Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-09-27
American Money in Cuba.

| '"'eNer mas been done or is being
done to Americanizc Cuba in the mat
''r "i Its life. customs and institutions
IL Is easy TO demonstrate that in a com
merciai sense the Americanization of
the island is rapidly going forward. In
an interesting article i'm Appleton's
M"sf-ihe' Atherton Brownell makes
the estimates that no less than s159. 500,
"o has been invested by Americans in
Cuban banks, railroads. electric lines
| sugar topacc0. telegraph and telephone
systems, fruit lands. cattle. mines.
mortgages. and city and unimprovcd
real estate. Mr. Browncu nuts the
ii'h' holdings of Americans at AGO.. 900
acres. The three largest items of in
vostment. however, are sugar. tobacco
ana cattle. each about $50, 900 900. Amer
leans control electric transportation and
the telegraph and telephone. There is
much more English capital than Amcri-
can however, in the Cuban railroads.
Mr.. Brownell says that while the
American tobacco trust has more mon
ev invested in the production of tobac-
co and the manufacture of cigars than
the 'cubans and Europeans together it
popularity supposed. all the best tobac-
co lands on the island. Nor does the
so-callcd sugar trust dominate the
sugar industry. Taking the island
throughout its length" says Mr.
Rrownell. "the American interest in the
total product is about 23 per cent
In the culture cf fruits the Americans
are making rapid progress. Their in
vcstmcnt amounts to $4,000. 900. which
will soon be doubled. because it has
been discovered that California with a
5000 mile railroad haul to the Atlantic
coast. is at a great disadvantage as a
seller of citrus fruits when compared
with Cuba, which has only to pay
water tolls and tariff rate that is not
oppressive.
When it comes to trade interests. the |
United States, thanks mainly to the |
reciprocity treaty. but also to favorable |
banking facilities. does 4 business with |
Cuba which, although it could be i'm
proved by such painstaking methods as
way to exclude them from the field as
serious competitors. Cuba" says Mr. |
Brownell ''is the only country in the
world not an integral part of tho Unit
"a states where American trade and
commerce take precedence over those
Of all others" Her buying power ia
about 800 o,oo"0oO a year. and she spends
half of this in the United States. The
people of Cuba. although only I. zoo. 900
III number, buy of the United States
more than the half billion people of
China and Japan.
In speaking Of these figures the New
"rk sun makes this comment: "What
the future has in store for Cuba will
depend largely upon the behavior of
fler people in the present crisis. but
Svh. ther their fate be indcpendencc
iualiiied by Platt Amendment or annex
alton to tn" United States. the discovery
II Cuba as a land of promise by thal
American investor assures the ocvcInp-
n"nt of her tccminG resources under
my form Of government. provided il is
stable. The investment of S1J9 800 900
ilrcady noted is but a beginning. and
he 5000 American settlers are only an
ldvancc guard. There are plans for
'"uring as many millions more into ]
uta. and the tide of emigration was
cttlng more strongly toward the is /
and every day until the outs rose i
gainSt the inS and the problem of set
ing the contention. or intervening to | i,
cSt"re order. was thrust upon the =
nited States Government, with the re-
ult that for Il space the "AmcrjcaniZa
ION OF Cuba in the capitaIistic sense is
cld up"