Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future

by Otto Schoenrich

The real campaigns and expressions of the people's will have therefore been the revolutions, and politics and revolutions have thus come to be regarded as going hand in hand. In a town of the Cibao an expression of the garrulous landlady of the inn attracted my attention. The old lady, after regaling me with the local gossip, started with her own troubles. "Two revolutions ago," she said—and her mode of measuring time struck me as peculiar—"my eldest son took a gun and went into politics." "Cojió un fusil y se metió en la politica"—"took a gun and went into politics," the phrase is sadly expressive.

Such campaigns were only too easily begun. When a new president entered upon office on the crest of a successful revolution, apparently with the whole country behind him and his adversaries silenced or scattered, his popularity generally lasted until the spoils were distributed. ("To the victors belong the spoils" was the policy of the past; the American military authorities are making an important innovation by the introduction of civil service principles for selecting public employees.) The disappointed spirits immediately entered into the plots which the vanquished opponents were not slow in fomenting. The leader of the adverse party or one of his trusted lieutenants raised the standard of revolt and issued manifestoes which echoed with patriotic sentiments and decried the faults of the administration. He was joined by a number of disgruntled "generals" and their followers. The telegraph wires were cut and the revolution had begun.

Before 1905 the seizure of a custom-house was invariably the next step, which would at the same time provide the insurgents with the sinews of war and make it impossible for the government to pay its employees in that province. The custom-houses were eliminated as pawns in the revolutionary game by the fiscal treaty with the United States, according to which the customs receipts were paid over to an American receiver-general. Revolutions for a short time became more difficult, but where there's a will there's a way, and under a new routine the necessary funds were derived from the government's internal revenues and from levies on private citizens.

The first two or three weeks of a revolt constituted its critical period, for the government at once poured troops into the district in order to suppress the insurrection, while the rebels sought to obtain as many strategical points as possible. Both sides lived on the country while roaming about in pursuit of each other. If the government was victorious the leaders of the revolt would usually scramble across the border into Haitian territory, or leave the country by boat, or otherwise make themselves inconspicuous until the time was ripe for another rebellion. When the government was unready or unsuccessful, the insurrection spread with great rapidity from town to town until it arrived before the walls of Santo Domingo City. There was more or less of a siege and when the president capitulated he was permitted to board a vessel and go into exile. The head of the new revolution then assumed charge of the government and had himself elected president and the game began all over again.

The personal property of the fallen adversaries was respected and there was no confiscation, such as has occasionally been witnessed in certain other Latin republics. When Baez was overthrown in 1858 there was an exception to the rule, his properties being seized by the Santana government on the ground that he was a traitor ready to deliver the country over to the Haitians and was guilty of other high crimes and misdemeanors. But when the wheel of fortune again brought Baez to the top he promptly reentered upon his lands.

During the uprisings there has rarely been wanton destruction of property, the property of foreigners being especially respected. The owner of a plantation near Macoris told me that on one occasion the general of an insurgent force even halted at his gates and sent him a polite request for permission to cross the property. Such consideration was not universal, however, and large sums have been paid to foreigners for damages inflicted during revolutions. A serious inconvenience was caused farmers by revolutions as many laborers were enrolled in one army or the other, either voluntarily or by impressment.

In the course of the insurrection there were numerous encounters between the rebels and the government troops, most of them being mere skirmishes. There is hardly a town where there are not houses which show the marks of bullets. The walls and gates of Santo Domingo City and the houses in the vicinity are full of such marks, though generally painted over now. In 1904 and 1905 one of the sights of the city was a beautiful villa opposite the Puerta del Conde, which had served as target for the government forces while occupied by the insurgents and was so peppered by shot and shell as to look like a sieve. The sieges of Santo Domingo City sometimes lasted for many months. At such times almost every citizen took part in the excitement, barricades were erected at every street opening and the rattle of musketry was heard at all hours.

The proportion of shots fired to casualties inflicted is known to be enormous in all wars and in Santo Domingo it is almost incredible. Battles have been fought lasting for hours with thousands of shots fired, yet with not one man lost. There have been revolutionary uprisings lasting for months with not a man wounded. In Puerto Plata it is said that when the government troops attacked the city in 1904 a fierce battle ensued which continued from morning till the town was taken by storm in the evening; yet only one man was killed and his death was due to his own carelessness, for he appeared not far from where soldiers of the other side were training a cannon and refused to obey their warning to get out of the way, whereupon the cannon was discharged and his arm shot off, causing a mortal wound.

At other times, however, the results have been far more serious, as many a maimed soldier and bereaved family can testify. The graves of victims of the revolutions are scattered all over the Republic. How many have fallen in the disturbances of the past fifteen years it is impossible to determine; I have heard estimates ranging from 1000 up to 15,000. Nor is revolutionizing a pleasant business when continued for any length of time. When the men entered a town contributions could be levied on the merchants, but when they were harassed and forced to retreat to the mountains they roamed for weeks half nude, bare-headed, barefooted, exposed to the weather, living on what bananas and wild fruits they could find or occasional wild hogs they were able to kill, undermining their constitutions and brutalizing their natures. The landlady whose son sought political distinction with a gun told me amid sobs that her boys were dutiful, industrious lads before being caught in the revolutionary torrent, but that in the woods they lost all inclination for work and returned home completely demoralized. From grieving relatives of victims I have heard many another story of ruined lives and early deaths. It is saddening to reflect on the tears which have been shed and the misery which has been caused by this long continued civil strife.

While women have been heavy sufferers from the revolutions they have not hesitated to take sides and contribute their mite. Many are the stories current in Santo Domingo of women who smilingly passed through the enemy's ranks and carried ammunition and supplies concealed beneath their garments to their friends in the woods.