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diff --git a/35025-h/35025-h.htm b/35025-h/35025-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e6ec48 --- /dev/null +++ b/35025-h/35025-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2857 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Self-Determining Haiti, by James Weldon Johnson. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.dropcap { + float: left; + padding-right: 3px; + font-size: 250%; + line-height: 83%; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: baseline; + position: relative; bottom: 0.4em; + font-size: 80%; + text-decoration: none; +} + + +/* Transcribers Notes */ + +.notes { + background-color: #eeeeee; color: #000; + padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; + margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Self-Determining Haiti, by James Weldon Johnson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Self-Determining Haiti + Four articles reprinted from The Nation embodying a report + of an investigation made for the National Association for + the Advancement of Colored People. + +Author: James Weldon Johnson + +Release Date: January 21, 2011 [EBook #35025] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF-DETERMINING HAITI *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gary Rees and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span></p> + + + + +<h1>Self-Determining Haiti</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JAMES WELDON JOHNSON</h2> + +<div class="center">Four articles reprinted from <i>The Nation</i> embodying +a report of an investigation made for<br /><br /> + +THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE<br /><br /><br /><br /> + +<i>Together with Official Documents</i><br /><br /><br /><br /> + +25 cents a copy<br /><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[2]</span></p> + + + + +<div class="center">Copyright, 1920<br /> +<br /> +By <span class="smcap">The Nation</span>, Inc.<br /></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[3]</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FOREWORD</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he articles and documents in this pamphlet were +printed in <i>The Nation</i> during the summer of 1920. +They revealed for the first time to the world the nature of +the United States' imperialistic venture in Haiti. While, +owing to the censorship, the full story of this fundamental +departure from American traditions has not yet been told, +it appears at the time of this writing, October, 1920, that +"pitiless publicity" for our sandbagging of a friendly and +inoffensive neighbor has been achieved. The report of +Major-General George Barnett, commandant of the Marine +Corps during the first four years of the Haitian occupation, +just issued, strikingly confirms the facts set forth by <i>The +Nation</i> and refutes the denials of administration officials +and their newspaper apologists. It is in the hope that by +spreading broadly the truth about what has happened in +Haiti under five years of American occupation <i>The Nation</i> +may further contribute toward removing a dark blot from +the American escutcheon, that this pamphlet is issued.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>Self-Determining Haiti</h1> +<p><span class="pagenum">[5]</span></p> +<div class="center">By JAMES WELDON JOHNSON</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>I. THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>O know the reasons for the present political situation +in Haiti, to understand why the United States landed +and has for five years maintained military forces in that +country, why some three thousand Haitian men, women, and +children have been shot down by American rifles and machine +guns, it is necessary, among other things, to know +that the National City Bank of New York is very much +interested in Haiti. It is necessary to know that the National +City Bank controls the National Bank of Haiti and +is the depository for all of the Haitian national funds that +are being collected by American officials, and that Mr. R. L. +Farnham, vice-president of the National City Bank, is virtually +the representative of the State Department in matters +relating to the island republic. Most Americans have the +opinion—if they have any opinion at all on the subject—that +the United States was forced, on purely humane +grounds, to intervene in the black republic because of the +tragic coup d'etat which resulted in the overthrow and death +of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and the execution of +the political prisoners confined at Port-au-Prince, July 27-28, +1915; and that this government has been compelled to +keep a military force in Haiti since that time to pacify the +country and maintain order.</p> + +<p>The fact is that for nearly a year before forcible intervention +on the part of the United States this government +was seeking to compel Haiti to submit to "peaceable" intervention. +Toward the close of 1914 the United States notified +the government of Haiti that it was disposed to recognize +the newly-elected president, Theodore Davilmar, as soon +as a Haitian commission would sign at Washington "satisfactory +protocols" relative to a convention with the United +States on the model of the Dominican-American Convention. +On December 15, 1914, the Haitian government, through +its Secretary of Foreign Affairs, replied: "The Government +of the Republic of Haiti would consider itself lax in its duty<span class="pagenum">[6]</span> +to the United States and to itself if it allowed the least +doubt to exist of its irrevocable intention not to accept any +control of the administration of Haitian affairs by a foreign +Power." On December 19, the United States, through its legation +at Port-au-Prince, replied, that in expressing its +willingness to do in Haiti what had been done in Santo +Domingo it "was actuated entirely by a disinterested desire +to give assistance."</p> + +<p>Two months later, the Theodore government was overthrown +by a revolution and Vilbrun Guillaume was elected +president. Immediately afterwards there arrived at Port-au-Prince +an American commission from Washington—the +Ford mission. The commissioners were received at the +National Palace and attempted to take up the discussion of +the convention that had been broken off in December, 1914. +However, they lacked full powers and no negotiations were +entered into. After several days, the Ford mission sailed +for the United States. But soon after, in May, the United +States sent to Haiti Mr. Paul Fuller, Jr., with the title +Envoy Extraordinary, on a special mission to apprise the +Haitian government that the Guillaume administration +would not be recognized by the American government unless +Haiti accepted and signed the project of a convention which +he was authorized to present. After examining the project +the Haitian government submitted to the American +commission a counter-project, formulating the conditions +under which it would be possible to accept the assistance of +the United States. To this counter-project Mr. Fuller proposed +certain modifications, some of which were accepted by +the Haitian government. On June 5, 1915, Mr. Fuller acknowledged +the receipt of the Haitian communication regarding +these modifications, and sailed from Port-au-Prince.</p> + +<p>Before any further discussion of the Fuller project between +the two governments, political incidents in Haiti led +rapidly to the events of July, 27 and 28. On July 27 President +Guillaume fled to the French Legation, and on the same +day took place a massacre of the political prisoners in the +prison at Port-au-Prince. On the morning of July 28 President +Guillaume was forcibly taken from French Legation +and killed. On the afternoon of July 28 an American man-of-war +dropped anchor in the harbor of Port-au-Prince and +landed American forces. It should be borne in mind that<span class="pagenum">[7]</span> +through all of this the life of not a single American citizen +had been taken or jeopardized.</p> + +<p>The overthrow of Guillaume and its attending consequences +did not constitute the cause of American intervention +in Haiti, but merely furnished the awaited opportunity. +Since July 28, 1915, American military forces have been in +control of Haiti. These forces have been increased until +there are now somewhere near three thousand Americans +under arms in the republic. From the very first, the attitude +of the Occupation has been that it was dealing with a +conquered territory. Haitian forces were disarmed, military +posts and barracks were occupied, and the National +Palace was taken as headquarters for the Occupation. After +selecting a new and acceptable president for the country, +steps were at once taken to compel the Haitian government +to sign a convention in which it virtually foreswore its independence. +This was accomplished by September 16, 1915; +and although the terms of this convention provided for the +administration of the Haitian customs by American civilian +officials, all the principal custom houses of the country had +been seized by military force and placed in charge of American +Marine officers before the end of August. The disposition +of the funds collected in duties from the time of the +military seizure of the custom houses to the time of their +administration by civilian officials is still a question concerning +which the established censorship in Haiti allows no discussion.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note the wide difference between the +convention which Haiti was forced to sign and the convention +which was in course of diplomatic negotiation at +the moment of intervention. The Fuller convention asked +little of Haiti and gave something, the Occupation convention +demands everything of Haiti and gives nothing. The +Occupation convention is really the same convention which +the Haitian government peremptorily refused to discuss in +December, 1914, except that in addition to American control +of Haitian finances it also provides for American control of +the Haitian military forces. The Fuller convention contained +neither of these provisions. When the United States +found itself in a position to take what it had not even dared +to ask, it used brute force and took it. But even a convention +which practically deprived Haiti of its independence<span class="pagenum">[8]</span> +was found not wholly adequate for the accomplishment of +all that was contemplated. The Haitian constitution still +offered some embarrassments, so it was decided that Haiti +must have a new constitution. It was drafted and presented +to the Haitian assembly for adoption. The assembly balked—chiefly +at the article in the proposed document removing +the constitutional disability which prevented aliens from +owning land in Haiti. Haiti had long considered the denial +of this right to aliens as her main bulwark against overwhelming +economic exploitation; and it must be admitted +that she had better reasons than the several states of the +United States that have similar provisions.</p> + +<p>The balking of the assembly resulted in its being dissolved +by actual military force and the locking of doors of +the Chamber. There has been no Haitian legislative body +since. The desired constitution was submitted to a plebiscite +by a decree of the President, although such a method +of constitutional revision was clearly unconstitutional. Under +the circumstances of the Occupation the plebiscite was, +of course, almost unanimous for the desired change, and the +new constitution was promulgated on June 18, 1918. Thus +Haiti was given a new constitution by a flagrantly unconstitutional +method. The new document contains several fundamental +changes and includes a "Special Article" which declares:</p> + +<blockquote><p>All the acts of the Government of the United States during +its military Occupation in Haiti are ratified and confirmed.</p> + +<p>No Haitian shall be liable to civil or criminal prosecution for +any act done by order of the Occupation or under its authority.</p> + +<p>The acts of the courts martial of the Occupation, without, +however, infringing on the right to pardon, shall not be subject +to revision.</p> + +<p>The acts of the Executive Power (the President) up to the +promulgation of the present constitution are likewise ratified +and confirmed.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The above is the chronological order of the principal steps +by which the independence of a neighboring republic has +been taken away, the people placed under foreign military +domination from which they have no appeal, and exposed to +foreign economic exploitation against which they are defenseless. +All of this has been done in the name of the +Government of the United States; however, without any act<span class="pagenum">[9]</span> +by Congress and without any knowledge of the American +people.</p> + +<p>The law by which Haiti is ruled today is martial law dispensed +by Americans. There is a form of Haitian civil government, +but it is entirely dominated by the military Occupation. +President Dartiguenave, bitterly rebellious at heart +as is every good Haitian, confessed to me the powerlessness +of himself and his cabinet. He told me that the +American authorities give no heed to recommendations made +by him or his officers; that they would not even discuss matters +about which the Haitian officials have superior knowledge. +The provisions of both the old and the new constitutions +are ignored in that there is no Haitian legislative +body, and there has been none since the dissolution of the +Assembly in April, 1916. In its stead there is a Council of +State composed of twenty-one members appointed by the +president, which functions effectively only when carrying +out the will of the Occupation. Indeed the Occupation often +overrides the civil courts. A prisoner brought before the +proper court, exonerated, and discharged, is, nevertheless, +frequently held by the military. All government funds are +collected by the Occupation and are dispensed at its will and +pleasure. The greater part of these funds is expended for +the maintenance of the military forces. There is the strictest +censorship of the press. No Haitian newspaper is allowed +to publish anything in criticism of the Occupation or +the Haitian government. Each newspaper in Haiti received +an order to that effect from the Occupation, <i>and the same +order carried the injunction not to print the order</i>. Nothing +that might reflect upon the Occupation administration in +Haiti is allowed to reach the newspapers of the United +States.