Arizona republican., 1915-10-27
BAHAMAS FACE
 SOME PROBLEMS
As Result of European War Are Obliged to Provide Own Foodstuffs, Pre- viously Having Largely Relied on Imports
ASSOCIATED PRESS D1srArcH1

ASSOCIATED PRESS DISFATCH1 1 NASSAU, Bahama Islands, British
 West Indies, oct. 26.-Though prop
 erly part of the British West 1 Indies, the Bahama Islands have faced problems peculiar to them
 selves as a result of the European i war, notably the problem of provid- | ing their own foodstuffs, whereas, | prior to the war, they had relied al
 most entirely upon imports
 Unlike the islands to the South. the Bahamas nave neither the soil 1 nor the climate for the free growth i of tropical fruits though some, of course. are grown. The chief pro- duct here has been sponges and next to that, of late years, sisal for fibre. The growing of other products has been small, mainly because so many of the male population are engaged in the sponge industry, but there is also this factor, that the islanders have an exceptional tendency to buy foreign or imported food rather than accept the homegrown products, even when the latter are superior. For instance, women and children and some Of the men grow sisal for fibre and clean it by hand, and spend the few cents they have earned in this laborious undertaking in the pur- chase of foreign foodstuffs that pay a duty of 25 per cent. This ten 1ency has been encouraged and made
 the most of by the merchants as it increased their trade, and also by the government as it gave so much more revenue.
 In view of these facts, when the
 war in Europe began, and the big sponge export to England was en-
 tirely stopped and the fibre industry
 was also hit hard, the Bahamas
 found themselves in the position of
 producing practically nothing that
 was saleable, while. on the other
 hand, the price of imported food pro-
 ducts that the people had been rely
 ing on to such an extent rapidly ad-
 vanced.
 The government in view of the de
 creasing revenues decided to cut
 down expenditures. but this took the form of suspending public works en-
 tirely rather than making the slight est retrenchments in official salaries.
 More hardship was made for all NIeioSCS NltIi lile pdnhS put up ln- terest two per cent and raised the rate of exchange to two per cent, and with the governments increase of two per cent in the tariff there was such an effect as only a region SO dependent on imports as the Ba- hamas, could understand.
 There was hope that the winter tourist business would offset some of the other losses but after a con- siderable expense in putting hotels and boarding houses in repair it was discovered that instead of increasing the tourist business also fell off
 Outside observers remarked that in the face of so much depression, the uncomplaining spirit with which the islanders have faced the hardships has been remarkable. In addition to this, the people came forward with generous contributions to vari- ous war funds, and with a grant from the treasury, some $75.O0O was raised. The women of the islands. 1 have, after year of work, not slackened in their sewing for war purposes. As a further indication of i patriotism in the islands, there is now on foot movement to enlist