Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future Part 12

The Hamburg-American Line, a monthly steamer of which called regularly at Santo Domingo City and also at other points in the Republic when cargo conditions were favorable, and connected with other ports in the Antilles and with vessels from Europe. Other steamers of this line called at the northern ports to take cargo to Europe.

There is further a fruit line between Boston and Puerto Plata and sugar steamers between New York and Macoris during the cane grinding season, but they carry no pa.s.sengers. How far the interests of Spain and Santo Domingo have diverged is indicated by the fact that not one of the Spanish transatlantic liners which run to Porto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, touches in Santo Domingo.

A steamer of the Bull line runs between ports in Santo Domingo and Porto Rico and there is also a coast line under Dominican registry, which extends to Porto Rico, but the steamers of which do not distinguish themselves for comfort. Thus there is at present frequent steamer service between Santo Domingo and Porto Rico, but little communication with Haiti and Cuba.

Most of the steamer lines touching in the Republic carry mails. Santo Domingo is a member of the International Postal Union and its post offices offer the usual facilities, except that there is no money order system. More than three-quarters of the incoming foreign mail comes from the United States, including Porto Rico, and over one-half the outgoing foreign mail is directed to this country. The American authorities are engaged in a thorough re-organization of the Dominican postal service.

In connection with the post offices the government operates a telegraph and telephone system. The government lines connect all the more important points in the country. Constructed without plan or method and insufficiently cared for, these lines are all in poor condition and badly in need of repair or reconstruction. The charges are high and the service poor. The government also has a wireless telegraph station at Santo Domingo City and another at Macoris.

The French Submarine Telegraph Co. affords Santo Domingo cable connection with the rest of the world. Its cable touches at Puerto Plata and Santo Domingo City, crossing the Republic by means of a land line which is also open to local messages. The interruptions of communication over this land line in the various revolutions have given rise to numerous damage claims on the part of the Company.

There are also telephone lines on the Samana-Santiago Railroad and on the Central Dominican Railroad operated in connection with the respective roads. Local public telephone systems are in operation in Santo Domingo City and San Pedro de Macoris, and there are private telephone lines between the princ.i.p.al cities and plantations in their vicinity.

CHAPTER XV

COMMERCE

Exports and imports.--Foreign trade.--Trade with the United States.-- Ports of entry.--Wharf concessions.--Domestic trade.--Business houses.--Banks.--Manufactures.

The fact that Dominican commerce has more than trebled in twelve years demonstrates the epoch-making character of the fiscal convention with the United States. The trade figures since 1905 are as follows:

GROWTH OF DOMINICAN TRADE (All figures are in American currency)

Imports Exports Total

1905 $ 2,736,828 $ 6,896,098 $ 9,632,926 1906 4,065,437 6,536,378 10,601,915 1907 4,948,961 7,628,356 12,577,317 1908 4,767,775 9,396,487 14,164,262 1909 4,425,913 8,113,690 12,539,603 1910 6,257,691 10,849,623 17,107,314 1911 6,949,662 10,995,546 17,945,208 1913 8,217,898 12,385,248 20,603,146 1913 9,272,278 10,469,947 19,742,225 1914 6,729,007 10,588,787 17,317,794 1915 9,118,514 15,209,061 24,327,575 1916 11,664,430 21,527,873 33,192,303

The increase in 1916 over 1915 was almost as much as the entire trade of the country in 1905. The temporary setback of 1909 was caused by the partial failure of the cacao crop and the paralyzation of commerce in antic.i.p.ation of lower tariff rates. That of 1914 was due to the European war and a domestic revolution. Santo Domingo has, however, repeatedly presented the anomalous spectacle of showing enormous trade figures in the midst of warfare, as for example, in 1912. The advance in commerce has been especially marked since the presence of the American troops a.s.sured peaceful conditions.

Not a year has pa.s.sed since 1904 without a large balance of trade in favor of Santo Domingo. While the greater part of this is represented by huge sugar profits which have gone to foreign investors, a considerable portion remained in the country. The great increase in wealth since 1904 is apparent to anyone who knew the country at that time.

The imports cover the wide range to be expected in a nonmanufacturing, agricultural country in the tropics. The princ.i.p.al imports in 1916 were:

Cotton goods $1,721,534 Iron and steel manufactures, including sugar machinery 1,562,367 Rice 1,080,068 Wheat flour 621,900 Provisions, meat and dairy products 530,195 Oils 545,284 Bagging and other manufactures of vegetable fiber 508,644 Vehicles and boats 408,832 Manufactures of leather 385,518 Wood and manufactures of wood 317,421 Codfish and other preserved fish and fish products 309,204 Chemicals, drugs and dyes 293,072 Soap, and ingredients for the manufacture of soap 233,991 Paper and manufactures of paper 171,706 Beer 168,901 Agricultural implements 121,830

The United States furnished practically all the flour and other breadstuffs, oils, lumber, agricultural implements and leather articles and most of the cotton goods, hardware, machinery, fish, meat and dairy products. Before the European war all the rice was bought in Germany, as well as a considerable portion of the fish, beer, meat and dairy products. At present the rice is brought from the United States and England. The other imports from England are almost entirely cotton goods and bagging, with some iron and steel manufactures.

