Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-06-25

and modest bearing. He speaks slowly, but
can express himself In Spanish-the lam
guage of the Granddaughter or French,
and expresses himself well. He is now
about fifty years old, yet years do not seem
To nave brought him compassion with ex-
periepce, for he holds the lives of his SUBJ
1ects at his mercy, filling his jails with
suspects, releasing or shooting them at ca
price. He once said to the writer, speaking
slowly, In his quain- English: DO you
Know, dose peoples call me tyrant; but
what for l should be a tyrant? I gains
nozings fro n killing a man. Now, eef /
put he in Jail for two, tree days. or a week,
and den lef him go, 1 make he my frien,
ne wife. he my frien', too: all he family
lcfe me: See? But eef I shoot he, why,
den all he's family my enemy. No, don't
want shoot dose men who rebel at me; but
somesI must to shoot. of course
AND ne has considered it essential, evil
IDENTIFY, to shoot a great many of his rebel
Hous subjects, Notwithstanding his profess
tations. 1t is really pitiful, the condition of
San Domingo today; with it's best men
either shot or exiled, its business almost
stagnant, its credit, If it ever ha6 any,
ruined, and its great resources almost I'M
torched.s One cannot but like President
Heureaux when brought in contact with
him, for he has truly a magnetic presence;
MS manner is modest, even gentle; his ep-
pearance gentlemanly; yet beneath the veil
vet glove is the iron hand of a relentless
despot He protests that the love of coun-
try is his sole motive and his guiding star;
Jul "hch oie CoiHeS 10 SldHCe over Iudt
country, and to note that there are no
roads, no means of communication, save
what foreigners have built: that its re-
sources are undeveloped, and it's COM
merce almost nil, he Is moved to inquire
how that love has manifested itself. He
will be likely to find that President Heu-
reaux mas been pretty busy in caring for
"Lellee"-as the people call him-and prob
ably following the example of those -Vene-
zuelan rulers who lay not up treasure in
this hemisphere, where the touch of in
dignant subject can corrupt; but in Paris,
where long season may be in prospect of
pleasure and gayety.
Poor Place for Investments.
He has made numerous Concessions to
various foreigners of different nationalities,
or two, brewery, an ice plant, ETC., but
he always insists upon the cash in hand be-
fore the concessonaires begin their business.
So far as reports have been received, not
one of those concessions has ever returned
a dollar Of the investment, let alone in
terest on capital. Not that this should be
laid up as against the president, however.
But enough has been written to show
the condition of this city and island of
treasured antiquities, Of priceless relics of
early American times. which are now al
lowed to sink further into ruin or to be ex
plotted for the sake of gain.
With the examples of Haiti and Santo
Domingo before u.s. with the instances they
present of rich islands, capable of bearing
everything a tropical sun and genial cline
can bring forth, yet sunken in poverty
and Indebtedness. should we not be care
full to refrain from adding to the number
of such in this hemisphere?
F. A. OBER