1941: Dominican Republic

On the occasion of the fiftieth birthday of Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo, the power behind the presidential chair, an assembly of 600 prominent citizens, members of the one political party, acclaimed him candidate for president in the elections scheduled for May 16, 1942. On Dec. 16 the voters were asked to pass on a number of constitutional changes backed by General Trujillo. These include suffrage for women; a reduction in the number of Congressional representatives; the extension of the president's term from four to six years; and the suppression of the vice-presidency.

With the other Caribbean nations, the Dominican Republic declared war on the Axis Powers after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lend-lease aid has been provided the Government by the United States for the purchase of armaments.

Export-Import Bank credits to the Republic total $3,300,000. Part of this has been applied to the construction of a slaughterhouse and refrigerating plant, the meat to be sent to Puerto Rico, where the increase in United States military and naval forces provides a ready market.

The resumption of British purchases of Caribbean sugar meets the serious problem of marketing the current Dominican sugar crop. The British Government has agreed to take the entire 1941-42 crop at a guaranteed minimum price, the final price depending on the Anglo-United States deal with Cuba. Since the minimum price would be higher than Dominican sugar producers have been getting in the past years, when sugar sold as low as one cent a pound, the British agreement should help stabilize economic conditions. The basic quota for sugar permitted to enter the United States is small — 3,000 tons out of a total output for 1940-41 of 400,000 metric tons.

A further milestone in the Good Neighbor policy was passed when, on April 1, the Dominican government officially resumed collection of its own customs. The United States has, thus, abandoned the general receivership of Dominican customs which it has exercised since 1905.

A Central Bank was established late in December, with an authorized capital of $1,000,000, to be supplied by the government. This Banco de la Reservas de la República Dominicana takes over the five local branch offices of the National City Bank of New York. Private banking in the Republic is now exclusively in the hands of two Canadian concerns.

According to an October report of the Dominican Republic Settlement Association, there are 413 refugee settlers at Sosua, where 415 acres of virgin land have been cleared and 3,800 acres are being used as pasture. The costs of settlement per family, not including the initial capital investment, are about $2,000. Under a grant from the Falk Foundation, Professor Dana Muro will survey the possibilities of extensive refugee settlement in the Republic. A study is also being made by a specialist in tropical medicine of the susceptibility of newly arrived settlers to tropical diseases. North American experts in rural electrification, tropical forestry and sanitation are assisting the Sosua settlement and plans to grow coconuts, cocoa, spices, tropical woods and other products marketable in the United States, are being encouraged by the United States Department of Agriculture. See also PAN-AMERICAN AFFAIRS.