Willis Fletcher Johnson

TRANSPORTATION is the handmaid of production. Where transportation facilities are faulty, exchange of commodities is necessarily restricted to local demands, and commerce with the outside world is practically impossible. Good harbors are among the first essentials to foreign trade, and with deep, well protected bays, Cuba has been bountifully supplied. Every sheltered indentation of her two thousand miles of coast line, from the days of Colon, has been an invitation for passing ships to enter. The wealth of the island in agriculture and mineral and forest products, has made the visits of these ocean carriers profitable; hence the phenomenal growth of Cuba’s foreign commerce.

In spite of the stupid restriction of trade enforced by Spain in the early colonial days, contraband commerce assumed large proportions during the 17th century, and when England’s fleet captured Havana in 1763, the capital of Cuba enjoyed a freedom of foreign exchange never before known. Quantities of sugar, coffee, hides and hardwoods, large for those times, demanded transportation during the second quarter of the 19th century. Foreign trade, too, was greatly stimulated in Cuba by conditions resulting from the Civil War in the United States. The rapid development of the sugar industry following this war soon called for more permanent lines of ocean transportation.

THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, HAVANA

The Chamber of Commerce is one of the oldest civic organizations in Cuba, which even under the repressive and discouraging rule of Spanish Governors did much for the material progress of the Island. Under the Republic its activities and achievements have of course been immensely increased, and it is now appropriately housed in one of the finest public buildings of the capital. A certain resemblance to the famous Cooper Union building in New York has often been remarked, though the Havana edifice is the more ornate and attractive of the two.

THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, HAVANA The Chamber of Commerce is one of the oldest civic organizations in Cuba, which even under the repressive and discouraging rule of Spanish Governors did much for the material progress of the Island. Under the Republic its activities and achievements have of course been immensely increased, and it is now appropriately housed in one of the finest public buildings of the capital. A certain resemblance to the famous Cooper Union building in New York has often been remarked, though the Havana edifice is the more ornate and attractive of the two.

The interdependence of produce and transportation is well illustrated in the early history of what is now known as the United Fruit Company. In 1870, Captain Lorenzo D. Baker was in command of a small, swift coasting schooner en route from Jamaica to Boston. On the wharf at Kingston lay some 40 bunches of bananas, a few of which were ripe, others lacking 10 days or more in which to change their dull green coats into the soft creamy yellow of the matured fruit. Captain Baker was fond of bananas, and ordered that the lot be placed on board his schooner, just before sailing. Fortune favored him and strong easterly beam winds brought him into the harbor of Boston in 10 days, with all of the bunches not consumed en route in practically perfect condition. Many friends of Capt. Baker, to whom this delicious fruit was practically unknown, got a taste of the banana for the first time. Among these was Andrew W. Preston, a local fruit dealer in Boston, who was greatly impressed with the appearance of the fruit, and the success which had attended Captain Baker’s effort to get the bananas into the market without injury.

Mr. Preston reckoned that if a schooner with a fair wind could land such delicious fruit in Boston in ten days, steamers could do the same work with absolute certainty in less time. This far sighted pioneer and promoter of trade realized that three factors were essential to building up an industry of this kind. First, there must be a market for the product, and he was confident that the people of Boston and the vicinity could soon be educated to like the banana and to purchase it if offered at a fair price. Next, a sufficient and steady supply must be provided. Third, reliable transportation in the form of steamers of convenient size and suitable equipment must be secured, in order to convey the fruit with economy and regularity to the waiting market or point of consumption. True, he at first failed to interest other fruit dealers in the project. “It had never been done and consequently was a dangerous innovation that would probably prove unprofitable.” But Mr. Preston had visualized a new industry on a large scale, and with the faith of the industrial pioneer he finally succeeded in persuading nine of his friends to put up with him each $2,000, and to form a company for the purpose of growing bananas in the West Indies, of chartering a steamer suitable for the transportation, and finding a market for the produce in Boston.

The details were worked out carefully and the first cargo purchased in Jamaica and landed in New England proved a decided success. During the first two or three years the accruing dividends were invested in fruit lands in Jamaica and everything went well. Not long after, however, it was found that a West Indian cyclone could destroy a banana field and put it out of business in a very few hours. More than one field or locality in which to grow bananas on a large scale was necessary to provide against the possible failure of the crop at some other point.

