788 



SANTO DOMINGO. 



SCHWENKFELDERS. 



Heureaux was elected President in 1886. The 

 Cabinet was made up in 1801 as follows : Minister 

 of the Interior and of Police, Gen. W. Fignereo ; 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gen. J. Gonzalez; 

 Minister of War and Marine, Gen. F. Lithgoro ; 

 Minister of Finance and Commerce. Gen. J. F. 

 Sanchez; Minister of Public Works, Gen. A. 

 Wos y Gil. 



Area and Population. The area of the re- 

 public is 18,045 square miles. The population in 

 1888 was 416,871. Santo Domingo, the capital 

 city, has 25,000 inhabitants, and Puerto Plata, 

 the principal seaport, has 15,000. The people 

 are negroes and mulattoes, with some admixture 

 of Indian blood, and a larger sprinkling of 

 whites, descended from Spanish settlers, than is 

 found in the neighboring republic of Hayti. 

 Roman Catholicism is the state religion. There 

 are about 300 schools, with 10,000 pupils. 



Finances. The revenue is obtained mainly 

 from customs duties. In 1889 the budget esti- 

 mate of revenue was $1,531,284, and of ex- 

 penditure $1,408,543. The debt on Jan. 1, 

 1889, consisted of an internal debt of $1,282,- 

 592, another internal debt, known as the pub- 

 lic debt, amounting to $1,648,423, a foreign 

 debt of $234,250, and the debt contracted in 

 London in 1869 which the Council of Foreign 

 Bondholders in 1889 computed at 714,300, with 

 unpaid interest amounting to 664,299. In or- 

 der to effect a settlement with the old creditors 

 and obtain the sum of 475,000 for public im- 

 provements, a new loan of 770,000 has been 

 contracted. 



Commerce. The chief products are tobacco, 

 coffee, cacao, cotton, and sugar. The cultivation 

 of the sugar-cane is extending. To encourage 

 agriculture and immigration the Government of- 

 fers grants of public lands. The principal ex- 

 ports are logwood, lignum-vitae, mahogany, cof- 

 fee, fustic, tobacco, sugar, and cacao. The trade 

 is chiefly with the United States, the Danish 

 West Indies, Spain, England, France, and Ger- 

 many. The value of the imports in 1887 was 

 $2.056.928, and that of the exports $2,660.471. 

 There were 175.637 hundred- weight of tobacco 

 and 9,391 hundred-weight of cacao exported. 

 The export of sugar increased from 114,604 hun- 

 dred-weight in 1881 co 406,142 hundred- weight in 

 1887, and that of molasses from 190,802 to 476,933 

 hundred-weight. In 1888 the total value of im- 

 ports was $1,992.884. and that of exports $2,- 

 520.983. According to the United States cus- 

 toms reports, the imports from Santo Domingo 

 into the United States in 1890 were $1.951.013, 

 the chief articles being sugar for $1,715,364, hides 

 and skins for $77,279, dyewoods for $71,031, and 

 coffee for $49,443. The domestic exports from 

 the United States to Santo Domingo were valued 

 at $926,651, the principal items being iron and 

 steel goods, wheat flour, wood manufactures, 

 cotton goods, and lard. The number of ships 

 entered in 1890 was 181. of 97.250 tons. 



Communications. A railroad to unite San- 

 chez, Samana Bay, and La Vega has been com- 

 pleted for a distance ot 72 miles. One has been 

 begun between Puerto Plata and Santiago, and 

 another between Barahona and Cerro de Sal. 

 The post-office in 1889 forwarded 204.546 letters, 

 circulars, etc., in the domestic service, and 182,- 

 778 in the international service. There are 369 



kilometres in operation, placing Sanchez in com- 

 munication with La Vega and Puerto Plata with 

 Santo Domingo, and connecting with the French 

 and the South American cables. 



Dispute with Hayti. In 1874, in view of 

 the efforts recently made by the United States 

 Government to acquire Samana Bay as a naval 

 station, the Haytian President induced the 

 Dominican Government to enter into a treaty 

 whereby it pledged itself not to sell, cede, or 

 lease any part of its territory to a foreign power. 

 This agreement was embodied in a treaty of 

 commerce, in which the customs frontier be- 

 tween the two republics was abolished, and each 

 engaged not to levy duties on the products of 

 the. other, while an arrangement was made for 

 the equitable division of the maritime customs 

 by which the Haytian Government was to pay 

 over a considerable sum annually to Santo Do- 

 mingo. For a year or two the payments were 

 made, and then they ceased. An old boundary 

 dispute was revived, and other matters came up 

 to cause friction between the two black repub- 

 lics, whose relations have been in varying de- 

 grees strained ever since. The mutual irritation 

 was increased in 1890 when President Hippolytc 

 denounced the treaty of 1874, although it was 

 concluded for twenty-five years, and imposed 

 heavy, almost prohibitive, duties on all Domini- 

 can products. A claim of $823,477, presented by 

 Santo Domingo as the balance due from Hayti 

 which accrued during the first eight years in 

 which the treaty was in force, has been disre- 

 garded. A commission was appointed to seek an 

 adjustment of this and other differences; but it 

 broke up without accomplishing its object. 



SCHWENKFELDERS. The one hundred 

 and fifty-seventh anniversary of the landing of 

 tha first colony of Schwenkfelders in the United 

 States was celebrated at Clayton, Pa., Sept. 

 24. There are said to be only five organized 

 congregations of this denomination in the 

 United States, all in Pennsylvania, while there 

 are individual members in several other States ; 

 but the sect is regarded as declining. The 

 Schwenkfelders originated with Caspar Schwenk- 

 feld, of Silesia, who, in the sixteenth century, ed- 

 ucated a Catholic, became a Protestant through 

 reading the works of Tauler and Luther, and 

 took an active part in propagating the doctrines 

 of the Reformation. He afterward advocated 

 doctrines differing from those of Luther on the 

 Eucharist and other subjects, and was persecuted 

 bv both Protestants and Catholics, lie died at 

 Ulm in 1561, in the seventy-second year of his 

 age. About two thousand members of the 

 Church attended the anniversary at Clayton. 

 The exercises included memorial addresses and 

 a repast, served at noon, according to a tradi- 

 tional custom, in the meeting-house. 



SEBVIA, a monarchv in southeastern Europe. 

 By the Constitution of Jan. 3. 1889. the executive 

 power is vested in the King, and is exercised in 

 his name by a Council of Ministers, who are indi- 

 vidually and collectively responsible to the Na- 

 tional Assembly or Skupshtina. Projects of law 

 are first submitted to a Council of State, consist- 

 ing of 8 members chosen by the vote of the 

 Skupshtina arid an equal number nominated by 

 the King. The members of the Skupshtina are 

 elected for three years by the direct suffrage of 