In the chapter on the flora of the country, statistics are given with reference to the exports of the country, which are, as there pointed out, princ.i.p.ally: sugar, cacao, tobacco, coffee, bananas, beeswax and honey, hides, cotton, hardwoods and dyewoods.

Owing to its geographical position the United States naturally has the greater part of Dominican trade, but since the European war set the commerce of the world awry that proportion has grown until in 1916 the imports from the United States, including Porto Rico, were 90.4 per cent of the total and the exports to the United States and Porto Rico were 82.8 per cent of the total, though the latter figure varies somewhat from final destination, as much of the sugar and cacao is shipped subject to order. Before the European war something more than one-half of the trade of Santo Domingo was with the United States, one-fifth with Germany, and the remainder with France, England and other countries. The countries of origin of imports and destination of exports of the Dominican Republic in the year 1916, as compared with the list for 1913, the last preceding normal year, are here shown:

DOMINICAN TRADE BY COUNTRIES

IMPORTS 1913 1916

Value Percentage Value Percentage of whole of whole

Cuba $ 7,352 .08 $ 136,587 1.17 France 274,318 2.96 152,358 1.30 Germany 1,677,833 18.10 ---- ---- Italy 173,105 1.87 63,450 .54 Porto Rico 62,900 .67 378,219 3.24 Spain 210,781 2.27 151,451 1.30 United Kingdom 730,191 7.88 481,305 4.13 United States 5,769,061 62.22 10,162,698 87.13 Other Countries 366,737 3.95 138,362 1.19

Total $ 9,272,278 100.00 $11,664,430 100.00

EXPORTS

Cuba $ 27,536 .26 $ 19,447 .09 France 887,907 8.48 287,799 1.34 Germany 2,068,384 19.76 ---- ---- Italy 20,430 .19 2,496 .01 Porto Rico 28,994 .28 425,483 1.98 United Kingdom 241,810 2.31 105,107 .49 United States 5,600,768 53.49 17,412,088 80.88 Other Countries 1,594,118 15.23 3,275,543 15.21

Total $10,469,947 100.00 $21,527,873 100.00

Very interesting statistics with reference to all these matters are published annually in the report of the general receiver of Dominican customs. Since the establishment of the receivership full and accurate trade statistics have become available for the first time in the history of the Republic. Before 1891 no statistics at all were kept.

During the nineties there was an attempt at compilation, but the corruption in the custom-houses was so notorious that the figures cannot be regarded as reliable. For the disturbed years immediately following the death of Heureaux the data are incomplete and uncertain.

The question of shipping has been a serious problem confronting Dominican commerce since the beginning of the European war. Freight rates are rising to almost prohibitive figures, which have their effect in an enormous increase in the cost of living, Santo Domingo has as much reason as the rest of the world to desire an early cessation of the world calamity.

After the war the old trade rivalry will be revived, but American commerce with the Republic should easily retain its lead, if properly cultivated. The observations so frequently made with reference to the extension of American trade with South America also hold good in the case of Santo Domingo. American merchants should send as representatives cultured men who speak Spanish; they should provide catalogs in good Spanish with accurate descriptions of the articles offered; they should fill orders as received, without subst.i.tuting other articles; they should pack their shipments very carefully and with a view to local transportation conditions. The success of the Germans in building up their Dominican trade was due in large measure to the polish and fluent Spanish of their representatives, to their thorough study of local conditions, and to their favorable terms of payment.

American commerce with Santo Domingo would be further stimulated and strengthened by a tariff reciprocity agreement similar to the customs convention between the United States and Cuba. The mutual advantages of such an agreement would be enormous and the development of Santo Domingo would be effectively promoted. Closer relations would also be fostered by a postal convention applying the domestic rates of postage to all mail between the two countries, a good beginning having been made by a recent arrangement applying the domestic postage rate to letters between the United States and the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic has twelve ports of entry, but nine-tenths of the foreign commerce goes through the ports of Macoris, Santo Domingo, Sanchez and Puerto Plata. The first two supply the import and export requirements of the southern portion of the Republic, the other two those of the Cibao. The other eight custom-houses exist for local convenience and for the prevention of smuggling. This is especially true of the three along the Haitian frontier. In former years there was considerable smuggling across the border, as the import duties on certain articles in Haiti are much lower than in the Dominican Republic. Although the profitable smuggling business demoralized trade in those regions, the government did not interfere with it owing to the difficulty of policing the wild and spa.r.s.ely populated border district. The American general receiver determined that the back door should be guarded as well as the front entrance, and formed a frontier guard which stopped contraband traffic, though at a heavy cost, for two brave American officials have been killed and three wounded by smugglers and outlaws, while fourteen Dominican guardsmen and inspectors have been killed and twenty-three wounded. The expense of the three frontier custom-houses is greater than the revenue they produce, but entries in Azua, Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata increased significantly after the frontier guard began its patrolling.

