Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-08-14
HAITI RIDICULOUS,
Her Army Has General for Each
Private, But Is InvincibIe.

ACCORDING TO a telegram Haiti is at
war-apparently with itself-and the
Haitian army is on the rampage.
| Haiti is chiefly remarkable by rea-
son of its being a military republic,
with an army of 1000 generals and
| 1000 privates-a general to each
Tommy. The generals are extraorGi-
nary men in more than one sense of
the word. There is one who com
mands a large province in the repub-
lie, who can neither read nor write.
and who is nevertheless a great revo-
lutionary power. This man-Gener-
al Johannis Merister-is obliged to
ask one man to read to him what an
other man has written for him. ano
yet in his hands are the lives ana
deaths of the people over whom he
rules.
Every third man you meet in Haiti
is general, but it is only every tenth
general who gets paid; it has to be
conceded that each general does his
best to pay himself. The authorized
rate of pay is 914O annually for a.
! general OF division and G1O5 for a.
br1gad1er. A captain is passing rich
on e12 a year; a private thinks him
self fortunate if he receives 92 los.
| during the same period.
Blanc once said a private, in the
hearing of well known English
! journalist, "Blanc, I am a soldier;
! give me 10 centimes''
| "You have your pay"
my general has taken my pay.
am a poor man and soldier Give
me 10 centimes."
"How long have you been a SOL
dier?"
''Three years."
when did you have your pay
last?'
VERY long ago, and l am hungry
Give me 10 centimes. Merci''
The Haytian soldiers uniform is a
fearful and wonderful thing. Let us
review a regiment On parade. Some
OF them are shod in dried grass Slip
pers. They wear a little blue cap
with a red band. One man, perhaps,
is wearing shabby pair of old tweed
trousers, and slung by hemp rope
over his shoulders is an old-fashioned
fintlock gun. The officer who com.
mands the regiment is brandish1ng
a rusty sword.
| A general has but little sense of
justice. An unfortunate Swiss went
out shooting once in Haiti without a
passport. 'Who are your said the
general when the poor man was
brought before him.
81 am foreigner"
What nationality"
Swiss
The general turned to his secre-
tary.
Have the Swiss a navy?"
mo, my general"
Then put the brute in prison.
The army, it goes without saying,
is miserably housed. In Port-au-
Prince, the capital of Haiti, you will
find a post of soldiers every fifty or a
hundred yards They live in wretch
ed guard rooms, which are merely
long novels, with piazzas raised two
feet above the street. Below flows
an open drain. The men themselves
drink, smoke, and gamble all the
weary day.
But they have a good idea of them
selves. Two Haytian generals dis.
cussing review in which they mad
just taken part thus expressed them.
selves:
Without question the most mag
niflcent spectacle that one could have
SEEN"
Eyes, indeed, our army is com
) posed OF brave men. Do you
not think SOP" turning to a TRAVELLING
Englishman.
He automatically choosing his
world: Il have seen none like it
The army of Haiti is one that lie
| ponds upon its officers; an arm,
without officers, what is it?"
J ''The army of Haiti has never beer
conquered. The French were here:
: we drove them out. The English
fought with us; where are they? Blu
we-we-Ee-are here always; We
have never been conquered"
You must never allow a smile II
cross your face-however tempted
!. you may be to laugh-if you meet
!. Haytian soldier. A European diplo
? matist landed once at Port-au-Pri1c,
n and on his way from the ship he fel
in with what he imagined to be tai