730 



SANTO DOMINGO. 



tions. But there is the difficulty of getting com- 

 petent inspectors to accept the small pay in 

 most municipal departments ; and furthermore, 

 owing to the demands upon their time, these in- 

 spections can only be superficial and general. 

 The present staff of inspectors of the New York 

 Board of Health are required to examine sev- 

 eral thousand buildings in the course of a year. 

 In smaller towns and in the rural sections no 

 facilities for sanitary inspection exist, and the 

 plumbing-work in houses, from the difficulty 

 of getting skilled labor, is very deficient. 



Sanitary Publications. All that have under- 

 taken practical sanitary work have been im- 

 pressed with the necessity of popular enlight- 

 enment by means of tracts, lectures, etc. In 

 an address before the Sanitary Congress at Ex- 

 eter, England, the Marquis of Salisbury said 

 that " ' educate the people ' was the lesson 

 that he earnestly hoped the Sanitary Congress 

 would impress upon all. Having once learned 

 their lesson, the people would soon educate 

 the Government, Parliament, and the local 

 authorities." Dr. Lankester says, " The com- 

 paratively little impression produced by the 

 great staff of medical officers of health of Lon- 

 don arises from the ignorance of the popula- 

 tion of the laws of health." Sanitary literature 

 is steadily growing in amount, and already 

 embraces a large number of publications. Of 

 these the Government reports in England, 

 France, and Germany, and those issued by the 

 National Board of Health and the State boards 

 in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, New 

 Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, Wis- 

 consin, and Rhode Island, are of great value. 

 The writings of Chadwick, Richardson, Raw- 

 linson, Latham, Bailey-Denton, Waring, Phil- 

 brick, Bering, Gerhard, Bayles, and other spe- 

 cialists in this line, are among the leading 

 sanitary publications ; while the reports of 

 the American Public Association, and those of 

 the Social Science Association, contain many 

 valuable papers on sanitary topics. 



SANTO DOMINGO, a republic occupying the 

 eastern portion of the West Indian island of 

 that name, the western portion being Hayti. 

 (For area, territorial division, population, etc., 

 see "Annual Cyclopedia " for 1883.) 



Government. The President is Gen. Francisco 

 Gregorio Billini. The Cabinet in 1884 was com- 

 posed of the following ministers : Interior and 

 Police, Gen. Federico Lithgow; Foreign Af- 

 fairs, Sefior Eliseo Grullon; Justice, Public 

 Works, and Instruction, Seflor Jos6 Joaquin 

 Perez; Finance and Commerce, Seflor Ama- 

 bile Damiron; and War and Navy, Gen. Ca- 

 simiro Nemecio de Moya. The United States 

 Consul at the city of Santo Domingo is Mr. H. 

 C. C. Astwood, and the Dominican Consul at 

 New York, Mr. H. Billini. 



Finances, The home indebtedness, Jan. 1, 

 1884, was $3,353,365. The national indebted- 

 ness, including the repudiated Harmout St. 

 Domingo loan, stood, on Jan. 1, 1883, as fol- 

 lows: 



Outstanding national paper money, receivable at 

 par for the payment of duties to the extent of 

 15 per cent $2,400,000 



Six per cent. Harmont loan 2,500,000 



Amount due abroad, gradually being canceled by 

 2 per cent, on the customs duties collected 26,712 



Loan, contracted with the Companias de Credito. . 465,725 



Total ' $5,392,487 



On October 9 the Dominican Congress em- 

 powered the Executive to issue a 12 per cent, 

 loan of $1,000,000 at 80, payable in twenty -three 

 years, and creating a sinking fund, toward which 

 $10,000 are to be set aside annually. This loan 

 was negotiated with the Companias de Cr6- 

 dito, and $500,000 out of the money were to 

 extinguish a former indebtedness of the Gov- 

 ernment to the same companies as shown above, 

 while $200,000 would accrue to the national 

 treasury, and $100,000 be used for the purpose 

 of stimulating and aiding immigration. 



The estimate for 1883 was $979,287 of rev- 

 enue, and $874,464 expenditure. 



President Billini, in his message of Septem- 

 ber 1, recommended the issuing of a decree of 

 general amnesty, and the abolition of the ex- 

 port duty on national products. 



Immigration. A proposition has been made 

 the Government to procure immigrants from 

 the Canary Islands at $20 each for men, $15 

 for women, and $10 for children. On the basis 

 of this proposal, the Minister of Public Works 

 issued a circular, laying down the conditions on 

 wliich sugar-planters would be allowed to con- 

 tract for laborers on their plantations. Upon 

 arrival of the immigrants capable of doing field- 

 labor, the planters will have to furnish them 

 all that is necessary to install them and enable 

 them to raise sugar-cane, which is to be paid 

 for at the rate of $2.50 to $3 the 100 arrobes, 

 from which the advances made them are to be 

 deducted. Those who prefer to work for wages 

 are to be paid six reals a day in silver. Immi- 

 grants, who choose to work for their own ac- 

 count, will be allotted 50 tareas of Govern- 

 ment lands to each male settler, 100 to every 

 family without soris, and 125 to families having 

 boys. The Government pays the passage from 

 the Canary Islands, and on their landing ad- 

 vances, to all new-comers between the ages of 

 ten to sixty years, $4, and $2.50 for children 

 from one to ten years, with lodging for a fort- 

 night, and liberty to turn their labor to account 

 as they may choose, all their implements, seeds, 

 etc., to enter duty-free. 



Abolition of Export Duties. The Dominican 

 Congress, on October 2, passed a bill abolish- 

 ing the duty on exports, and, in compensation, 

 raising the extra duty on imports from 6 per 

 cent, to 8 per cent. At the same time the Ex- 

 ecutive was authorized to contract loans to 

 cover any deficiency in the income. 



Steamship Subsidy. The Minister of Finance 

 perfected in October a contract with the Span- 

 ish transatlantic line of steamers, to call at the 

 capital monthly, for which service the Govern- 

 ment pays the company a monthly subsidy of 

 $150, the correspondence to be carried gratia. 



