Evening star., 1902-09-04
THE ISLAND OF HAYTI
Land Very Rich and Can
Grow Anything.
PEOPLE ARE INDOLENT
PERCENTAGE OF WHITES Is VERY
SMALL.
Government Has Had Turbulent Ex-
istence Ever Since It Declared
Its Independence.
PEOPLE ARE INDOLENT

! A gentleman who has lived for some years
| IN the West Indies, and is familiar with the
conditions in all the Islands, particularly in
! Hayti where he spent some time, in talking
TO Star reporter this morning, said:
The proposition that the United States
| shall take control of Hayti is one fraught
| with serious embarrassments The beet
! sugar people of the west will oppose It, and
| there is not the consent of the governed
| or not governed in this case AS matter
of fact, there is no power in the republic
and no influence strong enough to bring
| order out of the present chaos. There will
be loss of life and destruction generally
until the United States in the name of hu-
manity, interferes. 1t takes a skilled mari
ner to steer between Scylla and Charybdis
and 1t is not possible to outline a policy
! For one hundred years there have been tur-
moil and confusion, government has been
| only semblance, and the so-called repub-
| lie has been a despotism of the rankest
/ sort. Now there is the most hopeless an
| archy- The navy is fighting the army and
| there are three volunteer armies in the
field Towns have already been burned, and
! the loss OF life is probably much heavier
| than the press reports indicate The Sc
| rious aspect of the situation lies in the fact
! that Intervention establishes a dangerous
precedent. Jamaica is asking or about to
ask, annexation to the United States and
| the entire West Indies, dependent on the
United States for a market, is In a bank
rupt condition because of the beet sugar
bounties in Europe and the tariff in the
United States. President Sam of Hayti saw
the storm coming and abdicated, going to
Europe with all the funds he could get his
hands on.
'AH of the islands are in the same i'm
poverished condition. and, with apologies to
| the able officers now in control, Cuba Is
| fast approaching the same state of help
lessnesS. Intervention means a policy to-
ward Cuba and the other South American
republics. an extension of the Monroe doc
trine not contemplated. But the necessity
exists. and there is no remedy in the pres
ent instance but American Intervention.
Hayti Fertile Island.
"Hayti is fertile island. Nature does
all the work, and the inhabitants rest most
of the time. Sugar, coffee, tobacco, fruits
of all kinds. cotton. nuts and hard woods
are the products, and they grow with little
care or cultivation. There is hardly an
American agricultural product which
does not find a suitable climate in
some of the mountain heights. But
corn and wheat require, too much
which do not mature quickly and find an
Immediate market interest the people of
Hayti. Corn is planted. but cut down in a
month for fodder, which is always in de-
mand. The seed is imported from the
United States, as are also the grain and
the manufactured products of it. The part
OF lne lSland occupied by the republic OF
Hayti is rather crowded. 1t occupies one
third Of the island, which has about 80 900
square miles of land, and there is a popu-
latfon of something over million. The
per cent of whites is so small that it is
scarcely to be considered. There Is a law
prohibiting the owning of real estate by
foreigners, and foreigners are taxed heavi-
ly for a license to engage in retail business
of any kind
THE mass of the people are of African
descent. the descendants Of slaves brought
to the island by the Portuguese slave trad
progress since the days of Toussaint L'Ouv-
erture. At the time France was at war
with England the negroes took advantage
of the situation and proclaimed the irde-
pendence Of the country, and since then
no European power has cared to interfere.
ProclaiHling a victory over France in the
slight resistance offered, the first ruler de-
clared himself an emperor and created
dukes barons, lords, counts and so on
and there was more nobility in the bouffe
government than all of Europe. His reign
did not last long. but the same spirit was
shown in the organization Of the army.
| which under President Sam had about
| five thousand officers and three thousand
priyates
Needs Strong Hand.
1.-The country needs strong hand to es-
tablish a fair form of government and to
maintain order, but 1t cannot prosper until
1t gets market for its products. There is
| no land tax and the revenues from the high
tariff will not sustain all the governments,
municipal, state and national. What the
United States can do and what it ought to
do Is hard to say. The situation ia pecu-
liar. A country able to produce almost all
of the products in demand in the United
States at the least cost and with the least
n sniff fnr mt