Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-07-23

ern border.
 St. Domingo may be called coun- I'try of perpetual revolt against the government head. Like the Haytien republic, occupying the western half of the same island, it has an ex- tremely sanguinary record. Since the separation from Hayti in 1844 it has had numerous presidents, and in each instance it took revolution of gen. era character or a minor revolt to establish and disestablish each one of them.
 St. Domingo has not had so many rulers in the same period as has the heighboring republic, for the reason that several of the Dominican presi- dents have been exceptionally strong men who succeeded by sheer dominion in keeping themselves at the head of affairs for a considerable time. There fwere three or four instances of this kind, when St. Domingo was not actually in open revolt, though, to judge from the chronicles, at the boil ing point all the time, as immediate and successful revolution came through the first opening.
 | The last strong man of the little republic was Gen. Ulises Heureaux, who succeeded in remaining at the head of the government for 13 years. A born revolutionist, he came into power in the early sos after years of fighting. As president he dis played marked ability and determi- nation to have the affairs of the island conducted on the basis of order and justice. Under his administration, with the exception of two minor at tempts. at war which were promptly suppressed, the country remained at peace and advanced in a marvellous manner morally and politically.
 General Heureaux during his event. ful career received nines serious wounds and carried two bullets in his body. Finally, as in the case of near ly all of his predecessors, his career was terminated by the bullet of an assassin in 1899.
 Since the overthrow of Heureaux the republic has experienced so many revolutions and has had so many presidents, provisional or otherwise, that history~fails to record all of them. Seldom has any one man remained at the helm of affairs for longer than one year. s
 ;.PEobably the form of government Llaas Shad much to do with the never ending wars in St. Domingo. Each of the rulers, by whatever title he was known, had revolution surging in his dominions while he held on, and each in turn went the way of his predeces.- sor, his only choice being the choice of routes. As it is now, the govern ment is presumably established under constitution which provides for a president, with more or less auto- cratic powers and two legislative chambers, whose members are elected. The government is republic in form and French in origin, but in reality It has always been a military despotism.
 Several years ago comparative quiet was restored in the island and it was believed that the country was on the eve of an era of peace and development. But in 1913 there again arose dispute over the presidency, and since that time the republic has suffered from revolutionary disturb ances with little or no intermission.
 St. Domingo possesses vast natural resources that have scarcely been touched. The principal exports are sugar, timber, coffee, tobacco, ba- nanas, hides and wax. The bulk of the trade is in the hands of the United
 States and large amount of Ameri-
 can capital is invested in the sugar
 plantations and other industries of
 the island. It is for this reason that
 the American government has devoted
 its efforts for several years to restor-
 ing peace and quiet in the republic.
 The customs duties are the main
 source of revenue of the Dominican government and the control of them
 has always been the first aim of the rival aspirants for power As a step
 toward quelling these disturbances by
 removing the principal object of at
 traction the United States government
 stepped in two years ago and assumed entire control of the customs duties. | -O-