The labor problem has been a constant difficulty with the mining companies. They find the native whites quite unequal to the arduous work of the mines, and the blacks are not satisfactory on account of their irregularity and difficulty of control. Despite the cost, the greater part of the labor employed is imported from the provinces of Spain. These men are strong, steady workers, and orderly. The companies take great pains to secure their comfort and health, with the result that there are practically no desertions and little difficulty in recruiting the force.
In this connection it will be of interest to describe the measures by which the Spanish-American Mining Company has almost banished malaria from its settlement at Daiquiri, especially as their experience should be significant and suggestive to every corporation largely employing labor in Cuba.
An outbreak of yellow fever in 1908 led to the thorough sanitation of Daiquiri by the United States Army Medical Corps. The Company fully appreciated the condition in which the camps were left, and decided to maintain it. A sanitary department was organized and has been since kept up at a monthly expense of a thousand or more dollars. A corps of experienced men make frequent inspections of the dwellings, see that they are kept clean and that all water barrels are covered with netting. A determined and systematic campaign has been waged against the anopheles, or malaria mosquito. As a result, malaria, which Cubans look upon as a necessary evil, has been reduced to a negligible quantity, and the general efficiency of the force has been greatly increased.
The total number of malaria cases in the year 1909 were 234. For the last five months of the year the number was only 48, and on December 31, there was not a single case in the hospital. The improvement has been maintained. The following table shows how the present condition compares with that of former years:
| Year | Average number on pay roll | Total cases of malaria | Percentage of labor force sick with malaria at some time of the year |
| 1901 | 920 | 1,131 | 123 |
| 1902 | 1,312 | 1,362 | 104 |
| 1903 | 1,348 | 1,116 | 83 |
| 1904 | 858 | 394 | 46 |
| 1905 | 941 | 436 | 46 |
| 1906 | 1,309 | 746 | 57 |
| 1907 | 1,315 | 689 | 52 |
| 1908 | 1,292 | 632 | 49 |
| 1909 | 1,391 | 234 | 17 |
In 1909, with 1,391 men on the pay roll, the average number of patients in the hospital daily was fourteen. In other words, there was only one per cent. of the force on the sick list.
The men themselves, who at first looked upon the sanitary campaign as a combination of joke and nuisance, now fully appreciate the effects of it, and lend their hearty aid to the sanitary corps in their efforts.
The work of the sanitary force consists of the daily collection and burning of all household rubbish, the care and cleaning of the barracks, a house to house inspection of sanitary conditions, care of water tanks and water barrels in the mine cuts, petrolization of standing water, general cleaning of the villages and camps, and constant war on the mosquitoes. The villages, camps, and settlements under the Company’s control are free from mosquitoes, and the diseases which they transmit have no chance of propagation. Care is taken to inspect all newcomers and any found to be malarial are sent away.
The cost of the sanitary work for a year is about $12,000, but the full value of it can not be estimated in figures. Its chief benefits are contingent, and appear in general cleanliness, health, cheerfulness, and efficiency. Whilst these results would warrant the expenditure, if there were no financial return for it whatever, the fact is that the outlay is fully justified if measured solely on the basis of dollars and cents. Under present conditions there are at least ten men fewer in hospital each day than there were formerly. Instead of being a charge on the work, these ten men produce during the year 8,000 to 9,000 tons of ore, which far more than repay the expense of sanitation.
Manganese, a material essential to the manufacture of Bessemer steel, is found in large quantities in the mountain range running between Santiago de Cuba and Manzanillo. Attention was first called to the deposits shortly before the Spanish-American War, and several companies were formed to exploit them. One of these, the Ponupo Mining and Transportation Company, is responsible for by far the greater part of the operations in this mineral. It has its headquarters in Santiago de Cuba, but is controlled by American capital. The equipment of this company includes a sixteen-mile railroad, enabling it to ship its product to Santiago. The output of the Ponupo Company’s mines averages forty-seven per cent. metallic manganese.