Evening journal., 1901-11-11
GIN. WILSON DISCUSSES
OUR RELATIONS WITH
LATIN AMERICA
(Continued From Fourth Page).


the price OF raw sugar was 400 dollars
per short ton; since then the price hes
been steadily downward till now II
sells i'm cuba at less than $40 per ton /
or two cents per pound. lt has sold at /
lSS5 per ton more than once during the /
| last twenty years. 1t is but q uuism |
to add that every point in the descend /
ling curve of prices for the last century |
is marked with the ruin OF sugar cane
planters throughout the world. Island
after island given up to this industry
have become bankrupt and its people
have become impoverished. OF late
years we have contributed to the dis
ltress OF the West Indies by high tariff
on sugar, while Spain and Great
Britain have done nothing to prevent
the ruin of their colonists by the boun-
ty and premium-fed sugar growers of
the continental countries. The Barba-
does. Trinidad, Demerara and Jamaica,
as we'll as Porto Rico and Cuba have
lsuccumbed to the competition. Cuba
has only been the last to fail because
she was the best situated and had both
1.-THE best climate and the best lands in
the world for sugar growing.
Cuba had not yet become a great
nIDuNNti VI nu5nlf buN AoAANN AeANAh1
was then. and continued to be until
the fourth decade of the eighteenth
century, its principal and most profit
S able industry. 1t was no unusual thing
4 for that commodity to bring forty
cents per pound, till the industry was
: finally ruined by the great increase OF
coffee growing in all countries adapted
to it. and especially in Brazil
AZ. II. s..lI L.. g.
! beginning in Cuba as early as 1928, it
I languished for two hundred years,
reaching an annual output Of only
2S. 900 tons by 1920. From that time
1T increased more rapidly, reaching
q 5000 tons by 1850 At the end Of
: another hundred years, or in 1858, it
J. reached 100000 tons. The next sixteen
4 years which covered our war for the
p union. constituted the so-called golden
age of Cuba, during which period the
output gradually increased to 100000
tons. Throughout this period prices
were relatively good, profits were large
and the Cuban people were on this ac-
y count required by the home Govern
n ment to remit to Spain taxes in excess
r. of what the budget called for. amount
Y ing to S5OOOOOOOO per annum. The
e consequences, in face Of the continues
IN increase of the output of beet sugar
ie and the fall in prices which now be
5s came more noticeable. were ruinous tS
"a the Cubans. The first Cuban rebellion
n. lasting from 1868 TO 1878 followed a
an inevitable result-but curiousl
aaee enough during that decade and unit
1885 prices remained at remuneraty
figures.
re During Harrison's administrator
the Blaine system of reciprocity PR
~ vailed. and Cuban sugar was admitte
at into the United States free of duty
,et but the competition with beet suga
In was becoming fercer and fierce
ue while the price varied from 2.1 to ?.
cents per pound. This, together Wit
the repeal of the reciprocity arrange
ment with Spain, during Cleveland
: second term. completed the ruin OF I'll
lth lCuban sugar business, which in tur
iel brought on. in sheer desperation, III
second Cuban rebellion. This ende
to as Won all know with the intcryentio
az of the United States and the eXpulsic
srn of Spain from both the West lndi
ace and the Philippines.
HS S,.e Three million head of cattle, OF oV
aid lnine-tenths of the entire motive pow
our and fresh meat supply of the islaI
~. had been swept away, the able-bodh
mi, men had mostly gone into the rebellio
aid WAGES had fallen to thirty cents dc
nge in silver or merchandise, and under q
inc lmurderous policy of reconcentauo
and the gaunt forms of famine and sickne
ana were abroad in the land. 1t is sa
eb, to say that had the intervention OF .
our United States been delayed ancth
on year. all the Cuban farming p0pulatb
,ieee would have been starved to DEATH
5 Of But with peace and the restorau
~. of civil government came hope and
be slow revival of agriculture and CO.
merce. Capital and immigration q
n flowing again into the country Cat
are are being imported as rapidly as mea
. can be found to pay for them, and
output of sugar and tobacco are stei
ilv increasing. 100000 tons Of sui
- were produced in the season Of is
1900. 100000 in 1900-1901, and it
estimated that the crop of 19Ol-l
will reach 100000 tons. The toba'
oyal industry is also making rapid strid
dus- but the competition between beet
neri- 80, ,,,,sro,. ana hetvrcan American Z
'"o Cuban tobacco are as fierce as ever.
CUBA IS lnc DesL tuuilllg ih Nll' W.
al for the production of sugar as well
si1e a of high-class tobacco. Its lands lie
ter and are more fertile while there
. more of them adapted to that indus
than can be found many either island
- country, yet to be brought under cl
vation. The area of Cuba Us af
4S.OO0 square miles. or 27,5OO,OO ac
q the most of which is suitable for Ell
sugar, tobacco. coffee, fruits or ca
=. raising. 1t is one Of the most beaut
ne q land fertile countries of the world,
,n In do not hesitate TO give
"a as my opinion that
9 its varied resources deyel'
= it is worth more to us than any e'
area in the United States except
q York. Pennsylvania, Ohio and llhl
and more than any other countr,
Is, Z the world except Canada. IL is
decd one Of the most beauttfu., hei
"a full and inviting islands under the
and while it lies Just within the tro