The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-31
Where Black
Rules White .

century ago the white population of Haisi
was reckoned at $1,000 souls Today YOU
may safely knock Off the last two ciphers.
Ana as the white colonstS have diSap-,
peared prosperity has gradually fed from
the land The greater number of whites
now IN Haiti are Germans. and it must
be said that outside of Official posts and
a few mercantile hogses, they are a Dis
reputable lot, who, through stark necas-
slty have graVitated toward their present
berthS. When 1t comes 10 justice the
white man, whatever the rights of his
case may be, is bound to suffe~ at the
hands of the Juge. de PaiX, who will in
variably decide in favor OF the black
countryman Yet, on the other hand, MIR.
Prichard testites to the fact that his
experience went To prove that the white
man could travel in safety, unmolested
by the attacks of the lawless. 1t Is one
of those Surprising and violent contrasts
in which tie country is so rich What
ever their faults, Mf Prichard claims
that the Haitians have not that knife-ln-
your-back propensity which permeates so
many of the Spanish American republics.
He sums up the good and the bad of this
black republic of the West in these
words:
They are kindly. They are hospitable.
They are good-hearted. They are song
loving and a cheerful people.
l.
are leavened with TIE horrors of serpent
worship; and certain though dimin
ishing proportion of them consent (to say
the least of IT'D to human sacrihce.
The evil of VaudouX worship and sacrl-
flee III Haiti Is Widespread, and IS at the
root of the condition and character of
the Haitian republic The Papalois ana
Mamalois, the priests and priestesses VINO
fatten on the superstition of the people,
ferif1 r a
The nominal religion is Roman Catholi-
cism but it is only thin veneer, covering
a solid groundwork of West African SUI
pecstition. serpent worship and child sac-
rilIce the inherited beliefs through hum
dreds of years of the purblnd savage. In
Mrs. virginia Frazer .Boyles Devil
Tales and Mr. Lloyd's "StringtoWn on
the Pike" we have, had recently brought
home to us again the weird uncanny
forms which superstition takes in the
mind of the negro, q superstition which is
universally Embedded in the Vaud0ux
worship. among the negroes in America
the rites of VaudouX--or Noodoo, Voudoo,
V;iudoo; you may spell it as you like
are ce rried on in secrecy and SedUlously
screened from the light Of day. More
over. the pressure OF civilization and of
TIE law has, at least, taken the sting
from It's influence and largely dissipated
it's power for evil But in Haiti 1t is
otherwise. The whole land is netted over
with fear fear of vague and occult poten-
cies that harass and harm and hurt, and,
in cases of revolt, inevitably kill. The
country is honeycombed by an absolute
system of terrorism. The form of gov
ernment is militia rism. But despotic and
grotesque as is its rule, it is nothing COM
pared with the despetism and caricature
of Christian creed degraded and sadly
mixed up with maevolent VaUdouX wor-
ship. The government je a farce. but the
religion is a tragedy The history Of
century in Haiti compels the conviction
that the negro most certainly cannot rule
himself rid himself of superstitions
that grind him to the level of the savage