Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-01-04
A CORRUPT CABINET.
Experience Of an American in iIayti-IIow
Some Things are Run There.

NU4lt IHlDSS are nun IHtTp'
| The thre eat that our; navy is going to bio y
Hayti out of water has awakened interest
IN that country, says a Washington letter
! to the cincinnati Euq 4irer. A well-knOwn
! government official who formerly had
business relations with Hayti tells this
! story of the way III which tbings are rus
in the black republic:
Some years ago l vas in the lumber
| business and had quite al extensive trade
with Hayti. On Que of my periodical
| tri ps to the island ] found that the presi-
dent wanted new palace, and after q
| good deal OF dlckerlng l secured the job,
| which was TO cost $1,000, coo. l immedi-
| at8Iy sent for an architect, and when be
| arrived we went to work on the plans.
| Judge of my surprise when | was told that
the palace was TO be constructed entirely
of wood, and that the ouly metal-wsrk
about it was to De the roof and cornices,
which were to be of galvanized iron and
painted in bright cOlors. While [ was
wondering how ii would be possible to
use S1,OOO,OOO in the construction of
such q building, the secretary of the
treasury came to me, and, through an in
terpreter, iutimsted that he should expect
little com mission on the job, which he
modestiy put at 100000.
"AppreciatiDg that this was Que of the
customs of tue country which II would
be we'll for foreigner TO comply with,
l made no objections and promised him
mis- commission. As soon as he had gone
away happy he minister of war was
ushered IL, and after having thrown his
arms around my neck and kissed me on
both cheeks be dslicsseIy conveyed TO
he inf that a
case of this kind % drop slight remem-
brauce on the head OF the war dep1-t-
ment and that 100000 was about the
sizs of his pile. OF course l promised
that, too, and then waited for further de-
velopments. | hadn't long TO wait.
Verg soon one of the numerous
generals attached to the staff of
the president called me, and
after the usual MS and ks gave
me TO understand that his exceliency
msst be seen. 1t would take, l learned.
$3.50 900 to see his eIcellency, but of
conrse ] wasn't going to let a trife like
that stand in the way of my securing g
fat contract, so l gladly promised the
fee. Well, 10 make long story short,
there were so many palms to be CREASED
tina: when everybody's wants had been
provided for the $1,000 600 for the CON
structlOu or me palace 80 CWlBclec Gown
20 a quarter of that sum- | instructed
my architect accordingly, and expected
to realize S1OC, 600 profit out of the trans
action.
Meanwhile the Haytian government
had been negotiating loan of 81 100000
in Paris for internal i'm provement., and
VOID was received that the first install
ment, was on its way. The fact that
there vas a good round sum in hard cash
coming vas sufficient cause TO ircite q
revolution There wa- e revolution, and
my friends the ministers were turned cut
of of, sc, some of them getting shot In
the operation. l saw that the era of
economy and reform had strsck the be
uishted country, and that the IDEA of a
palace had vanished like dream. So
left Port al Prin e as soon as possible
and took first steamer back 70 the United
States"