The Dominican colonial elite, on the other hand, had suffered substantially from the effects of the Haitian Revolution and did not recover. The ruling elite of the time lamented that they had been abandoned by Spain—little economic aid was invested in the island, the only money the royal government sent to the island was the salaries of royal employees. But while the growth of the sugar economy in Cuba created an economically and racially polarized society, in Santo Domingo the material gap among the social classes was not as marked.