received from the United States, over $14,000,000 have been supplied from Spain, and something less than $9,000,000 from Great Britain, France and Germany." In 1888 the imports received in the United States from Cuba and Porto Rico amounted to $53,731,570, while the exports sent out in return were valued at $12,023,178. In 1889 the imports were $55,837,996 and the exports $13,916,242. In 1890 the imports rose to $57,855,217 and the exports to $15,381,952. Hence the necessity of enforcing the “policy of reciprocity— of requiring Spain to take off the exactions on American provisions entering Cuba, to reduce the duties on machinery and hardware, and to place certain lines of American dry goods on a level with home manufactures." There are sugar industries in Mexico, Central America, Peru and Venezuela. Brazil needs to import her food supplies and manufactured goods. Cuba is rich in iron mines. A Pennsylvania company is working an iron mine in Cuba. In order to carry the ore from Cuba to the United States a fleet of twenty steamers is employed; they carry cargoes of coal from the United States to Cuba. Before they commenced carrying coal to the West Indies they went out empty or in ballast. The export of American coal has been increased in this way, as the steamers have cargoes both ways. They are displacing English coal in many of the West Indian islands. With reciprocity with Latin America, as well as Cuba and Porto Rico, American steamers can carry freight and passengers at lower rates. Of the steamers carrying ore from Cuba to the United States, seventeen of them carry the English flag; but American steamers will soon find a profitable employment in the Cuban trade, under reciprocity, when they will have outward cargoes of flour, machinery, hardware and certain lines of dry goods. This will stimulate the investment of American capital in ship building. It will reduce the rates of fare and freights to the West Indies. The time is brief when the American people will make excursions to Cuba for pleasure and health.

Before Mr. Blaine's reciprocity, Spain taxed American flour about $5.25 a barrel, in the interest of Spanish merchants. Flour shipped from New York to Spanish ports and repacked enters practically without payment or duty, and much of it comes in that way. "The custom laws discriminate sharply against American breadstuffs in the interest of Spanish traders, who are to-day opposing reciprocity from selfish motives and powerfully influencing the home government. The same practice is followed in the lines of merchandise. In cotton textiles Spanish merchants have a marked advantage over American competitors. For example, calico, nankeen, silesia, wrappings of cotton without carding, and analogous textures with straight threads, plain, raw or dyed, are subject to a duty of $5.65 per hundred kilograms if of Spanish manufacture, but a duty of $11.25 if of American manufacture. The same textures having from 11 to 16 threads are taxed $7.90 if Spanish, and $21 if American, manufacture.

"The comparison might be extended to every class of dry goods, hardware and general merchandise. American merchants are crowded out of the Cuban market. The tariff discriminates heavily against them without conferring any benefit upon the people of the island, who are taxed heavily for their food supplies and nearly every article of foreign importation. This was the state of things before Mr. Blaine's treaty of reciprocity.

"Mr. Blaine's reciprocity between the United States and the Spanish West Indies has been a blessing to both countries. It has brought them into closer commercial union. When the McKinley bill was introduced in Washington, Spain increased her import duties twenty per cent. But the reciprocity section of the bill authorizing the president to raise the duty on imports brought Spain to see the folly of discriminating against the commerce of the United States. Under the much-abused McKinley tariff bill, the United States, for the first time in our history, has given the president the power to protect the commercial interests of the American people in their trade with the sugar-producers and

