The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-07
SUGAR IN CUBA
W. c. Gregg Tells of
Situation There.
Old-Fashioned and Costly Methods
Still Prevail in Culture and
Milling of Cane.

William g. Gregg Of this city has
just returned from Cuba, having left
Havana on April /. Yesterday he gave
some interesting and significant points
about the situation on that island.
The political conditions" said Mt.
Gregg, ARE all against a large output
OF sugar. 1t rs true that the owners of
large amounts Of property want annex
alton to the United States: but The
United States made q pledge to give
Cuba freedom, and the people down
there who are not in touch with the
large property owners want indepeu-
dence. They viii eventually get it.
They will soon have their own NUM-
clpaI governments, and gradually the
united states Will cease to be repre-
sented down there except by some man
IKE General Wood in an advisory
capacity. Then Wili come the test rs
TO whether or not tne Cubans are ca
pable OF lf-government. If there are
outbreaks and disturbances mere an /
there, il will not tend to encourage
American capital to go down there for
Investment. 1t will be three or four
years before We can determine whether
or not Cuba will Of itself work around
into the direction Of desiring annex
alton. The resident property owners
hesitate about going into further in
Vestments pending the settlement Of
these conditions.
There is so much land available fJr
sugar in Cuba that planters have ra-
fused to expend much money per acre
for making a large yield per acre.
They say there is so much land that
we can't afford to fertilize or to irr,-
gate, or steam pillow This is one of
the faults Of a large acreage. In my
opinion they DO not realize the extra
expense involved in transporting the
cane, which they do largely by OK
cart, over the much larger extent of
territory.
Practically al OF the mills use old
style machinery. the uncertain poIiti-
cal conditions and the price of sugar.
which ~, as you know, always a cent
and a haf less than here, renders the
planters unwilling 20 throw out their
machinery and run into debt for be-
| ter machinery. For example. | saw
siN-rOller mills instead of nine-rolj.r
ones. Most Of tho plantations are in
the hands cf individuals; corporations
are better able 20 handle business OF
this character
Il found the prices Of everything
very high in Cuba The cost of living
and OF labor is higher. on account OF
the war, prices, while they have drop
ped, are still very hiEh. Peoples ideas
have been pushed up. anything In the
way OF necessities for white people is
costly, and in skilled labor they have
no advantage over us Carpenters aad
machinists, Tor Instance, receive from
three TO four dollars q day, and or
binary laborers from twenty TO tween
ty-hve dollars q month, American
money. People who used p work in
the cane fields have lately been mill
tary men, and they are not going back
TO work In the fields The Cubars
/ using the term in it's strict sense. 10
not like TO work. The pure-blood 81
Spanish are the best workers in the
! fields, but they are scarce So there is
a scarcity Of men for this sort of labor
a scarcity all round, both of men and
OF oxen. You cannot import oxen from
the States INTO Cuba and put them "a
work very soon; they have to become
acclimated I hear that the planters
are trying to get oxen from Central
America, and are not securing MANI. "