“The Western Railway of Havana, now in English hands, and recently extended from Havana to Pinar del Rio, in the heart of the finest tobacco region of the Island, has called largely upon the United States for its new work. Many hundred feet of iron bridging were furnished and erected by the Union Bridge Company of New York, the railway company being satisfied with the price, and their engineer, as well as the government inspectors, satisfied with the work. The cement used was also wholly or largely American, the American being adopted rather than the English, somewhat reluctantly, by their engineer, on account of the greatly reduced cost. The stone used for bridge-seats was American granite, and highly praised to me by the engineer, who, being a Scotchman, was naturally a good judge of the material. The fact merits attention, in estimating the value of the Cuban market, that the people are heavy buyers. There is very little saving practised. I do not think there is a single savings bank on the Island.... As a rule, all the money received is freely spent, particularly by the poorer and middle classes, who, of course, form the bulk of the population. Probably the pernicious system of government lotteries has something to do with the absence of saving, as the practice of purchasing tickets is as widespread among the poor as it is destructive and demoralising. Probably, too, the character of the climate and the consequent ease of living prevent people from devoting much forethought to a future that they do not dread, for there is really very little of that pinching want ever felt in Cuba which recent hard times have brought to notice in our own country. Be the cause what it may, the fact remains that all the Cubans are prodigal in their expenditures, which goes far to account for the immense quantities of goods consumed and paid for by a comparatively small population.
“Enough has been said, I think, to show that Cuba offers a most inviting field for American enterprise. Her prosperity and even her very existence may be said to depend upon her commercial relations with the United States; the two are bound together by the strong ties of mutual interest, and everything points to the fact that, commercially, Cuba should be ours....
“I believe that if the trade, not only of Cuba, but also of the South American countries, were first poured into the United States as a receiving reservoir, it would be naturally distributed, directly or indirectly, over the world to better advantage than if distant and various nations were carrying on desultory and independent business relations with them. The purchasing power that would be gathered into and concentrated in the United States by such trade would be largely expended in procuring those requirements of an ever-advancing refinement and civilisation which Europe can, at present at least, furnish better than we can ourselves. We appreciate and want these things—none more so—and the wealth which a practical monopoly of the South American trade would give us would make us Europe’s best customer for those things of which she is the best producer. But this is a digression.
“The Cuban market, like all others, is governed largely by fashion. Hitherto all supplies, except perhaps locomotives and steam-boilers, which have for a long time been chiefly furnished by the United States, have come, for the greater part, from Europe. I think that both in Spain and in South America, French goods, as well as French manners and customs have the preference. Just as there is a certain tendency in the United States to admire and imitate that which is derived from English sources, so everything French is apt to ‘go’ in these countries. It naturally takes time to overcome such preoccupations, particularly as in many cases they are well founded. I have taken occasion elsewhere to call attention to the fact that American houses shipping goods to Cuba put themselves under quite unnecessary disadvantage by careless packing. In the case of many fancy articles the mere appearance of the package goes a great way, and in the case of all goods careless packing entails great loss from breakage. This loss is a twofold one for the American dealer. Not only does he have to make good the damage at his own cost, but he creates a prejudice against his goods and his ways of doing business. This brings up another important point. It is a great mistake to suppose that ‘anything is good enough for Cuba.’ On the contrary, the people there not only want the best, but they also know it when they see it, and, once deceived, they never have any further transactions with the deceiver. The market is perhaps a capricious one, but it is one that fully recognises and appreciates fair dealing, and there is no better or more paying advertisement than to enter it ‘on the square.’
“The market being such as it is, and, moreover, being for many classes of goods a new one, the agents employed in it should be carefully selected. Here, again, Americans are at a disadvantage. Very few of the commercial travellers who are sent out from the United States speak Spanish, whereas nearly all those representing foreign concerns do. The Americans are therefore obliged to put themselves entirely into the hands of agents and interpreters, which is always an unsatisfactory way of doing business. In view of the growing relations between the United States and the South American countries, it would seem as if Spanish should occupy a preferential place, in our educational institutions, over French or German. Our business is to invade the Spanish-speaking territories, whereas we are ourselves invaded by the European nations, and this fact necessitates a more perfect equipment on the part of our business agents entering the foreign field.
“As regards the classes of goods most needed in Cuba it would be impossible and wholly unnecessary to particularise more fully in this paper. We may broadly say that everything needed in this country is needed in Cuba, within the limits imposed by the difference of climate. They want or can be led to want everything we can furnish that is good and cheap.
“I may perhaps be here permitted another digression. We have heard a great deal in times past, and more particularly of late, of ‘overproduction,’ and it is supposed to account for many of our business troubles. Now overproduction is a strictly relative condition, and its remedy is either to produce less or to dispose of more. Political economists tell us that true material progress lies in commonising the good things of life, so that what to-day are the luxuries of the rich shall become to-morrow the ordinary possessions of the middle classes, who will, in their turn, relegate their previous simple comforts to the poor, thus establishing an ever-ascending scale of prosperity, and raising, as it were, the standard of poverty. It is impossible, I think, to deny the truth of this proposition, which dictates a levelling up, instead of the socialistic plan of levelling down. In this view it is plainly to be seen that we are not, and cannot be, in any danger from overproduction. What we and all the world are suffering from is underdistribution. The remedy, as far as the United States are concerned, is not to limit production, but rather to increase it even to its utmost possibilities and then launch out in quest of new markets. It is this policy which has given England her vast commercial supremacy in the past. She has never attempted to restrict the production of her manufactures, but her efforts have always been to open up new markets, until she has forced her way to the remotest regions of the earth. It is said that the sun never sets on the British flag; it certainly never sets on British manufactures.
“In carrying out such a policy for the United States it is evident that the Spanish-American countries offer themselves to us as our natural field for enterprise. As already pointed out, our labours in this field would be of mutual advantage to them and to us, and in more ways than one. While receiving from us our labour-saving machinery and wonderful mechanical appliances of all kinds, they would also imbibe a portion of the spirit which led to their invention and use. We, on our part, would not only receive from them the rich products of their fertile soil, but might also catch, by contact with men of another race, something of that natural grace and refinement in which our national character is said to be deficient.”
Referring to the fact that the railways in Cuba under English control have had their machinery from the United States, the manager of the English railways in Cuba only so recently as October, 1898, informed the author that they had not only purchased of the United States in the past, but that they intended getting all their railway supplies for the future from the same source. Surely no higher tribute could be paid to the manufacturers of our country than this from an Englishman, whose people for hundreds of years have led all competitors in the industrial manufacturing of the world.