coffee growers of Spanish America. It is more convenient to give that power to the president of the United States, to deal a direct blow against foreign commercial outrages against American commerce, than to wait the slow action of congress. The commerce of Havana is almost wholly with the United States. Two steamers of the Plant line supply a tri-weekly mail service via Tampa, and there are two Ward steamers each way every week between New York and Havana, the vessels of the direct and Mexican lines alternating. There is also a New Orleans line. There is an excellent mail and passenger service, offering superior facilities for the transportation of freight to Gulf ports and New York. There are more American sailing vessels to be seen in the harbor of Havana than in any foreign port. The bulk of the sugar is carried to New York by the Ward steamers, and by sail under the American flag. The sharpest competitors are the Spanish companies, one of which is heavily subsidized in Madrid, with branch lines to New York, La Guayra, Colon and Vera Cruz. Another Spanish line runs to Liverpool, being virtually owned there. There are now here steamers under the English flag. A French line dispatches two steamers, and a German line one, every month. The communications with Europe are mainly under the Spanish flag. No return freights can be carried in that direction, since the sugar goes in bulk to the United States, and hence few steamers come except those that are subsidized by Spain, and tramps knocking about the West Indies for cargoes to New York. At Matanzas the Spanish steamers and Norwegian and English sailing vessels are actively competing for freight, so that not more than half of the 160,000 tons of sugar and the 60,000 tons of molasses annually exported is carried North under the American flag. At Cardenas and Sagua similar conditions prevail. The Ward steamers stop at these three ports, but not with such frequency as to control the shipping business, as they do at Havana. The bulk of the export trade of these and the remaining ports of Cuba is with the United States."

Spanish officials in Cuba have harassed American shippers by a system of fines for clerical errors and shortage of cargo in which there is no intention to defraud the government of the island. A Ward steamer in loading cargo at the New York wharf left ashore two plows. The error was discovered and a dispatch sent to the custom house at Matanzas announcing that the plows called for on the manifest would be sent by the next steamer. The telegram was received before the steamer arrived, but a fine of four hundred dollars was imposed, although the plows were shipped the next week. Another steamer was fined eight hundred dollars for a shortage of four tierces of lard under similar circumstances. The Ward steamers to Cuba have been fined for trivial clerical errors. At the first port which they enter they employ and pay a custom house official to examine the manifest and find out if it be correct in form; but fines are levied for incorrect translations and clerical errors. "Each custom house has its own system of interpretation and special phraseology, and a manifest that will pass inspection at one will not at another. Spanish vessels entering Cuban ports are not subjected to these harassing annoyances. American vessels alone are fined for technical errors.

In the United States penalties are never imposed when there has evidently been no breach of faith on the part of the shipper.

This system of fining is virtually a discrimination against American vessels in Spanish ports.

In consequence of Spain levying a higher tariff in Cuba, upon cargoes under the American flag in 1884, merchandise in Spanish bottoms was subjected in American ports to an ad valorem duty of ten per cent. The retaliatory duties were more prejudicial to the interests of Spanish than to those of American shipping, for the reason that the volume of the exports from Cuba greatly exceeded that of imports received in return.

Spain had at last to yield to fair trade and fair dealing with the United States, for Spanish vessels had no return cargoes to Europe, as ninety per

cent of the sugar went to the United States, and it was impracticable for them to take freight to New York when there was a discrimination of ten per cent against them there. In order to relieve the Spanish shippers, Spain consented to the removal of discriminating flag duties. American ships were placed on terms of equality with Spanish ships in Havana and other Cuban ports.

The Spanish government raised the duty on American flour from $2.44 per barrel to $4.69. Even then the Spanish government was not wholly satisfied with its bargain, for in 1890 it increased the duties on foreign flour until the tariff discrimination in 1891 amounted to $5.63 per barrel.

The United States takes over ninety per cent of the exports of Cuba. So it is in a position to protect the interests of the American people in Cuba. This refutes the arguments of the free traders. Reciprocity has changed this state of things.

What Paris is to France, Havana is to Cuba. It is the centre of the island's life, activities and recreation. There is more genuine Spanish blood in Havana than in Buenos Ayres, Mexico, Santiago, Montevideo or Lima. Cuba is now a great resort for American tourists. They come from the East, West, North and South, every season. The Ward and Plant steamers are crowded with incoming travelers. The journey to Cuba is the pleasantest that Americans can make during the winter. Those who dread seasickness can reduce the risk to a voyage of twenty-four hours by going in the Tampa steamers. The best route from New York is by the Ward steamers, either by the direct line to Havana or by the Nassau and Southern coast line.

