The competition between cane-producing countries is so great that a moderate advantage gained by one will sometimes destroy the industry of another. Such was the case when our reciprocal tariff arrangement with Cuba resulted in closing the mills of Jamaica. In recent years the keenest rivalry has existed between cane and beet sugar. At first the latter had great difficulty in forcing a place for itself in the world’s markets, but with government subsidies, improvement in cultivation, and economies in manufacture, it gradually became an irresistible competitor of cane. During the past fifteen years beet sugar has come to the front with great strides, and now it divides the world’s consumption with the cane product. Cuba produces considerably more than one-fourth of the entire cane sugar of the world, devoting two million acres to the crop. More than four-fifths of this area is in the provinces of Santa Clara, Matanzas and Oriente. The Island’s output in recent years has been about 11,500,000 tons a year, yielding somewhat more than 1,000,000 tons of refined sugar. Enormous as is this production, it falls far short of the quantity that could be produced if larger areas of the available suitable land were put under cultivation and if such scientific and intensive methods as prevail in some other countries were employed. Sugar cane was probably first grown in Cuba some time about the middle of the sixteenth century, under the encouragement of a royal bounty. The industry made but slow progress during the next two and a half centuries. In 1850, the sugar production of the Island had reached approximately 300,000 tons. Since then it has steadily increased, the million mark having been attained in 1894. During the latter half of the nineteenth century a tendency to centralization set in. Previous to that period the crop had been raised on a large number of small plantations, each working entirely independently. In 1880 began the movement toward the establishment of “centrals” for [Illustration: CENTRAL PROVIDENCIA.] the performance of the extractive operations. There are now nearly two hundred of these buildings in the Island. At the same time the combination of small plantations resulted in a decrease in numbers with an increase in average size. The million ton mark gained in 1894 was upheld in the following year, but in 1896 the war was in full blast, and the year’s output was barely more than 225,000 tons.