Arizona republican., 1903-11-30
THE CUBAN TRADE
A Subject of More Than
 Usual Interest Now
The Commercial Relations Between This Country and the Islands Have
 Been Marked by Great Fluctuations.

Washington, Nov. 29.-The trade | relations between the United States | and Cuba, present and past, are | the subject of a document just | issued by the department of com merce and labor through its bureau | of statistics. The United States i'm ports from Cuba have always exceed 1 ed sin value the United States exports to Cuba. The fact has been due. not to a lack of appreciation of United States products and merchandise on the part of the Cubans. nCr yet to lack of purchasing power on their part but rather to the fact that Cuba has happened to be the producer of two great staples of commerce and trade which are and ever have been in active and almost universal demand in the United States. namely. sugar and tobacco. If it were not for these staples the balance of trade between the United States and Cuba would show a record against Cuba instead of against the United States.
 The volume of trade between the two countries, and the ratio of inn ports to experts have been subject to many and wide fluctuations, and the trade has not been as steadily pro- gressive in character as is usual be- tween nations at peace with each ether and closely connected in husi- ness relations, as, for example, in the case of the trade of the United States with the United Kingdom or with Germany.
 The total trade between the two countries was in round numbers S26,- [ in, O03, coo in 1857, and only S34.Oo0,GS2 in 1S5S In 1872 it had advanced 70 $So. OOO,C0O and in 1874 to s1O5, ,OOO, coo Cthe largest on record). only to recede again in 1875 to $50. O.000, 900. In 1878 it i declined to s6S,G00,OO0, and in 1882 ad- vanced to $S2.OOO,OOO, and in 1885 fell back to $51 COG, eco. In 1893 it reached ! s103, ,C0C,0 ,0CC, but in 1898 was only SEA- 1 C0C,00O, and has new. in 1903, crept 1 back to SS4,OOO,GOO.
 ! Further examination shows sur | prising variations in the ratio of eX- ports to imports. The ratio of the do- mestic exports from the United States | to Cuba, as compared with the United States imports therefrCm, was in 1851 about l to 8; in 1857, about l to 5; in 1858, about 1 to 2; in 1859, about 1 to ! g. in 1865. about 3 to ,; in 1869, about 2 to 9; in 1872, about 1 to ,; in 1882, about 1 to s; in 1893. about 1 to 3: in | 1896, about to II; in 1898, about to 3; in 1899, about 3 to 4; in 190O about , to 6, and in 1903, about 1 to again.
 These fluctuations in the Cuban trade have been mainly due to four causes: CD Occasional revolutions
 and wars in Cuba; @ occasional ic-
 iuries to Cuban crops by hurricanes
 and droughts; (3) variations iE the
 market prices of sugar and tobacco
 and (G changes in the tariffs of the 1 two countries.
 A>sharp falling off in production in
 1871 was due to damage by hurricanes. The effects of the unsuccessful ter years war are seen in the small figures for 1876, 1STT7 and 1878. The poor re- turns along in the early eighties were also charSeable partly to the bad eff
 fleets of that war and also in some in
 stances to bad weather. The tremen-
 dous decrease in 1896, 1897 and 1898.
 was due, of course, to the recent war for independence, and the setback in
 1900 was caused by a severe drought in the autumn of 1899.
 The differences in the value of Cuba s sugar exports have had some relation, l of course, to the size of the crops. but they have been occasioned mainly by fluctuations in the worlds price of sugar, and also to some extent by changes in the United States tariffs.
 As from so to 90 per cent of the Cuban
 sugar export goes to the United States.
 the tariff rates of this country are
 obviously of much greater concern to Cuba than the tariff rates of any other
 country.
 While the amounts of sugar eX-
 ported by Cuba to the United States ir
 1928 and 1895 were almost exactly
 equal the value of the 1895 crop ex- port was only about wo-thirds that of | the 1893 export; also that both the lu.ounts and values of the exports de-
 creased greatly after 1895 until very recently. These decreases are attribut- able in part to the interference of war
 with industrial occupations. but Tn | the main to the fall in the worlds price of sugar since 1895, and in part
 aiso to the disrontinuance of the recip-
 rocal agreement of 1891, by which | Cuban sugar was admitted into the
 United States free of duty until 1S9t.
 which agreement undoubtedly and
 naturally stimulated Cuban exports or
 sugar to this country in 1892, 1893 ana | 1894.
 Similar effects have been produced | by these causes upon the amounts ! and values Of Cuban tobacco exports.