Evening star., 1930-12-17
Cane-Cutting Machines
Add TO Sugar Crisis
To the Editor of The star:


Even while the various sugar interests
of the world are congregated in Brus-
sells to restrict the production of sugar
to something near the present world
consumption and to relieve Cuba of its
/ 500, 900 tons Of excess sugar, Java of
its 100000 tons excess, Europe of its
/ 10000 excess tons and Hawaii of its
excess (not determinedD, there comes
the news of long hoped-for and long
dreaded cane cutting machine.
With Cuba's vast army of unem-
ployed, with the government itself quiv-
ering under a threatened revolution,
comes machine which, operated by
three men, will cut, strip, top and load,
work heretofore performed by 200 men.
There is perhaps no labor still per-
formed by human hands that is as hard
and laborious as that Of cutting, piling
and loading sugar cane. Nowhere in
all the field of labor, within my expert
ence, Is a machine so needed from a
humanitarian point of view. Neverthe-
less, coming at this time, it will shatter
in a day the effect OF any agreement
that the sugar interests may enter into
in Brussels as to the division of the
sales territory and Of restriction of
volume of output.
Cuba is doing the most intelligent
thing of any of the sugar countries,
having proposed to the Chinese govern
ment a grant for a 20-year monopoly
of the Chinese sugar trade, exempt
from import duties. The per capita
consumption Of sugar among the Chi
neSe people is 8 pounds per year.
In the United States the per capita
consumption is los pounds. American
sugar interests have seen f1t to spend
millions of dollars in fight with the
cigarette interests to get a little more
of the American dollar spent for sugar,
notwithstanding the fact that our con-
sumption now is far in excess of the
requirements of health, and notwith-
standing the fact that the same amount
of money spent on good roads in China
would probably have made wider mar
ket both for sugar and cigarettes.
But, Notwithstanding the fact that
Cuba Is at least attempting the most
intelligent thing that could be done Just
now, which is to create a demand among
the peoples whose sugar consumption
is too low, it is questionable If she can
create such markets soon enough to
prevent the social catastrophe that will
come to Cuba with the introduction Of
this machine-a catastrophe which may
make 1t socially and politically impoSsi-
BILE to raise sugar at all in Cuba.
Thus our progress feeds our despair
An industry which, taking it by and
large, has paid the least attention to
its obligations to the world of mankind,
which in every country employs and
seeks to employ the lowest in the scale
of civilization, and which in every coun-
try in the world, with the exception of
Hawaii, pays the lowest wage of any
industry in that country, has produced
labor situation and level of labor
intelligence which will probably smash
the machines as fast as they are intro
duced and reproduce the experience Of
the Manchester anti-machine riots.
Certainly no machine is more needed
than a cane cutting and loading ma
chine, particularly since it cuts out the
intervening process of piling the cane.
On the other hand, one wonders If the
industry has not held the workers to a
level below which their intelligence will
permit the introduction of machinery
unless backed up by the military. the
cost of which will make it socially more
expensive than cutting by hand
Hawaii is happily situated in this
regard, since all it needs to do is to
stop importing Filipinos, cut out its pro-
posed plan to import Porto Ricans, and
install machines instead.
ETHELBERT STEWART.