Note 7 — Chapter V · THE AMERICANS IN SANTIAGO

A cable despatch to the New York Sun, dated Santiago, December 19th, a week after the author left Santiago, contains the information that General Wood has now completed his scheme of local taxation, and that the local machinery will soon be in running order. The despatch says:

“A committee of the Chamber of Commerce met General Wood at the palace to-day and agreed to accept the scheme of municipal taxation arranged by the committee of American officers and Cubans. The scheme in operation the first year will yield annually $240,000, or sixty per cent. under the Spanish schedule. It is not retroactive. General Wood decided to-day, after consultation, that it will be impossible to make many merchants pay the back tax without litigation. The city loses nearly $100,000 by the ruling.”