CUBA— THE SUGAR MILL OF THE ANTILLES 



11 



The price of all rooms will be printed, 

 and every effort will be made to secure 

 that general adherence to the principles 

 of sound business and fair dealing which 

 will win for Cuba the friendship of all 

 who come and lead each of them to send 

 others. 



Arrangements have been completed, 

 and work started on the building of sev- 

 eral large dirigible airships for the pur- 

 pose of operating a passenger air line, 

 with a daily schedule, between Miami, 

 Florida, and Havana. The distance be- 

 tween the two resorts is about 300 miles, 

 and will be covered in approximately six 

 hours, which calls for a flying speed of 

 fifty miles an hour. The big "blimps" 

 will have passenger space for from thirty 

 to fifty persons besides the crew. Thou- 

 sands of visitors to Miami heretofore 

 have been carried to Havana on a small 

 steamer, spending two or three days in 

 the latter city on a personally conducted 

 tour, and it is expected that the "Blimp 

 Route" will prove exceedingly popular. 



the: railroads' plans 



In the past there has been much to dis- 

 courage the tourist who wanted to go out 

 into the provinces. The day trains have 

 had no parlor cars, and the coaches 

 usually have been overcrowded. The 

 Havana-Santiago Express has been run 

 on a schedule of 35 hours, with a distance 

 of only 538 miles to cover. 



But next season some of the railroads 

 intend to install facilities for handling 

 the island's visitors in a much more sat- 

 isfactory way. Parlor cars are to be put 

 on day trains, dining-cars may be carried, 

 and the running time of principal passen- 

 ger trains reduced. 



Furthermore, in order to provide proper 

 hotel facilities in cities outside of Ha- 

 vana, some of the railroads are increasing 

 the number of hostelries under their con- 

 trol, and have plans for bringing their 

 hotels up to satisfactory standards. 



When these improvements are insti- 

 tuted and English-speaking conductors or 

 interpreters are placed on the tourist- 

 carrying trains, it will be possible for a 

 ■ visitor to move leisurely through the 

 island to Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Cama- 

 guey, and Santiago. From Santiago he 

 can go to Antilla and take a steamer 

 either to New York or New Orleans. 



Such a trip gives a splendid view of 

 the island, affords one a better under- 

 standing of the country, and sends one 

 back to the United States a better citizen, 

 with a broader grasp of the, fundamentals 

 of America's international relationships. 



a demonstration station in interna- 

 tional ALTRUISM 



Cuba may well be considered a demon- 

 stration station where the theories of in- 

 ternational altruism are under practical 

 operation. When the United States took 

 upon itself the burden of winning for the 

 people of the island their independence, 

 and then set them on their feet with a 

 republican form of government, the 

 world was amazed. 



Asking only that peace be maintained, 

 and that the conditions essential to peace 

 be observed. Uncle Sam retired from the 

 island. Except for the effort of Jose 

 Miguel Gomez to overturn the existing 

 government in 191 7 — an effort against 

 which America promptly pledged its sup- 

 port to a quick ending of the revolution — 

 peace has been maintained since the in- 

 tervention, and constitutional principles 

 have been observed. 



Cuba's prosperity measured 



This check upon revolutions and tyr- 

 anny, this guarantee of protection for 

 foreign investments, has proved an im- 

 measurable boon to the Cuban people. 

 Foreign commerce comparisons tell the 

 story. Guatemala is larger than Cuba 

 and is almost equal in population ; yet in 

 19 18 the value of Cuba's exports was 35 

 times that of Guatemala's. Venezuela 

 has nine times as much territory as Cuba 

 and as many people ; yet its 1918 exports 

 had only one-fifteenth the value of 

 Cuba's. Indeed, the value of Cuba's ex- 

 ports that year were twice as great as 

 the combined exports of the eight coun- 

 tries lying between the Texas border and 

 the South American boundary. 



Less than three million people on less 

 than fifty thousand square miles of land, 

 with an export trade twice as large as 

 that of twenty million people on nearly a 

 million square miles of territory ! And 

 that was in 1918, when export values in 

 Cuba's trade were less than half those 

 forecast for the current fiscal vear ! 



Was there ever such a measure of 



