The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-05-23
CAMAGUEY. Cuba, April u, 1907.

American railroad, almost at the exact
geographical center of the island, and
on the boundary line between the prov
inces of Santa Clara and Puerto tPrin-
cipe, is an impressive example of Amer
lean enterprise in the form of a sugar
plantation that was started about three
years ago in the midst of tropical
forest by Sir William Van Horne, Gen.
Granville NJ. Dodge and other large
stockholders in the Cuba Railroad Co.
Mr.. Dodge IS son-in-law, Mr.. Pusey,
formerly of Council Bluffs and son
of Judge Pussy, who represented that
district in Congress for several years,
went into the wilderness with five or
six hundred Cubans, cut out the trees,
cleared the ground, planted the cane
and raised a crop within fifteen months
from the time he came into the coun-
try. In the meantime one of the largest
and the most modern sugar mills IN
Cuba was erected at the station to
grind the cane It has been great
success and serves, as brilliant ex-
ample.
The manager of the Jatibonico sugar
estate is Mr.. Wilfred Skate of Mon
treal, who has become familiar with
affairs during his residence in Cuba,
particularly with the sugar industry.
When I asked him how much benefit
thu planters are deriving from the
reciprocity treaty between the United
States and Cuba, he said:
cit is very difficult to say what we
are getting out of it. Up to this year
we received no practical benefit, be-
cause the sales of sugar have been
forced on account of the needs OF the
planters for money and Cuban sugars
have been selling in New York below
the parity of beet sugars on the London
market. This year the planter is get
ting more benefit because the market
is rising and prices are adjusting them
selves all over the world. The price
of sugar is fixed in London by the
law of supply and demand, and beet
sugar is the controlling factor. ter
many produces twice as much sugar
as Cuba. Of course, the sugar trust
in New York being the largest buyer
IN the world has an enormous influence
on prices, but it does not control them
by any means.
MARROW MARGIN OF PROFIT.
1.-THE wholesale price of raw sugar
in New York today is 1928 per nun
dredweight, plus the insurance and
duty. That is what the planter gets
The average cost of producing differs
in the several provinces. Large plan
tiers and corporations that grow their
own cane and have their own mills
can produce sugar more cheaply thah
those who Operate on a smaller scale
and under ordinary conditions can make
sugar for $190 per hundredwelght. Ihat
is the minimum. A margin of 80 cents
a hundred pounds is all the slack the
best equipped planter can expect. On
the older estates, where the machinery
is not up-to-date and much of the cane
IS BOUGHT from outsiders, it costs at
least $2.121a to produce sugar, when
leaves margin of only l212 cents d
hundred. And the profit of the great
majority of planters varies from that
to nothing.
ono. the planters are not entirely
at the mercy of the trust. Ihey can
shin to Europe if they please and get
the same prices that the trust VIII pay
them, but the latter is so well organized
that it can handle sugar more prompt
~ and easily than the European buy
ers; it is quick pay, sure pay anu
the natural channel for the export OF
Cuban sugar. The trust owns no plan
tat;ons. The individual stockholders
NAV have shares in any NUMBER ol
plantation companies, nobody KNOWS
how mueb The shares of most OF the
sugar companies are bought and SOFA Oh
the stock markets in the United states
inst like other stocks and bonds, ana
there is nothing to prevent the ON
Gals and stockholders of the trust DIT
New York from buying ana seliins
whenever they like, but that IS no'
done bv the companies, and IN It's
corporate capacity the sugar trust owns
no plantations. It has, however, made
a practice of advancing money to some
of the large producers to enable them
to make crop. The business IS con
dueted that way. Nearly all the pant
ers and companies engaged IN sugar are
compelled to borrow from banks, com
mission houses and other money loan
ers to carry them through. They give
their notes for sixty days, ninety days
or six months and pay when they re-
alize on their crops. I have heard OF
several instances in which advances