Under the banking law this
institution has the right to issue bank notes, but it has not
attempted to use the privilege.
Slowly the establishment of small factories has proceeded, for the
partial provision of local needs. The principal cities have ice
plants, of which some are subject to annoying interruptions. In the
Cibao there are several sawmills. Further there are, in the larger
cities, small establishments for the manufacture of cigars,
cigarettes, matches, rum, straw hats, shoes, chocolate, soap and a few
other articles. These are financed by Dominican capital and are not
able to supply the local demand. In Santo Domingo City are the remains
of a costly brewery erected by Americans with a view to supplying the
West Indies; it was ruined, so local reports say, by bad management
and has been idle for fifteen years. If the amount of soap used by a
people is really an index of its degree of civilization, then the
Dominicans can claim to be far advanced, for the consumption of soap
manufactured in the country and imported, is very considerable.
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