The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-08
MARKET IN CUBA
FOR COTTON GOODS.
American Manufacturers Have Their
Eyes on the Antilles.

Eyes on the Antilles.
The following from the New York
Commercial is of interest here in view
of the talk of trade with Cuba:
About the time the new reciprocity
treaty between the United States and
Cuba went into effect there was print
ed considerable information concern
ing the future possibilities for Ameri-
can cottons on that island as soon as
our manufacturers were prepared to
make goods suitable for Cuban con-
sumption. Supplementary to that in
formation some valuable and interest
ing points have been brought out by
Prof. Frederick NJ Noa, who has been
passing much time in Cuba in the in
terest of the American Unitarian AS
ISOLATION.
Mr.. Noa says that with new sources
of national wealth being created, the
purchasing capacity of Cuba's popula-
ton. probably now close upon 1000, 900,
will be greatly stimulated, and the de-
mand for cotton goods (of which in
1902, $6,O00,0O0 worth were imported,
chiefly from Great Brittany wonderful
ly increased. Cuba has an area of 49,
900 square miles, or about the size of
Pennsylvania, and is easily capable of
supporting a population of $1,000, 900.
1t would seem as though, while the
Far East is ravaged by war; American
manufacturers should make serious
efforts to capture this growing market
right at their doors, 80 per cent. of
whose needs are controlled by Europe.
The consumption of cotton goods in
Cuba is most extensive in variety
from 2.S5 brown drill to the finest
lawns and organizes. The climate calls
for very lightweights in dress goods,
and this natural tendency is further
fostered by the Cuban tariff on i'm
ports, which takes weight rather than
value, as a basis. Hosiery, if made
very light, would find a profitable out
let there.
There are abundant facilities for
the handling of the cotton trade. In
Havana alone there are twenty four
importing jobbers of cotton goods ex-
clusively. The larger houses buy
either on a strictly cash basis or VERY
short time-mostly the former. Dun's
and Bradstreet's agencies are we'll es-
tablished, and have equally as good ia
cilitieS for obtaining information of
the character supplied by them as they
have in the states. Cuba is a foreign
country and any manufacturer desir-
ing to secure part of its trade must
initiate his European competitor-that
49, COillOIIu utIilSCll 10 It's
He must be alert and keep himself
well posted as to Cuban needs and
tastes. For example, English ginghams
have, for the Cuban market, certain
advantages over American. The
weighing material in the former is
much greater than in the latter.
Even with cotton at a much lower
figure the English manufacturer actu-
ally receives more per pound of clean
cotton cloth than is obtained by the
American manufacturer. The English
fabric is more closely set, having six
threads more of warp and seven
threads more of filling per inch. The
yarn is also much finer. The warp
and filling in the English fabric are
twisted in opposite directions, while
in the American fabric they are twist
ed in the same direction. This prob
ably gives the English fabric slight
ly smoother appearance. The difference
is still further increased by the weight