The times., 1899-08-31
THE DOMINICAN TROUBLE
Santo Domingo's North Coast in the
Hands of the Rebels.
Peaceful Surrender of Porto Plata
and Santiago - The Islands Busi-
ness Not Disturbed - Jiminez's
Chances for the Presidency-Some
other Features of the Revolution.


mingo Improvement Company received a
cable despatch from its agent at Porto Plata
this morning which stated that the cities
OF Porto Plata and Santiago and other cities
along the north coast of Santo Domingo
were under control OF the insurgents. The
despatch said further that there had been no
violence and that business was going on as
usual The two principal cities on the
north coast besides Porto Plata and Santa
so are La Vega and San Francesca de Mac
oriso According to z. D. York, secretary
of the Santo Domingo Improvement Com
pany, the SUCCESS of the insurgents is not
likely to seriously affect the business af-
fairs of the country.
You must not infer from the despatch,
he said, that the towns along the north
| coast were captured by force. The an
nouncement that the towns are now under
control of the insurgents means that the
governors of these places have declared
themselves in favor of the reyolutioDists
You see, each town is like small princi-
pality, ii has a standing army and gov
ernor, who has vested in him all the powers
of a dictator. When the Government needs
soldiers each city furnishes its quota Of
troops, which, when united, form the Gov
ernments regular army. This morning
despatch means that the governors OF these
towns along the north coast had declared
that the best course for them TO pursue
would be TO side with the insurgents. The
simple announcement of the change is all
that is necessary The inhabitants do not
seem to care who control the Government.
Their governors tell them that hereafter
they must support the insurgents. They
obey. The same is true of the soldiers. The
men from these cities who have been hght-
| ing for the Government are withdrawn from
the army and thereafter are as ready and
willing TO fight against the Government as
- IN
| las / say, however, all this VIII not
| affect business. Farmers are not inter-
| fered with and freight from the interior
| is not destroyed or coniscated. 1t looks
now as though the success of the insur-
gents would be complete. San Domingo
and other cities will unquestionably fol-
low the lead of the north coast towns and
the established Government Will disappear
| The end will be compromise between
| the Government officers and the insur-
| gents
Howard J. Balch. an electrician who ar
rived here from Santo Domingo last night
| when seen in the Office of the Santo Domin-
| go Improvement Company this morning
| said that the insurrection had not caused
much excitement in that Republic. The
! first we heard of the insurrection," said
J Mr.. Balch was about q week after Heu-
reaux's assassination. l was in Porto
| Plata at the time. 1t seems that Caceres
and his friends had gone 10 Heureaux's 5
country home at San Francesca de Maco-
riso soon after Caceres killed the Presf-
1 dent From there Caceres teiegraphed 10
| the governors of the various towns that
he was at their service-a little piece of
sarcasm of which the governors did not
take advantage.
One or two hundred men were finally
enlisted in the insurgent cause, and head
ed by Generals Caceres, Uasques, and
Pacheco, they began TO make things lively
| in the small mountain towns. Meanwhile
the Government had got its troops togeth-
er The army consisted Of about thous-
and men under command of General Esca-
boa. Meanwhile General Tabares and
General Reyes, insurgents, hao coisctea
about 900 men.
.sThey met the Government troops at
| Monte Cristo, and the insurgents we're
forced back, to Dajaibon- Here they made
| another stand and were whipped so sound
Iy that they fed into Haiti. Most OF them
! are there yet. ] do not know why the
| governors of the north coast towns should
have gone over to the insurgents, but they
doubtless thought that they might gain
| something by SO doing. IT, ."7 7ui eceioii
| - -, "a v.slt -l0T 1njure the business
/ 90 ~ -ancry. The tobacco crop this
xear Is larger than ever, and large guam
! tity of tobacco is now piled up in the in
| to the coast cities for shipment. The resent
hurricane has interfered with the freight
/ traffic somewhat and all kinds of freight
| is piled up at the depots-
| IF the success of the insurgent cause is
! assured, / think that General Jiminez will
stand a good chance of being elected Presi-
| dent He is now in Cuba, but he undoubt-
ediy iustigated the present insurrection
and. morever, he is better fitted TO assume
| the reins OF government than any other
OF the insurgents would be. / think, too,
that he is popular with the people
Whoever does become President of the
| Republic must give his immediate atten-
ticn TO the currency question. and he who
| solves it viii remain at the head of the
| Republic for many years 10 come. There
1 is no staple currency. and no administra-
tion will be successful until sound fnan-
cial system has been adopted. Heureaux
| gave the subject a great deal of attention
and finally he provided a system Of cur
rency for his people Heureaux was i'm
| prudent however in that he issued too
| large a supply of bank notes within short
| period. The bank notes put in circulation
| did not exceed five per capita OF popula-
tion, but they were issued more rapidly
than the people were prepared to receive
them. AS there was no deposit to back
the notes. the people became frightened.
They did not believe the Government would
| redeem them with coin, and. as a result.
their value deprecated. When presented
for exchange in foreign countries, the notes
were taken at the rate OF to T. That is.
they had to give six OF these one-dollar
notes to obtain 81 in the currency OF other
countries"
OBITUARY.