In the meantime another broad minded and determined pioneer in the world of progress, Minor C. Keith, a youth of 23, was trying to build a railroad some 90 miles in length from Puerto Limon to the capital, San Jose, in the highlands of Costa Rica. The greater part of this road was through dense jungle and forest almost impenetrable, with nothing in the shape of freight or passengers from which revenues could be derived until the road was completed to the capital. Mr. Keith had a concession from the Costa Rican Government, but the Government had no funds with which to aid the builder in his enterprise, and this young engineer, through force of character and moral suasion, kept his two thousand workmen in line without one dollar of money for over 18 months. Food he managed to scrape up from various sources, but the payday was practically forgotten. In the meantime, some banana plants were secured from a plantation in Colombia, and set out on the virgin soils along the roadway through which Mr. Keith was laying his rails. These grew marvellously, and not only supplied fruit for the Jamaica negroes engaged in the work, but soon furnished bananas for export to New Orleans, and thus was started a rival industry to that of Mr. Preston, on the shores of the Western Caribbean.

It was not long before Mr. Keith, who struggled for 20 years to complete his line from the coast to the capital of Costa Rica, came into contact with Mr. Preston. These captains of industry realized the advantages of co-operation, and in a very short time organized the United Fruit Company, which is probably the greatest agricultural transportation company in the world to-day. Its various plantations include lands in Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Jamaica. Large plantations of bananas belonging to the company were until recently on the harbors of Banes and Nipe, on the north coast of Oriente, in the Island of Cuba, but these were subjected to strong breezes from the northeast that whipped the leaves and hindered their growth. Then too, it was soon discovered that these lands were better adapted to the cultivation of sugar cane, hence bananas of the United Fruit Company disappeared from the Nipe Bay district, to be replaced by sugar plantations that to-day cover approximately 37,000 acres and in 1920 will reach 50,000 acres. Over 200,000 acres on the coast of the Caribbean are devoted to the cultivation of bananas. About 30,000 head of cattle are maintained as a source of food for the thousands of laborers, mostly Jamaicans, who are employed in the fields of the United Fruit Company, which comprise an aggregate of 1,980,000 acres; while 743 miles of standard gauge railway, together with 532 miles of narrow gauge roads, are owned and operated throughout the various plantations.

In the year 1915, 46,000,000 bunches of bananas were shipped by the United Fruit Company from the shores of the Caribbean to the United States, while the sugar plantations owned by the Company on the north coast of Oriente Province, in Cuba, produced sugar in 1918 that yielded a net return of $5,000,000.

In order to provide transportation for this enormous agricultural output this company to-day owns and operates one of the biggest fleets of steamships in the world. Forty-five of these ships, with tonnages varying from 3,000 to 8,000, especially equipped for the banana trade, and with the best of accommodations for passengers, have an aggregate tonnage of 250,000; while 49 other steamers were chartered by the company before the war, making the total tonnage employed in the carrying trade approximately half a million.

Nearly all these steamers, which connect the coast of the Caribbean with New York, Boston and New Orleans, touch, both coming and going, at the City of Havana, thus giving that port the advantage of unexcelled transportation facilities, and connecting Cuba not only with the more important cities of the Gulf of Mexico, New York and New England, but also with Jamaica, Caribbean ports, and the South American Republics lying beyond the Isthmus of Panama, along the western shores of that continent.

No steamship line perhaps has been more closely related to the commercial development of Cuba than has the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Company. This line had its origin in a carrying trade between Cuba and the United States started by the firm of James E. Ward & Co. The members of the firm were Mr. James E. Ward, Mr. Henry B. Booth and Mr. Wm. T. Hughes. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York and formally organized in July, 1881, with Mr. Ward as President, Mr. Booth as Vice President and Mr. Hughes as Secretary and Treasurer. When first organized the Company had only four ships, the Newport, Saratoga, Niagara and Santiago, with a gross tonnage of 10,179. Between the date of its organization and its transfer to the Maine Corporation, or during a period of 26 years, the company acquired 19 vessels, with a total gross tonnage of 84,411. In addition to the above the company has operated under foreign flags eight other ships aggregating a tonnage of 26,624.