</p> + +<p>The Haitian people justly complain that not only is the +convention inimical to the best interests of their country, +but that the convention, such as it is, is not being carried +out in accordance with the letter, nor in accordance with +the spirit in which they were led to believe it would be carried +out. Except one, all of the obligations in the convention +which the United States undertakes in favor of Haiti +are contained in the first article of that document, the other +fourteen articles being made up substantially of obligations +to the United States assumed by Haiti. But nowhere in<span class="pagenum">[10]</span> +those fourteen articles is there anything to indicate that +Haiti would be subjected to military domination. In Article +I the United States promises to "aid the Haitian government +in the proper and efficient development of its agricultural, +mineral, and commercial resources and in the establishment +of the finances of Haiti on a firm and solid basis." +And the whole convention and, especially, the protestations +of the United States before the signing of the instrument +can be construed only to mean that that aid would be extended +through the supervision of civilian officials.</p> + +<p>The one promise of the United States to Haiti not contained +in the first article of the convention is that clause of +Article XIV which says, "and, should the necessity occur, +the United States will lend an efficient aid for the preservation +of Haitian independence and the maintenance of a government +adequate for the protection of life, property, and +individual liberty." It is the extreme of irony that this +clause which the Haitians had a right to interpret as a +guarantee to them against foreign invasion should first of +all be invoked against the Haitian people themselves, and +offer the only peg on which any pretense to a right of military +domination can be hung.</p> + +<p>There are several distinct forces—financial, military, +bureaucratic—at work in Haiti which, tending to aggravate +the conditions they themselves have created, are largely +self-perpetuating. The most sinister of these, the financial +engulfment of Haiti by the National City Bank of New +York, already alluded to, will be discussed in detail in a +subsequent article. The military Occupation has made and +continues to make military Occupation necessary. The justification +given is that it is necessary for the pacification of +the country. Pacification would never have been necessary +had not American policies been filled with so many stupid +and brutal blunders; and it will never be effective so long +as "pacification" means merely the hunting of ragged +Haitians in the hills with machine guns.</p> + +<p>Then there is the force which the several hundred American +civilian place-holders constitute. They have found in +Haiti the veritable promised land of "jobs for deserving +democrats" and naturally do not wish to see the present +status discontinued. Most of these deserving democrats +are Southerners. The head of the customs service of Haiti<span class="pagenum">[11]</span> +was a clerk of one of the parishes of Louisiana. Second +in charge of the customs service of Haiti is a man who was +Deputy Collector of Customs at Pascagoula, Mississippi +[population, 3,379, 1910 Census]. The Superintendent of +Public Instruction was a school teacher in Louisiana—a +State which has not good schools even for white children; +the financial advisor, Mr. McIlhenny, is also from Louisiana.</p> + +<p>Many of the Occupation officers are in the same category +with the civilian place-holders. These men have taken their +wives and families to Haiti. Those at Port-au-Prince live +in beautiful villas. Families that could not keep a hired girl +in the United States have a half-dozen servants. They ride +in automobiles—not their own. Every American head of a +department in Haiti has an automobile furnished at the +expense of the Haitian Government, whereas members of +the Haitian cabinet, who are theoretically above them, have +no such convenience or luxury. While I was there, the +President himself was obliged to borrow an automobile from +the Occupation for a trip through the interior. The +Louisiana school-teacher Superintendent of Instruction has +an automobile furnished at government expense, whereas +the Haitian Minister of Public Instruction, his supposed superior +officer, has none. These automobiles seem to be +chiefly employed in giving the women and children an airing +each afternoon. It must be amusing, when it is not maddening +to the Haitians, to see with what disdainful air these +people look upon them as they ride by.</p> + +<p>The platform adopted by the Democratic party at San +Francisco said of the Wilson policy in Mexico:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The Administration, remembering always that Mexico is an +independent nation and that permanent stability in her government +and her institutions could come only from the consent of +her own people to a government of her own making, has been +unwilling either to profit by the misfortunes of the people of +Mexico or to enfeeble their future by imposing from the outside +a rule upon their temporarily distracted councils.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Haiti has never been so distracted in its councils as +Mexico. And even in its moments of greatest distraction it +never slaughtered an American citizen, it never molested an +American woman, it never injured a dollar's worth of +American property. And yet, the Administration whose +lofty purpose was proclaimed as above—with less justification +than Austria's invasion of Serbia, or Germany's rape<span class="pagenum">[12]</span> +of Belgium, without warrant other than the doctrine that +"might makes right," has conquered Haiti. It has done this +through the very period when, in the words of its chief +spokesman, our sons were laying down their lives overseas +"for democracy, for the rights of those who submit to authority +to have a voice in their own government, for the +rights and liberties of small nations." By command of the +author of "pitiless publicity" and originator of "open +covenants openly arrived at," it has enforced by the bayonet +a covenant whose secret has been well guarded by a rigid +censorship from the American nation, and kept a people +enslaved by the military tyranny which it was his avowed +purpose to destroy throughout the world.</p> + +<p><i>From The Nation of August 25, 1920.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>II. WHAT THE UNITED STATES HAS ACCOMPLISHED</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>HEN the truth about the conquest of Haiti—the +slaughter of three thousand and practically unarmed +Haitians, with the incidentally needless death of a score of +American boys—begins to filter through the rigid Administration +censorship to the American people, the apologists will +become active. Their justification of what has been done +will be grouped under two heads: one, the necessity, and +two, the results. Under the first, much stress will be laid +upon the "anarchy" which existed in Haiti, upon the backwardness +of the Haitians and their absolute unfitness to +govern themselves. The pretext which caused the intervention +was taken up in the first article of this series. The +characteristics, alleged and real, of the Haitian people will +be taken up in a subsequent article. Now as to results: +The apologists will attempt to show that material improvements +in Haiti justify American intervention. Let us see +what they are.</p> + +<p>Diligent inquiry reveals just three: The building of the +road from Port-au-Prince to Cape Haitien; the enforcement +of certain sanitary regulations in the larger cities; and the +improvement of the public hospital at Port-au-Prince. The +enforcement of certain sanitary regulations is not so important +as it may sound, for even under exclusive native +rule, Haiti has been a remarkably healthy country and had +never suffered from such epidemics as used to sweep Cuba<span class="pagenum">[13]</span> +and the Panama Canal region. The regulations, moreover, +were of a purely minor character—the sort that might be +issued by a board of health in any American city or town—and +were in no wise fundamental, because there was no +need. The same applies to the improvement of the hospital, +long before the American Occupation, an effectively conducted +institution but which, it is only fair to say, benefited +considerably by the regulations and more up-to-date +methods of American army surgeons—the best in the world. +Neither of these accomplishments, however, creditable as +they are, can well be put forward as a justification for military +domination. The building of the great highway from +Port-au-Prince to Cape Haitien is a monumental piece of +work, but it is doubtful whether the object in building it +was to supply the Haitians with a great highway or to construct +a military road which would facilitate the transportation +of troops and supplies from one end of the island to +the other. And this represents the sum total of the constructive +accomplishment after five years of American +Occupation.</p> + +<p>Now, the highway, while doubtless the most important +achievement of the three, involved the most brutal of all +the blunders of the Occupation. The work was in charge of +an officer of Marines who stands out even in that organization +for his "treat 'em rough" methods. He discovered the +obsolete Haitian <i>corvée</i> and decided to enforce it with the +most modern Marine efficiency. The <i>corvée</i>, or road law, in +Haiti provided that each citizen should work a certain number +of days on the public roads to keep them in condition, +or pay a certain sum of money. In the days when this law +was in force the Haitian government never required the +men to work the roads except in their respective communities, +and the number of days was usually limited to three a +year. But the Occupation seized men wherever it could find +them, and no able-bodied Haitian was safe from such raids, +which most closely resembled the African slave raids of past +centuries. And slavery it was—though temporary. By day +or by night, from the bosom of their families, from their +little farms or while trudging peacefully on the country +roads, Haitians were seized and forcibly taken to toil for +months in far sections of the country. Those who protested +or resisted were beaten into submission. At night, after<span class="pagenum">[14]</span> +long hours of unremitting labor under armed taskmasters, +who swiftly discouraged any slackening of effort with boot +or rifle butt, the victims were herded in compounds. Those +attempting to escape were shot. Their terror-stricken families +meanwhile were often in total ignorance of the fate of +their husbands, fathers, brothers.</p> + +<p>It is chiefly out of these methods that arose the need for +"pacification." Many men of the rural districts became +panic-stricken and fled to the hills and mountains. Others +rebelled and did likewise, preferring death to slavery. These +refugees largely make up the "caco" forces, to hunt down +which has become the duty and the sport of American +Marines, who were privileged to shoot a "caco" on sight. If +anyone doubts that "caco" hunting is the sport of American +Marines in Haiti, let him learn the facts about the death of +Charlemagne. Charlemagne Peralte was a Haitian of education +and culture and of great influence in his district. He +was tried by an American courtmartial on the charge of +aiding "cacos." He was sentenced, not to prison, however, +but to five years of hard labor on the roads, and was forced +to work in convict garb on the streets of Cape Haitien. He +made his escape and put himself at the head of several hundred +followers in a valiant though hopeless attempt to free +Haiti. The America of the Revolution, indeed the America +of the Civil War, would have regarded Charlemagne not as +a criminal but a patriot. He met his death not in open +fight, not in an attempt at his capture, but through a dastard +deed. While standing over his camp fire, he was shot +in cold blood by an American Marine officer who stood concealed +by the darkness, and who had reached the camp +through bribery and trickery. This deed, which was nothing +short of assassination, has been heralded as an example +of American heroism. Of this deed, Harry Franck, writing +in the June Century of "The Death of Charlemagne," says: +"Indeed it is fit to rank with any of the stirring warrior +tales with which history is seasoned from the days of the +Greeks down to the recent world war." America should read +"The Death of Charlemagne" which attempts to glorify a +black smirch on American arms and tradition.</p> + +<p>There is a reason why the methods employed in road +building affected the Haitian country folk in a way in which +it might not have affected the people of any other Latin-<span class="pagenum">[15]</span>American +country. Not since the independence of the country +has there been any such thing as a peon in Haiti. The +revolution by which Haiti gained her independence was not +merely a political revolution, it was also a social revolution. +Among the many radical changes wrought was that of cutting +up the large slave estates into small parcels and allotting +them among former slaves. And so it was that every +Haitian in the rural districts lived on his own plot of land, +a plot on which his family has lived for perhaps more than +a hundred years. No matter how small or how large that +plot is, and whether he raises much or little on it, it is his +and he is an independent farmer.</p> + +<p>The completed highway, moreover, continued to be a barb +in the Haitian wound. Automobiles on this road, running +without any speed limit, are a constant inconvenience or +danger to the natives carrying their market produce to town +on their heads or loaded on the backs of animals. I have +seen these people scramble in terror often up the side or +down the declivity of the mountain for places of safety for +themselves and their animals as the machines snorted by. I +have seen a market woman's horse take flight and scatter +the produce loaded on his back all over the road for several +hundred yards. I have heard an American commercial traveler +laughingly tell how on the trip from Cape Haitien to +Port-au-Prince the automobile he was in killed a donkey and +two pigs. It had not occurred to him that the donkey might +be the chief capital of the small Haitian farmer and that +the loss of it might entirely bankrupt him. It is all very +humorous, of course, unless you happen to be the Haitian +pedestrian.</p> + +<p>The majority of visitors on arriving at Port-au-Prince +and noticing the well-paved, well-kept streets, will at once +jump to the conclusion that this work was done by the American +Occupation. The Occupation goes to no trouble to +refute this conclusion, and in fact it will by implication corroborate +it. If one should exclaim, "Why, I am surprised to +see what a well-paved city Port-au-Prince is!" he would be +almost certain to receive the answer, "Yes, but you should +have seen it before the Occupation." The implication here +is that Port-au-Prince was a mudhole and that the Occupation +is responsible for its clean and well-paved streets. It +is true that at the time of the intervention, five years ago,<span class="pagenum">[16]</span> +there were only one or two paved streets in the Haitian +capital, but the contracts for paving the entire city had +been let by the Haitian Government, and the work had +already been begun. This work was completed during the +Occupation, <i>but the Occupation did not pave, and had nothing +to do with the paving of a single street in Port-au-Prince</i>.