The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-10-20
SUGAR SITUATION
In Two Provinces OF
Cuba.
Extracts From Report Of General
Wilson TO the War Department
Just Made Public.

The War Department has recently
made public an abstract from the re-
port of General Wilson, military COM
mander of Santa Clara and Matanzas
provinces, which contains the follow
ing valuable information:
The two provinces produce almost
equal amounts of sugar and together
furnished 40 per cent in 1889 and 81
per cent in 1878 OF all the sugar pro-
duced on the Island of Cuba. Forty
one centrals operated in 1899, and
twenty-one others did not operate, but
were in working order. About 81 were
destroyed during the war. Some of the
large centrals were only preserved by
their owners paying one or both sides
TO protect their property. Many of
those destroyed were lying idle and
did not have modern machinery, which
| is now requisite, and had been largely
| driven out of business by the compe-
tition between beet and cane. The
tendency of sugar-making Is to- the
concentration of the work at the large
centrals. The mills now operating are
supplied with modern machinery. en-
plOying more scientific processes. Their
| capacity will be sufficient for all the
| cane which can be raised in the next
| two or three years and IL Is believed
| by experts can be enlarged to- accom-
| modate any probabieincrease of produc-
| ton. The ownership of the centrals in
| operation is divided as follows: Four
American, one Spanish and twenty-one
| Cuban in Santa Clara and seven Amer
lean, twenty Spanish, twenty-nine Gu
bans, two Germans and one French at
MatanZas. The pay of laborers on the
Il utntn
| day for unskilled labor to- $l.75 for
| skilled. General wilson thinks that
| daily wages must necessarily rise as
work is undertaken, because the sup
ply OF labor is very limited. The skilled
| laborers are generally Spaniards or
| foreigners. The field hands are Gu
bans, colored or white. Many Chinese
are employed about the sugar mills in
business requiring close attention rath-
or than mechanical skill. The cost OF
living is given as follows: Rice. cents
per pound; cornmeal, cents per
pound; beans, cents per pound: dried
meat, % cents per pound. The NOR
tally due to RECOMMENDATION and con-
sequent starvation appears to have
been in the province of Santa Clara
about oneseventh population 10000
in 1898, against 354 900 in 1897 as com
pared with the loss Of one-third OF the
lpopulation of Matanzas province. This
difference is attributed to the differ
ence in the character OF the country
and the more widely and scattered
population. which enabled more of th'
: inhabitants to evade the strict compli
I ance with the orders OF reconcentra
I ton. General Wilson says that the re
vival of agriculture has rapidly prog
ressed under very discouraging circum
stances, but that the people very great
" lack animals. Cienfuegos, the chic
port of Santa Clara province. has
first-class harbor, which could be i'm
proved so that the largest ships nigh
come up to the dock. The PROVING
0 has an aggregate railroad mileage o
: go miles. not including numerou
branches belonging to plantations. Tn
\ value of sugar land ranges from So {
T $50 per acre. Farms vary in size fror
] a single caballeria (S5 acres) to- &c
lonias' and ''ingenios" of many thou
sand acres. The foreign investor wi
be at n disadvantage in the examina
ton of titles, as compared with IN
PRESIDENT, until responsible companie
are established to look up deeds an
WiIlett d Gray's Circular.