Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and LabourPorter, Robert P. (Robert Percival)
History
Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and Labour
Porter, Robert P. (Robert Percival)
Cuba -- Description and travel; Cuba -- Economic conditions
"The average yield of cane per caballeria in Guabairo for 1895 was about
71,500 arrobas,[12] and the cost per one hundred arrobas for weeding,
cutting, carting, and delivering to the central amounted to about $1.84.
"During the crop time we employed from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred Chinamen; of the balance of the labourers, probably there were
more negroes than Spanish, with the white Cubans in a distinct minority.
The Chinamen we have here now make very steady workmen, but they are
weak, and not able to do as much work per day as either a negro or a
Spaniard can do in the field. The best workmen we have, if we can get
enough of them, are the negroes. One negro in cutting cane, can do as
much as two of any other class; but I do not think this country is
adapted for the American negro, from what I have heard of him, as he
would have to put up with hardships here, and a style of eating and
living which, I imagine, is not as good as he has in the southern part
of the United States. The immigration of Chinese is prohibited, although
a few manage to get in at a time. I do not know of any other
restrictions on immigration. I do not believe the Jamaica negro would
make a good workman; for, from what I have heard of him, he is very
lazy, and would not be at all a desirable labourer. Thus our only hope
for labour is to retain here the Canary Islanders, because they are
harder working and can stand the climate better than others. They are
men who can save money here, and that in itself is proof that they must
be steady workmen, because they earn so little. Galicians are also good
workers, but so far as I know of the men working here, the Canary
Islanders are the best. The white men are mainly employed as stevedores
in the batey, though they are also good labourers in the field.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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