The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-07-30
SUGAR PLANTATION.
THE CANE IS CUT OFF CLOSE TO THE GROUND

by the former, and that it cannot be
less than the amount above mentioned.
AT that rate Cuba can make sugar and
pay dividends on Its plantations. At the
present prices 1t Is receiving more than
ever before. The crop for 1906 will be
worth thirty or forty million dollars
more than ordinary. and as consequence
the sugar industry is booming and there
Is likely to be an overproduction. The
chief trouble here Is the lack of la Dor. his
year they have not had enough men to
harvest the crop, and In some places 1t
has rotted on the ground.
E Labor on the Plantations.
The most Of the labor on the sugar
estates is done by Cubans and Spaniards
( The SpaniaHls make excellent workmcn,
and n considerable immigration is now
coming In from the Canary Islands and
the northern part of the Spanish PENN
sula. These men are thrifty and indus
trious, and Cuba is doing all she can 10
encourage their coming.
Wages are good. About Havana they
are dollar day or SIS and upward a
month, with house rent, and sometimes
with certain amount Of food. On many
Of the new plantations the men work at
q piecework or BY contract. a, man Will
keep SO many acres clean at so much per
month per acre, and they will DO paid by
Z the day for cutting cane or other work
in addition. I know of one plantation
where the mon make $50 or $40 a month
In this way, ana the plantation is one
OF the best kept on the island.
Plantation Stores.
Every one OF these big sugar estates
Is a little community OF It's own. II re-
lqulres the labor of from 1000 to 5000
men or more. This means two or three
thousand families, or. a population, all
told, Of about 10000 souls. These people
live about tho mill or scattered In little
settlements here and there over the es-
tate. Every plantation has one or moro
stores. and, as q rule, the workmen are
In debt to tho stores. Announcements are
common. and there Is scarcely man
who is not more or less behind,
In talking with Mr. II. Dumois, who
for years was at the head OF the United
Fruit Company estate at Banes. he told
me that the plantation store there whcse
profits were about $4,000 per year, In
such stores the prices are as low az
those in the neighboring towns, but the
town stores require cash, while at tie
company stores credit Is freely given.
Indeed. this plantation store business Is
ono OF the important departments on the
sugar mnns ledger. ] know some mon
here who have several plantations who
have big incomes from their stores alone
There is one old Spaniard Mt Clenfuegos
who owns half dozen plantations, He
Is one Of the richest men on the Island
lie buys his goods ut wholesale In large
quantities and distributes them to his
various stores, where they are sold at
large profit, These stores have every
variety Of goods demanded by tho Cuban
peasant--from face powder and ribbons
to gaudy millinery, and from ordinary
foodstuffs to fancy saddles, machctes.
hardware wines. and, In shurt, every
tl,U.g that you Will find ~ u rvuntry
store OF the United States
Sugar Railroads,
Most of the sugar estates bring their
cane from tho fields to the factories on
railroads In passing through the sugar
country one sees cars loaded with cane
standing at every depot. 1t has been
brought In from the smaller plantations
to be shipped over thu trunk line to the
mills. The plantation railroads bring
the cane from the fields to the mills.
from fifteen to thirty miles OF such roads
being often required for one plantation.
The United Fruit Company. for in-
stance, has twenty-nine miles OF such
road at Banes, and the Tacajo estate, adj
joining IT, has twelve miles Of track
which arc connected with the lines OF
the United Fruit Company, There are In
Cuba altogether moro than eight hundred
n,iIas nf railroad track on the sugar