Industrial Cuba : being a study of present commercial and industrial conditions with suggestions as to the opportunities presented in the island for American capital, enterprise and labour . r twelve, Dutch standard; or centrifugal sugar, 96 degreespolarisation; and when sold under this price the planter couldnot cover expenses. 11 Since 1884 the price of sugar has decreased so considerablythat it has reached a ruinous figure. During the last ten years,as can be seen by official quotations, 96 degree centrifugalsugars have been quoted from four to five rials, and althoughfrom 1889 to 1893 the
Industrial Cuba : being a study of present commercial and industrial conditions with suggestions as to the opportunities presented in the island for American capital, enterprise and labour . r twelve, Dutch standard; or centrifugal sugar, 96 degreespolarisation; and when sold under this price the planter couldnot cover expenses. 11 Since 1884 the price of sugar has decreased so considerablythat it has reached a ruinous figure. During the last ten years,as can be seen by official quotations, 96 degree centrifugalsugars have been quoted from four to five rials, and althoughfrom 1889 to 1893 the prices have several times exceeded eightrials, it has only been for a very short while. At the end of 1893 and during 1894, the average price hasbeen five and one-half rials, which is simply ruinous for theplanters. In Europe there are facilities for obtaining money; andbesides, it happens that the beetroot only takes five monthsfrom its planting to the making of sugar, while sugar cane, be-sides having to struggle against many obstacles, requires fifteenmonths The consequence is that the periods of high prices are alwaysof short duration, since as soon as the prices commence to rise. Sugar—History and Future Outlook 299 the sowings of beet increase, thereby causing an obstacle to thecontinuance of the rise. 11 The lack of capital makes the problem insoluble to the Cubanplanter, and whatever means he can use to overcome his diffi-culties, the final result will always be the same, as he cannot re-duce the expenses of his plantation beyond a certain limit. 11 There is no doubt that to-day (1894) the sugar estates do notcover expenses, and this fact is of immense importance, not onlybecause it explains the present misfortunes, but because in it willbe found latent the germs of many future misfortunes. 11 The causes of the dangerous situation have been well studied;some will be found in history and in the economic managementof the Island and others in the effect of beetroot indus
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