The four original steamers mentioned above were owned in part by the builders, Messrs. John Roach & Son, and a few other individuals. The original firm however sold its ships to the Company at the time of its reorganization. Of the vessels acquired by the company, the majority were built under contract by Messrs. Roach & Son, and Wm. Cramp & Sons’ Ship and Engine Building Company. Among the ships that were purchased and not built especially for this company, were the two sister ships Seguranca and Vigilancia, built in 1890 for the Brazil Line. The steamships City of Washington and City of Alexandria were originally owned by the Alexandria Line, and passed into the hands of the Ward Line after its organization. The Matanzas, formerly the Spanish steamer Guido, that had left London with a valuable cargo of food, munitions and money with which to pay off Spanish troops in Cuba, was captured by the American forces during the early part of the war with Spain, in an attempt to run the blockade that had been established, and was afterwards sold by the American Government to the Ward Line.

The business of this company, after its organization, began with a passenger and freight service connecting the cities of Havana, Santiago and Cienfuegos with New York. With the acquisition of the Alexandria Line, the service of the company was extended to Mexico, and a number of ports have been added to its itinerary both in Cuba and in Mexico. The line to-day maintains a service on each of the following routes: New York to Havana and return; New York to Havana, Progreso, Yucatan, and Vera Cruz, returning via Progreso and Havana to New York; New York to Tampico, Mexico, calling occasionally on return voyages at other ports when cargoes are offered; New York to Guantanamo, Santiago, Manzanillo and Cienfuegos, returning according to the demands of shipping interests; New York to Nassau, in the Bahamas, Havana, and return. The sailings average about five a week and schedules are prepared from time to time to meet the requirements of trade. Passengers on this line are carried in three distinct classes, first cabin, intermediate, and steerage, the vessels being constructed with reference to suitable accommodations for the various classes.

The principal railway and other connections are as follows: At New York in general with all railroads terminating at that port, as well as all foreign and domestic water lines that move traffic via that port; at Havana with the United Railways of Havana and the Cuba Railroad; at Tampico with the Mexican Central Railway for interior points in Mexico; at Progreso with the United Railways of Yucatan for Merida, Campeche and other interior points; at Vera Cruz with the National Railways of Mexico and the Interoceanic Railroad for interior points of Mexico, as well as with the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad for interior points of Mexico and the Pacific Coast; at Puerto Mexico with the Tehuantepec National Railway, for points on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and on the Pacific Coast. Connection is also made at Vera Cruz with the CompaÑia Mexicana de Navegacion for traffic to Tuxpam, Coatzacoalcos, Tlacotalpam and Frontera, ports on the Gulf of Mexico. At Santiago connection is made with the Cuba Eastern Railway and Cuba Railroad for points throughout the interior of Cuba; at Guantanamo with the Cuba Eastern Railway and at Cienfuegos with the Cuban Central Railroad.

The company has contracts with the United States Government for the transportation of mails between New York and Havana, and between New York, Havana and Mexico. It also has a contract with the Bahamas Government for the transportation of mails.

The following is a list of the vessels owned or operated by the company.

The total gross tonnage of the steamers and tugs above mentioned is 84,000 tons.

One of the oldest and most important lines in the carrying trade of the Caribbean is known as the Munson Steamship Line, and was founded in 1872 by Walter D. Munson. The trade began with sailing vessels but the increase in traffic was so great that these were soon replaced with steamers. The steamships in the service of the Munson Line to-day number 140, with an average tonnage of 2,500 tons each, dead weight.

These vessels sail from nearly every port in Cuba, connecting the Island with nearly all of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports of the United States. The passenger steamers of the Munson Line ply between New York, Nuevitas and Nipe Bay of the Province of Oriente. The passenger steamers, although not touching at Havana, are equipped for the accommodation of passengers that leave from the ports of the eastern provinces of the Island.

During the late European War twelve of the Munson steamships were placed in the service of the United States and three under the British flag.

The Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company operates a daily passenger, mail and freight service between Havana and Key West, Florida. Since 1912 this company has maintained practically a daily service between the two ports and maintains also a bi-weekly service between Havana and Port Tampa, Florida. Owing to the frequency of the sailings, the P. & O. SS. Co. is considered the official mail route between the United States and Cuba.

The company operates also the Florida East Coast Car-Ferry freight service between Havana and Key West. This service was made possible by the extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad from the southern points of the peninsula out over the long line of keys that terminates in the Island of Key West.

The erection of this viaduct, built at an enormous expense, of stone and concrete, was the realization of Henry W. Flagler’s dream of modern transportation facilities between the United States and Cuba. The car ferry service was inaugurated in January, 1915. At the present time two of these great car ferryboats, with a capacity of 28 standard freight cars each, make a round trip every twenty-four hours between the two ports. These two vessels transport approximately 1,150 cars in and out of Cuba every month, carrying over 35,000 tons each way in that length of time.