</p> + +<p>One accomplishment I did expect to find—that the American +Occupation, in its five years of absolute rule, had +developed and improved the Haitian system of public education. +The United States has made some efforts in this +direction in other countries where it has taken control. In +Porto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, the attempt, at least, +was made to establish modern school systems. Selected +youths from these countries were taken and sent to the +United States for training in order that they might return +and be better teachers, and American teachers were sent to +those islands in exchange. The American Occupation in +Haiti has not advanced public education a single step. No +new buildings have been erected. Not a single Haitian youth +has been sent to the United States for training as a teacher, +nor has a single American teacher, white or colored, been +sent to Haiti. According to the general budget of Haiti, +1919-1920, there are teachers in the rural schools receiving +as little as six dollars a month. Some of these teachers may +not be worth more than six dollars a month. But after five +years of American rule, there ought not to be a single +teacher in the country who is not worth more than that +paltry sum.</p> + +<p>Another source of discontent is the Gendarmerie. When +the Occupation took possession of the island, it disarmed all +Haitians, including the various local police forces. To +remedy this situation the Convention (Article X), provided +that there should be created,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>without delay, an efficient constabulary, urban and rural, composed +of native Haitians. This constabulary shall be organized +and officered by Americans, appointed by the President of Haiti +upon nomination by the President of the United States.... +These officers shall be replaced by Haitians as they, by examination +conducted under direction of a board to be selected by the +Senior American Officer of this constabulary in the presence of +a representative of the Haitian Government, are found to be +qualified to assume such duties.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[17]</span></p> + +<p>During the first months of the Occupation officers of the +Haitian Gendarmerie were commissioned officers of the +marines, but the war took all these officers to Europe. Five +years have passed and the constabulary is still officered +entirely by marines, but almost without exception they are +ex-privates or non-commissioned officers of the United +States Marine Corps commissioned in the gendarmerie. +Many of these men are rough, uncouth, and uneducated, and +a great number from the South, are violently steeped in +color prejudice. They direct all policing of city and town. +It falls to them, ignorant of Haitian ways and language, to +enforce every minor police regulation. Needless to say, +this is a grave source of continued irritation. Where the +genial American "cop" could, with a wave of his hand or +club, convey the full majesty of the law to the small boy +transgressor or to some equally innocuous offender, the +strong-arm tactics for which the marines are famous, are +apt to be promptly evoked. The pledge in the Convention +that "these officers be replaced by Haitians" who could +qualify, has, like other pledges, become a mere scrap of +paper. Graduates of the famous French military academy +of St. Cyr, men who have actually qualified for commissions +in the French army, are denied the opportunity to fill even a +lesser commission in the Haitian Gendarmerie, although +such men, in addition to their pre-eminent qualifications of +training, would, because of their understanding of local conditions +and their complete familiarity with the ways of their +own country, make ideal guardians of the peace.</p> + +<p>The American Occupation of Haiti is not only guilty of +sins of omission, it is guilty of sins of commission in addition +to those committed in the building of the great road +across the island. Brutalities and atrocities on the part of +American marines have occurred with sufficient frequency +to be the cause of deep resentment and terror. Marines talk +freely of what they "did" to some Haitians in the outlying +districts. Familiar methods of torture to make captives +reveal what they often do not know are nonchalantly discussed. +Just before I left Port-au-Prince an American +Marine had caught a Haitian boy stealing sugar off the +wharf and instead of arresting him he battered his brains +out with the butt of his rifle. I learned from the lips of +American Marines themselves of a number of cases of rape<span class="pagenum">[18]</span> +of Haitian women by marines. I often sat at tables in the +hotels and cafes in company with marine officers and they +talked before me without restraint. I remember the description +of a "caco" hunt by one of them; he told how they +finally came upon a crowd of natives engaged in the popular +pastime of cock-fighting and how they "let them have it" +with machine guns and rifle fire. I heard another, a captain +of marines, relate how he at a fire in Port-au-Prince ordered +a "rather dressed up Haitian," standing on the sidewalk, to +"get in there" and take a hand at the pumps. It appeared +that the Haitian merely shrugged his shoulders. The captain +of marines then laughingly said: "I had on a pretty +heavy pair of boots and I let him have a kick that landed +him in the middle of the street. Someone ran up and told +me that the man was an ex-member of the Haitian Assembly." +The fact that the man had been a member of the +Haitian Assembly made the whole incident more laughable +to the captain of marines.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most serious aspect of American brutality in +Haiti is not to be found in individual cases of cruelty, +numerous and inexcusable though they are, but rather in +the American attitude, well illustrated by the diagnosis of +an American officer discussing the situation and its difficulty: +"The trouble with this whole business is that some +of these people with a little money and education think they +are as good as we are," and this is the keynote of the attitude +of every American to every Haitian. Americans have +carried American hatred to Haiti. They have planted the +feeling of caste and color prejudice where it never before +existed.</p> + +<p>And such are the "accomplishments" of the United States +in Haiti. The Occupation has not only failed to achieve +anything worth while, but has made it impossible to do so +because of the distrust and bitterness that it has engendered +in the Haitian people. Through the present instrumentalities +no matter how earnestly the United States may desire +to be fair to Haiti and make intervention a success, it will +not succeed. An entirely new deal is necessary. This Government +forced the Haitian leaders to accept the promise of +American aid and American supervision. With that American +aid the Haitian Government defaulted its external and +internal debt, an obligation, which under self-government<span class="pagenum">[19]</span> +the Haitians had scrupulously observed. And American +supervision turned out to be a military tyranny supporting +a program of economic exploitation. The United States had +an opportunity to gain the confidence of the Haitian people. +That opportunity has been destroyed. When American +troops first landed, although the Haitian people were outraged, +there was a feeling nevertheless which might well +have developed into cooperation. There were those who had +hopes that the United States, guided by its traditional policy +of nearly a century and a half, pursuing its fine stand in +Cuba, under McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, would extend +aid that would be mutually beneficial to both countries. +Those Haitians who indulged this hope are disappointed and +bitter. Those members of the Haitian Assembly who, while +acting under coercion were nevertheless hopeful of +American promises, incurred unpopularity by voting for the +Convention, are today bitterly disappointed and utterly disillusioned.</p> + +<p>If the United States should leave Haiti today, it would +leave more than a thousand widows and orphans of its own +making, more banditry than has existed for a century, +resentment, hatred and despair in the heart of a whole +people, to say nothing of the irreparable injury to its own +tradition as the defender of the rights of man.</p> + +<p><i>From The Nation of September 4, 1920.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>III. GOVERNMENT OF, BY, AND FOR THE<br /> +NATIONAL CITY BANK</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>ORMER articles of this series described the Military +Occupation of Haiti and the crowd of civilian place +holders as among the forces at work in Haiti to maintain the +present status in that country. But more powerful though +less obvious, and more sinister, because of its deep and varied +radications, is the force exercised by the National City Bank +of New York. It seeks more than the mere maintenance of +the present status in Haiti; it is constantly working to bring +about a condition more suitable and profitable to itself. Behind +the Occupation, working conjointly with the Department +of State, stands this great banking institution of New +York and elsewhere. The financial potentates allied with it +are the ones who will profit by the control of Haiti. The<span class="pagenum">[20]</span> +United States Marine Corps and the various office-holding +"deserving Democrats," who help maintain the status quo +there, are in reality working for great financial interests in +this country, although Uncle Sam and Haiti pay their +salaries.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roger L. Farnham, vice-president of the National City +Bank, was effectively instrumental in bringing about +American intervention in Haiti. With the administration at Washington, +the word of Mr. Farnham supersedes that of anybody +else on the island. While Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, with +the title of minister, is its representative in name, Mr. Farnham +is its representative in fact. His goings and comings +are aboard vessels of the United States Navy. His bank, the +National City, has been in charge of the Banque Nationale +d'Haiti throughout the Occupation.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Only a few weeks ago +he was appointed receiver of the National Railroad of Haiti, +controlling practically the entire railway system in the island +with valuable territorial concessions in all parts.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The +$5,000,000 sugar plant at Port-au-Prince, it is commonly reported, +is about to fall into his hands.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The National City Bank originally (about 1911) purchased 2,000 shares +of the stock of the Banque Nationale d'Haiti. After the Occupation it purchased +6,000 additional shares in the hands of three New York banking firms. +Since then it has been negotiating for the complete control of the stock, the +balance of which is held in France. The contract for this transfer of the +Bank and the granting of a new charter under the laws of Haiti were agreed +upon and signed at Washington last February. But the delay in completing +these arrangements is caused by the impasse between the State Department +and the National City Bank, on the one hand, and the Haitian Government +on the other, due to the fact that the State Department and the National +City Bank insisted upon including in the contract a clause prohibiting the +importation and exportation of foreign money into Haiti subject only to the +control of the financial adviser. To this new power the Haitian Government +refuses to consent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Originally, Mr. James P. McDonald secured from the Haitian Government +the concession to build the railroads under the charter of the National +Railways of Haiti. He arranged with W. R. Grace & Company to finance +the concession. Grace and Company formed a syndicate under the aegis of +the National City Bank which issued $2,500,000 bonds, sold in France. These +bonds were guaranteed by the Haitian Government at an interest of 6 per +cent on $32,500 for each mile. A short while after the floating of these bonds, +Mr. Farnham became President of the company. The syndicate advanced another +$2,000,000 for the completion of the railroad in accordance with the +concession granted by the Haitian Government. This money was used, but +the work was not completed in accordance with the contract made by the +Haitian Government in the concession. The Haitian Government then refused +any longer to pay the interest on the mileage. These happenings were +prior to 1915.</p></div> + +<p>Now, of all the various responsibilities, expressed, implied, +or assumed by the United States in Haiti, it would +naturally be supposed that the financial obligation would be +foremost. Indeed, the sister republic of Santo Domingo was +taken over by the United States Navy for no other reason +than failure to pay its internal debt. But Haiti for over one<span class="pagenum">[21]</span> +hundred years scrupulously paid its external and internal +debt—a fact worth remembering when one hears of "anarchy +and disorder" in that land—until five years ago when under +the financial guardianship of the United States interest on +both the internal and, with one exception, external debt was +defaulted; and this in spite of the fact that specified revenues +were pledged for the payment of this interest. Apart +from the distinct injury to the honor and reputation of the +country, the hardship on individuals has been great. For +while the foreign debt is held particularly in France which, +being under great financial obligations to the United States +since the beginning of the war, has not been able to protest +effectively, the interior debt is held almost entirely by +Haitian citizens. Haitian Government bonds have long been +the recognized substantial investment for the well-to-do and +middle class people, considered as are in this country, United +States, state, and municipal bonds. Non-payment on these +securities has placed many families in absolute want.