Evening star., 1898-12-05

ent parts of the city. The animals are kept
in their stalls all day. When the SANTA
tion Of Havana by the American military
authorities b gins these dairies will have
to be moved out into the country. They do
not supply the demand for fresh milk
which sells at 80 cents a quart. Moreover
both Spaniards and Cubans are falling into
the American habit of using butter. Most
of this is imported in small tins The retail
price of fresh butter in Havana is Is per
pound. Butter Of the kind which Senator
Proctor thought was strong enough to put
down the insurrection brings 81 per pound
and finds a ready market.
Some day-and it cannot be a very dis
tant day-truck farming Will be impor
tant industry in Cuba. The people of the
cities are ready enough to consume these
products. They do not understand the pro-
ductiOn. In the cafes of Havana asparagus
can only be mad canned, though | am told
two or three crops year could be raised
without exhausting the soil Though cell
cry is supposed to need the frost. Havana
merchant assured me this not so, be-
cause he raised il successfully at his coun-
try place When the reconcentradoes at
Marianoa We're given the use of some lands
belonging to the town they all started in
TO raise tobacco, so little did they know of
market gardening. Every traveller is struck
with the large amount of uncultivated land
lying close to the towns and cities. Some
of it may need drainage of a simple and in
expensive kind In time the people of the
country themselves will know the value of
these tracts. but I do not believe IL will be
until German or other truck farmers have
come from the United States and taught
them the great possibilities of market gar
dening.
These little items in production are noted
because they will have a much larger share
in the recuPeratlon of Cuba than Is under
stood. A dozen other instances might be
mentioned, but l leave them 10 the future.
Opportunities in general trade will be
slower in coming. The middleman will not
begin 10 make money in Cuba so quickly
as the producer. And then he will have to
act with Judgment. The merchant in the
fur business has not yet brought his goods
to the island, but he has written for infor-
nation as to the best way to have his sam
pies exhibited and wanting TO know what
houses handle sealskinS and minkS. l do
not know because furs usually worn in
cold countries. 1t may also be said that
the wants of few hundred Americans in
Cuba do not furnish a basis for opening up
new branches of trade. The market for
some time to come must rest on the things
that Cubans and Spaniards have been in
the habit of consuming.
American Commerce.
There will be an opening for American
commerce after the change comes in the
custom houses. Spanish merchants will
not be displaced, but they do not realize
what a complete revolution of business
methods is going 10 be caused by an honest
administi alton of the customs. In the fu-
ture goods will be delivered on the wharyes
of Havana and other ports to the con-
signees instead of the manifest being at the
shipping port. The reason of this practice
Was simple, when it was proposed to ship
for as barrels Of guano and coffee as po-
tatoes, the manifest had to be made out in
that way. ] do not know how much guano
the flour mills of the northwest have been
shipping to Cuba, but with the change in
control they can begin shipping -four again
flour and can ship ii to Americans who
want to engage in business in Havana.
Some of these are here watching the pros
poets. Two young men from St. Louis
who announced that they proposed to take
six months to study the opportunities be-
fore establishing themselves. had the right
idea. Other Americans who came imme-
diately after the signing Of the protocol
did not grasp this principle and their ex-
perience has Soured them
do not profess to know yet just what
parts of the United States are going to reap
the first and greatest benefit from Cuban
trade. The Atlantic coast, with the excep-
ton of Baltimore. was quick to look to
increased shipping. New York merchants
expect TO furnish most of the ordinary ar
ticleS of commerce The sugar crop will
naturally go where ii has been going for
refining. Boston is reaching out for the
fruit trade. Baltimore is sleeping as peace
fully as though it never had a fiourishng
trade with the West Indies. While sugar
goes to the Atlantic coast refineries the
Mississippi valley seems to realize that the
-four and other breadstuffs which the peo-
pie of the island import for consumption
are its own productions. The ma rket which
Blaine opened for 1t is again opening with
greater possibilities. Chicago has made its
fast freight arranga amentS. but ST Louis
seems to be tagging. Galveston is active
and alert to take advantage of its position