Since the inauguration of the service more business has been offered than can be handled during certain months of the year, and it has been found necessary to refuse large quantities of cargo destined for the Republic of Cuba. The advantage of this service to the Cuban fruit and vegetable growers has been very great, since they are enabled to load in the Cuban fields freight cars belonging to almost every line in the United States, so that this produce may be shipped direct, without breaking bulk, to any market in the United States.

In the year 1870 the Pinillos Izquierdo Line of steamers was established between Spain and the Island of Cuba. The home office of this line is in Cadiz, Spain. Their vessels are engaged in freight and passenger service touching at the following points in the Peninsula: Barcelona, Palma de Majorca, Valencia, Alicante, Malaga, Cadiz, Vigo, Gijon and Santander.

En route the Canary Island and Porto Rico are also visited while the terminal points on this side of the Atlantic are New Orleans, Galveston, Havana and Santiago de Cuba. All of their steamers carry mail. Their fleet consists of nine steamers with a combined tonnage of 78,000 tons as follows:

The Southern Pacific, originally known as the Morgan line, established a transportation service between Gulf ports and the Island of Cuba many years ago, beginning with two side-wheel walking-beam steamboats of about 800 tons dead weight. They were heavy consumers of coal and had a speed of from 9½ to 11 knots. A few years later the steamers Hutchinson and Arkansas, both side wheelers, were added to the fleet. Still later the single propeller steamers Excelsior and Chalmette, of about 2,400 tons each, were placed in the service of the Southern Pacific Line. These combined freight and passenger boats were well built and seaworthy fourteen knot steamers, of an equipment considered modern at that time. The Louisiana entered the service in 1900, but owing to an error in loading freight, it turned turtle at the docks in New Orleans and became a total loss. The Excelsior and Chalmette are still maintaining an efficient weekly service between New Orleans and Havana.

The Compagnie General Transatlantique, generally known as the French Line, connecting western France, Northern Spain and the Canary Islands, with Cuba, Porto Rico, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the city of New Orleans, was established in 1860.

St. Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay in France is the headquarters of this line. Their steamers touch at Santander and CoruÑa on the north coast of Spain; at the Canary Islands, Porto Rico, Martinique, Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Vera Cruz, and New Orleans. Their fleet consists of 13 ships with a combined tonnage of 153,500 tons.

The steamship Lafayette, of 15,000 tons, is equipped for the accommodation of 1,620 passengers. The Espana, of 15,000 tons, carries 1,500 passengers; the Flanders, of 12,000 tons, carries 1,250 passengers; the Venizia, of 12,000 tons, carries 700 passengers; the Navarre, of 10,000 tons, carries 1,000 passengers; the Venezuela, of 7,000 tons, carries 500 passengers.

The Caroline, the Mississippi and the Georgie are each steamers of 13,000 tons. The Honduras is a 12,000 ton ship; the Hudson 11,000 tons; the Californie 10,500 tons, and the Virginie 10,000 tons. The seven last mentioned vessels carry cargo only.

During August, 1919, the 7,000 ton steamer Panama Canal arrived in Cuba from Japan, inaugurating a new steamship line between Japan and the United States, touching at Cuban ports. The line is known as the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, of Osaka, Japan. The fleet consists of 186 steamers plying between Japan and different parts of the world. The headquarters for this company has been established at Chicago, Illinois, owing to connections that have been made with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad.

Steamers eastward bound from Japan will bring rice and general cargo, most of which will be consigned to the Island of Cuba, owing to the heavy consumption of that article of food in that Republic. New Orleans will be the terminus in the United States of the line. On the initial trip of the Panama Canal 50,000 sacks of rice grown in Japan were consigned to Cuban merchants in Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. The return cargoes will be composed largely of cotton, taken aboard at New Orleans, and with sugar and tobacco shipped from Cuba to the Orient. This line has begun with one sailing each way per month, all steamers touching at Havana for freight and passengers.

