Industrial Cuba Part 38

"On the other hand, the exportation of leaf tobacco has increased fifty per cent.; from 177,000 bales exported in 1889 by the port of Havana, the exports in 1895 had increased to approximately 250,000 bales. It is easy, then, to understand the actual condition of the tobacco industry and its dependencies, and that of the numerous families who live by the work that this gives them; their future cannot be promising, unless laws are immediately enforced to protect them and raise them from the abject state in which they find themselves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BALING TOBACCO.]

"Cause of decline. Besides the high customs tariffs on imported cigars abroad, among which we may mention those of the Argentine Republic, as well as the internal taxes of those countries where tobacco is a source of government revenue, one of the main reasons of the decline of the Cuban industry originated in the McKinley bill, which compelled many manufacturers to move their factories to the United States, owing to the want of protection on the raw material, thereby causing a considerable decrease in the production of the Island, and increasing in the same proportion that of the United States, in which country the manufacture has reached the enormous sum of 5,000,000,000 cigars per annum.

EXPORTATION OF TOBACCO TO THE UNITED STATES

In 1889 101,698,560 cigars $3,970,034 In 1890 95,105,760 " 4,113,730 In 1891 52,015,600 " 2,742,285 In 1892 54,472,250 " 2,859,941 In 1893 46,033,660 " 2,424,425 In 1894 40,048,330 " 2,131,981 In 1895 39,579,400 " 2,050,367 In 1896 40,601,750 " 2,091,856 In 1897 34,017,583 " 1,868,610

"Mode of protection. To protect and promote the prosperity of this industry it is necessary: 1st. To maintain the suppression of export duty on cigars ordered by the local Government of this Island on the 31st of last December, both on cigars and cigarettes and packages of cut tobacco, as well as on tobacco in fibre or powdered, which are considered as industrial products thereof.

"2nd. To maintain to its full extent the export duty on leaf tobacco, ordered at the same time, of $12 per 100 kilos for that grown in the provinces of the west and centre of the Island (Vuelta Abajo, Partido, and Remedios). The following data will prove the justice of this step: to manufacture in the United States 1000 cigars weighing 12 pounds, sold in Havana, unstemmed, 25 pounds of filler, and 5 pounds of wrapper, we should arrive at the following results:

For export duty on the leaf in Cuba, 30 lbs. of leaf at $12.00 per 100 kilos $ 3.60 Import duty in the United States on 25 lbs. of filler at 35 cents each 8.70 " " " " " " "

5 lbs. wrapper @ $2 each 10.05 ------ Total $22.35

The same 1000 cigars imported from Cuba, weighing 12 lbs., at $4.50 per lb. $54.00 Export duty 25 per cent. ad valorem, valued @ $60 per thousand 15.00 ------ Total $69.00

making a difference of $46.65 against our tobacco.

"3rd. It is also indispensable that the prohibition of importing and reimporting all tobacco, whether prepared or in leaf, be maintained, and

"4th. If, as is to be hoped, the commercial relations between this Island and the North American Republic continue in perfect harmony and well directed, we may soon expect to have complete reciprocity and free exchange of trade."

In this connection it will be interesting to note the relative importance of the tobacco-producing countries of the world. The following table is the latest and most reliable obtainable:

AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO

Countries. Product in Pounds.

United States of America 488,000,000 Mexico 5,600,000 Cuba 62,000,000 Puerto Rico 8,800,000 Santo Domingo 8,000,000 Brazil 33,000,000 Argentine 6,000,000 Austria Hungary 135,000,000 Russia 110,000,000 Turkey 80,000,000 Germany 72,000,000 France 50,000,000 Greece 18,000,000 Belgium 10,000,000 Roumania 8,000,000 Bulgaria 7,500,000 Bosnia 7,000,000 Netherlands 6,300,000 Italy 4,000,000 Switzerland 3,000,000 Servia 3,000,000 Sweden 2,200,000 Philippine Islands 45,000,000 British East Indies 370,000,000 Dutch " " 66,000,000 j.a.pan 50,000,000 Ceylon 8,000,000 Cochin China 6,000,000 Algiers 10,000,000 Australia 10,000,000 China } 160,000,000 Paraguay } Sundries 55,000,000 ------------- 1,907,400,000

Thus the primary cost of the world's tobacco ranges from $200,000,000 to $225,000,000 per annum. It is not in quant.i.ty but in quality that Cuba leads the world.

