New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-04-27

sugars for direct consumption and thus thu
extra cost and profit of refining will be saved &
the consumers.
In regard to coffee. similar reduction o
prices will ensue. The restrictions hitherto
placed on its production and importation have
created false standard of values More than
half OF the area of Santo Domingo is hilly but
fertile. and Is cminentIy fitted for the culture
OF coffee. There are ten thousand square miles,
or SIX million acres. each acre capable of pro
duciug |, 800 lbs. OF coffee annually. The trees
commence bearing when four years old and
continue to bear for century MANY of the
finest coffee plantations IN the neighboring
island of Jamaica are situated on PERCEPTIONS
mountain slopes $500 feet above the sea, in a
delightful climate, where the thermometer
never rises above - degrees nor falls below 30
degrees in the shade There have seen trees,
planted seventy years ago, loaded with coffee
berries, while the ground beneath them was
covered with wild strawberries
Coffee can be proftably produced for five
cents per pound by free labor i'll Santo Domin-
60. It's culture is emiuenty adopted to fami-
lies of small capital, as the labor is light and
can be performed by women and children. A
coffee plantation of forty acres can be made by
hired labor, including all necessary machinery,
for less than 5000.
The cacao tree, which produces the chocolate
bean, is found growing in the woods. 1t can
he cultivated with even greater profit than cot
Zee. Ginger and indago are weeds growing
Wild by the roadside. | have seen the ginger
shrub In blossom on the summit of a mountain
5. 600 feet hirh.
The climate Of SantO Domingo is not un-
healthy, as is falsely alleged. On the contrary
the hliiy districts are extremely salubr'ous.
The central watershed of the Cibao is 5000
Ieet hlgh The mountain ranges run east and
west, giving free access to the trade winds
which blow steadily from the east all the year
round. The island is singularly free from sand
and swamps. The general character of the
soil is strong clay loan. underlaid by lime
stone. The surface is undulating, with rapid
streams of clear cold water, and is admirably
drained by Nature. Noxious insects and rep
tiles are rare. White men can live on the
island and rear healthy families. process of
acclimaton is, indeed, inevitable but this
accllmaton need not be severe nor dangerous.
The same is true of the Mississippi Valley in a
greater degree. If any tropical region in the
world IL healthy, Santo Domingo is that region.
At present there are very few people in Do
mnca-ab0ut many as in Newark, n j.
They seem peaceable and honest, willing to
work and ready to learn. Santo Domingo and
Hayti combined have fewer inhabitants than
times its present population.
.. The intellectual and moral interests of
the Cnitcd States aCfU be promoted By annerd-
tom. Free Institutions and human rights are
not limited by latitude. If slavery was wicked
In Carolina IN 1860, it is wicked in Cuba to-day
If despotsm was wrong in Boston in 1776, it is
wrong today in Brazil. The American people,
who have spent 100000 lives and S., 600, 900
600 TO abolish slavery at home, are still an
nually expanding 100000, 600 to uphold
slavery abroad. Our vast importation of slave
grown produce is the great bulwark of despot-
ism and slavery on the North American con-
tinent. Consistency, humanity, and sound
political economy alike demand fair field for
free labor in the production of the tropical
staples by American citizens under the flag of
the great Republic. That field is Santo Do
min@oi
BY anneXing Santo Domingo we strike a
death blow to the accursed spirit of caste In
Dominica caste is unknown Before we had
been there "A week we forgot all about color,
aud ceased to notice the accident of complexion.
The contemplate outrage inflicted upon Frede-
rick Douglass on the Potomac would not only
be impossible there, but would almost be in
conceivable We have five million cOlored
and black fclIow-cjtizrus to whom the climate
of the y csC Indies T. admirably adapted, and
who will find IN Sauto Domingo n refuge from
the tyranny Of the ku- kluX of the South.
When this outlet for colored labor is provided
Southern planters will discover that capital
can no LONGER Cypress labor with impunity and
will be compelled to protect the freedmen in
order Ia retain them as laborers. The key to
reconstruction is the annexation Of Santo Do
mingo.
The present hostile attitude of Hayti toward
Dominica is only an additional argument in
favor of annexation. No one but Mr.. Sumner
will believe that we shall do injustice to either
of the belligerents by putting an end to war
and stopping the future elIusiou of blood. No
one but Mr. Sumner will charge our Govern
ment with Injustice in forbdding Hayti to bully
her weaker neighbour and saving Dominica from
the gulf OF barbarsm. Indeed, beneficial as
annexation would he to Dominica IIayti needs,
most of all, the example of American civiliza-
ton and the stimulus Of American example.
If we treat lIayti with kindness and courtesy,
and make an amicable adjustment Of bOunda-
res, time and selG.intcrest will soon bring her
into sympathy with us.
The American people are vitality Interested
in the maintenance Of a Republican Admins
tration until the issues of the war are accepted
and secured. The success of the Republican
party demands the annexation of Santo Domin-
go. Never has the admirable common sense
Of General Grant been more strkingly illus
themeasure. Annexation will result in addnga
new Republican State to the Union at an early
day. 1t will identify the Republican party with
moral and material progress, and will leave
upon the Democracy lasting stigma as the
party of reaction.
We advocate the annexation of Santo Domin-
go because We believe in g manifest destiny :"
because we are in favor of diversjfying our
industry, and reducing the cost of the necessa-
ries of life; because we wish to break up the
slave holding monopolies of Cuba and Brazil !:
because We have faith in republican institutions,
and want to see them extended; because we
desire to carry civilization into the heart of the
tropics in short, because it is our interest and
duty as Americans to accept this great provi-
Dental opportunity of planting our language,
our laws, our literature, and our religion upon
the finest island of the Western hemisphere -
". /. Independent.
a Coiored Public Man.