opened the way for wild speculation and led to an unprecedented rise in price. In the early part of the year the price was about 1 1 cents a pound, but rose rapidly until a peak of 22\ cents was reached in May, when the market broke. Thereafter, the price declined almost as rapidly as it had risen, reaching at the end of Nov. about 3i cents, near which it continued for several months. To prevent a further decline and, if possible, force an upward reaction, a price- fixing commission was in Feb. 1921 appointed by the president of Cuba and given power to control the sale and exportation of the entire 1920-1 crop.
Other Industries. Q{ the island's agricultural products, tobacco ranks next to sugar in importance, the total value of the crop rang- ing from 40 to 50 million dollars per annum. A high import duty recently placed upon coffee had the effect of stimulating that in- dustry, but the production in 1919 was still far below the require- ments of the population. The culture of henequin or " sisal " promised to become important, as did also the production of jute. Cotton was being cultivated experimentally. The cultivation of fruit and vegetables for winter consumption in the United States was quite an extensive industry, the soil and climate lending them- selves easily to the production of citrus fruits, bananas, pineapples, coconuts and various garden vegetables. Cuba produced an ap- preciable portion of the world's supply of sponges. The average out- put of Batabano, where 25 % of the male population were engaged in this industry, is said to approximate half a million dollars a year. There was a considerable and growing interest in the cattle in- dustry, and hides and skins were exported in increasing quantities. In 191 1 a commission was sent to the United States to purchase thoroughbred stock for breeding purposes at the six Government experiment stations. There were, in 1919, about 4,000,000 head of cattle, 780,000 horses, and 64,570 mules. The manufacture of tur- pentine was a new industry, begun after an investigation of pine trees in the Isle of Pines. Of mineral products, iron continued to be the most important, though mines of manganese, copper and asphalt were important. The iron deposits in the province of Oriente near Santiago de Cuba, in spite of active mining since 1908, can be said to be hardly touched. The iron mines in this district employed over 4,000 workmen and supplied an average of 50,000 tons of ore per month to the United States. Exploitation for petro- leum has been going on for several years, but no proof has been found of cil deixjsits of commercial importance.
Commerce. Cuba is an intensely commercial country, exporting most of what she produces and importing nearly everything that she consumes. Metals and manufactures thereof constitute about 7% of her total imports; drugs and chemicals 7%; textiles and manu- factures 13 %; paper 2 %; wood and manufactures 3 %; animals and their products 5 %; machinery and instruments 12 to 13 % and foods 35 to 40%; the balance being made up of miscellaneous articles. Of exports, sugar constitutes about 85 %, tobacco 8 to 10 %, fruits about 2 , minerals and ores 3%. During the fiscal year 1913-4, the last normal year before the war, the total commerce of the island was valued at $304,805,000, with imports valued at $134,008,000 and exports $170,797,000, imports from the United States representing 53-2% and exports to the United States 80% of the total. Sugar represented 70% and tobacco 20% of the exports, whereas from 1904-7 they had represented 60-3 and 27-3 % respectively. Cuba enjoys a preferential duty of 20 % on exports to the United States and grants reciprocal concessions of 20 to 40% on all merchandise imported from the United States. This accounts for the dominant position of the United States. During the fiscal years 1912-3 to 1915-6, the United States received on an average 80-6 % of the total exports from Cuba. For the years 1916-7 and 1917-8 the average was 71-86%, this reduction in percentage being due to shipments of sugar to the Allies in Europe where production of beet sugar had been lowered by the war. Cuba's international trade for the fiscal year 1918-9 was $794,000,000, exports totalling $477,000,000 and imports $316,000,000.
The United States supplied 74-5 % of the imports and received 73-2%of theexports. The import item of greatest value was foodstuffs worth $115,000,000. Exports of sugar and its products amounted to $409,629,000, representing 85-6 % of the total, while exports of tobacco and its products amounted to $40,837,000, or 8i% of the total exports. Cuba's total foreign trade during the fiscal year 1919-20 amounted to $480 per capita, about four times as much as that of the United States during 1920 and probably more than that i if any other country for any year. During 1920 the trade of the United States with Cuba was greater than the combined trade with the three next most important Latin-American customers Ar- gentina, Brazil, and Mexico; and United States trade with Cuba for the same year was only slightly (a little under 10%) less than with all South America. The total value of imports from the United States in 1918-9 was $235,727,000, compared with $228,102,000 in 1917-8. Imports from Great Britain in 1918-9 amounted to $9,- 34^9,000; from Spain $13,332,000; from France $8,265,000 compared with $12,508,000, $n, 695,000 and $6,875,000 respectively in 1917-8. Exports from Cuba to the United States in 1918-9 were $350,316,- ooo; to Great Britain $96,814,000; to Spain $6,057,000; to France $11,324,000. Exports to these countries in 1917-8 were $278,704,- ooo, $76,722,000, $4,199,000 and $8,965,000 respectively. During the calendar year 1919, imports from the United States amounted
to $278,371,222, and exports to United States $418,610,263. For the calendar year 1920, imports from the United States amounted to $515,082,549 and exports to the United States $721,695,905. Thus, the total trade between the United States and Cuba was almost twice as great in 1920 as for the fiscal year 1918-9.
