| Called the { | 1869 | 726,000 | Tons. | 1874 | 681,000 | Tons. |
| twin crops.{ | 1870 | 726,000 | “ | 1875 | 718,000 | “ |
| 1871[15] | 547,000 | “ | 1876 | 590,000 | “ | |
| 1872 | 690,000 | “ | 1877 | 520,000 | “ | |
| 1873 | 775,000 | “ | 1878 | 533,000 | “ |
It is to be noticed that during the period of war the sugar production continued to increase at first, say from 1869 to 1875. Highly remunerative prices were then obtained for sugar; besides, from 1869 to 1870, $70,000,000 in paper money were issued, and money was easy.
From 1876 to 1878, the production rapidly decreased. Mismanagement, enormous taxes to attend war expenses, and depreciation of paper money brought on national distrust and financial troubles. And with all this, the emancipation of slaves was carried through at that time, moreover, without any compensation of any kind to owners.
Prices of sugar, up to the year 1880, were still remunerative (4 to 4½ cents per pound, centrifugals 96 test); but the competition of beet sugars in Europe began to be felt more and more every day, causing a lower tendency towards the crisis in prices of the article which finally reached a value of only fifty per cent. of its former quotation.
Under such difficulties Cuba struggled hard. The Cuban army was disbanded after the war, and many persons who had come to towns for safety went back to work their fields and became a new contingent of cane growers. The system of cane colonias was started all over with marked success. Canes were sold to the mills at remunerative prices and fresh impulse was imparted to the country.
In spite of all these efforts, Spain persisted in considering her colony a source of income. Our deputies to the Cortes went full of faith, but they came back fruitlessly as always. The same mistaken policy that ruled Cuba before was continued as ever, and the outbreak of February 24, 1895, was the inevitable result.
The crops gathered from 1879 to 1898 were:
| 1879 | 670,000 | Tons. | 1889 | 560,333 | Tons. | |
| 1880 | 530,000 | “ | 1890 | 632,368 | “ | |
| 1881 | 493,000 | “ | 1891 | 816,980 | “ | |
| 1882 | 595,000 | “ | 1892 | 976,960 | “ | |
| 1883 | 460,397 | “ | 1893 | 815,894 | “ | |
| 1884 | 558,937 | “ | 1894 | 1,054,214 | “ | |
| 1885 | 631,000 | “ | 1895 | 1,004,264 | “ | |
| 1886 | 731,723 | “ | 1896 | 225,221 | “ | |
| 1887 | 646,578 | “ | 1897 | 212,051 | “ | |
| 1888 | 656,719 | “ | 1898 | 300,000 | “ | (about) |
Notice the decrease of production of the year 1896. We could have ground that year more than 1,100,000 tons of sugar, had it not been for the war.
The amount of the coming crop will depend entirely on the greater celerity that is to be given to the so-wished for political change. Any delay will be of disadvantage to all our productions. The proper season for cleaning cane fields has already vanished, and besides cattle are badly wanted and very scarce. Training for working purposes requires time.