The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-17

Bahamas. The first of these that
visited was the island Of Jamaica.
This island is the third in size Of the
West Indies, being exceeded only by
Cuba and Hayti. which two islands ]
have described in previous letters. It
has an area of over 1000 square
miles, being about $50 miles long and
nifty miles wide. II has been under
English control for very long time,
and thus Is pretty well developed.
Order reigns throughout the island,
and 1t is probably the safest place in
the West Indies to live in with the pos
sible exception OF Porto Rico. which
place I described in my last letter.
Moreover. the island has a certain gov
eminent Of its own. It operates its own
ments for the encouragement of agri-
culture and industry.
The climate is strictly tropical. For
merly sugar was the great product,
and when travelling across the island
I saw remains OF many old sugar mills
and discarded plantations. These are
silent monuments of how the pendulum
swings and the hands OF the great clock
OF industry go round To-day one
locality leads and tomorrow another
Let no section nor people think 1t will
lead forever. The days of all of us are
numbered. The time to save money Is
when We are making II.
AS saw these changed conditions
for the American farmer of our great
West. When Canada Siberia and
other great wheat growing areas are
fully developed may there not be barren
farms and empty elevators in the
United States?
At the present time the important in
dustry Of Jamaica is the raising of
bananas. This has been greatly devel-
oped by the United Fruit Company,
which owns or leases about sc, 600 acres
and takes the product from several
hundred thousand acres additional. I
was told that this company employs
nearly 1000 men and ships about 5,OOO,-
900 lunches of bananas a year. Its
headquarters are on the north of the
island, at Port Antonio. where II OPP
crates the beautiful Hotel Litchfeld;
but its steamers call at scores of other
ports on every side Of the island.
Like the Standard oil Company, the
United Fruit Company is not a pro-
Queer but rather "A distributor. Its mo-
nopoly consists in its remarkable SER
vice of collecting the fruit. paying cash
therefor and selling it in New York.
Boston, Philadelphia. Baltimore and
other points. Nearly every day one of
the United Fruit steamers calls at each
little port. So the native may always
be sure OF the most perfect system of
shipment
or course a good profit is charged for
such a service. The natives receive
only from 25 to so cents per bunch for
these bananas, according to time OF
year. They are paid the highest price
in the early summer and the lowest in
the fall and winter because Americans
eat many more bananas in summer than
in winter.
other than the banana industry, CO.
coanut raising seems to he quite profit
able, and | was surprised to see so many
young cocoanut plantations. As a large
part OF Jamaica is dry and bananas
need more moisture than cocoanuts 1t
is probable that many more cocoanut
trees will be planted in the future.
These cocoanut trees need sandy soil
such as usually Is found near the sea
coast. The greatest rainfall Is In the
northeast section OF the island, while
the southern portion is the dryest.
The principal city of Jamaica Is
Kingston, on the southern coast. with
a population OF 10000. This place has
been practically rebuilt since the earth
quake IN i'o' ana now appears as a
i'ootIh anu Prosperous 'I's WIN nah
"e''hl mar poi, nc SUITE "o'eIa, ooN
sih'heh' ounu,hs' anu ''e'. a'
,,nus,s "'' "ots"' va any WI ".
n'S''o" 'p Wv, -,
"o,N IN, ~ s''.,h ,,.,a ,1h ,,s
n,,a'1 "a nr,o,,I,,,rat s,oss,h,,,,tns AZ
,a, daso.'.o
pr,oev Kir,stor 10 tho commercial
centre OF Jamaica. hut this Is all. The
northeastern part OF the island is far