Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1921-10-07
in a Cuban Sugar Nit.

prepared by the National geographic So
ciety. Washington DsTCN
Cuba, which Immediately following
the World Var climbed to heiEhts of
prosperlty<sSSldom attained bys any
other small country, has passed now
Into the valley of hard times; and the
reaso6 b, both cases was the same
sugar. For thppgh the Islands annual
tobaccos hslsyssE q, WY vafuab be and
though ri has many. other potential,
If undeveloped, RESOURCES. 1t sahardly
accomplishing the Importance of
sugar production to SAY that Cuba is
q one-crop country When European
and-Eksisrha s6g1 WIS GnoBtai1aBle
prices scared ,Skywafds ana Cuba not
only cashed In heayiiy onz~her usual
production but feverishly increased
her cane acreage and sughr mills. Now
that sugar from the eastern hemis-
plere isTeachtgg. ths weIld niarkets
while Europe has little buying power,
sugar prices have fallen to low levels
and Cuba Is finding her war-increased
cropsa drug on the market. Financial
gloom has followed upon the heels Of
a most hectic prosperity, sas the night.
the day: NsGa
Sasarcaneis grown by three classes
of planters in Cuba. Perhaps the
ma TOR part % the, crop Is grown by
share farmers. or "colonos," as they
are sailed The owners of. the sugar
mills sfurnish them with given NUM-
Der cfsacfes of land to plant and give
then an agreed share of the sugar
they produce $50 Nissl
Thsy a4ads Money Rapidiy.
Tbs next ~ tis composed of thsI
land-owning farmers. who grow their
own cane and have 1t ground on
shares after the fashion of the rural
grist mill, The remainder OF the cane
is grown ybys lie owners Of the mills
themselves. At some centrals the
"admimstration''. .cane, as. that grown
under central" management is known,
amounts. to- only A PERI cent Of the
total; !. ut -etherslit amounts to 90 per
cent
Even the share farmer. at pre-war
PRICES, made money. According to
Scuba Before the. World" ehe. official
handbook 81 the repubsSs AZ the Pan
ama-Pacific exposition, when sugar
was selling at 2.62 cents pound. his
share of the sugar brought him, on
the, basis of twelve sacks to the acre,
a return Of from SAC to $51 per acre.
When one remembers that,thei selling
price of sugar in 1920 was from four
to six times as high as. before the war,
thesazes fsthesper-aere sincome at the
high tide Of prices is apparent.
leoafn II Sugar Lands.
a srsat dsaf q 9he cane land pro
duces much more sugar to the acre
than the modest twelve bags that
formed the -bhsfs -of the calculations
cited froms Scuba Before the .World."'
Acsbfding to fguras furnished by the
Cuban department of agriculture much
land produces 22 bags TO the. acre.
This, at Is cents pound, brings. a
gross rsturn of more than $1,000 an
! acre. =
| TAess. conditions brought about an
! unEHeckddAteA begm In sugar flandss
One sugar estate, which was bought
about 1917 for 100000, sold in jan
uary 1920 for $0,500,OOO. Another
which was valued at about $s,OO0,00O
a. few years before. changed hands at
$i9. 600, oQ9. -
/ Numerous new "centrals" were built,
all capitalized on-the basis Of earn
ings during the early months of 1920.
Thousands of American capitalists in
vested in these hourishing enterprises.
How .Cpba.s receipts from sugar ex-
] ptndkh Iii skhown -1y Anef fdat mat the
| 1918 crop brought total returns Of
less than $500 900, 900, while two-thlrds
Ilac5f ssgSS. rsfr'''
III .Producfion chsipsr There.
Cuba has the advantage Of Avery
J rOpntry- IN pRoducing sugar cheBply
4 Most countries have to plant Stery
two years and some Of them axery
season, but the average in Cuh4 Il
kkcesh tr2mE tek2syearE 7
most parts 0f the Island " the