American people would suffer by the arrange ment. At the outset a difficulty would arise as to the terms of admission. The most enthusiastic advocates of annexation among intelligent Cubans would not be willing to come under the American flag with anything less than the status and rights of a state. This attitude is easy to appreciate. Cuba's population, wealth, resources, commerce, industries, and strategic position would fully justify her aspirations to the highest rank among America's possessions. She would not be content with a territorial position, and the proposition, which has been advanced, that she should accept the indefinite status of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, is not worth a moment's consideration. Despite official figures to the contrary, it is the conviction of many who have had the best possible opportunities for judging, that a large majority of the native population of Cuba have negro blood in their veins. Practically one hundred per cent. of the people profess the Roman Catholic faith and Spanish is the mother tongue of the same proportion. Would the American nation agree to the construction of a sister state out of such material? The admission to the United States of Cuba's products free of duty would constitute a serious menace to Louisiana's chief industry and to the growing beet sugar industry of our northwestern territory. The fruit growers of California and Florida would suffer from competition with products raised by cheaper labor, and to a less extent the tobacco growers of Virginia and Kentucky would feel the same pres sure. As to the advantages that Cuba would enjoy from annexation, there can be no question. The most obvious and pronounced would be the assurance of good government, perpetual peace within her borders, an incalculably better administration than the present at one-third of its cost, free trade with the United States, and a market there for all her products and purchases. Perhaps Cuba might approximate closely to the enjoyment of these benefits under an arrangement which could be effected with much less difficulty than annexation. A permanent protectorate, if introduced with the usual methods of soothing and placating the protected, would probably solve Cuba's difficulties more effectually than any other plan at present prac ticable. Out of such a state, Cuba might at some future date become a member of the Union by a gradual process of evolution. There is, of course, the objection to such an arrangement that it would impair the independence which we have promised to maintain, but when both parties to an agreement are willing to waive its terms there should be no obstruction to cancelling it. Furthermore, if such a protectorate should be established it will no doubt grow out of a presumptively temporary occupation. The process would be something like that which has resulted in England's established control over Egypt. When the British occupation of that country occurred the administration under Gladstone declared positively that Great Britain would retire as soon as her work should be done. She has now, however, no thought of ever doing so. Her control of the country is undoubtedly a great benefit to the people, and the world at large would regret her relinquishment of it. Our Government is acting in a similar manner in its treatment of the Filipinos. No statesman in the country now contemplates the independence of those people as within the bounds of probability. Under a protectorate it would be possible for the United States to insure to the Cubans a considerable measure of the benefits that would accrue to them from annexation, without entailing upon this country the disadvantages which would follow the latter measure. CHAPTER IX CUBA'S SUGAR INDUSTRY THE one and a half billion inhabitants of the earth consume 32,000,000,000 pounds of sugar yearly. The distribution of this enormous quantity is, however, far from even, some countries accounting for next to none of it, while in several others the average consumption exceeds fifty pounds for every inhabitant. Strangely enough, some of the oldest peoples, to whom the knowledge of manufactured sugar is a matter of immemorial possession, are only now beginning to develop a sweet tooth. This may be said of the Chinese and the various races of the Philippine Archipelago. The rapid growth in the world's population naturally accounts for a constant increase in consumption, but it is also greatly enhanced by the increase in individual use. In the United States, for example, the per capita consumption has risen eight pounds in the past few 166 |