The concluding passage of Mr. Beal's statement indicates to some extent the effect of the war upon his plantation, which escaped happily as compared with hundreds of others. He says: "In 1896 we had some new plantings, and the crop was estimated at 2,700,000 _arrobas_; very nearly the whole of this was burned by the insurgents, some of the fields were burned twice and no crop was made. The horses were seized, cattle driven off, storehouses plundered repeatedly, and finally the manager had to flee for his life and seek safety in Cienfuegos; since then the fields have suffered repeated burnings and the crop has been reduced from 2,700,000 _arrobas_ to 1,400,000 _arrobas_, estimated. In 1897 and 1898 the crops were made under difficulties, the colonia employing a private armed force of sixteen men, and Colonel Luis Ramos Izquierdo kept a small garrison of his guerrillas in the _colonia_." Contrasting opinions as to the matter of profit in the production of sugar in Cuba, we present herewith two statements. The first is by Mr. William J. Clark, in his work, _Commercial Cuba_, and is as follows: "We have already seen that Mr. Gollan, the British Consul-General at Havana, estimates the factory cost of sugar in Cuba at the best managed centrals to be 2.50 cents per pound, although in exceptional cases it may be less. But during the month of October, 1898, the selling price of raw centrifugal sugar, 96 degrees test, in the New York market has ranged between 2.40 and 2.60 cents per pound, neglecting United States import duty, which is a fixed rate of 1.685 cents per pound. If we take this selling price at 2.50 cents per pound, and deduct .22 cents per pound freight, wharfage, and commission, we get 2.28 cents as the price paid for raw sugar free on board at Cuban ports. From this amount must be taken export charges of five cents per 100 kilos lighterage at the port of shipment, and the cost of transportation from the central to the seaboard. These together sum up not less than .10 of one cent, which would leave the net price at the central 2.18 cents. But we have already shown that the factory cost of the product has been as low as 1.99 in Trinidad, 1.94 in British Guiana, and 1.86 in Barbadoes. These three costs give an average of 1.93 cents. Deducting from 2.18 cents which we have calculated as the present selling price at the central, 1.93 cents, the present possible minimum cost of production, we shall get .25 cents, equal to 12.95 per cent. as the margin of profit."