Evening star., 1901-01-08
SUGAR AND TOBACCO
Planters and Business Men Are
Waking Up,
CUBAN COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
Influence on the Men Framing a
Constitution.
I COM MERCIAL INTERESTS
LOOKING TO RECIPROCITY
special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
| HAVANA, January 2, 1901.
! Commercial interests are bringing about
an awakening in the business community of
! Havana and among the sugar planters and
Tobacco growers of the island. 1t is the first
| sign in two years that these classes realize
| how much depends their own action.
| Heretofore their idea has been to shift the
| responsibility to the American authorities.
| They have taken no part in the political
| movements. Their attitude has been the
! waiting one, waiting for somebody else to
do what they themselves should do. Now
there is a movement of a political charac-
ter, though it is sluggish.
| 1t has taken a long time for these busi-
| ness men and planters to realize that they
| must share in the reciprocity concessions
| which have been made to the other islands
of the West Indies. Whether the agree
ments which have been sent by the Prcsi-
| dent to the Senate ratified at this seS
sion or not does not affect the situation as
| ii exists today. 1t is coming to pass that
| the commercial and industrial interests of
| the island recognize that their future pros
| perity depends on securing equal conces-
| siOns with their neighbors, and they are
| moving to secure that end. Whether they
send commission to Washington or not is
| not of immediate consequence. They al
| ready have brought the subject to the at
| tentiOn of the governor general, and have
formulated program. which will be pre-
| sented to the national administration. This
| includes a rebate or reduction in the duties
| on sugar imported into the United States,
| and also on tobacco. A further request is
made for the suppression of the export du-
| ties on tobacco. The latter can be deIcr-
| mined under the military authority by re-
| vising the present provisional schedules
| without reference to Congress or the Pres
dent. But the leading questions cannot be
| settled by so simple a procedure.
influence on Cuban Politics.
| While the purpose of the present move
| ment is to influence Washington, it is also
| of Importance in its reflex action on Cuban
politics at this period when the constitu-
ton is in the hands of its makers, and
| while they are yet susceptible to public SEN
| timent The suggestion that the CONNER
| cial relations with the United States are of
| equal consequence with the political reia-
| tons is not new. but its force is lust be-
ginning to be felt The planters and the
business men do not think that The favored
nation clause Is going to be enoush Io in
sure them a market, and they want some
thing more than the vague promises OF a
| treaty of friendship and commerce. They
are heading toward reciprocity. All their
| discussions now are the basis Of ey-
change of sugar tobacco, fruits and other
| products of the soil on advantage Jus terms
In the reatiVe Importance of these sub
| jects necessarily sugar comes first 1t is
an elementary statement that the only mar
ket Tor the cane sugar of Cuba is in the
states One Of The local statisticians gave
me the figures of the last year Of prosperity
Tor the sugar industry in Cuba. That was
IN 1884, when, according to his figures the
value OF the sugar crop was $50 900 900, and
practically all Of II was taken by the United
States In that year the exports were s1O9 :
100000, of which sa3 900 600 was to the
United States and IS 100000 70 Spain Dur
ing the same year the imports We're ss4 nlo :
o0o. of which the United States only fur
nished S3Wo,obo. for Spain supplied $50
6nTn. This disproportion between Spain's
exports and imports, of course. was due to
| the artificial economic conditions which
| she created and maintained through her
political agencies. This is changed now. and
the only question is how far Cuba will be
aoie TO utilize the natural currents Of trade.
Rebate on Sugar.
| Some of the planters propose to ask a re-
bate equal t. that received by Porto Rico
put they are fairly well informed regarding
| political affairs in the United States and
| the certainty of beet root opposition So they
viii ask much more than they expect to
get Nevertheless, they are alive to the
Importance of a rebate on sugar duties
| This years large crop, with the high price
| prevailing. Will enable them to do well even
under the full duties. But next year, with
the certainty of an increase in the amount
|
that the price will be high. If it should
drop a fraction, and If in the meantime they
! have secured no tariff rebate in the United
States the prospect for them will not be
encouraging Hence their present activity
and the movement directed toward Wash
lnston, and refexively toward the Cuban
| constitutional convention.
| 1t has been difficult to make the planters
| understand that they had any share or any
| responsibility in the convention A great
planter, who Is working his way up out OF
the ruins cased by the war. gave me his ex-
perience with one of the constitution MAX
ers. Il told him." said the planter that
sugar was the life of this island and thai
ne must help us get some concessions from
| the United States. He replied that sugar
was dream, and that the republic was not
going to be disturbed by dreams Now.
what can we do with such people?"
l would have had more sympathy with
the planter had he not been one of those
who for two years have been roaming thai
the American authority would enforce the
policy whlch ms interests demand without
! his giving 1T any support or himself seek.
ing to mold the local sentiment to the ideas
J | which must determine the industrial future
: or Cuna: besides. the member with whom
he talked was not quite SO impra cticable
as the planter thought. There is much tha.
IS neouious In the atmosphere of the con-
sHtuuonal convention, and there are some OF
It's members who are thinking only of graf
|" | Tying their own ambitions in the future
government, and who disda!n to consider
, Industrial and commercial problems but
they are not in the majority
Tobacco of Less Importance.
Tobacco is important element. but
relatively 1t is Of much less consequence
than sugar and is less dependent on the
United States. Occasionally voice is
heard from some where in the tobacco coun
! try proclainling the ruin of the industry
l saw a long article the other day which
demonstrated mathematically that this ruir
Is imminent yet practical men who all
/ their lives have been engaged In busines:
continue to invest their capital in tobacco
They understand why the last year was a
poor one for the trade and why the coming
! one may not be better but most Of them
With whom have lked do not look upon
! this as a permanent condition. What they
want is to get all possible concession from
the United States as to fortify them
against events in other parts of the world
which may interfere with their market
just as the South African war has done
In 1s4-'95 which was good year fol
tobacco as we'll as for sugar, the value OF
| the exports from Cuba was SIS 600 coo The
e | Industry suffered less from the insurrectior
e and required less time to revive than die
| sugar so that In 1899 the conditions were
] almost normal. The figures given me TO,
tko< -. o,,c