Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/80

58 per annum. About 50 per cent of the plantations and mills were owned by American corporations and individuals. One of the largest producers is the Cuba Cane Sugar Co. which has invested about $80,000,000 in plantations, mills, equipment, etc., having a capacity for the production of about 5,000,000 bags per annum which would indicate an investment of about $16 per bag per annum. About the beginning of 1920, at the time of the issuance of $25,000,000 of debenture bonds, the officers of the Cuba Cane Sugar Co. stated that a little under $100,000,000 was a conservative estimate of the value of the company’s property and that it could not be duplicated except for a sum largely in excess thereof.

The balance sheet of the Cuban-American Sugar Co., Sept. 30, 1921, shows an investment of about $36,000,000 in lands, buildings, machinery, railways, cars, etc., representing an annual capacity of about 2,000,000 bags, which shows therefore a plant investment of about $18 per bag per annum.

These sugar companies have also a large investment of working capital in planted and growing cane, in advances to contractors, in materials, supplies and merchandise in stores, etc. This may be estimated roughly at about $5 to $9 per bag annum. This indicates a total capital investment at the rate of perhaps $24 per bag per annum.

On the basis of $24 per bag per annum the American investment in the Cuban sugar industry would stand at about $300,000,000, as of the end of 1916. At the end of 1920, figuring in the same way, it would stand at about $375,000,000.

Following the collapse of the Cuban sugar industry