</p> + +<p>What has happened to these bonds? They are being sold +for a song, for the little cash they will bring. Individuals +closely connected with the National Bank of Haiti are ready +purchasers. When the new Haitian loan is floated it will, +of course, contain ample provisions for redeeming these old +bonds at par. The profits will be more than handsome. Not +that the National Bank has not already made hay in the +sunshine of American Occupation. From the beginning it +has been sole depositary of all revenues collected in the name +of the Haitian Government by the American Occupation, receiving +in addition to the interest rate a commission on all +funds deposited. The bank is the sole agent in the transmission +of these funds. It has also the exclusive note-issuing +privilege in the republic. At the same time complaint is +widespread among the Haitian business men that the Bank +no longer as of old accommodates them with credit and that +its interests are now entirely in developments of its own.</p> + +<p>Now, one of the promises that was made to the Haitian +Government, partly to allay its doubts and fears as to the +purpose and character of the American intervention, was +that the United States would put the country's finances on a +solid and substantial basis. A loan for $30,000,000 or more +was one of the features of this promised assistance. Pursuant, +supposedly, to this plan, a Financial Adviser for<span class="pagenum">[22]</span> +Haiti was appointed in the person of Mr. John Avery McIlhenny. +Who is Mr. McIlhenny? That he has the cordial +backing and direction of so able a financier as Mr. Farnham +is comforting when one reviews the past record and experience +in finance of Haiti's Financial Adviser as given by him +in "Who's Who in America," for 1918-1919. He was born in +Avery Island, Iberia Parish, La.; went to Tulane University +for one year; was a private in the Louisiana State militia +for five years; trooper in the U. S. Cavalry in 1898; promoted +to second lieutenancy for gallantry in action at San +Juan; has been member of the Louisiana House of Representatives +and Senate; was a member of the U. S. Civil +Service Commission in 1906 and president of the same in +1913; Democrat. It is under his Financial Advisership that +the Haitian interest has been continued in default with the +one exception above noted, when several months ago $3,000,000 +was converted into francs to meet the accumulated interest +payments on the foreign debt. Dissatisfaction on the +part of the Haitians developed over the lack of financial perspicacity +in this transaction of Mr. McIlhenny because the +sum was converted into francs at the rate of nine to a dollar +while shortly after the rate of exchange on French francs +dropped to fourteen to a dollar. Indeed, Mr. McIlhenny's +unfitness by training and experience for the delicate and important +position which he is filling was one of the most generally +admitted facts which I gathered in Haiti.</p> + +<p>At the present writing, however, Mr. McIlhenny has become +a conspicuous figure in the history of the Occupation +of Haiti as the instrument by which the National City Bank +is striving to complete the riveting, double-locking and bolting +of its financial control of the island. For although it +would appear that the absolute military domination under +which Haiti is held would enable the financial powers to +accomplish almost anything they desire, they are wise +enough to realize that a day of reckoning, such as, for instance, +a change in the Administration in the United States, +may be coming. So they are eager and anxious to have +everything they want signed, sealed, and delivered. Anything, +of course, that the Haitians have fully "consented to" +no one else can reasonably object to.</p> + +<p>A little recent history: in February of the present year, +the ministers of the different departments, in order to con<span class="pagenum">[23]</span>form +to the letter of the law (Article 116 of the Constitution +of Haiti, which was saddled upon her in 1918 by the Occupation<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +and Article 2 of the Haitian-American Convention<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>) +began work on the preparation of the accounts for +1918-1919 and the budget for 1920-1921. On March 22 a +draft of the budget was sent to Mr. A. J. Maumus, Acting +Financial Adviser, in the absence of Mr. McIlhenny who had +at that time been in the United States for seven months. +Mr. Maumus replied on March 29, suggesting postponement +of all discussion of the budget until Mr. McIlhenny's return. +Nevertheless, the Legislative body, in pursuance of the law, +opened on its constitutional date, Monday, April 5. Despite +the great urgency of the matter in hand, the Haitian administration +was obliged to mark time until June 1, when +Mr. McIlhenny returned to Haiti. Several conferences with +the various ministers were then undertaken. On June 12, at +one of these conferences, there arrived in the place of the +Financial Adviser a note stating that he would be obliged to +stop all study of the budget "until the time when certain +affairs of considerable importance to the well-being of the +country shall be finally settled according to recommendations +made by me to the Haitian Government." As he did not +give in his note the slightest idea what these important +affairs were, the Haitian Secretary wrote asking for information, +at the same time calling attention to the already +great and embarrassing delay, and reminding Mr. McIlhenny +that the preparation of the accounts and budget was one of +his legal duties as an official attached to the Haitian Government, +of which he could not divest himself.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "The general accounts and the budgets prescribed by the preceding article +must be submitted to the Legislative Body by the Secretary of Finance not +later than eight days after the opening of the Legislative Session."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "The President of Haiti shall appoint, on the nomination of the President +of the United States, a Financial Adviser who shall be attached to the +Ministry of Finance, to whom the Secretary (of Finance) shall lend effective +aid in the prosecution of his work. The Financial Adviser shall work out a +system of public accounting, shall aid in increasing the revenues and in their +adjustment to expenditures...."</p></div> + +<p>On July 19 Mr. McIlhenny supplied his previous omission +in a memorandum which he transmitted to the Haitian Department +of Finance, in which he said: "I had instructions +from the Department of State of the United States just before +my departure for Haiti, in a part of a letter of May 20, +to declare to the Haitian Government that it was necessary +to give its immediate and formal approval to:<span class="pagenum">[24]</span></p> + +<blockquote><p>1. A modification of the Bank Contract agreed upon by the +Department of State and the National City Bank of New York.</p> + +<p>2. Transfer of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti +to a new bank registered under the laws of Haiti, to be known +as the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.</p> + +<p>3. The execution of Article 15 of the Contract of Withdrawal +prohibiting the importation and exportation of non-Haitian +money except that which might be necessary for the needs of +commerce in the opinion of the Financial Adviser."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Now, what is the meaning and significance of these proposals? +The full details have not been given out, but it is +known that they are part of a new monetary law for Haiti +involving the complete transfer of the Banque Nationale +d'Haiti to the National City Bank of New York. The document +embodying the agreements, with the exception of the +clause prohibiting the importation of foreign money, was +signed at Washington, February 6, 1920, by Mr. McIlhenny, +the Haitian Minister at Washington and the Haitian Secretary +of Finance. <i>The Haitian Government has officially declared +that the clause prohibiting the importation and exportation +of foreign money, except as it may be deemed +necessary in the opinion of the Financial Adviser, was added +to the original agreement by some unknown party.</i> It is for +the purpose of compelling the Haitian Government to approve +the agreements, including the "prohibition clause," +that pressure is now being applied. Efforts on the part of +business interests in Haiti to learn the character and scope +of what was done at Washington have been thwarted by +close secrecy. However, sufficient of its import has become +known to understand the reasons for the unqualified and +definite refusal of President Dartiguenave and the Government +to give their approval. Those reasons are that the +agreements would give to the National Bank of Haiti, and +thereby to the National City Bank of New York, exclusive +monopoly upon the right of importing and exporting American +and other foreign money to and from Haiti, a monopoly +which would carry unprecedented and extraordinarily lucrative +privileges.</p> + +<p>The proposal involved in this agreement has called forth +a vigorous protest on the part of every important banking +and business concern in Haiti with the exception, of course, +of the National Bank of Haiti. This protest was transmitted +to the Haitian Minister of Finance on July 30 past.<span class="pagenum">[25]</span> +The protest is signed not only by Haitians and Europeans +doing business in that country but also by the leading +American business concerns, among which are The American +Foreign Banking Corporation, The Haitian-American +Sugar Company, The Panama Railroad Steamship Line, +The Clyde Steamship Line, and The West Indies Trading +Company. Among the foreign signers are the Royal Bank of +Canada, Le Comptoir Français, Le Comptoir Commercial, +and besides a number of business firms.</p> + +<p>We have now in Haiti a triangular situation with the +National City Bank and our Department of State in two +corners and the Haitian government in the third. Pressure +is being brought on the Haitian government to compel +it to grant a monopoly which on its face appears designed +to give the National City Bank a strangle hold on the +financial life of that country. With the Haitian government +refusing to yield, we have the Financial Adviser who +is, according to the Haitian-American Convention, a Haitian +official charged with certain duties (in this case the +approval of the budget and accounts), refusing to carry out +those duties until the government yields to the pressure +which is being brought.</p> + +<p>Haiti is now experiencing the "third degree." Ever since +the Bank Contract was drawn and signed at Washington +increasing pressure has been applied to make the Haitian +government accept the clause prohibiting the importation +of foreign money. Mr. McIlhenny is now holding up the +salaries of the President, ministers of departments, members +of the Council of State, and the official interpreter. +[These salaries have not been paid since July 1.] And +there the matter now stands.</p> + +<p>Several things may happen. The Administration, finding +present methods insufficient, may decide to act as in Santo +Domingo, to abolish the President, cabinet, and all civil +government—as they have already abolished the Haitian +Assembly—and put into effect, by purely military force, +what, in the face of the unflinching Haitian refusal to sign +away their birthright, the combined military, civil, and +financial pressure has been unable to accomplish. Or, with +an election and a probable change of Administration in +this country pending, with a Congressional investigation +foreshadowed, it may be decided that matters are "too diffi<span class="pagenum">[26]</span>cult" +and the National City Bank may find that it can be +more profitably engaged elsewhere. Indications of such a +course are not lacking. From the point of view of the +National City Bank, of course, the institution has not only +done nothing which is not wholly legitimate, proper, and +according to the canons of big business throughout the +world, but has actually performed constructive and generous +service to a backward and uncivilized people in attempting +to promote their railways, to develop their country, +and to shape soundly their finance. That Mr. Farnham and +those associated with him hold these views sincerely, there +is no doubt. But that the Haitians, after over one hundred +years of self-government and liberty, contemplating the +slaughter of three thousand of their sons, the loss of their +political and economic freedom, without compensating advantages +which they can appreciate, feel very differently, +is equally true.</p> + +<p><i>From The Nation of September 11, 1920.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>IV. THE HAITIAN PEOPLE</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE first sight of Port-au-Prince is perhaps most startling +to the experienced Latin-American traveler. +Caribbean cities are of the Spanish-American type—buildings +square and squat, built generally around a court, with +residences and business houses scarcely interdistinguishable. +Port-au-Prince is rather a city of the French or Italian +Riviera. Across the bay of deepest blue the purple mountains +of Gonave loom against the Western sky, rivaling the +bay's azure depths. Back of the business section, spreading +around the bay's great sweep and well into the plain +beyond, rise the green hills with their white residences. +The residential section spreads over the slopes and into the +mountain tiers. High up are the homes of the well-to-do, +beautiful villas set in green gardens relieved by the flaming +crimson of the poinsettia. Despite the imposing mountains +a man-made edifice dominates the scene. From the center of +the city the great Gothic cathedral lifts its spires above the +tranquil city. Well-paved and clean, the city prolongs the +thrill of its first unfolding. Cosmopolitan yet quaint, with +an old-world atmosphere yet a charm of its own, one gets +throughout the feeling of continental European life. In<span class="pagenum">[27]</span> +the hotels and cafes the affairs of the world are heard discussed +in several languages. The cuisine and service are +not only excellent but inexpensive. At the Café Dereix, +cool and scrupulously clean, dinner from <i>hors d'œuvres</i> to +<i>glacés</i>, with wine, of course, recalling the famous antebellum +hostelries of New York and Paris, may be had for +six gourdes [$1.25].</p> + +<p>A drive of two hours around Port-au-Prince, through the +newer section of brick and concrete buildings, past the +cathedral erected from 1903 to 1912, along the Champ de +Mars where the new presidential palace stands, up into the +Peu de Choses section where the hundreds of beautiful villas +and grounds of the well-to-do are situated, permanently +dispels any lingering question that the Haitians have been +retrograding during the 116 years of their independence.