A branch from Placetas del Sur to Casilda, 90 kilometers, is in process of construction. Another will connect the city of Camaguey with Santa Cruz del Sur on the Caribbean, 98 kilometers away. At San Luis connection is made with the Guantanamo & Western Railway, where passengers for the United States Naval Station on Guantanamo Bay, and the rich sugar districts lying north and west of the harbor, are transferred. The Cuba system is equipped with 156 locomotives, 125 passenger coaches, 5013 freight cars, 70 baggage cars and 131 construction cars. In the harbors of Antilla and Nuevitas twelve steamers, tugs and launches are employed in making the various necessary transfers of material from one point to another. On the lines of the Cuba system and its branches are 30 sugar estates and mills, with nine new ones under construction. Daily trains connecting Havana with Santiago de Cuba leave the terminal station at 10.00 P.M., making the trip in about 24 hours. With the completion of the Cuba Company’s lines, the interior of the Provinces of Oriente, Camaguey and much of Santa Clara were opened up to the commerce of the world for the first time. During the years that have elapsed since its completion, a large amount of valuable hard wood, cedar, mahogany, etc., growing along the line, have been cut and shipped to nearby seaports for export to the United States and other countries. With the building of this line, too, some of the richest lands of Cuba were rendered available for the production of sugar, and today a vast area is under cultivation in cane, and four hundred thousand tons or more of sugar, with the assistance of this road, was delivered each year to the Allies who were fighting in France and Belgium. Thus Sir William Van Home’s foresight enabled the Republic of Cuba to “do its bit” in a very practical way towards the furtherance of the cause of universal democracy.