot wide, bearing the legend in Spanish 

 "Sold to Air. So and So." And Air. So 

 and So is usually some rich Cuban who 

 has made a fortune out of sugar down in 

 the provinces and is coming up to the 

 capital for the social seasons. If not that, 

 he is probably an American who likes to 

 be reasonably near the country clubs, and 

 prefers to live where the cocktail has not 

 lost its legal status. The price of the lots 

 is from one to three dollars a square foot, 

 or from $43,000 to $130,000 per acre. 



THE TOURIST'S BILLS 



If high prices hit those to whom 

 Havana is home, it is, of course, natural 

 that they should strike the transient even 

 more forcibly. Hotels everywhere are 



always the advance guard in the price 

 climb, and those in Cuba have been no 

 exception. 



There is only one hotel in Havana that 

 gives anything like the American stand- 

 ard of service, and its rates during the 

 past season were $25 a day for an outside 

 room with bath, without meals. It pur- 

 posed to cater only to those to whom 

 prices are no object ; but that sort of 

 patronage failed to develop in sufficient 

 volume to maintain a full house. 



The other hotels charged rates of from 

 $6 to $12 for accommodations far from 

 as good as one gets at from $3 to $6 in 

 New York. The result was that many 

 people who came to spend a week or ten 

 days moved up their return dates con- 

 siderably, and the tourist population 

 changed on the average every four days. 



The disappointments of the past sea- 

 son promise for next year a saner ad- 

 justment between rates and service. 



The Cuban National Tourist Associa- 

 tion is working out a program which aims 

 to lay a solid foundation for a steady de- 

 velopment of a healthy, growing tourist 

 traffic. Under this association's plan, 

 every room in Cuba that is open to the 

 tourist is to be listed as soon and as long 

 as it meets the required conditions of 

 sanitation and moral surroundings. 



