Evening star., 1898-12-05
PROSPECTS IN CUBA
Evidences Of Industrial Recuperation
in the Island.
4 GOOD SUGAR CROP PREDICTED
Tobacco viii Not Equal the Yield
Of Last Year.
CATTLE AND THE DAIRY
CATTLE AND THE DAIRY
Copyright, 1893. by Charles NJ. Pepper.


Americans. are again painting to know
about the business and industrial prospects
IN CUBA. Those who Were coming a mont h
ago and who were kept back by the yellow
leVer fright and the delay in military oc-
cupancy are now appearing. A larger num-
Der IS Following them. On this subject can
only repeat some hints, with the addition of
what has been gathered by personal Oh
servation during the last six weeks The
rews regarding the details of military con-
troll and the reconstruction of the civil
government will necessarily fill the COL
umns of the newspapers for a while to the
excursion Of industrial and commercial in
| formation. Yet all this time the movement
along the lines Of trade and agriculture
viii be going forward. To the people in
the United States this is of equal imnort-
ance.
A DesOIate Country.
cuba is desolate country 1t is literally
a iand unpitied of men. One NAV travel
through 1t and wonder if its surface will
even again smile with the offerings of trop-
ieaf nature The recuperation of its soil
sun Tags The stories told by the American
o1hcers who have visited the different sec-
tions ana nave come back each time more
appaHed at the misery and desolatiop are
not exaggerated 1t is true that in tbe
country around Sancu Spiritus people are
staying IN the woods. living on roots and
NUS, waiting for garments to cIothe their
ilakedness before they come back to the
'LiaSes. Ihey are waiting also for food
suppiles which the land itself will he nm
apie TO produce this year because IL has
pIIii ;aLi 81 thoroughly ravaged that its natural
fichhess will require coaxine All tbesa
statements and many like them are correct
Anypody whose life has been spent in the
,ts' m,'t vi comfort and plenty can come to
CuDa and write vivid impressionist chan
bot
ne OF the country and it's Inhabitants
III the lace of these conditions n NOV
d reckless statement to affirm that
Cuoa mas improved, but from comnarstive
point of view this is true The desart ;S
nol as hmltlesS as it was a year ago The
oases are gfeener, broader and more
i.tti muileious than twelvemonth past. The
lhnapitants who survived that period are
managing to exc some existence from tbe
SOIL. Their situation is bad thev need ali
the nelp that will be given them and which
sltouid De continued into the summer
months But they are able to do some
thing for their own support and thev are
doing 1t. If proof of this Improvement were
needed beyond what the eyes can see 1t is
10 De found In the districts where the in
Sufgent troops are camped. They are not
living In luxury, hut by their own state
lIehts their existence is more comfortable
IMAM when they We're in the brush They
nave not been liV- rations sent from
the United States, for until this week sup
pheS Eave not come from that source The
products of the soil are their sustenancc
Chief Source of Wealth.
10 this statement may be added a word
about the chief source of wealth in the is
iand. The staple product is sugar Cen
eral prosperity cannot come until its pro-
duction reaches something like the former
amount, which was 1.000,000 tons. 1t is not
necessary to analyZe at this time the stages
which the plantations must go through with
before they are on the old ba sis or the eco
nom1c and commercial methods which will
then be practced. That the old methods
will be revolutionized capitalists already
know and persons who are not capitalists
will in time find It out. For the immediate
future the sugar business is one for syn
dlcates or companies or for individuals who
can start with bank account of 81. 900 0O1
and have as a reserve safe balance to be
used when that amount is invested Smaller
capitalists and investors will find their op-
portunities in collateral enterprises grow
ing out of the sugar industry and dependent
upon it.
word may be said 1t will not be large, yet
it will be big enough to make its handling
of commercial Importance. A month ago
one of the statisticians who lives and
breathes and has his being in the atmos-
phere of sugar and molasses, told me that
crop of 100000 tons for this season was
all that could be expected. Yesterday he
had raised the figures to 250.WO tons. With
in month | expect to have him demon
strate that when the last of the crop Is
ground in April the total production will
reach 100000 tons. This cannot he judged
on the surface or even from what the
planters say. Most of them are desperately
hard up for ready money. Their complaint
now is that while they have the promise
of labor they won't have the means with
which to pay their laborers. But they are
managing to procure oxen and after that
l think they will make a shift somehow
with their credit and secure the money
needed for the laborers.
The Tobacco Crop.
With tobacco the season of planting is
past. but have not found two men in the
trade whose estimates of the crop agree.
That It will not be equal to that of last
year is conceded. AS to the actual amount
the divergence of opinion is too wide to
Justify a guess. If American control had
come Immediately after the signing of the
protocol the buyers and the manufacturers
would have made advances TO the Vequeros
tobacco farmers. SO that a larger crop
would have been assured. What might
have been in connection with tobacco pro-
duction this season is profitless specula
ton. American control could not have
prevented the rains which have been an
other drawback to the crop In time to-
bacco production will come up to It's old
production and will spread beyond that.
The business. however is not for our in
vestors at present. They cannot enter sue
cessfully into competition with those who
have controlled it for years.
OF the fields which are open 1 should say
that the most promising one is iii grazing
and dairy farming. The cattlemen who
have been in Havana looking after the
trade which has grown out of the free m
portatiOn will not all admit much. One
of them came out this way on the train
with me the other day. ] had casually
mentioned the immense stretches of good
grazing land in Pinar del Rio and the ad-
vantage which would accrue to whoever
stocked those pastures. The opportunities
in the central part of the island have also
been commented on as justifying invest
ment. The cattleman disagreed with me
peremptorily and gave positive reasons why
Americans should keep out of the cattle
business in Cuba. Now. while 7 used to
drive the cows home when boy and while
ranch life in the west is not unknown to
me- / am not an expert on the cattle in
dustry. The cattleman's dogmatic state
ments might have caused me to drop the
discussion and to issue a warning to peo-
pie in the United States against their COM
ing to Cuba to engage in cattle raising
except for one little circumstance. l knew
that he and others whom he represented
were arranging to invest their money in
that business in Cuba They want the first ,
chance and to be sure of getting 1t they
talk discouragingiy about the prospects
so as to keep the other man away. That is
o. III.