The natural resources of Cuba have been but little developed. The total area is about 43,000 square miles. About one-tenth is under cultivation. At the western end of the island is a population exceeding 1,000,000; the remaining districts, of which Puerto Principe and Santiago are the capitals, are not much settled, having between them less than 500,000 whites, negroes and Chinese. Only within five years has iron mining been begun in earnest. The forests are unexplored. There are vast tracts of unreclaimed lands available for future industry. There are broad savannas now abandoned to tropical thickets, where sugar, tobacco and corn could be cultivated. Where there is now 1,500 sugar plantations there could be 15,000. The number of tobacco plantations could be multiplied. Coffee farming is restricted to the mountain slopes.

The reciprocity policy of the United States will bear favorably upon the industry of Cuba and the other sugar-producing countries of Latin America. While the planters were sure of a free market for their sugar they were indifferent to the operation of the McKinley bill as it was originally introduced. Now, with reciprocity, Cuba will have the benefits of commercial union with the United States.

The Spanish reciprocity treaty was made public July 31, 1891. The following is from President Harrison's proclamation:

The products or manufactures of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico free of duties:

TRANSITORY SCHEDULE.

Meats, in brine, salted or smoked, bacon, hams and meats preserved in cans, in lard or by extraction of air (jerked beef excepted); lard, tallow and other greases, melted or crude, unmanufactured; fish and shellfish, live, fresh, dried, in brine, smoked, pickled; oysters and salmon in cans; oats, barley, rye and buckwheat and flour of these cereals; starch, maizena and other alimentary products of corn, except cornmeal; cottonseed oil; hay, straw for forage, and bran; fruits, fresh, dried and preserved, except raisins; vegetables and garden products, fresh and dried; resin of pine, tar, pitch and turpentine; woods of all kinds, in trunks or logs, joists, rafters, planks, beams, boards, round or

cylindric masts, although cut, planed, tongued and grooved, including flooring; woods for cooperage, including staves, headings and wooden hoops; wooden boxes, mounted or unmounted, except of cedar; woods, ordinary, manufactured into doors, frames, windows and shutters, without paint or varnish, and wooden houses, unmounted, without paint or varnish; wagons and carts for ordinary roads and agriculture; sewing machines; petroleum, raw or unrefined, according to the classification fixed in the existing orders for the importation of this article in said island; coal, mineral, ice.

Products or manufactures of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico on payment of the duties stated:

Reduced Rates-Corn or maize, 25 cents per 100 kilograms; cornmeal, 25 cents per 100 kilograms.

Wheat from Jan. 1, 1892, $1 per 100 kilograms; products or manufac tures of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico at a reduction of twenty-five per centum; butter and cheese, petroleum (refined), boots or shoes in whole or in part of leather skins.

SCHEDULE A.

Products of manufactures of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico free of duties:

Marble, jasper and alabaster, natural or artificial, in rough or in pieces, dressed, squared and prepared for taking shape; other stones and earthy matters, including cement, employed in building, the arts and industries; waters, mineral or medicinal; ice, coal, mineral, resin, tar, pitch, turpentine, asphalt, schist and bitumen; petroleum, raw and crude, in accordance with the classification fixed in the tariff of said islands; clay, ordinary, in paving tiles, large and small bricks and roof tiles unglazed, for the construction of buildings, ovens and other similar purposes; gold and silver coin; iron, cast in pigs, and old iron and steel; iron cast in beams, rafters and similar articles, for the construction of buildings and in ordinary manufactures; iron, wrought and steel, in bars, rails and bars of all kinds, plates, beams, rafters and other similar articles for the construction of buildings; iron, wrought and steel, in wire, nails, screws, nuts and pipes; iron, wrought and steel, in ordinary manufactures and wire cloth manufactured; cotton, raw, with or without secd; cottonseed oil, tallow, books, pamphlets, printed, bound and unbound; woods of all kinds, in trunks or logs, joists, rafters, planks, beams, boards, masts; wooden cooperage, including staves, headings and wooden hoops; wood boxes; woods, ordinary, manufactured into doors, frames, windows and shutters, wooden houses; woods, ordinary, manufactured into all kinds of articles, turned or unturned, painted or varnished, except furniture; implements, utensils and tools for agriculture, the arts and mechanical trades; machines and apparatus, agricultural, motive, industrial and scientific of all classes and materials; wagons, carts and handcarts for ordinary roads and agriculture; material and articles for public works, such as railroads, tramways, roads, canals for irrigation and navigation, use of waters, ports, lighthouses and civil construction of general utility, when introduced by the authorization of the government, or if free admission is obtained in accordance with local laws; materials of all classes for the construction, repair, in whole or in part, of vessels subject to specific regulations to avoid abuses in the importation; meats, in brine, salted and smoked, including bacon, hams, and meats preserved in cans, in lard or by extraction of air (jerked beef excepted); lard and butter, cheese; fish and shellfish, live, fresh, dried, in brine, salted, smoked and pickled; oysters and salmon in cans; oats, barley, rye and buckwheat and flour of these cereals; starch, maizena and other alimentary products of corn, except cornmeal; fruits, fresh, dried and preserved, except raisins; vegetables and garden products, fresh and dried; hay, straw for forage, and bran; trees, plants, shrubs, garden seeds and tan barks.

