Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-10-13

Prepared By the National Geographic So.
ciety. Washington d. c.
Cuba, which Immediately following
he World war climbed to heights of
prosperity seldom attained by any
,ther small country, has passed now
nto the valley of hard times and the
;e9sOn in both cases was the same
sugar. For though the islands annual
'Obacco harvest is very valuable and
though it has many other potential,
f undeveloped, resources, it is hardly
overemphasizing the Importance of
sugar production to say that Cuba is
One-crop country. When European
and Eastern sugar was unObtainable
prices scared skyward and Cuba not
only cashed in heavily on her usual
production but feverishly increased
her cane acreage and sugar mills. Now
that sugar from the eastern hemis-
phere is reaching the world markets
while Europe has little buying power,
sugar prices have fallen to low levels
and Cuba is finding her war-increased
crop a drug on the market. Financial
gloom has followed upon the heels of
most hectic prosperity, ''as the night,
the day"
Sugar-cane is grown by three classes
OF planters in Cuba. Perhaps the
major part of the crop is grown by
share farmers, or "cOlOnos," as they
are called. The owners of the sugar
mills furnish them with a given num-
her Of acres of land to plant and give
them an agreed share of the sugar
they produce.
They Made Money Rapidly.
The next class is composed Of the
and-owning farmers, who grow their
OWN cane and have it ground on
;hares, after the fashion of the rural
,rist mill. The remainder of the cane
: grown by the owners Of the mills
themselves. At some centrals the
administration" cane, as that grown
under central" management is known,
amounts to. only per cent of the
-otal; at others it amounts to 80 per
cent
Even the share farmer, at pre-war
prices, made money. According to
Cuba Before the World" the official
| handbook of the republic at the Pan
,maPacific exposition, when sugar
vas selling at 2.62 cents pound, his
hare of the sugar brought him, on
The basis Of twelve sacks to the acre,
4 return of from $40 to S51 per acre.
| When one remembers that the selling
price Of sugar in 1920 was from four
six times as high as before the war,
the size of the per-acre income at the
high tide of prices is apparent.
Boom in Sugar Lands.
A great deal of the cane land pro-
duces much more sugar TO the acre
| than the modest twelve bags that
"0rmed the basis Of the calculations
cited from Cuba Before the World. "
According to figures furnished by the
Cuban department of agriculture, much
land produces % bags to the acre.
| This, at Is cents a pound, brings a
gross raturn of more than $1,000 an
ncre.
These conditions brought about an
| unprecedented boom IN sugar lands.
| One sugar estate, which was bought
about 1917 for s3,OOO,OOO, sold in JAN
aary 1920 for $9.500,00O. Another
which was valued at about $4,000 OO0
a few years before, changed handS ct
| s15,0O0,0O0
Numerous new "centrals' were built
Ill capitalized on 1he basis of earn
ngs during the early months of 1920
Thousands of American capitalists In
tested 10 these fiourishing enterprises
How Cuba's receipts from sugar ex'
anded is shown by the fact that the
915 crop brought total return OF
ess than $20O,OOO,0 900. while two-thirds
# the 1920 crop (one-third remains
lnsold) brought S4O0,O00,OO0.
Production Cheaper There.
Cuba has the advantage of every
country in producing sugar cheaply
Most countries have to plant every
-w0 years and some of them every
season, but the average in Cuba Is
once In from to 80 years.
In most parts Of the island the
harvesting season is six months long
from December to June; but iI
Bme sections the harvest lasts from