"This official optimism is deplorable for more than one reason. It is to be noticed that as Cuba's poverty increases the pretensions of perpetual exactions are greater, and that the bulk is borne by the planters, who, together with the rest of the Cuban population, are possessors, judging by these exactions, of sources of unlimited wealth." This chapter may be fittingly concluded with the following table compiled by Messrs. Willet & Gray, January 5, 1899, giving the entire sugar production of all the countries of the world, including those crops which have heretofore been ignored in statistics. These figures include local consumptions of home production wherever known. -----------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+--------- | 1898-99. | 1897-98. | 1896-97. | 1895-96. -----------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+--------- United States: | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. Cane | 270,000 | 310,000 | 282,009 | 237,730 Beet | 33,960 | 41,347 | 40,000 | 30,000 Porto Rico | 70,000 | 54,000 | 54,000 | 50,000 Canada--beets | 300 | 300 | 300 | 500 Cuba--crop | 450,000 | 314,009 | 219,500 | 240,000 British West Indies: | | | | Trinidad--export | 50,000 | 52,000 | 51,000 | 58,000 Barbadoes--exports | 47,000 | 52,000 | 58,249 | 47,800 Jamaica | 27,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 Antigua and St. Kitts | 22,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 | 24,000 French West Indies: | | | | Martinique--exports | 32,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 Guadeloupe | 40,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 Danish West Indies: | | | | St. Croix | 12,000 | 13,000 | 13,058 | 8,000 Hayti and San Domingo | 48,000 | 48,000 | 48,800 | 50,000 Lesser Antilles, not named above | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 Mexico--exports | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 Central America: | | | | Guatemala--crop | 9,000 | 9,000 | 8,000 | 7,000 San Salvador--crop | 4,000 | 4,000 | 3,000 | 2,000 Nicaragua--crop | 1,500 | 1,500 | 500 | 500 Costa Rica--crop | 500 | 500 | 200 | 200 South America: | | | | British Guiana (Demerara)--export| 98,000 | 98,000 | 99,789 | 105,000