CHAPTER XXII

MINES AND MINING

The first questions asked the natives of Cuba by Columbus and his company concerned gold and silver, and they heard many tales of the riches of the unknown interior, but all their searching produced nothing of value, nor have the succeeding centuries added greatly to what was first discovered. Some little gold and silver was found, but it amounted to really nothing, and the mineral riches of the Island remained hidden until 1524, when copper was discovered near Santiago de Cuba; and here grew up the little mining town of Cobre (copper). Since that date deposits of asphaltum, iron, manganese, and salt have been found and have been worked, but not as they would have been in a well governed and progressive country.

The mining districts of Cuba are confined almost exclusively to the mountainous or eastern end of the Island, and so far the province of Santiago is the chief producer. Its leading product is iron ore, mined princ.i.p.ally by American companies with American corporations. The first real iron-mining in Cuba began about 1884, when 21,798 tons were s.h.i.+pped to the United States. This was the first Cuban iron ore received in this country, and was about one-twenty-third of the total iron ore importation. In 1897 we received 397,173 tons of Cuban ore, which was three-fourths of the ore imported. During the years 1884-1897 we received 3,401,077 tons of Cuban ore.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD COPPER MINES AT LA COPERA.]

The ore is a brown hemat.i.te, in large quant.i.ties, easy to work, of excellent quality, about sixty-two per cent. iron, and is especially adapted for the making of Bessemer steel. Though there are many mining properties, three American companies, the Juragua Iron Company, the Spanish-American Iron Company, and the Sigua Iron Company, do all the business. The Juragua does far more than all the others. Its s.h.i.+pments to the United States in 1897 were 244,817 (5932 tons, in addition, to Nova Scotia) to 152,356 tons by the Spanish-American Company, which made its first s.h.i.+pment in 1895, and none by the Sigua Company, which has s.h.i.+pped, in all, 21,853 tons. The Sigua began operations in 1892, the Spanish-American in 1885, and the Juragua in 1884. In 1897, the Spanish-American Company s.h.i.+pped 51,537 tons to foreign countries; bringing its total output for the year up to 203,893 tons.

Although iron ore of the best quality outcrops in many places on the estates once devoted to coffee on the southern slope of the coast range, it was not until the year 1881 that the first claim was located, or "denounced." Since then more than a hundred locations have been denounced in this range (the Sierra Maestro), both to the east and the west of the city of Santiago de Cuba. Of these denouncements the most important, and in fact the only ones that have ever been worked, are to the east of the city, covering a distance of twenty odd miles along the range, a few miles in from the coast. The deposit is not continuous, but there are numerous separate deposits along this distance; some of them very extensive.

In order to encourage the mining of this ore, the Crown of Spain issued, on the 17th of April, 1883, a royal decree to the following effect: That for a period of twenty years from that date, the mining companies should be free from all tax on the surface area of all claims of iron or combustibles; that ores of all cla.s.ses should be free from all export taxes; that coal brought in by mining companies for use in their work should be free from all import taxes; that combustibles and iron ore should be exempted from the three per cent. tax on raw materials; that mining and metallurgical companies should be free from all other impost; that for a period of five years the mining companies should be exempt from the payment of duties on all machinery or materials required for working and transporting the ore; that vessels entering in ballast and sailing with ore should pay a duty of five cents per ton navigation dues, and that vessels entering with cargo destined for the mining companies should pay $1.30 per ton navigation and port dues on all such cargo, and on the remainder of the cargo as per general tariff.

