The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-19
$500 tons dead weight. and the cargo VIII
largely consist OF grain
SANTA O0MINGO'S SITUATION
Interested Parties Deny Stories o.
Troubles Threatened


says:
1t has been published in this city. in
Boston, and doubtless in other places,
that the situation in Santo Domingo is
such that further armed disturbances are
threaened. The Jimenez administration.
which came into power after the assas-
sination OF President Heureaux, has not.
it is said, won the confidence or APPROX
al Of the people. A particular source of
dissatisfaction with the administration,
it is declared, is its inability 10 deal with
the financial problem, and. to make mat
ters worse, JimeneZ and his advisers are
at loggerheads with the Santo Domingo
Improvement Company, the american
syndicate which, under contract with the
government, collects the customs reve-
nues of the country. This is due. ii Is
said, to the insistence of Jimenez upon ap-
pointing customs officers who are unac-
ceptable to the syndicate. which, in re-
taliation, has refused to pay the monthly
budget or to accede to the governments
request that all duties be collected in
American gold
These representatives were brought to
the attention of he officers of the Santo
Domingo Improvement Company. whose
officers are in the Empire building. Chas-
W Wells, Vice-Presideut. said:
The statemnts affecting this company
are absolutely untrue The only incident
which could have lent the slightest col
or of truth to them was a little misunder-
stnading which arose some time ago be-
teween the government and the repres-
entatives of the syndicate, over the ap-
W inf ~ =of-
pointment of one official; but the mo
ment we were informed, we settled it
satisfactorily at once. and there has since
been no reoccurance of anything similar
so far from the syndicate having re-
fused to collect all duties in American
gold, it has been collecting them in no
other way, and it has done so not only
because the government requested it, but
because the syndicate preferred to exact
payment in that form. There has been
perfect unanimity and harmony between
the contracting parties on that point.
AS for paying the stipulated monthly
sum to the Santo Domingo government,
there has been no refusal on our part,
nor any failure except for very brief
period at the end of the revolution. when
there was an interregnum which left no
responsible government to which the mon
ey could be paid. We even on one oc-
casion assumed the responsibility Of max
ing a payment to the committee Of safe
preceding the organization Of the jim
enez government.
CAS- to the assertion that the country
is again in a disturbed state. our infor-
nation on the contrary. is that there has
not been for long time so much tran
guilty. contentment and prosperity as
now. The financial problem, so far as 1t
devolves upon President Jimenez's adj
ministration, is being, as far as we can
see, very well dealt with. Not only are
the duties being collected in American
gold. but the American monetary stad-
ard has been formally adopetd. For the
rest, the problem is greatly simpliied by
all responsibility for the principal and in
terest of the bounded debt. and pay the
greater part of the expenses of the gov
eminent besides. receiving in exchange
the customs duties.
Even in the event Of renewed diseurb-
ances.'' continued Mr.. Wells. "our rights
would not be invalidated or affected. We
go on collecting the duties through all
changes of rule. supporting the existing
government morally and financially. OF
course. we have from our own govern
me ntno guarantee of the stability Of our
. connection with Santo Domingo other
than the general obligation Of the United
States to protect its citizens and their
interests everywhere; but we have found
this sufficint when IN 1872 our rights were
threatened by France, and we doubt not
that we can depend upon it in any future
emergency.
eff the public will observe. IT will per-
ceive hereafter that all misrepresenta-
tons of the charscte Of the present ones
are cabled from Jamaica. This is read
lily explained by the fact that Kingston
is the hotbed Of revolutions in that part
of the world. DOminicans who are noe
reconciled to the Jimenez government are
there. and Of course. they are doing what
they can to further their own ends"