</p> + +<p>In the lower city, along the water's edge, around the +market and in the Rue Républicaine, is the "local color." +The long rows of wooden shanties, the curious little booths +around the market, filled with jabbering venders and with +scantily clad children, magnificent in body, running in and +out, are no less picturesque and no more primitive, no +humbler, yet cleaner, than similar quarters in Naples, in +Lisbon, in Marseilles, and more justifiable than the great +slums of civilization's centers—London and New York, +which are totally without aesthetic redemption. But it is +only the modernists in history who are willing to look at +the masses as factors in the life and development of the +country, and in its history. For Haitian history, like history +the world over, has for the last century been that of +cultured and educated groups. To know Haitian life one +must have the privilege of being received as a guest in the +houses of these latter, and they live in beautiful houses. +The majority have been educated in France; they are cultured, +brilliant conversationally, and thoroughly enjoy their +social life. The women dress well. Many are beautiful +and all vivacious and chic. Cultivated people from any +part of the world would feel at home in the best Haitian +society. If our guest were to enter to the Cercle Bellevue, +the leading club of Port-au-Prince, he would find the +courteous, friendly atmosphere of a men's club; he would +hear varying shades of opinion on public questions, and +could scarcely fail to be impressed by the thorough knowl<span class="pagenum">[28]</span>edge +of world affairs possessed by the intelligent Haitian. +Nor would his encounters be only with people who have +culture and savoir vivre; he would meet the Haitian intellectuals—poets, +essayists, novelists, historians, critics. Take +for example such a writer as Fernand Hibbert. An English +authority says of him, "His essays are worthy of the pen of +Anatole France or Pierre Loti." And there is Georges +Sylvaine, poet and essayist, conférencier at the Sorbonne, +where his address was received with acclaim, author of +books crowned by the French Academy, and an Officer of +the Légion d'Honneur. Hibbert and Sylvaine are only two +among a dozen or more contemporary Haitian men of letters +whose work may be measured by world standards. Two +names that stand out preeminently in Haitian literature are +Oswald Durand, the national poet, who died a few years ago, +and Damocles Vieux. These people, educated, cultured, and +intellectual, are not accidental and sporadic offshoots of the +Haitian people; they <i>are</i> the Haitian people and they are a +demonstration of its inherent potentialities.</p> + +<p>However, Port-au-Prince is not all of Haiti. Other cities +are smaller replicas, and fully as interesting are the people +of the country districts. Perhaps the deepest impression +on the observant visitor is made by the country women. +Magnificent as they file along the country roads by scores +and by hundreds on their way to the town markets, with +white or colored turbaned heads, gold-looped-ringed ears, +they stride along straight and lithe, almost haughtily, carrying +themselves like so many Queens of Sheba. The Haitian +country people are kind-hearted, hospitable, and polite, seldom +stupid but rather, quick-witted and imaginative. Fond +of music, with a profound sense of beauty and harmony, +they live simply but wholesomely. Their cabins rarely consist +of only one room, the humblest having two or three, +with a little shed front and back, a front and rear entrance, +and plenty of windows. An aesthetic touch is never lacking—a +flowering hedge or an arbor with trained vines bearing +gorgeous colored blossoms. There is no comparison between +the neat plastered-wall, thatched-roof cabin of the Haitian +peasant and the traditional log hut of the South or the +shanty of the more wretched American suburbs. The most +notable feature about the Haitian cabin is its invariable +cleanliness. At daylight the country people are up and<span class="pagenum">[29]</span> +about, the women begin their sweeping till the earthen or +pebble-paved floor of the cabin is clean as can be. Then the +yards around the cabin are vigorously attacked. In fact, +nowhere in the country districts of Haiti does one find the +filth and squalor which may be seen in any backwoods town +in our own South. Cleanliness is a habit and a dirty +Haitian is a rare exception. The garments even of the men +who work on the wharves, mended and patched until little +of the original cloth is visible, give evidence of periodical +washing. The writer recalls a remark made by Mr. E. P. +Pawley, an American, who conducts one of the largest business +enterprises in Haiti. He said that the Haitians were +an exceptionally clean people, that statistics showed that +Haiti imported more soap per capita than any country in +the world, and added, "They use it, too." Three of the +largest soap manufactories in the United States maintain +headquarters at Port-au-Prince.</p> + +<p>The masses of the Haitian people are splendid material +for the building of a nation. They are not lazy; on the +contrary, they are industrious and thrifty. Some observers +mistakenly confound primitive methods with indolence. +Anyone who travels Haitian roads is struck by the hundreds +and even thousands of women, boys, and girls filing along +mile after mile with their farm and garden produce on +their heads or loaded on the backs of animals. With modern +facilities, they could market their produce much more efficiently +and with far less effort. But lacking them they are +willing to walk and carry. For a woman to walk five to ten +miles with a great load of produce on her head which may +barely realize her a dollar is doubtless primitive, and a +wasteful expenditure of energy, but it is not a sign of +laziness. Haiti's great handicap has been not that her +masses are degraded or lazy or immoral. It is that they are +ignorant, due not so much to mental limitations as to enforced +illiteracy. There is a specific reason for this. Somehow +the French language, in the French-American colonial +settlements containing a Negro population, divided itself +into two branches, French and Creole. This is true of +Louisiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and also of Haiti. +Creole is an Africanized French and must not be thought of +as a mere dialect. The French-speaking person cannot understand +Creole, excepting a few words, unless he learns it.<span class="pagenum">[30]</span> +Creole is a distinct tongue, a graphic and very expressive +language. Many of its constructions follow closely the +African idioms. For example, in forming the superlative of +greatness, one says in Creole, "He is great among great +men," and a merchant woman, following the native idiom, +will say, "You do not wish anything beautiful if you +do not buy this." The upper Haitian class, approximately +500,000, speak and know French, while the masses, probably +more than 2,000,000 speak only Creole. Haitian Creole +is grammatically constructed, but has not to any general +extent been reduced to writing. Therefore, these masses +have no means of receiving or communicating thoughts +through the written word. They have no books to read. +They cannot read the newspapers. The children of the +masses study French for a few years in school, but it never +becomes their every-day language. In order to abolish +Haitian illiteracy, Creole must be made a printed as well as +a spoken language. The failure to undertake this problem +is the worst indictment against the Haitian Government.</p> + +<p>This matter of language proves a handicap to Haiti in +another manner. It isolates her from her sister republics. +All of the Latin-American republics except Brazil speak +Spanish and enjoy an intercourse with the outside world +denied Haiti. Dramatic and musical companies from Spain, +from Mexico and from the Argentine annually tour all of +the Spanish-speaking republics. Haiti is deprived of all +such instruction and entertainment from the outside world +because it is not profitable for French companies to visit +the three or four French-speaking islands in the Western +Hemisphere.</p> + +<p>Much stress has been laid on the bloody history of Haiti +and its numerous revolutions. Haitian history has been all +too bloody, but so has that of every other country, and the +bloodiness of the Haitian revolutions has of late been unduly +magnified. A writer might visit our own country and clip +from our daily press accounts of murders, robberies on +the principal streets of our larger cities, strike violence, +race riots, lynchings, and burnings at the stake of human +beings, and write a book to prove that life is absolutely +unsafe in the United States. The seriousness of the frequent +Latin-American revolutions has been greatly over-emphasized. +The writer has been in the midst of three of<span class="pagenum">[31]</span> +these revolutions and must confess that the treatment given +them on our comic opera stage is very little farther removed +from the truth than the treatment which is given in the +daily newspapers. Not nearly so bloody as reported, their +interference with people not in politics is almost negligible. +Nor should it be forgotten that in almost every instance the +revolution is due to the plotting of foreigners backed up by +their Governments. No less an authority than Mr. John H. +Allen, vice-president of the National City Bank of New +York, writing on Haiti in the May number of <i>The Americas</i>, +the National City Bank organ, who says, "It is no secret +that the revolutions were financed by foreigners and were +profitable speculations."</p> + +<p>In this matter of change of government by revolution, +Haiti must not be compared with the United States or with +England; it must be compared with other Latin American +republics. When it is compared with our next door neighbor, +Mexico, it will be found that the Government of Haiti +has been more stable and that the country has experienced +less bloodshed and anarchy. And it must never be forgotten +that throughout not an American or other foreigner has +been killed, injured or, as far as can be ascertained, even +molested. In Haiti's 116 years of independence, there have +been twenty-five presidents and twenty-five different administrations. +In Mexico, during its 99 years of independence, +there have been forty-seven rulers and eighty-seven +administrations. "Graft" has been plentiful, shocking at +times, but who in America, where the Tammany machines +and the municipal rings are notorious, will dare to point the +finger of scorn at Haiti in this connection.</p> + +<p>And this is the people whose "inferiority," whose "retrogression," +whose "savagery," is advanced as a justification +for intervention—for the ruthless slaughter of three thousand +of its practically defenseless sons, with the death of a +score of our own boys, for the utterly selfish exploitation +of the country by American big finance, for the destruction +of America's most precious heritage—her traditional fair +play, her sense of justice, her aid to the oppressed. "Inferiority" +always was the excuse of ruthless imperialism +until the Germans invaded Belgium, when it became "military +necessity." In the case of Haiti there is not the slightest +vestige of any of the traditional justifications, unwar<span class="pagenum">[32]</span>ranted +as these generally are, and no amount of misrepresentation +in an era when propaganda and censorship have +had their heyday, no amount of slander, even in a country +deeply prejudiced where color is involved, will longer serve +to obscure to the conscience of America the eternal shame +of its last five years in Haiti. <i>Fiat justitia, ruat coelum!</i></p> + +<p><i>From The Nation of September 25, 1920.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>Documents</h1> + +<div class="center"><i>The following are from The Nation of August 28, 1920</i></div> + +<h2>The Proposed Convention with Haiti</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Fuller Convention, submitted to the Haitian Minister +of Foreign Affairs on May 22, 1915, by Mr. Paul +Fuller, Jr., Envoy Extraordinary of the United States to +Haiti, read as follows, the preliminary and concluding paragraphs +being omitted:</p> + +<blockquote><p>1. The Government of the United States of America will protect +the Republic of Haiti from outside attack and from the aggression +of any foreign Power, and to that end will employ such +forces of the army and navy of the United States as may be +necessary.</p> + +<p>2. The Government of the United States of America will aid +the Government of Haiti to suppress insurrection from within +and will give effective support by the employment of the armed +forces of the United States army and navy to the extent needed.</p> + +<p>3. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants that no +rights, privileges, or facilities of any description whatsoever +will be granted, sold, leased, or otherwise accorded directly or +indirectly by the Government of Haiti concerning the occupation +or use of the Mole Saint-Nicolas to any foreign government or +to a national or the nationals of any other foreign government.</p> + +<p>4. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants that +within six months from the signing of this convention, the Government +will enter into an arbitration agreement for the settlement +of such claims as American citizens or other foreigners +may have against the Government of Haiti, such arbitration +agreement to provide for the equal treatment of all foreigners +to the end that the people of Haiti may have the benefit of competition +between the nationals of all countries.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[33]</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Haitian Counter-Project</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE counter-project of the Haitian Government, of +June 4, 1915, with such of the modifications suggested +by Mr. Fuller as the Haitian Government was willing to +accept, read as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I. The Government of the United States of America will lend +its assistance to the Republic of Haiti for the preservation of its +independence. For that purpose it agrees to intervene to prevent +the intrusion of any Power and to repulse any act of +aggression against the Republic of Haiti. To that end it will +employ such forces of the army and navy of the United States +as may be necessary.</p> + +<p>II. The Government of the United States will facilitate the +entry into Haiti of sufficient capital to assure the full economic +development of that country, and to improve, within the immediate +future, its financial situation, especially to bring about +the unification of its debt in such fashion as to reduce the customs +guaranties now required, and to lead to a fundamental +money reform.</p> + +<p>In order to give such capital all desirable guaranties the +Government of Haiti agrees to employ in the customs service +only officials whose ability and character are well known, and +to replace those who in practice are found not to fill these conditions.</p> + +<p>The Government of Haiti will also assure the protection of +capital and in general of all foreign interests by the organization +of a mounted rural constabulary trained in the most modern +methods.