New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-04-27
Sante Domingo Case stated
BY HENRY b. BLACKWELL.

The Dominican Government proposes TO an
mex Santo Domingo to the Unified States as a
territory. The Dominican people. at a special
election have ratified the proposition bv an
overwhelming majority. They offer to place
in the hands Of our Government all their public
property, worth more than two million dollars,
on condition of our assumin" an indebtedness
Of IA million and bali In other words, we are
offered Santo Domingo E.r Uetsials Shall we
accept il On these terms?
This generous offer Of coafdin% people IS
not appreciated. The annexation is strongly
opposed by the Democrats. who once offered a
hundred million dollars for Cuba, and by Sena-
tor Sumner, who voted to pay seven million
dollars Tor Alaska. Grave charges Of tyranny
and corruption have been preferred against the
Administration. Commissioners appointed by
Congress to visit Santo Domingo. and investi-
gate the facts have made a favorable report.
The question is now before the American PEG
pie for decision. Is it for our interest that
SantO Domingo should he annexed?
The Commissioners, and nine -tcnth2 Of the
gentlemen who accompanied the expedition,
say Yes. am led to the same conclusion
lst Because the material interests of the
United States will be promoted by annexation.
II farmer who possesses plenty of pasture
and moving, but lacks tiIlage, should be offered
piece of excellent pillow land ed joining him for
small consideration, he would buy il because
he needs it. For n similar REASON we need
tropical territory. To day we import almost
all our sugar and mOlasses, and all our coffee,
chocolate, plmento, ginger, indigo, spices, and
tropical fruits from foreign countries. We pay
for these articles more than one hundred and
twenty million dollars per annum in gold. This
vast sum mainly goes to support slavery and
despotism in Cuba and Brazil. We have no
territory capable Of supplying us with these
great tropical staples. They are Indispensable
necessities of civilized life. Santo Domingo
possesses 10000 square miles of territory upon
which sugar-cane grows rs corn grows on our
Western pralries, ard upon which coffee can
be produced as cheaply as beans can he raised
in Connecticut Therefore, everybody who
uses sugar and coffee is interested in the an
nexation of Santo Domingo, because its result
will be, within ten years, to reduce the cost of
sugar, coffee, chocolate, etc, to less than one
half their present prices.
This is no exaggcratiOn. Ii is capable Of
demonstration. Sugar is selling in Azua to-
day at two and half cents per pound. Adding
one cent per pound for internal revenue tax
and half a cent for freight, this sugar can be
delivered in New Y ork for four cents per pound.
To-day it is worth nine cents per pound IN New
York by the cargo.
Even this is not fall statement of the proba-
BILE reduction OF prices, because the sugar now
raised in Aqua and elsewhere in SantO Domingo
is produced on small scale, with Imperfect
culture and machinery. Yankee energy and
enterprise, employing improved machinery, can
produce sugar in Santo Domingo for less than
two cents per pound in any quantity that is
needed. OF the twenty thousand square miles
In Santo Domingo five thousand-i. e.; three
million acres-are capable OF raising two tons
of sugar per acre. In Louisiana, on the con
trary, the sugar crop will not average 1000
pounds to the acre, and four years out of five
1T is more or less in ured by frost. The cane
needs to be replanted annually in Louisiana :;
whereas in Santo Domingo, where frost is un-
known, it springs up year after year from the
roots. There is field of sugar cane near A qua
which was planted over seventy years ago 1t
has never been replanted, and still yields more
than one ton of sugar per acre. In the rich
lands OF the Yuma Valley cane can be annually
cut for thirty years from the same roots. Sugar
can be made all the year round at less than half
what 1T costs TO make it in Louisiana.
This is not ALL Under our present system
of diferential duties the poorer the sugar the
lower is the duty the better the sugar the
higher the duty. Our tariff is graduated from
/ / cents to cents per IL. In gold, according to
quality. This is done for the benefit of our sugar
refners, who are interested in the importation of
low grade sugars, which need refining, and in
the exclusion of "grocers' grades, which are
used without refining. This system is essen
italy vicious. Good sugar can be made as
cheap as poor sugar. But the Cuban planter
has no inducement to make a good article. Ii
he does So it is excluded from our market by
the increased duty. He finds it more profitable
to make an inferior article, so as to escape the
higher duty. The Louisiana planter, on the
contrary, having free access to the American
market, finds it pays better to make good su-
car ard moIaasas which are uaad -,
refining If Santo Domingo is annexed, our
planters there will be stimulated to make good