"The reciprocity treaty between Spain and the United States would appear to be mainly beneficial to the latter nation. Articles such as machinery, iron, steel, coal, etc., which formerly came principally from Europe and continue to pay duty when imported from those countries, are admitted free of duty when coming from America, so that the former trade is fast disappearing, although some articles of English manufacture and of superior quality are still able to compete, notwithstanding the duty. The free admission of flour makes bread cheaper, but this is the only article which seems reduced in price. The free admission of Cuban sugar into the large markets of the United States is, of course, the great inducement for Spain to enter into an arrangement by which she sacrificed a considerable portion of her customs revenue.... "The effect of the recent reciprocity treaty between the United States and Spain in regard to her West Indian colonies has been to throw nearly the entire Cuban trade into the hands of the United States traders, with whom importers of goods from less favoured nations cannot compete, having to pay, by the terms of such a treaty, higher import duties." As a further indication of the benefit of reciprocity between Cuba and the United States, and as a working suggestion of the commercial possibilities presented to the business interests of this country, the following extract from an article on the "Commercial Relations between Cuba and the United States," by Mr. E. Sherman Gould, in the _Engineering Magazine_ for July, 1894, is given: "The value of the sugar exported to the United States has no doubt frequently reached, if not surpassed, the sum of $60,000,000 in a single year. At any rate, it will surely be safe to estimate the total yearly value of all exports from Cuba to this country at that figure. This large sum must be paid back to Cuba either in money or in exchange of commodities. In regard to this alternative we must recall the fact that Cuba has no manufactures of any account except cigars; that all the implements and machinery used in sugar-making and all the textile fabrics used for clothing, and even many articles of food, such as breadstuffs, butter, salt meats, and 'canned goods' must come from abroad. That is to say, $60,000,000 worth of exports are sent by a country without manufactures to the greatest manufacturing country in the world, and one in which the danger of 'over-production' is supposed to be a standing menace. Under these circumstances the mere statement of the question, 'How should these imports be paid for?' carries its answer with it.