</p> + +<p>In the meantime if it be necessary the Government of the +United States, after consultation with the Government of Haiti, +will give its aid in the repression of serious disorders or troubles +which might compromise these foreign interests.</p> + +<p>The American forces which have in the given circumstances +cooperated with the Haitian troops in the restoration of order, +should be retired from Haitian territory at the first request of +the constitutional authority.</p> + +<p>III. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants that +no rights, privileges, or facilities of any description whatsoever +will be granted, sold, leased, or otherwise accorded directly or +indirectly by the Government of Haiti concerning the occupation +or use of the Mole Saint-Nicolas to any foreign government or +to a national or the nationals of any other foreign government.</p> + +<p>IV. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants +within six months of the signing of this convention to sign a +convention of arbitration with the Powers concerned for the<span class="pagenum">[34]</span> +settlement of the diplomatic claims pending, which arbitration +convention will provide for the equal treatment of all claimants, +no special privileges being granted to any of them.</p> + +<p>V. In case of difficulties regarding the interpretation of the +clauses of the present convention, the high contracting parties +agree to submit the difference to the Permanent Court of Arbitration +at The Hague.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Fuller had suggested a further modification which +the Haitian Government refused. It changed the final paragraph +of Article II to read: "The American forces which +have in the given circumstance cooperated with the Haitian +troops, shall, when order has been reestablished, be retired," +etc. His other suggestions were accepted with unimportant +verbal changes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Haitian-United States Convention</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE convention between the United States and Haiti +was ratified on September 16, 1915, after the occupation +of the country by American troops. In its final form +it is in interesting contrast with the suggested agreements +printed above.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The United States and the Republic of Haiti, desiring to +confirm and strengthen the amity existing between them by +the most cordial cooperation in measures for their common +advantage, and the Republic of Haiti desiring to remedy the +present condition of its revenues and finances, to maintain +the tranquillity of the Republic, to carry out plans for the +economic development and prosperity of the Republic and its +people, and the United States being in full sympathy with all +of these aims and objects and desiring to contribute in all +proper ways to their accomplishment;</p> + +<p>The United States and the Republic of Haiti have resolved +to conclude a convention with these objects in view, and have +appointed for that purpose plenipotentiaries:</p> + +<p>The President of the Republic of Haiti, Mr. Louis Borno, +Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction,</p> + +<p>The President of the United States, Mr. Robert Beale Davis, +Jr., Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America;</p> + +<p>Who, having exhibited to each other their respective powers, +which are seen to be full in good and true form, have agreed +as follows:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article I.</span> The Government of the United States will, by +its good offices, aid the Haitian Government in the proper and<span class="pagenum">[35]</span> +efficient development of its agricultural, mineral, and commercial +resources and in the establishment of the finances of +Haiti on a firm and solid basis.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article II.</span> The President of Haiti shall appoint, upon +nomination by the President of the United States, a General +Receiver and such aids and employees as may be necessary, who +shall collect, receive, and apply all customs duties on imports +and exports accruing at the several customs-houses and ports of +entry of the Republic of Haiti.</p> + +<p>The President of Haiti shall appoint, upon nomination by the +President of the United States, a Financial Adviser who shall +be an officer attached to the Ministry of Finance, to give effect +to whose proposals and labors the Minister will lend efficient +aid. The Financial Adviser shall devise an adequate system of +public accounting, aid in increasing the revenues and adjusting +them to the expenses, inquire into the validity of the debts of +the Republic, enlighten both governments with reference to all +eventual debts, recommend improved methods of collecting and +applying the revenues, and make such other recommendations +to the Minister of Finance as may be deemed necessary for the +welfare and prosperity of Haiti.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article III.</span> The Government of the Republic of Haiti will +provide by law or appropriate decrees for the payment of all +customs duties to the General Receiver, and will extend to the +Receivership, and to the Financial Adviser, all needful aid and +full protection in the execution of the powers conferred and +duties imposed herein; and the United States on its part will +extend like aid and protection.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article IV.</span> Upon the appointment of the Financial Adviser, +the Government of the Republic of Haiti in cooperation +with the Financial Adviser, shall collate, classify, arrange, and +make full statement of all the debts of the Republic, the +amounts, character, maturity, and condition thereof, and the +interest accruing and the sinking fund requisite to their final +discharge.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article V.</span> All sums collected and received by the General +Receiver shall be applied, first to the payment of the salaries +and allowances of the General Receiver, his assistants, and employees +and expenses of the Receivership, including the salary +and expenses of the Financial Adviser, which salaries will be +determined by the previous agreement; second, to the interest +and sinking fund of the public debt of the Republic of Haiti; +and third, to the maintenance of the constabulary referred to +in Article X, and then the remainder to the Haitian Government +for the purposes of current expenses.</p> + +<p>In making these applications the General Receiver will proceed +to pay salaries and allowances monthly and expenses as<span class="pagenum">[36]</span> +they arise, and on the first of each calendar month will set +aside in a separate fund the quantum of the collections and +receipts of the previous month.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article VI.</span> The expenses of the Receivership, including +salaries and allowances of the General Receiver, his assistants, +and employees, and the salary and expenses of the Financial +Adviser, shall not exceed 5 per cent of the collections and receipts +from customs duties, unless by agreement by the two +governments.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article VII.</span> The General Receiver shall make monthly +reports of all collections, receipts, and disbursements to the +appropriate officers of the Republic of Haiti and to the Department +of State of the United States, which reports shall be open +to inspection and verification at all times by the appropriate +authorities of each of the said governments.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article VIII.</span> The Republic of Haiti shall not increase its +public debt, except by previous agreement with the President +of the United States, and shall not contract any debt or assume +any financial obligation unless the ordinary revenues of the +Republic available for that purpose, after defraying the expenses +of the Government, shall be adequate to pay the interest +and provide a sinking fund for the final discharge of such +debt.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article IX.</span> The Republic of Haiti will not, without the +assent of the President of the United States, modify the customs +duties in a manner to reduce the revenues therefrom; and in +order that the revenues of the Republic may be adequate to +meet the public debt and the expenses of the Government, to +preserve tranquillity, and to promote material prosperity, the +Republic of Haiti will cooperate with the Financial Adviser in +his recommendations for improvement in the methods of collecting +and disbursing the revenues and for new sources of needed +income.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article X.</span> The Haitian Government obligates itself, for +the preservation of domestic peace, the security of individual +rights, and the full observance of the provisions of this treaty, +to create without delay an efficient constabulary, urban and +rural, composed of native Haitians. This constabulary shall be +organized and officered by Americans appointed by the President +of Haiti, upon nomination by the President of the United States. +The Haitian Government shall clothe these officers with the +proper and necessary authority and uphold them in the performance +of their functions. These officers will be replaced by +Haitians as they, by examination conducted under direction of a +board to be selected by the senior American officer of this constabulary +in the presence of a representative of the Haitian +Government, are found to be qualified to assume such duties.<span class="pagenum">[37]</span> +The constabulary herein provided for shall, under the direction +of the Haitian Government, have supervision and control of +arms and ammunition, military supplies and traffic therein, +throughout the country. The high contracting parties agree +that the stipulations in this article are necessary to prevent +factional strife and disturbances.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article XI.</span> The Government of Haiti agrees not to surrender +any of the territory of the Republic of Haiti by sale, +lease, or otherwise, or jurisdiction over such territory, to any +foreign government or Power, nor to enter into any treaty or +contract with any foreign Power or Powers that will impair or +tend to impair the independence of Haiti.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article XII.</span> The Haitian Government agrees to execute +with the United States a protocol for the settlement, by arbitration +or otherwise, of all pending pecuniary claims of foreign +corporations, companies, citizens, or subjects against Haiti.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article XIII.</span> The Republic of Haiti, being desirous to +further the development of its natural resources, agrees to undertake +and execute such measures as, in the opinion of the +high contracting parties, may be necessary for the sanitation +and public improvement of the Republic under the supervision +and direction of an engineer or engineers, to be appointed by +the President of Haiti upon nomination of the President of the +United States, and authorized for that purpose by the Government +of Haiti.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article XIV.</span> The high contracting parties shall have +authority to take such steps as may be necessary to insure the +complete attainment of any of the objects comprehended in this +treaty; and should the necessity occur, the United States will +lend an efficient aid for the preservation of Haitian independence +and the maintenance of a government adequate for the +protection of life, property, and individual liberty.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article XV.</span> The present treaty shall be approved and +ratified by the high contracting parties in conformity with their +respective laws, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged +in the City of Washington as soon as may be possible.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article XVI.</span> The present treaty shall remain in full force +and virtue for the term of ten years, to be counted from the day +of exchange of ratifications, and further for another term of +ten years if, for specific reasons presented by either of the high +contracting parties, the purpose of this treaty has not been fully +accomplished.</p> + +<p>In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed +the present convention in duplicate, in the English and French +languages, and have thereunto affixed their seals.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[38]</span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Done at Port-au-Prince (Haiti), the 16th day of September +in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifteen.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Robert Beale Davis, Jr.</span>, +Chargé d'Affaires of the United States<br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Louis Borno</span>, +Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs +and Public Instruction +</div></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The New Constitution of Haiti</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE new Constitution of the Republic of Haiti, ratified +under the American Occupation, altered the former +Constitution in regard to the important subject of the right +of foreigners to hold land. Article 6 of the old Constitution +reads:</p> + +<blockquote><p>No one, unless he is a Haitian, may be a holder of land in +Haiti, regardless of what his title may be, nor acquire any real +estate.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Article 5 of the Constitution of 1918 makes the following +provision:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The right to hold property is given to foreigners residing in +Haiti, and to societies formed by foreigners, for dwelling purposes +and for agricultural, commercial, industrial, or educational +enterprises. This right shall be discontinued five years +after the foreigner shall have ceased to reside in the country, or +when the activities of these companies shall have ceased.</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Haitian President's Proclamation</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>N the <i>Moniteur</i>, official organ of the Republic of Haiti, +for September 4, 1915, in a column headed "Liberty, +Equality, Fraternity," the president of Haiti published a +proclamation on the situation arising from the occupation +by American troops of the customs-house at Port-au-Prince.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Haitians! At the very moment when the Government, engaged +in negotiations to settle the question of the presence of +American military forces on Haitian territory, was looking forward +to a prompt solution in accordance with law and justice, +it finds itself faced with the simple seizure of possession of the +customs administration of the capital.