Incidentally the guard has helped to keep the boundary line in place.

In the seaports most of the loading and unloading is done by lighters, the wharves generally being small affairs. Only in Puerto Plata (where extensive harbor improvements are now under way), Macoris and Santo Domingo can larger vessels approach the wharves. All the wharves were built under concessions from the government, which, in the impossibility to provide them itself on account of its perpetual lack of funds, was obliged to procure their construction by granting the right to collect a specified wharf tax, more or less onerous, for a period of years. The Santo Domingo City wharf concession provided that everything exported from and imported into this city or any other coast point in the province must pay the tax, whether the wharf was used or not. The Samana wharf concession; as amended, gave the right to collect certain high wharf taxes for fifty years, from 1875 to 1925, in return for the building of a diminutive dock. One of the important objects accomplished through the 1907 bond issue was the redemption by the government of the monopolistic wharf concessions.

A peculiar feature of the country's domestic trade is that almost fifty per cent of it is in the hands of Syrians. These people are found in a number of the West India Islands, but nowhere have they gained such a foothold as in Santo Domingo. They appeared in the nineties, and for a number of years confined their activities to peddling goods about the country, both men and women traveling around with great bundles of merchandise which they spread out wherever they met prospective purchasers. Their next step was to establish retail stores and crowd the native Dominican storekeeper out, and of late years they have opened large business houses. They are not regarded as a desirable element, as they do not amalgamate or mingle with the Dominican population, but seem possessed of the single idea to make a fortune and return with it to their country.

Such part of the retail trade as is not controlled by Syrians, is mostly in the hands of Dominicans. The stores are generally small, with a limited stock of goods; they have no show-windows, but are arranged on the style of bazars. Fixed prices are rare and most sales become negotiations with the polite shopkeeper. In the country it is customary for the storekeeper to make advances of merchandise to the smaller farmers until crop time; they then pay him in cacao, coffee, tobacco or other farm products, which he remits to the seaport to the wholesale merchant with whom he deals.

The larger business houses are in a majority of cases owned by foreigners, princ.i.p.ally of Italian, German, Spanish, American and Cuban citizenship, and now also including numerous Syrian firms. A majority of those cla.s.sed as Americans are natives of Porto Rico. A number of these merchants arrived in Santo Domingo as poor men and by hard work and shrewd investment built up respectable firms. They carefully preserved their foreign nationality as a valuable a.s.set which protected them from undue interference on the part of the government. One of the most prominent and successful merchants of Santo Domingo was the late J.B. Vicini, an Italian who came to the country penniless, but with his energy and sagacity ama.s.sed the largest fortune of the island. His business is now managed by his sons.

The larger merchants combine a banking business with their export and import business. The foremost of these private bankers of late years was Santiago Michelena, a Porto Rican. Less than ten years ago there was not a single bank in the Republic, but there are now three well equipped banking inst.i.tutions, all of them with their local headquarters in the capital. One of these is the International Banking Corporation, which is connected with the National City Bank of New York; it entered the Dominican Republic in April, 1917, by taking over Michelena's banking business. It has a branch in Macoris and Puerto Plata and agencies and correspondents throughout the country. Another bank is the Royal Bank of Canada, which does a flourishing business in a number of the West India Islands; it has branches in five cities of the Dominican Republic. The third bank is the Banco Nacional de Santo Domingo, incorporated by Americans under the Dominican banking law of 1909, with a capital of $500,000. Although it has several branches, its business is not so active as that of the other banks, since it has lent most of its capital to the government. Under the banking law this inst.i.tution has the right to issue bank notes, but it has not attempted to use the privilege.

Slowly the establishment of small factories has proceeded, for the partial provision of local needs. The princ.i.p.al cities have ice plants, of which some are subject to annoying interruptions. In the Cibao there are several sawmills. Further there are, in the larger cities, small establishments for the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes, matches, rum, straw hats, shoes, chocolate, soap and a few other articles. These are financed by Dominican capital and are not able to supply the local demand. In Santo Domingo City are the remains of a costly brewery erected by Americans with a view to supplying the West Indies; it was ruined, so local reports say, by bad management and has been idle for fifteen years. If the amount of soap used by a people is really an index of its degree of civilization, then the Dominicans can claim to be far advanced, for the consumption of soap manufactured in the country and imported, is very considerable. The government has encouraged manufacturing enterprises and repeatedly granted concessions exempting their machinery and raw material from import duties for specified periods. The number of manufacturing plants will doubtless increase, but agriculture is bound to remain the mainstay of the country.

CHAPTER XVI

CITIES AND TOWNS