The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-28

revolution OF 1889 and 1920 San Domingo was the
wealthiett American colonial possession owned BY
any nation. The French part was immensely pros
porous, although the French had kept It but few
years. Ihave not the figures az hand but, having
examined them, assure you tnat the exports OF
coee, tobacco, sugar indigo cocoa, and other pro-
auctions sustain my assertions. The Spanish SIDE
vas in cond,an ana tbe IDes we're
yielding large quantities OF gold. Since the revol1-
tlon OF l7e0 when the blacks expelled the French
from San Domingo, the condition Of the country mas
retrograded and very little progress has since been
made in HaytL"
That portion of the island
which belongs to the Dominican Republic
could support population of five million
people and an immense export trade, yet the
exports from the entire island, EN- Dracing
Hsyti and San Domingo, to this country for
the last year we're but 1913, ,655, of which
S419, 700 or about four-niDths, came to us in
foreign vessels. The people of Dominica are
not only without machinery, but without the
simplest tools for agriculture or the arts.
There is not an iron plough within the limits
of the republic nor the simplest form of a saw
mill, though among the leading exports are
mahogany, ignum-vit@, logwood, fustic,
lance, satin, and other woods and it is i'm
possible to estimate what would be the value
and extent of the productions of the country
under the application of modern improve
ments in science, agricultural machinery, aud
the processes for manufacturing sugar and
reducing fine woods to slab and veneer, or
the stimulus that would be given to American
shipbuildiDg, the production of agricultural
and other implements, and to our carrying
trade and commerce, by the development of
the resources of this island by American in
telligence and enterprise.
Such, Mr.. Chairman, is San Domingo, the
true Queen of the Antilles, and such is the
sad story of her people. Her natural wealth
is boundless, and infinite in its variety. 1t is
also exhaustless, for its sources are perennial
yet her impoverished and decimated people
live in dread uncertainty, which, like the
shadow of impending death, precludes ex-
ertion for the future. In view of her re-
sources and her many bays and harbors
she should be the centre of a worldwide
and busy commerce; but her bays and har-
bors are rarely shadowed by sail, and a
single steamer, the Tybee, visiting her ports
but once month, suffices for the greater
part of her trade and communication with
the great commercial republic whose
imme diste neighbor she is. From the depths
of their despair the people of the republic Of
Dominica implore us to remove the dread
shadow under which they live, expose her
wealth to view, and cause it to be applied to
the uses of mankind Moved by their appeal,
and instructed by the action of all his really
great predecessors, the President proposes to
the country to bless them aud the world by
granting their prayer; and for this he is
assailed by the puny and short
sighted leaders of the Democratic party
Against their assaults 1 will not pause
to defend him. He has vindicated to
the world and history the singleness
and rectitude of his purposes by the selection
of Benjamin T. Wade, Andrew H. White, and
George S. Howe as commissioners to make
the inquiries ordered by Congress. Truer
men than these he could not have named, nor
men more free from the suspicion of liability
to corrupt or sinister Influences; and Presi-
dent Grant may well express willingness to
abide the result of their investigations, conf
dent that it will justify all that he has done,
and result in adding the tropical wealth of
San Domingo to the mighty resources of the
United States, and in the revival and expan-
sion of our languishing commerce.