The Customs regulations of Cuba require five sets of invoices for Havana and four for all other points; which must be written in ink, in either English or Spanish. If they are typewritten the original imprint must be included, but the others may be carbon copies. Invoices must give the names of shippers and consignees, and of vessels; marks and numbers, description of merchandise, gross and net weights by metric system, price, value, and statement of expenses incurred. If there are no expenses, that fact must be stated. Prices must be detailed, on each article, and not in bulk. Descriptions of merchandise must be detailed, telling the materials of each article and of all its parts. Descriptions of fabrics must tell the nature of the fibre, character of weave, dye, number of threads in six square millimeters, length and width of piece, weight, price, and value. All measurements must be in metric units.

At the foot of each sheet of the invoice must be a signed declaration, in Spanish, telling whether the articles are or are not products of the soil or industry of the United States. If the manufacturer or shipper is not a resident of the place where the consulate is situated, he must appoint in writing a local agent to present the invoice and the agent must write and sign a declaration concerning his appointment. Stated forms are prescribed and are furnished by consuls for manufacturers, producers, owners, sellers and shippers.

Freight charges to the shipping port, custom house and statistical fees, stamps, wharfage and incidental expenses must be included in the dutiable value of goods, and must be stated separately; but insurance and consular fees must not be included.

Each invoice must cover a single, distinct shipment, by one vessel to one consignee. Separate consignments must not be included in one invoice. Invoices under $5, covering products of the soil or industry of the United States must be certified in order to enjoy the provisions of the reciprocity treaty between the two countries. Invoices and declarations must be written on only one side of the paper, and no erasures, corrections, alterations or additions must be made, unless stated in a signed declaration.

Domestic and foreign merchandise from the United States must be separately invoiced. Invoices are not required on shipments of foreign goods of less value than $5.

Fabrics of mixed fibres must be so stated, with a statement of the proportion of the principal material, upon which the duty is to be computed. Cotton goods pay duty according to threads, and silk and wool ad valorem. Samples of cotton goods are taken at the custom house, and should be provided for that purpose to avoid mutilation of the piece. Duties on ready made clothing are based on the chief outside fabric. A surtax of 100% is placed on ready-made cotton clothing, and a surtax of 30% on colored threads.

Two copies of each set of bills of lading must be given, but on merchandise of less than $5 value need not be certified.

Invoices covering shipments of automobile vehicles must state maker, name of car, style of car, year of make, maker’s number on motor, number of cylinders, horse power, and passenger capacity.

If after an invoice has been certified it or any part of it is delayed in shipment, the steamship company must mark on the bill of lading opposite the delayed goods “Short Shipped,” but the invoice need not be recertified. The consignee should, however, be informed.

The list of articles admitted into Cuba free of duty comprises samples of fabrics, felt, and wall paper, of a prescribed size, samples of lace and trimmings, and samples of hosiery, provided that they are rendered unfit for any other purpose than that of samples; trained animals, animals, portable theatres, and other articles for public entertainment, not to remain in Cuba longer than three months; receptacles in which fruits or liquids were exported from Cuba and which are being returned empty; furniture, clothing and other personal property of immigrants, or of travellers, showing evidence of having already been used; agricultural implements not including machinery; and pictures, posters, catalogues, calendars, etc., not for sale but for free distribution for advertising purposes.

The importation into Cuba is forbidden or restricted of foreign coins of anything but gold, save those of the United States; gunpowder, dynamite and other explosives, save by special permit of the Interior Department; and silencers for firearms. Arms of more than .32 caliber, .44 caliber revolvers, and automatic pistols require special permit.

Consular fees for certification are: On shipments worth less than $5, nothing; from $5 upward and less than $50, fifty cents; from $50 upward and less than $200, $2; over $200, $2 plus ten cents for each $100 or fraction thereof. Extra copies of invoices, 50 cents each. Invoice blanks, ten cents a set. Certifying bills of lading, $1.

Cuban consulates are situated in the United States and its possessions as follows: Atlanta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Boston, Mass.; Brunswick, Ga.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chicago, Ill.; Cincinnati, Ohio.; Detroit, Mich.; Fernandina, Fla.; Galveston, Tex.; Gulfport, Miss.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Key West, Fla.; Los Angeles, Cal.; Louisville, Ky.; Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans, La.; New York; Newport News, Va.; Norfolk, Va.; Pascagoula, Miss.; Pensacola, Fla.; Philadelphia, Penn.; San Francisco, Cal.; Savannah, Ga.; St. Louis, Mo.; Tampa, Fla.; Washington, D. C.; and Aguadilla, Arecibo, Mayagues, Ponce, and San Juan, Porto Rico.