The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-24
CUBA'S TRADE IN FRUITS.
The story of Its Decline Suggests the Man.
of It's building I'm.

Among the things of which but pleas
ant memories remain to the natives of
Cuba may be counted the fruit industry
that was once a thriving business that
the native planters fondly believed was
theirs forever n a day. A change
came over the spirit of their dream
when the Americans decided to try their
hands at raising oranges and pineap-
pies, and the dream has been changing
ever since, until to-day the Cubans and
~Spaniards of Cuba would be glad to see
some chance of getting back even a
small remnant of their former prosper
Gus fruit trade. How it came to pass
that the fruit trade of Cuba passed
from the islanders into the hands of
the American growers is told by a pro-
duce merchant who lived in the fruit
district for many years, and, in fact,
until the loss of the fruit trade to the
island forced him to ave.
when we shall ave won Cuba" said
this a "the Cuban fruit trade will
be once more a part of the industrial
life of Cuba. The conditions of soil and
climate are perfect for the cultivation
of fruit like the orange and the pine
apple, but the people are quite unequal
to the task of taking advantage of these
conditions. 1t is not quite fair to call
the natives of Cuba lazy. Shiftlessness
or carelessness more aptly describes
1tiI cldlts DtS d1"dyo S1lOOCC IlG
easiest way of accomplishing an end,
and cav the rest to Providence.
Nov, fruit like oranges and pineap-
pies requires the most careful handling
from the time It Is picked until it is Of
fered for sale in the markets. How do
the Cubans gather and market this
fruit-or. rather. how did they, for the
market is theirs no longer? To get
the fruit from the trees the Cuban or
Spanish planter shook the tree or
knocked the fruit down with a long
pole. 1t reached the ground bruised by
the fall n battered by the rap from
the pole. Considering hat the fruit
was picked for a journey of thousands
of miles. it will be seen that it began
its market life seriously handicapped
for competition with the carefully
picked fruit of the American planter.
The next step was to transport the
fruit to the town to be packed for ship
ment. This was done by mules. The
oranges or pineapples were bundled into
the panniers or saddlebags, and away
e the mule over the rough country
roads, jolting the fruit in the saddle
bags and making sad havoc with the
cargo. When the destination vas
reached, instead ot carefully lifting the
burden from the mules Jack and depos-
iting 1t tenderly on the ground, the
mule driver dragged it off in the rough
est way and threw it down in the near
est corner of the storehouse. The next
man threw his consignment of fruit on
the top of the other. n so they were
piled up without the slightest regard
to the consequences to the fruit.
Next we come to the packing pro-
cess. / have seen the men stand sew
eral feet away from the barrels or ham,
pers in which the fruit is to be packed
and actually throw il into the mouth of
the receptacle, hit or miss. and in either
event adding to the bruises that the
poor fruit had received. When the bar
rel was full the lid had to be got on.
and if it didn't quite fit a little physical
force would make it. Have you seen
al o~bstreperous trunk lid forced to close
by being sat upon? Well. that is ac-
tually what I have seen done with the
oranges and ~pineapples hat were
shipped from Cuba to this country.
After the box or barrel was packed the
next thing was to roll IL down to the
steamer. No FAR vas taken to carry
II gingerly. If a barrel IL was rolled
down the ~gangplank and thrown into
the hold of the vessel. If a box IL was
carried down, If that way Of getting
IL there was easier. and then dropped
on top OF the others.
THE inevitable result of all this rough
treatment was that the fruit had be-
come rotten for the most part when IL
arrived in America. and half of il was
wasted. 1t is not to be supposed that
this sort of thing could continue. Amer
lean planters decided that they could
beat the Cubans at fruit growing. They
tried IL, and the Cubans speedily found
that there vas no longer a market for
their rotting oranges."-Florida Times
Union and Citizen