Up to the passage of the Underwood-Simmons Tariff, by which sugar is to be transferred to the free list, Cuba had an advantage over other foreign countries in that under the commercial convention with the United States her sugar enjoyed a twenty per cent. reduction from our regular tariff rates. On the other hand, her sugar growers were not then in as advantageous a position as the producers of domestic cane and beet sugar, nor did they compete on equal terms with the growers of cane sugar in Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines. These other groups together produced approximately half of the sugar consumed in the United States. Whether the advantage of treatment equal to that of our own sugar growers will overcome the disadvantage of the abolition of preference over other foreign nations is yet to be demonstrated.

In the popular mind Cuba is connected with tobacco production rather than sugar. Though recent developments have shown that the future prosperity of the island will probably be dependent on the latter, tobacco still holds among the exports a position only second in importance. The high quality of the better grades of Cuban leaf seems to assure that it will remain the standard of comparison. But just as the cane sugar industry has had to compete with a rapidly rising output of beet sugar, so Cuban tobacco finds its market disputed by a widespread development of tobacco culture in other parts of the world.

The Cuban tobacco industry is prosperous, but comsugar exportation of Cuba in 1913-14 was 2,597,732 long tons, of which 2,454,334 tons were exported.

pared to sugar growing it has enjoyed only a moderate increase. The product holds its market rather by virtue of superior quality than on account of its low cost of production.

In 1899, Cuban tobacco was exported to the value of $21,000,000. This was at a period when its cultivation had not yet fully recovered from the disastrous effects of the revolution and the Spanish-American War, but the value of the crop compared favorably with its value under Spain. When the reciprocity agreement of 1903 with the United States went into effect the tobacco growers felt its influence less than the cane-sugar producers. They increased the area under cultivation where that was possible and strove to raise the standard of their tobaccos. It was in this period that shadegrown tobaccos began to take an important place in the market. The value of the tobacco crop rose until the political disturbances of 1906-7, when the upsetting of the economic conditions in the island brought a drop in a single year from $31,286,000 to $20,931,000. With the reëstablishment of order came another revival which continued until the outbreak of the European War.1 Between one-half and two-thirds of the tobacco exports in normal years go to the United States.

The products exported from Cuba, other than sugar and tobacco, are, compared to these items, unimportant. The fruit trade, still in its infancy, shows promise of

1 Commerce Reports, September 27, 1915. The exports of tobacco products for the year ending June 30, 1914, reached a value of $32,166,192. In the next year, due to the effects of the European War, it fell to $21,976,650.

healthy development. Bananas for home consumption are grown over the entire island, but are exported only from the north coast at the extreme eastern end where soil and climate are especially favorable.1 Coconuts are exported from the same district. The citrus-fruit industry is increasing in importance, but grapefruit is the only product of this sort which has as yet become important in foreign trade. Coffee plantations, formerly prosperous, were destroyed in the revolt of 1868-78 and attempts of the government to rehabilitate the industry have thus far resulted only in production for local use. Large quantities are still imported, especially from Porto Rico. Cacao production is increasing but is not yet large in amount. Mineral and forest products, though entering into foreign commerce in greater actual amount than in many of the other West Indies, are of minor importance compared to the great staples mentioned.

A more striking illustration of dependence upon a few crops, when the importance of the island and the number of its population are considered, can hardly be found in the entire Caribbean. On the average over ninety per cent. of Cuban export trade is in sugar and tobacco, the former making up over two-thirds of the total value of goods sent abroad. It is no wonder sugar controls both domestic and foreign policy in Cuba. It has become the basis of the greatest economic interest in the country and, in great part, upon the progress of sugar manufacture depends prosperity.

1

1 Daily Consular and Trade Reports, October 16, 1913, contains a good discussion of recent sugar and fruit developments.

Both absolutely and relatively the importance of sugar in Cuba has increased remarkably in recent years. While some of the West Indian colonies have found their sugar estates declining or, at most, enjoying but a moderate prosperity, foreign capital has been rushing into sugar production in Cuba at an unprecedented rate. A large number of factors have contributed to this development. Peace, coming after the protracted revolt against Spain, and the Spanish-American War, of itself, encouraged investment to supply the rapidly increasing world demand. The stability in the world market for sugar, restored by the Brussels convention, made sugar-raising an industry in which conservative investment was again possible. More important than these were probably the political arrangements made by the republic which placed it in a peculiar position in relation to the United States. The Platt Amendment assured capital that the disturbance of business, so frequent before because of local unrest, would be reduced to a minimum. Not least in importance was the commercial treaty of 1903 with the United States. The island's natural market, from the geographical viewpoint, was thus by political arrangements opened to her on conditions which accentuated the advantage enjoyed by position. These conditions have brought marked changes in the relative importance of Cuban industries.

In 1899, the first year after Spanish control had been eliminated, the chief exported products, as in the period preceding, were tobacco and sugar. The former was shipped abroad to the value of $21,000,000 and constituted 42 per cent. of the total; of the latter $18,000,000

worth were exported, making 38 per cent. of the total. The following years brought a reversal of these conditions. Tobacco fell in relative importance. The degree to which it has now come to occupy an inferior position and the degree to which, in general, the life of the island depends upon its agricultural industries is indicated by the following table.

PERCENTAGES OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS IN CUBAN EXPORT TRADE-1910-14 1

1 Table compiled from Daily Consular and Trade Reports, May 3, 1913, and Aug. 6, 1913, figures for 1910, 1911 and 1912; and from Commerce Reports, Supplement, May 10, 1915, for 1913 and 1914.

Like other West Indian islands, though Cuba's chief products are foodstuffs, she imports a comparatively large part of the products which are relied upon to sustain human life. Her dependence upon a few staple exports is no more remarkable than that upon imports to feed and clothe her people. About two-fifths of her imports are foodstuffs, and one-seventh textiles and manufactures from them. The industrial developments going on in the island raise the proportion of machinery, metal manufactures and chemicals far above the average for the Caribbean region. Still, the materials imported are usually in a form ready for consumption and