Under this charter the Juragua Iron Company, Limited, opened mines in Firmeza, laid a railroad twenty miles long from that point to La Cruz in Santiago Bay, where fine docks and piers were built, and, in 1884, s.h.i.+pped the first cargo of iron ore from Cuba. The company has a fine fleet of iron steamers. The mines of this company were extensively and successfully worked, and, encouraged by this, the Spanish-American Company and the Sigua Company purchased mines to the east of the Juragua properties and at once began the work of developing them.

The Spanish-American Iron Company, incorporated under the laws of West Virginia, and owned entirely by American citizens, built four miles of standard-gauge railroad from its mines to Daiquiri Bay, about sixteen miles east of the harbour of Santiago de Cuba. Here the company constructed a steel ore-dock of 3000 tons capacity, a landing-pier, buoys, moorings, and other harbour improvements at a cost of $500,000.

The work of preparing this harbour delayed the opening of the mines for s.h.i.+pment, and it was not until May, 1895, that the first cargo was cleared.

The Sigua Iron Company built a standard-gauge road nine miles long from its mines to Sigua Bay, and there constructed a breakwater and a wooden ore-dock. This company during the first two years of operation s.h.i.+pped 21,853 tons. Later, the mines were closed, and during the war between Spain and the Cubans the dock, roundhouse, locomotives, and buildings of the company at Sigua Bay were entirely destroyed in the course of an engagement between the Spanish and the Cuban forces.

The Spanish-American Iron Company and the Juragua Iron Company remained in operation during the entire war between Spain and Cuba, and, although located at the extreme outpost of the Spanish troops, with Cuban forces in the immediate vicinity, maintained throughout a strict neutrality, and continued s.h.i.+pping ore until they were closed by order of the Spanish authorities, after the declaration of war between the United States and Spain.

The three companies, which are the only ones that have ever operated mines in the province, represent an investment of American capital of about $8,000,000, and the two still operating have paid into the Treasury of the United States more than $2,000,000 in import duties on iron ore. The following table shows the production of iron ore in the province from 1884 to 1897:

------+------------------------------------------------------ | PRODUCTION.

YEARS.+----------+----------------+-------------+------------ | Juragua |Spanish-American|Sigua Iron | Total Tons.

| Company. | Iron Company. | Company. | ------+----------+----------------+-------------+------------ 1884 | 23,977| .... | .... | 23,977 1885 | 80,095| .... | .... | 80,095 1886 | 110,880| .... | .... | 110,880 1887 | 94,810| .... | .... | 94,810 1888 | 204,475| .... | .... | 204,475 1889 | 255,406| .... | .... | 255,406 1890 | 356,060| .... | .... | 356,060 1891 | 261,620| .... | .... | 261,620 1892 | 320,859| .... | .... | 320,859 1893 | 334,341| .... | 12,000[1]| 346,341 1894 | 153,650| .... | .... | 153,650 1895 | 302,050| 74,992 | .... | 377,041 1896 | 291,561| 114,110 | .... | 405,671 1897 | 246,530| 206,029 | .... | 452,559 ------+----------+----------------+-------------+------------ Total | 3,036,314| 395,131 | [17] |3,443,444 ------+----------+----------------+-------------+------------

It is interesting to note that none of the mines are worked underground.

The ore outcrops on the sidehills, and the mining is in the nature of quarrying. Daiquiri, the port of the Spanish-American Company, is the point at which General Shafter's army landed; and the dock, pier, mooring, buoys, and water supply of the place were of great value to the army and to the vessels of the navy. The Spanish forces, who abandoned Daiquiri when the United States troops landed, set fire to the shops, roundhouse, docks, pier, warehouse, and cars of the company. Through the efforts of the company's men, who were waiting in the hills and who returned as soon as the bombardment ceased, the fire was partly extinguished; but the locomotives, shops, some cars, and a number of buildings were a total loss. The hospital buildings and a number of dwellings at Daiquiri were afterwards burned by order of the United States officers commanding. At Siboney, the Juragua Company's village, a number of buildings were also burned by order of the United States officers in command.

