The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-21
WHAT AMERICANS ARE DOING FOR CUBA
  Ranroad-TAe 

Boston, Mass, Oct, 20.-The Amer icanization of Cuba has gone on so quietly and yet so rapidly that it was not until the present internal difficult ties arose that most persons came to realize the size of the American stake in the island republic. From . financial point of view 1t may be said that our interests in Cuba are almost as great as those of the Cubans themselves American trade. American financial interests, the American monetary sys- tenn, American machinery and Ameri- can enterprise are al to the fore in Cuba, and it is for this reason that most of those familiar with actual conditions in Cuba believe that the ultimate acquisition or the island by the United States is inevitable.
 When the war with Spain ended, Cuba was a commmerciaI, industrial. financial and political wreck. The out put of sugar, her chief crop and the most important index of her prosperi- ty, had fallen from 1,004,000 tons in 1895 to the insignificant proportions of 212,051 tons in 1897; while tobacco the next most important crop. which had reached a value of $11,727,0Oo Tn 1893. dropped to STATEHOOD in the same two years. Two months ago. when the leaders of the Cuban Liberal party
 were arrested at the instigation of President Palma, the is,and had reach ed a state of prosperity never before known in It's history, while immigra- tion and capital were setting to It's shores in a strong and ever-tncreas1ng tide By 1905 the sugar crop had reach ed 100000 tons. the largest propor- tions ever known, valued in its raw state at about $75.o0o.ooo; while the production of tobacco had reached value of $26. 5S,00o-more than double that of the record year, 1893.
 It is doubtful if anywhere else in the world there Is an equal extent of territory with equally great and varied resources. About the same size as John Bulls tight little island somewhat smaller than the State Of Pennsylvan- ia, and with only small proportion of land under cultivation, Cuba has within this limited area natural monopoly of the best tobacco in the world; the greatest sugar supply. pro- duced from not more than 100000 acres of land; coffee of the highest grade an infinite variety of fruits and vege- tables, unexcelled pasture lands. an abundant supply of valuable ttmbers, and a wealth of mineral resources.
 There Is scarcely an enterprise or industry in Cuba today Tn which Amer ican capital is not heavily interested, If not in aCtual contToi. III Aooe, A'e.h1 of the enterprises in which foreign capital has the largest share are con trolled in New York In many of these Canadians are interested heavily. and herein England sees iine of cleav- age which may widen 70 gulf be- tween her and her one important pos session in North America.
 In the three great agricultural i'm dustries of Cuba, sugar, tobacco and cattle lands and cattle. there are said to be nearly or quite $lo0,000.000 of American capital invested. A single tobacco estate in the Yamous Vuelto Abajo district of Pinar del Rio em- braces 225,o00 acres under the control of Americans, and in the eastern end of the island the Chaparra Sugar Com pany, another American corporation. controls a sugar estate of almost equal extent. The thirty American sugar