</p> + +<p>Previously the customs-houses of several other cities of the +republic had been occupied in like fashion, and whenever the +news of such occupation reached the National Palace or the +Department of Finances, it was followed by an energetic pro<span class="pagenum">[39]</span>test, +demanding that the diplomatic representative of the American +Government residing at Port-au-Prince restore the customs-houses +and put an end to acts so contrary to the relations +at present existing between the Government of Haiti and the +Government of the United States of North America.</p> + +<p>Haitians! In bringing these facts officially to the attention +of the country, I owe it to myself to declare further, in the most +formal fashion, to you and to the entire civilized world, that the +order to carry out these acts so destructive of the interests, +rights, and sovereignty of the Haitian people is not due to anything +which can be cited against the patriotism, devotion, spirit +of sacrifice, and loyalty of those to whom the destinies of the +country have been intrusted. You are the judges of that.</p> + +<p>Nor will I conceal the fact that my astonishment is greater +because the negotiations, which had been undertaken in the +hope of an agreement upon the basis of propositions presented +by the American Government itself, after having passed through +the ordinary phases of diplomatic discussion, with frankness and +courtesy on both sides, have now been relieved of the only obstacles +which had hitherto appeared to stand in their way.</p> + +<p>Haitians! In this agonizing situation, more than tragic for +every truly Haitian soul, the Government, which intends to +preserve full national sovereignty, will be able to maintain the +necessary resolution only if all are united in exercising their +intelligence and energy with it in the present task of saving the +nation....</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Sudre Dartiguenave</span><br /></div> + + +<p>Given at the National Palace, September 2, 1915, in the 112th +year of our independence.</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="center"><i>The following are from the Nation of September 11, 1920</i></div> + +<h2>Why Haiti Has No Budget</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>T the session of the Haitian National Assembly on +August 4, the President of the Republic of Haiti and +the Haitian Minister of Finance laid before that body the +course of the American Financial Adviser which had made +it impossible to submit to the Assembly accounts and +budgets in accordance with the Constitution of Haiti and +the Haiti-American Convention. The statement which +follows is taken from the official Haitian gazette, the +<i>Moniteur</i> of August 7.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Message of the President</span></div> + +<blockquote><p>Gentlemen of the Council of State: On account of unforeseen +circumstances it has not been possible for the Government of<span class="pagenum">[40]</span> +the Republic to present to you in the course of the session of +your high assembly which closes today (August 4) the general +accounts of the receipts and expenditures for 1918-1919 and +the budget for 1920-1921, in accordance with the Constitution.</p> + +<p>It is certainly an exceptional case, the gravity of which will +not escape you. You will learn the full details from the report +which the Secretary of Finance and Commerce will submit to +you, in which it will be shown that the responsibility for it does +not fall on the Executive Power....</p> + +<p>In the life of every people there come moments when it must +know how to be resigned and to suffer. Are we facing one of +those moments? The attitude of the Haitian people, calm and +dignified, persuades me that, marching closely with the Government +of the Republic, there is no suffering which it is not +disposed to undergo to safeguard and secure the triumph of its +rights.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Dartiguenave</span><br /> +</div></blockquote> + + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Report of the Secretary of Finance and Commerce</span></div> + +<blockquote><p>Gentlemen of the Council of State: Article 116 of the Constitution +prescribes in its first paragraph: "The general accounts +and the budgets prescribed by the preceding article must +be submitted to the legislative body by the Secretary of Finance +not later than eight days after the opening of the legislative +session."</p> + +<p>And Article 2 of the American-Haitian Convention of September +16, 1915, stipulates in its second paragraph: "The President +of Haiti shall appoint, on the nomination of the President +of the United States, a Financial Adviser, <i>who shall be a civil +servant attached to the Ministry of Finance</i>, to whom the Secretary +shall lend effective aid in the prosecution of his work. +The Financial Adviser shall work out a system of public accounting, +shall aid in increasing the revenues and in their +adjustment to expenditures...."</p> + +<p>Since February of this year (1920) the secretaries of the +various departments, in order to conform to the letter of Article +116 of the Constitution, and to assure continuity of public service +in the matter of receipts and expenditures, set to work +at the preparation of the budgets for their departments for +1920-21.</p> + +<p>By a dispatch dated March 22, 1920, the Department of +Finance sent the draft budgets to Mr. A. J. Maumus, Acting +Financial Adviser, for preliminary study by that official. But +the Acting Adviser replied to the Department by a letter, of +March 29: "I suggest that, in view of the early return of Mr. +John McIlhenny, the Financial Adviser, measures be taken to +postpone all discussion regarding the said draft budgets between<span class="pagenum">[41]</span> +the different departments and the Office [of the Financial +Adviser] to permit him to take part in the discussions."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the regular session was opened on the constitutional +date, Monday, April 5, 1920. Mr. John McIlhenny, +the titular Financial Adviser, absent in the United States since +October, 1919, on a financial mission for the Government, prolonged +his stay in America, detained no doubt by the insurmountable +difficulties in the accomplishment of his mission (the +placing of a Haitian loan on the New York market). Since +on the one hand the Adviser could not overcome these difficulties, +and on the other hand his presence at Port-au-Prince was +absolutely necessary for the preparation of the budget in conformity +with the Constitution and the Haitian-American Convention, +the Government deemed it essential to ask him to return +to Port-au-Prince for that purpose. The Government in +so doing secured the good offices of the American Legation, and +Mr. McIlhenny returned from the United States about the first +of June. The Legislature had already been in session almost +two months.</p> + +<p>About June 15 the Adviser began the study of the budget +with the secretaries. The conferences lasted about twelve days, +and in that time, after courteous discussions, after some cuts, +modifications, and additions, plans for the following budgets +were agreed upon:</p> + +<p> +1. Ways and Means<br /> +2. Foreign Relations<br /> +3. Finance and Commerce<br /> +4. Interior<br /> +</p> + +<p>On Monday, July 12, at 3.30, the hour agreed upon between +the ministers and the Adviser, the ministers met to continue +the study of the budget which they wanted to finish quickly.... +Between 4 and 4:30 the Secretary of Finance received +a letter from the Adviser which reads as follows:</p> + +<p>"I find myself obliged to stop all study of the budget until +certain affairs of considerable importance for the welfare of the +country shall have been finally settled according to the recommendations +made by me to the Haitian Government.</p> + +<p>"Please accept, Mr. Secretary, the assurance of my highest +consideration,</p> +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">John McIlhenny"</span><br /></div> + +<p>Such an unanticipated and unjustifiable decision on the part +of Mr. McIlhenny, an official attached to the Ministry of +Finance, caused the whole Government profound surprise and +warranted dissatisfaction....</p> + +<p>On July 13 the Department of Finance replied to the Financial +Adviser as follows:</p> + +<p>"I beg to acknowledge your letter of July 12, in which you +say, 'I find myself obliged, etc....'</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[42]</span></p> +<p>"In taking note of this declaration, the importance and gravity +of which certainly cannot escape you, I can only regret in the +name of the Government:</p> + +<p>"1. That you omitted to tell me with the precision which such +an emergency demands what are the affairs of an importance +so considerable for the welfare of the country and the settlement +of which, according to the recommendations made by you, +is of such great moment that you can subordinate to that settlement +the continuation of the work on the budget?</p> + +<p>"2. That you have taken such a serious step without considering +that in so doing you have divested yourself of one of the +essential functions which devolves upon you as Financial Adviser +attached to the Department of Finance.</p> + +<p>"The preparation of the budget of the state constitutes one +of the principal obligations of those intrusted with it by law, +because the very life of the nation depends upon its elaboration. +The Legislature has been in session since April 5 last. +By the Constitution the draft budgets and the general accounts +should be submitted to the legislative body within eight days +after the opening of the session, that is to say by April 13. +The draft budgets were sent to your office on March 22.</p> + +<p>"By reason of your absence from the country, the examination +of these drafts was postponed, the acting Financial Adviser +not being willing to shoulder the responsibility; we refer +you to his letters of March 29 and of April 17 and 24. Finally +... you came back to Port-au-Prince, and after some two +weeks, you began with the secretaries to study the draft budgets.</p> + +<p>"The Government therefore experiences a very disagreeable +surprise on reading your letter of July 12. It becomes my +duty to inform you of that disagreeable surprise, to formulate +the legal reservations in the case, and to inform you finally that +you bear the sole responsibility for the failure to present the +budget in due time.</p> + +<div class="right">"<span class="smcap">Fleury Fequiere</span>, Secretary of Finance"<br /> +</div> + +<p>On July 19, Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, the American Minister, +placed in the hands of the President of the Republic a memorandum +emanating from Mr. McIlhenny, in which the latter +formulates against the Government complaints sufficient, according +to him, to explain and justify the discontinuance of the +preparation of the budget, announced in his letter of July 12.</p> + + +<div class="center"><i>Memorandum of Mr. McIlhenny</i></div> + +<p>I had instructions from the Department of State of the United +States just before my departure for Haiti, in a passage of a +letter of May 20, to declare to the Haitian Government that it +was necessary to give its immediate and formal approval:</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[43]</span></p> +<p>1. To a modification of the Bank Contract agreed upon by +the Department of State and the National City Bank of New +York.</p> + +<p>2. To the transfer of the National Bank of the Republic of +Haiti to a new bank registered under the laws of Haiti to be +known as the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.</p> + +<p>3. To the execution of Article 15 of the Contract of Withdrawal, +prohibiting the importation and exportation of non-Haitian +money, except that which might be necessary for the +needs of commerce in the opinion of the Financial Adviser.</p> + +<p>4. To the immediate vote of a territorial law which has been +submitted to the Department of State of the United States and +which has its approval.</p> + +<p>On my arrival in Haiti I visited the President with the American +Minister and learned that the modifications of the bank contract +and the transfer of the bank had been agreed to and the only +reason why the measure had not been made official was because +the National City Bank and the National Bank of Haiti had +not yet presented to the Government their full powers. He +declared that the Government did not agree to the publication of +a decree executing the Contract of Withdrawal because it did +not consider that the economic condition of the country justified +it at that time. To which I replied that the Government of the +United States expected the execution of Article 15 of the Contract +of Withdrawal as a direct and solemn engagement of the +Haitian Government, to which it was a party, and I had instructions +to insist upon its being put into execution at once....</p> + + +<div class="center"><i>The Counter Memoir</i></div> + +<p>To this memorandum the Executive Authority replied by a +counter memoir which read in part as follows:</p> + +<p>"The modifications proposed by the Department of +State [of the United States] to the bank contract, studied by +the Haitian Government, gave rise to counter propositions on +the part of the latter, which the Department of State would not +accept. The Haitian Government then accepted these modifications +in nine articles in the form in which they had been concluded +and signed at Washington, on Friday, February 6, 1920, +by the Financial Adviser, the Haitian Minister, and the +[Haitian] Secretary of Finance. But when Messrs. Scarpa and +Williams, representing respectively and officially the National +Bank of Haiti and the National City Bank of New York, came +before the Secretary of Finance for his signature to the papers +relative to the transfer of the National Bank of Haiti to the +National City Bank of New York, the Secretary of Finance +experienced a disagreeable surprise in finding out that to Article +9 of the document signed at Washington, February 6, +1920, and closed as stated above, there had been added an<span class="pagenum">[44]</span> +amendment bearing on the prohibition of non-Haitian money. +The Secretary could only decline the responsibility of this added +paragraph of which he had not the slightest knowledge and +which consequently had not been submitted to the Government +for its agreement. It is for this reason alone that the agreement +is not signed up to this time. The Government does not +even yet know who was the author of this addition to the +document to which its consent had never been asked."</p> + +<p>Today, gentlemen, you have come to the end of the regular +session for this year. Four months have run by without the +Government being able to present to you the budget for 1920-1921.... +Such are the facts, in brief, that have marked +our relations recently with Mr. McIlhenny....