Rich deposits of iron ore of several varieties are found in the provinces of Santa Clara and Puerto Principe, and some work has been done in developing, but the war put an end to it.

The following list of the mining properties, all in the province of Santiago, with the number of acres, condition, etc., may be useful as reference:

Dorothea and Recrio 4 mines, 300 acres For sale Carpintero 9 " 1300 " "

Bayamitas 5 " 925 "

Guama 6 " 950 "

Cuero 6 " 760 " For sale De la Plata 9 " 975 " Sigua Company Uvera and Jaqueca 12 " 1557 " 10 for sale Berracoe 4 " 502 " $150,000 refused Cajobaba 8 " ---- For sale Economia 19 " 2650 " "

Providencia 3 " ---- "

Madalena 8 " 1000 " 4 "

Demajobo 1 " 150 " "

Juragua Group 17 " 2500 " 11 "

Sevilla 11 " 1300 " "

[Ill.u.s.tration: MINING CAMP AT FIRENEZA.]

All these mining properties are from two hundred to fifteen hundred feet above the sea, and though the climate is hot, the region is not affected by fevers or malaria, and it may be said to be the most healthful section of the Island. This location is excellent for mining and s.h.i.+pping also, being from five to sixty miles from Santiago; and nearly all of the properties have excellent outlets to the sea or are conveniently located to rail facilities. Nature as usual in Cuba has done her share, except in the production of man, and the most serious drawback to mining is the want of proper labour. The whites, except of the Latin races, are not equal to the work, and the blacks are inefficient as compared with the same cla.s.s of labour in higher lat.i.tudes. The labour problem here, as in all other Cuban industrial fields, is the most serious which confronts capital, and its solution is to be reached only after careful study and continued experiment. All kinds of suggestions have been offered and many of them acted upon; but so far the problem is unsolved, and now capital looks most to the Latin races of Europe and the black race of the United States for a.s.sistance out of its difficulties. What inducements new Cuba offers to these people remains to be seen, but it is apparent that capital must do more in Cuba for labour, if it will secure what is best, than is done for it in those parts of the world where climate, disease, and social environments do not lay additional burdens upon the "hewers of wood and the drawers of water."

Manganese, which is an essential raw material in the manufacture of Bessemer and open-hearth steel, is found in greater or less quant.i.ties in the province of Santiago de Cuba. The deposits lie in the San Maestro range on the south coast, extending over a distance of one hundred miles between Santiago and Manzanillo. As the demand in the United States for manganese was far in excess of the native supply, and the nearest known mines were in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea in Europe and in the northern part of South America, attention was at once drawn to the Cuban deposits and one American company was formed, known as the Panupo Iron Company, sixteen miles north of Santiago, with a railroad extending to that point. Other companies also began work, and the s.h.i.+pments from 1890 to 1893 inclusive amounted to 62,601 tons. In 1894 there was none, and in 1895-96 the total s.h.i.+pments were 750 tons. This decrease in business was due, in some measure, to low prices and to other causes than the insurrection and war, but that was the prime factor in the cause of the decrease, because already, with the promise of peace, mining has been resumed, with every prospect of continued increase and prosperity. Though only comparatively small efforts have as yet been made to develop the capacity of these mines, numerous properties have been staked off, and it is estimated that there are eighty-eight manganese mines in sight along the San Maestro range. The appended list names some of them:

Hatillo 400 acres Cobre 2 mines, 425 " $50,000 refused Macio 4 " 4345 " Unopened Ramas 3 " 330 " For sale San Andres 5 " 440 "

Santa Filomena 2 " 300 "

Bueycito Manzanillo section Undeveloped Portillo 8 mines, 700 acres Discontinued Boniato 1 " 472 "

Dos Bocas 11 " 905 "

Margarita 4 " 1077 "

Quemado 5 " 322 "

Boston 10 " 665 "

San Juan