Part 22 (1/2)
Department of War and the Navy......................... 593,815.26 Including office of secretary; 12 military posts (the commanders receiving from $60 to $150 per month); 10 armories $4,980; military instructors $4,380; president's staff $12,380; one infantry regiment of about 470 officers and men (the colonel receiving $95 monthly, the men $l5); a band of 33 men; a police force, called ”republican guard” of about 800 officers and men (salaries ranging from $200 for the brigadier general and $140 for the colonel, to $18 for the private); 2 military hospitals $31,867; a machine shop $4,440; port captains at $50-$90 per month, and doctors at $25-$50; and the gunboat $26,444.
Department of Justice and Public Instruction........... 318,208.00 Including office of secretary; University of Santo Domingo $23,700; Santiago professional inst.i.tute $8,820; 2 jail schools; subventions to many munic.i.p.al schools, private and special schools, about $180,000; 33 scholars.h.i.+ps, $23,870; pensions $23,988.
Department of Agriculture and Immigration.............. 18,740.00 Including office of secretary; experiment fields in Santiago $3,000; weather bureau $3,980.
Department of Development and Public Works............. 332,596.00 Including office of secretary; lighthouses $13,282; postal service; telegraph, telephone and wireless service; upkeep of dredge ”Ozama.”
Chamber of Accounts.................................... 7,980.00
Miscellaneous.......................................... 61,872.00
Contingent expenses.................................... 25,000.00
Const.i.tutional a.s.sembly................................ 10,000.00
Total estimated disburs.e.m.e.nts, besides debt service ... $2,651,119.30
The figures in the budgets were not, absolute but were subject to modification by transfer of appropriation through presidential decree.
The contingent expense fund and the military appropriations were thus frequently swelled at the expense of other services.
The budget above shown was the last one enacted under the old conditions. It was never applied, but is given as a sample, because, while differing only slightly from the old budget which continued in force, it better ill.u.s.trates conditions at the beginning of American occupation. The military government made numerous changes in the budget and rendered the appropriations for salaries of the president and cabinet secretaries available for other purposes, as the American naval and marine officers now performing the duties of these positions receive no compensation from the Dominican treasury. A comprehensive new budget, the first one of the period of transition and providing for some of the innovations recently introduced, was expected to become effective early in 1918.
For the purpose of bringing order and efficiency into the collection and disburs.e.m.e.nt of the public revenues of Santo Domingo, the American government in 1913 urged that it be permitted to designate an American comptroller and financial adviser and the Bordas administration at length consented, but as there was no legal authority for such action and as the appointee was not characterized by unusual ability, the Jimenez administration declined to continue the arrangement. During the present military government and under the efficient direction of the acting comptroller-general, J. H. Edwards, valuable work is being done in revising the accounting system and generally placing the country's finances in order.
All the accounts of the Republic are carried on in American money, which is legal tender and is current in all parts of the country. For about fifty years after the declaration of independence, coins of many countries, princ.i.p.ally Mexican silver and Spanish gold, were in circulation, with the rate of exchange constantly fluctuating. In 1890 the Republic joined the Latin convention and in the following year through the then existing Banque Nationale de Saint Domingue issued silver and copper coin to the value of about $200,000. The fall in the value of silver caused depreciation and a few of the silver coins of this issue which are still in circulation are valued at forty cents gold for five francs; the copper coins at a little less. In 1894 the gold standard was adopted and though no actual coinage took place all official financial transactions were thereafter based upon gold values. In 1895 and 1897 President Heureaux issued more silver coins or, rather, coins washed over with silver, to the nominal amount of $2,250,000, but the seigniorage was so enormous that the issue was a case of a government counterfeiting its own money. The rate of exchange fell to five pesos for one dollar gold and this is the rate legalized by the law of June 19, 1905, which made the American gold dollar the standard of the Dominican Republic.
For a while the ordinary smaller business transactions continued to be based on silver values. On a trip to Santo Domingo in 1904 a friend and myself were driven from the wharf to the hotel and the coachman asked for two dollars. It seemed an outrageous charge, but we considered ourselves in the hands of the Philistines, and handed over an American two-dollar bill. ”Excuse me until I can get change,” said the coachman to our surprise, and ran into the hotel; in a moment he reappeared with a double handful of coins: ”Here is your change,” he said, ”eight dollars.” The charge had been only forty cents in gold.
At the present time American money is the basis and Dominican silver and copper is regarded merely as fractional currency, one peso Dominican being equivalent to twenty cents American.
At various times the Dominican Republic has had disastrous experiences with paper money issued without sufficient guarantees. One service rendered by the Spaniards during their occupation in the sixties was the retirement of large amounts of such paper. The troubles accompanying unsecured paper money had been forgotten when Heureaux in his attempts to raise funds floated an issue of a nominal amount of $3,600,000 in notes, of the Banque Nationale, in addition to a small amount already emitted by the bank. Such demoralization resulted that at one time it took twenty dollars in paper money to purchase one dollar in gold. The national bank notes having been demonetized, various amounts were purchased at auction by the administrations succeeding Heureaux and destroyed, and almost all the remainder has been redeemed at five to one under the 1907 debt settlement. The only paper now seen is American paper money, which circulates at a par with American silver and gold.
MUNIc.i.p.aL FINANCES
Like the national government, the munic.i.p.alities or communes depend almost entirely upon indirect taxation for their revenues. One of the princ.i.p.al sources of income is the tax on the slaughter of cattle and sale of meat. The communes may further, with the authority of Congress, levy a ”consumo” tax, a small duty on the imports and exports of merchants within their jurisdiction, which tax has given rise to much confusion and controversy. Business licenses also form an important fount of revenue. By a law of Congress (soon to be superseded by a decree of the military government) the munic.i.p.alities are divided into several cla.s.ses, according to their importance, and the licenses payable by the various kinds of business in the several cla.s.ses are designated. The national government turns over to the various munic.i.p.alities a portion of the impost on spirits and grants educational subventions to several munic.i.p.alities for their primary schools. Minor sources of revenue are taxes on lotteries and raffles, vehicle licenses, amus.e.m.e.nt permits, c.o.c.kpits, etc. Two towns, Santo Domingo and Santiago, have munic.i.p.al lotteries. Under all these taxes a man might own scores of houses and great expanses of land without paying towards the maintenance of the state and munic.i.p.ality more than the poorest peon on his property.
The sums collected for munic.i.p.al purposes in all the communes of the Republic may be calculated at about $600,000 per annum, derived from the following sources:
MUNIc.i.p.aL RECEIPTS
Approximate percentage of entire income
Munic.i.p.al charges on imports and exports.............. 17.7 Business licenses..................................... 15.3 Markets............................................... 10.8 Lottery tax........................................... 10.5 Slaughter houses and meat transportation.............. 9.2 Alcohols.............................................. 7.3 Excises (alcabala).................................... 5.
Amus.e.m.e.nt permits..................................... 3.5 Public register....................................... 3.5 Lotteries............................................. 2.5 Lighting in private houses............................ 2.3 Ferryboats and bridges................................ 3.1 Munic.i.p.al property and rentals........................ 1.8 Miscellaneous......................................... 8.5 ----- 100.
The largest budget is that of the capital city, with Santiago second.