The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-14
FINANCES IN CUBA.
Difficulties Under v hich
the Agricultural Glasses
Labor.

Senior Ermisto Montalvo, who is
prominent in Cuban affairs, owns a
plantation in the province of Cienfue-
Cos, near the town of Rodas, which in
the year previous to the last insurgent
outbreak yielded 100000 bags of sugar.
Since the war this plantation has been
running again, and last year produced
%, 600 bags This season Senior Montal-
vo hopes to increase the output to So,
600 bags. His son, of the same name as
himself, enlisted at Salt Lake City as
private in Battery B of the Utah ar
tillery. He was made corporal in
Manila and was later attached to Gen.
Otis headquarters as general inter-
prefer, in which place he remained I'M
til his return home
Senior Montalvo when seen at his
home, in New York, 3S East Twenty
ninth street, last evening, spoke of
Cuban affairs as follows
My idea is that the stumbling block
in the way of Cuba's reconstruction is
the financial and not the political ques-
ton. The ten years war; which began
in 1868 and ended in 1879, left Cuba
very poor, as was but natural, with its
attendant destruction of crops, burning
of plantation buildings, etc The ex-
penses of this war were wholly met by
the planters. the merchants of the is
land contributing hardly anything. The
planters were enabled to meet this
burden because of the then high SELL
ing price of sugar which ruled at about
four and a half cents a pound.
In addition to all this expense, at
the end of the war the Spanish govern
ment manumitted all our slaves with
out any recompense to ourselves. Dur
ing the ten years war Cuba produced
about 100000 tons annually, but at the
beginning of the last war our annual
product had risen to 100000 tons.
while the grade of the sugar raised was
very much improved also. All this we
| were able to do. with only one bank at
which 10 get the money to raise and
move our crops.
This bank, which was authorized
by the Spanish government, was called
the Bank of Spain, and it was only
authorized to lend it's moneys to the
| merchants. They did not, however,
stick to this, but lent money to the
planters as well, which developed the
agricultural interests of the island and
enabled the merchants to get rich. At
ter the merchants had made this money
tlttg SuGCCGuGu III hllllHB the Bank OF
Spain by Withdrawing all their ac-
counts and keeping their money in
lftheir own hands, their intention being
to lend it out again at high rates of in
terest. This course of the merchants,
to my mind, was one of the main in
tiuences in starting the last insurrec-
ton in Cuba, for the reason that it
shut down many plantations and cur.
tailed the working of others. The peo-
| pie thus made idle were asking for
work, which they were unable to OBJ
| tain, since, through lack of money, the
planters had none to give.
Another thing that is giving trouble
is the retirement of $4S, 900 of paper
money from circulation without the
substitution of any other medium of
exchange in it's place. There is only
one bank on the island now, which
| lends its money only to the merchants.
This greatly handicaps the planters
and it is my opinion that, so long as
the sugar plantations, which are the
! principal source Of wealth in Cuba, re-
main undeveloped, the financial condi-
ton of the island cannot be definitely
settled, and there will be a continual
state of uneasiness
| What the people want there is work
which it is not at present possible to
| give them, on account of the lack OF
| money