</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Fleury Fequiere</span>, Secretary of Finance<br /> +</div></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Businessmen's Protest</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE protest printed below, against Article 15 of the Contract +of Withdrawal, was sent to the Haitian Secretary +of Finance on July 30.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The undersigned bankers, merchants, and representatives of +the various branches of the financial and commercial activities +in Haiti have the honor to submit to the high appreciation of +the Secretary of State for Finance the following consideration:</p> + +<p>They have been advised from certain sources that pressing +recommendations have been made to the Government of Haiti.</p> + +<p>1. That a law be immediately voted by which would be prohibited +the importation or exportation of all money not Haitian, +except that quantity of foreign money which, in the opinion of +the Financial Adviser, would be sufficient for the needs of commerce.</p> + +<p>2. That in the charter of the Banque Nationale de la Republique +d'Haiti there be inserted an article giving power to the +Financial Adviser together with the Banque Nationale de la +Republique d'Haiti to take all measures concerning the importation +or exportation of non-Haitian monies.</p> + +<p>The undersigned declare that the adoption of such a measure, +under whatever form it may be, would be of a nature generally +contrary to the collective interests of the Haitian people and +the industry of Haiti. It would be dangerous to substitute the +will of a single man, however eminent he might be, however +honorable, however infallible, for a natural law which regulates +the movements of the monetary circulation in a country.</p> + +<p>It would be more dangerous yet to introduce in the contract of +the Banque Nationale de la Republique d'Haiti a clause which +would assure this establishment a sort of monopoly in the +foreign money market, which constitutes the principal base of<span class="pagenum">[45]</span> +the operations of high commerce, when it has already the exclusive +privilege of emission of bank notes. Such a clause would +make of all other bankers and merchants its humble tributaries, +obeying its law and its caprices....</p> + +<p>(Signed) <span class="smcap">The Royal Bank of Canada; American Foreign +Banking Corporation; Haitian American Sugar Co.; +Raporel S.S. Line; P. C. S.; Electric Light Co.; Panama +Line; Ed. Esteve & Co.; Clyde Line; Comptoir Commercial; +Gebara & Co.; Alfred Vieux; V. G. Makhlouf; N. Silvera; +Simmonds Freres; Roberts, Dutton & Co.; West Indies Trading +Co.; J. Fadoul & Co.; R. Brouard; A. de Matteis & Co.; +J. M. Richardson & Co.; Comptoir Francais; H. Dereix; E. +Robelin; F. Cheriez; I. J. Bigio, and Geo. H. MacFadden.</span></p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>"By Order of the American Minister"</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>ORRESPONDENCE regarding the refusal of the +Financial Adviser of Haiti, an American, but an official +of the Haitian Department of Finance, to pay the salaries +for the month of July, 1920, of the President and certain +other officials of the Haitian Republic, revealing that the +action was taken by order of the American Minister to +Haiti, without explanation and without authority in the +Haitian Constitution or in the Haiti-American Convention, +was printed in the <i>Moniteur</i> for August 14.</p> + + +<blockquote><div class="center">I.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 2, 1920.<br /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. A. J. Maumus</span>, Receiver General of Customs</p> + +<p>In accordance with the suggestion made to the Financial +Adviser on July 24, your office began on the morning of July 30 +to pay the salaries for that month to the officials and public +employees at Port-au-Prince.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless up to this morning, August 2, no checks have +been delivered to His Excellency the President of the Republic, +the secretaries of the various departments, the state councilors, +and the palace interpreter.</p> + +<p>In calling your attention to this fact I ask that you will please +inform me of the reasons for it.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Fleury Fequiere</span>, Secretary of Finance. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">II.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 2, 1920.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">To the Secretary of Finance and Commerce</span></p> + +<p>I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of +August 2 in which you ask this office to inform you regarding +the reasons for the non-delivery, up to the present time, of the +checks for His Excellency the President of the Republic, for<span class="pagenum">[46]</span> +the departmental secretaries, the state councilors, and the +palace interpreter, for the month of July.</p> + +<p>In reply this office hastens to inform you that up to the present +time it has not been put in possession of the mandates and +orders regarding these payments.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">A. J. Maumus</span>, Receiver General. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">III.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 2, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">To the Financial Adviser</span></p> + +<p>The Department of Finance, informed that checks for His +Excellency the President of the Republic, the departmental +secretaries, the state councilors, and the palace interpreter had +not been delivered up to this morning, August 2, reported the +fact to the Receiver General of Customs asking to be informed +regarding the reasons. The Receiver General replied immediately +that the delay was due to his failure to receive the necessary +mandates and orders. But these papers were sent to you +by the Department of Finance on July 21, and were returned +by the payment service of the Department of the Interior on +July 26, a week ago.</p> + +<p>I inclose copies of the note from the Department of Finance +to the Receiver General, and of Mr. Maumus's reply.</p> + +<p>I should like to believe that bringing this matter to your +attention would be sufficient to remedy it.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Fleury Fequiere</span>, Secretary of Finance. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">IV.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 5, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">To the Secretary of Finance and Commerce</span></p> + +<p>I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of +August 2, regarding the delay in payment of the salaries of +the President of the Republic, secretaries, and state councilors.</p> + +<p>In reply I have the honor to inform you that the payment +of these salaries has been suspended by order of the American +Minister until further orders are received from him.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">J. McIlhenny</span>, Financial Adviser. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">V.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 10, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">To the Financial Adviser</span></p> + +<p>I acknowledge receipt of your note of August 5 in reply to +mine of August 2 asking information regarding the reasons +for your non-payment of the salaries for last July due to His +Excellency the President of the Republic, the secretaries, and +state councilors, and the palace interpreter.</p> + +<p>I note the second paragraph of your letter, in which you +say, "In reply, etc."</p> + +<p>I do not know by what authority the American Minister can +have given you such instructions or by what authority you<span class="pagenum">[47]</span> +acquiesced. The non-payment of the salaries due the members +of the Government constitutes a confiscation vexatious for them +and for the entire country. It is not the function of this department +to judge the motives which led the American Minister +to take so exceptionally serious a step; but it is the opinion +of the Government that the Financial Adviser, a Haitian official, +was not authorized to acquiesce.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Fleury Fequiere</span>, Secretary of Finance. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">VI.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 5, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. A. Bailly-Blanchard</span>, American Minister</p> + +<p>I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the offices +of the Financial Adviser and of the Receiver General have not +yet delivered the checks for the July salaries of His Excellency +the President of the Republic, of the secretaries, state councilors, +and palace interpreter, although all other officials were +paid on July 30.</p> + +<p>The Secretary of Finance wrote to the Receiver General asking +information on the subject, and was informed that he had +not received the necessary mandates and orders. The fact of +the non-delivery of the checks and the reply of the Receiver +General were then brought to the attention of the Financial +Adviser, who has not yet replied.</p> + +<p>In informing your Legation of this situation, I call the attention +of Your Excellency to this new attitude of the Financial +Adviser, a Haitian official, to the President of the Republic and +the other members of the Government, an attitude which is an +insult to the entire nation.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">J. Barau</span>, Secretary of Foreign Affairs. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">VII.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 6, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. A. Bailly-Blanchard</span>, American Minister</p> + +<p>I have the honor to inclose a copy of a note from the Financial +Adviser to the Secretary of Finance, replying to a request for +information regarding the non-payment of checks....</p> + +<p>In his reply the Financial Adviser informs the Department +of Finance that "the payment of these salaries has been suspended +by order of the American Minister until further orders +are received from him."</p> + +<p>My Government protests against this act of violence which is +an attack upon the dignity of the people and Government of +Haiti.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">J. Barau</span>, Secretary of Foreign Affairs. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">VIII.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 6, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. J. Barau</span>, Secretary of Foreign Affairs</p> + +<p>I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's +note under date of August 5.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[48]</span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>In reply I have to state that the action of the Financial +Adviser therein referred to was taken by direction of this +Legation.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">A. Bailly-Blanchard</span>, American Minister. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + + +<div class="center">IX.</div> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 7, 1920.<br /></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. A. Bailly-Blanchard</span>, American Minister</p> + +<p>In reply to my letter of August 5 in which I had the honor +to inform Your Excellency of the non-payment of checks, ... +Your Excellency informs me that it is by direction of the +Legation of the United States that the Financial Adviser acted.</p> + +<p>My Government takes note of your declaration.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">J. Barau</span>, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.<br /> +</div></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Concession of the National City Bank</h2> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>IMULTANEOUSLY with the non-payment of the July +salaries of the President and other officials of the +Haitian Republic, the Haitian Minister of Finance received +from the Financial Adviser, an American, nominally a +Haitian official, but acting under instructions from the +American Government, the following letter urging immediate +ratification of a modified form of agreement between +the United States Department of State and the National +City Bank of New York. It was widely assumed in Haiti +that this letter supplied the key to the unexplained non-payment +of salaries, ordered by Mr. A. Bailly-Blanchard, +the American Minister. The letter was printed in the +<i>Moniteur</i> for August 14.</p> + +<blockquote> +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">Port-au-Prince</span>, August 2, 1920</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">To the Secretary of Finance</span></p> + +<p>I have the honor to inform you that I have been instructed +by my Government that in view of the continual delay in obtaining +the consent of the Haitian Government to the transfer to the +new bank of the modified concession as agreed upon between +the Government of the United States and the National City +Bank, the Government of the United States has agreed to let the +operations of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti continue +indefinitely on the French contract at present existing, +without amendment.</p> + +<p>I desire urgently to draw your attention to the fact that it +would be most desirable in the interest of the Haitian people +that the Government of Haiti should give its immediate consent +to the proposed modifications of the contract and to accept +the transfer of the bank rather than see the present contract +continue with its present clauses.</p> + +<div class="right"><span class="smcap">John McIlhenny</span>, Financial Adviser<br /> +</div></blockquote> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="notes"> +<h2>Transcriber's Notes:</h2> + +<p>Page numbers have been removed for blank pages in the text.</p> + +<p>Spelling, punctuation and capitalization has been retained as in the +original publication except as follows:</p> + +<p>Page 27: Changed "glaces" to "glacés"</p> + +<p>Page 40: Added closing quotation mark to paragraph opening with the +words: "And Article 2 of the American-Haitian Convention"</p> + +<p>Page 44: Added period to end of sentence, "It is for this reason alone that the agreement +is not signed up to this time"</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Self-Determining Haiti, by James Weldon Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF-DETERMINING HAITI *** + +***** This file should be named 35025-h.htm or 35025-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/0/2/35025/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gary Rees and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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