Port Congestion. When, early in 1920, fabulous prices for sugar prevailed, and all kinds of merchandise sold readily at high prices, goods were ordered abroad more rapidly than they could be cleared through the customs house. This condition grew steadily worse until near the end of the year when, after the appointment of a special supervisor charged with the duty of clearing the ports, recommendations made by a joint Cuban-American Port Congestion Commission which had sat at Havana in Aug. were put into opera- tion. Thereafter, improvement though slow was steady. The situation was aggravated by the desire of many importers to cancel their orders for high-priced merchandise when the general decline in prices held out a prospect of obtaining cheaper goods. In the case of rice, the concerted efforts at cancellation became so general that the Government placed a temporary embargo on further im- portations of rice except on special licence. The port congestion and the cancellation movement were both intensified by the declar- ation of a moratorium in October.
Communications. Cuba had in 1920 four principal railway sys- tems which together extended their lines from one end of the island to the other, namely, the United Railways of Havana, the Cuba Railroad, the Cuban Central Railways, and the Western Railway of Havana. These systems, together with the private lines connecting the larger sugar estates with them, constituted 3,200 m. of railway in 1919 as against 2,329-8 m. in 1908. Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the construction of good roads, and large sums of money have been voted. In 1919 there were said to be over 1,400 m. of splendid roads for automobiles. A car ferry service between Key West and Havana inaugurated in 1915 greatly facilitated the movement of freight between Cuba and the United States. Direct steamship connexion existed with many of the ports of the United States as well as with Europe and Mexico. Frequent service was maintained to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Galves- ton, New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa and Key West, and in 1920 regular passenger and freight service was inaugurated by the Miami Steamship Co. between Jacksonville, Fla., and Havana, with sail- ings every five days. Air mail service was started late in 1920 be- tween Key West and Havana with two seaplanes, each having a capacity of 1,000 Ib. of mail, 12 passengers and 400 Ib. of luggage.
Education. Educational affairs were given increasing attention after 1908. Considerable sums of money were appropriated and many new schools established, among them normal schools in the several provinces, numerous day schools, several night schools, and agricultural experiment schools in Havana. A national military academy was established in 1912. A bill was passed in 1916 granting to rural public-school teachers an increase in salaries aggregating more than $1,000,000 per year. This raised individual salaries of $45 and $50 per month to $75 and $80. On Nov. 30 1919 there were 5,877 teachers and 334,671 pupils in the elementary schools. In " Institutes of Secondary Instruction" there were 2,087 students in 1915-6. The university of Havana was said to have, in 1919, nearly 1,600 students.
Finance. Until recent years Cuba had no money of its own issue, mainly Spanish gold and various other foreign coins having been the medium of exchange; but in 1915, by virtue of an Act passed during the preceding year, a new coinage was put into operation. The monetary unit is the gold peso of the same weight and fineness as the American dollar. Gold coins, of which the issue is unlimited, are I, 2, 4, 5, 10 and 20 peso pieces, the last three of the same shape, weight and value as corresponding U.S. coins, and the others proportionate; silver coins, of which the issue is limited to 12,000,000 pesos, are 10, 20 and 40 centavo pieces and the peso; nickel coins, limited by executive discretion only, are I, 2 and 5 centavo pieces. United States coins and paper currency ate also legal tender, but not those of other foreign countries unless such payments are specifically contracted for. The revenues of the Government, which in 1912-3 amounted to about 37-9 million dollars, rose to 64-5 millions in 1918-9, and 79 millions in 1919-20. More than half of the revenue is derived from customs duties. Cuba had in 1920 a foreign debt of about $51,000,000, floated through banking houses in the United States, also a domestic debt of about $39,000,000.
The Moratorium. The enormous profits derived from the sale of high-priced sugar during the first half of 1920, instead of being conserved in the form of liquid assets were invested in enlarging the facilities for producing and grinding sugar, in building fine homes and in purchasing luxuries. When, about midsummer, the price of sugar began to decline, an effort was made to check the tendency by refraining from selling the remaining portions of the preceding crop. To continue operations and prepare for harvesting the new crop, large amounts of money were borrowed from the banks, the unsold sugar being pledged as security on what was at the time regarded as a safe basis of 15 or 16 cents per pound. The experiment was unsuccessful. The rapid decline soon carried prices far below the point at which the banks had accepted the sugar as security. Thereupon, it ceased to be an asset and became a liability. Early in Oct. there occurred a run on one of the largest banking institu-
