Government and The consti tution vests the executive power in a President chosen by an electoral college for a six years' term. Under the present constitution, which went into effect 1 April 1908, the Congress ((designates a person to take charge of the executive office," in the event of the death or disability of the President. There is no Vice President. The cabinet officers are the secre taries of Interior and Police, of Foreign Affairs, of the Treasury and Commerce, of War and Marine, of Justice and Public In struction, of Agriculture and Immigration, and of Encouragement (Fomento) and Communi cations. The Congress is composed of Senate (12 members, one from each prov ince) and Chamber of Deputies (24 mem bers, two from each province), both senators and deputies being elected by indirect vote, the former for six and the latter for four years. The judiciary consists of a Supreme Court (eight members, appointed for terms of four years), two courts of appeal, etc.
Free primary instruction is offered by the communes, with the aid of the central govern ment; the system including also superior tech nical and normal schools, and a professional school or university. There are about 40 news papers. The State religion is the Roman Catho lic, but there is toleration of other religions.
The legal currency has been the American dollar since 1900, but before the American in tervention the country possessed a very inade quate amount of metallic and paper currency which has since been withdrawn. Certain native banks were invested with the power of issuing notes, but so great was the national distrust that their currency could not be disposed of. The circulating currency medium of the Re public is Puerto Rico and United States money. The chief banks are the Banco Nacional de Sto. Domingo and the Royal Bank of Canada. The International Banking Corporation acquired the established banking business of Santiago htichelena in the Dominican Republic, with head offices at Santo Domingo City and several branches and agencies in other parts of the island. The Michelena Bank was the deposi tory for customs revenues under the arrange ment between the governments of Santo Do mingo and the United States, and the Inter national Banking Corporation succeeded to it in that capacity. There are also a few private bankers and merchants engaged in the banking business. The republic has two principal debts, both guaranteed by customhouse duties, one of $20,000,000 at 5 per cent interest and the other of $1,500,000 at 6 per cent interest. An additional debt of $243,000 makes the total indebtedness $21,743,000 in 1916. This debt is being steadily reduced since the United States assumed the management of the financial affairs of the republic. The government's revenue is derived from customs, alcohol and stamp taxes, wharf dues, posts and telegraphs, and civil registra tion. In the fiscal year 1916-17, total receipts were estimated at $4,468,000 and disbursements $4,406,567.
The principal exports of the Dominican Re public, which are rapidly increasing, are sugar, cacao, tobacco, coffee, hides, wax, honey, ba nanas and other tropical fruits, cotton, minerals, cabinet and other woods. The high price of
sugar has stimulated the production of sugar cane, the yearly output of which, in normal times, is worth about $5,000,000. The cultiva tion of cacao and coffee is also on the increase, and more attention is being paid to the raising of cattle. The principal imports of the republic consist of iron, steel, cotton goods, wheat flour, rice, meats and dairy products, oils, raw and manufactured woods. The greater part of the export and import trade is now with the United States.
The railways of the republic have an extent of about 176 miles; private lines on large es tates about 225 miles. There are 402 miles of telegraph and 847 of telephone lines. The diffi culties of communication between the various districts of the country, primarily due to the cordilleras, are in large part attributable to the great lack of good highways, without which peace will never be assured. There is steamship service between New York and Dominican ports, but the vessels are, as a rule, small and slow. There is also regular steamer service between Santo Domingo, Porto Rico and Cuba.
A rural guard (nominally 906 officers and men) supplements a military force numbering about 1,300. The government has six small vessels, four of which are revenue cutters.
The number of inhabitants in 1917 was 724,500, or per square mile. The Despo blado region — the nearly uninhabited district of high mountains, inaccessible valleys and vir gin tropical forests — comprises, roughly speak ing, the central third of the entire area of the island, or one-half of the Dominican Republic. It is the wide borderland fought over by the Haitians and the troops of the Dominican Re public. The people of the latter country, of blended Spanish, Indian and negro blood, with the small proportion of white descendants of the Spanish colonists and foreign merchants, occupy an area that is actually much more re stricted than a glance at the map would suggest.
The Dominican Republic is divided into 12 provinces. Among the principal cities of the country are Santo Domingo (the capital), 26,000; Santiago, 20,000; Puerto Plata, 16,000; San Pedro de Macoris, 15,000; Samani, 6,000; Sanchez, 5,500; La Vega, 5,200; Agua, 5,000; Moca, 4,900; Monte Cristi, 4,500.
Bibliography.— Abad, J. R., 'La Republica Dominicana) (Santo Domingo 1888) ; Aspinall, A. E., 'The Pocket Guide to the West Indies' (Chicago and New York 1914) ; Republic: Report of the Commission of In quiry to Santo Domingo' (Washington 1871); 'Financial Conference, Proceedings of the First Pan-American) (Washington 1915) ; Hill, R. T., 'Cuba and Porto Rico with the Other Is lands of the West Indies' (New York 1898); Hollander, J. H., The Dominican Convention and its Lessons' (in Clark University, Wor cester, Mass. (Latin America,' New York 1914) ; Monte y Tejada, A. Del, (Historia de Santo Domingo) (Santo Domingo 1890) ; Pan American Union, (Dominican Republic' (Wash ington 1915) and 'Latin (Washing ton 1916).
MwnRloN WILCOX.