SCHEDULE B.

Products of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico on the payment of duties stated:

Corn or maize, 25 cents per 100 kilograms; cornmeal, 25 cents per 100 kilograms; wheat, 30 cents per 100 kilograms; wheat flour, $1 per 100 kilograms; carriages, cars and other vehicles for railroads or tramways, where the authorization of the government for free admission has been obtained, one per centum ad valorem.

SCHEDULE C.

Products of manufactures of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico at a reduction of duty of fifty per centum:

Marble, jasper and alabaster of all kinds cut into flags, slabs or steps and the same worked or carved in all kinds of articles, polished or not; glass and crystal ware, plate and window glass, and the same silvered, quicksilvered and platinized; clays in tiles, large and small, and mosaic for pavements, colored tiles, roof tiles, glazed and pipes; stoneware and fine earthenware and porcelain; iron cast in fine manufactures or those polished, with coating of porcelain or part of other materials, iron, wrought and steel, in axles, tires, springs and wheels for carriages, rivets and their washers; iron, wrought and steel, in fine manufactures or those polished with coating of porcelain or part of other metals not expressly comprised in other numbers of these schedules, and platforms, scales for weighing, needles, pins, knives, table and carving razors, penknives, scissors, pieces for watches and other similar articles of iron and steel; tin plate in sheets or manufactured; copper, bronze, brass and nickel, and alloys of the same with common metals in lumps or bars and all manufactures of the same; all other common metals and alloys of the same, in lumps or bars, and all manufactures of the same, plain, varnished, gilt, silvered or nickeled; furniture of all kinds of wood or metal, including school furniture, blackboards and other materials for schools, and all kinds of articles of pine wood not expressly comprised in other numbers of these schedules; broom corn, willow, straw, palm and other similar materials manufactured into articles of all kinds; pastes for soups, rice, flour, bread and crackers and alimentary farinas not comprised in other numbers of these schedules; preserved alimentary substances and canned goods, not comprised in other numbers of these schedules, including sausages, stuffed meats, mustards, sauces, pickles, jams and jellies; rubber and gutta-percha and manufactures thereof, alone or mixed with other substances (except silk and oilcloths and tarpaulin); rice.

SCHEDULE D.

Products or manufactures of the United States to be admitted into Cuba and Porto Rico at a reduction of twenty-five per centum:

Petroleum, refined, and benzine; cotton, manufactured, spun or twisted, and in goods of all kinds woven or knit, and the same mixed with other vegetable or animal fibers in which cotton is an equal or greater component part, and clothing exclusively of cotton; rope, cordage and twine of all kinds, colors, crude and prepared with or without oils; ink of all kinds, shoe-blacking and varnishes; soap, toilet and perfumery; medicines, proprietary or patent, and all others and drugs; stearine and tallow manufactured in candles; paper for printing, for decorating rooms, of wood or straw, for wrapping and packing, and bags and boxes of the same, sandpaper and pasteboard; leather and skins, tanned, dressed and varnished or japanned, of all kinds, including sole leather or belting; boots and shoes, in whole or in part of leather or