New-York tribune., 1921-05-25
ALI Cuba Needs
Is Time, Says
Cen. Mellocal
Former President Believes
New Banking Laws Will
Insure Future Financial
Stability of the Island
Sugar Panic Exaggerated
High Prices Not SO Desir-
able as Maintenance at
81 Reasonable Standard

Cubs Is all right all she needs is
little time" General Mario G. Memo
cal, who retired from the Presidency
Of the island Friday after four years in
Office, said confidently at the Ritz Carl
ton yesterday. How much time I can
not tell yet, for that will depend upon
the new banking laws which are now
being drawn up. We need and are go
ing to have something like the Ameri
can Federal Reserve system, which will
give our currency the elasticity it
needs to carry US over times like these
and yet insure complete safety"
Since he arrived in this country tho
General has found that the stories cir
culated here as to the sugar panic in
Havana have been greatly exaggerated.
ready have greatly improved, and at
their worst never correspondcd to the
picture drawn of them here
The life of Cuba, he decla red, de-
pends upon the market for its sugar
America usually takes about wo-thirds
Of the output, and Europe fhe remain
der. either raw or refined In this coun-
try. The United States, he thought
was probably buying to-day up to it's
requirements, but for the last eight
months Europc's inability to pay has
market He believed that by this time
her reserves were almost entirely ex-
hausted and that in the near future she
would be compelled to buy heavily to
replenish her supply. This seemed to
him the most encouraging factor in
the present situation Already the or
ders arc beginning to come in, he
added,
Stable Price Chiefly Needed
AS to the price situation, the general
did not see much prospect of n rise
affecting the 1921 crop, which is just
being harvested. This, however, Sailed
to trouble him, for, in his opinion,
what Cuba needs is not high price
but stable ono to which she can
adapt her producing condition,
Suppose We get 10 cents a pound
next year after the 81 cents we are
now receiving he continued. THAT
would give US a repetition of the specu-
lation from which we arc Just recover
ing, and after that we would have the
same painful readjustmcnt 10 make TO
get back to normalcy.
The suggestion that the new Zayas
government lacked the popular support
needed to restore good times the Gen
eral refused to take seriously
'The elections were long and ted-
ous," he said, but the people are salts
fed. There is no danger of revolu-
ton. and the new government will bend
all its energies to the restoration of
prosperity"
The work of General Crowder in su-
pervising the disputed elections he
praised warmly.
The sugar clauses OF the Fordney
emergency tariff, however, General
Menocal viewed With grave concern.
The new bin more than doubles the
present duty of one cent a pound which
to-day is offset by the 90 per cent
reciprocity agreement between this
country and Cuba. Unless compcnsa-
tion in the form OF an increase in the
preference given to the island can be
arranged he feared the duty would
have a serious effect upon the sugar
planters.
The prospect of Cuba's encounter
ing serious competition from other
sugar growing countries he secuted.
Java is the only other large cane pro-
ducer and her price must always be a
little higher than ours in such dis
tant market as America and Europe.
Furthermore, the demands of such a
population as that Of the Dutch island
necessitate rice growing on almost
every available acre, so their sugar
production must remain stationary at
about onc-third that of Cuba.
CAS- for beet sugar, that throvc be-
fore the wer on government bounties
in Germany and Russia. Those coun-
tries simply cannot afford to continue
the subsidies. AS long as the price of
sugar is below cents a pound Cuba
has nothing to fear from the beet
growers"