Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-15

comes nearer 10 DelnS an African QlaleCt
than anything that Is heard in those waters.
Notwithstanding that the, Latin veneer is
thin. much is heard Of Latin civilization.
Where this exists IL really means the
French blood. which has given Haiti some
very able men. and always has been seen
in the high class of diplomatic representa-
tives she has sent to- Washington and to
Europe. This pride reaches down to a
lower stratum. Consul General Williams.
at Havana, used to tell 4 story showing it.
It was Of the alcalde- orsmayor of a West
Indian town. who was receiving some Wis.,
itors from abroad. He discharged the obi
cations Of hospitality with punctilious
He was a very Intelligent man and he dis
cussed world politics, with his visitors.
One Of them unguardedly, spoke of the fire.
quency Of revolutionary. movements In
Latin America andpregretted that they
could not have the same stability that OBJ
tanned in northern countries. "Ah SIR re-
piled the West Indian mayor, Stability and
quiet are good for you Of the north but We
of the Latin race are-too emotional for
your institutions, We must have excite
ment.'' He was so black that it was not
possible to imagine the faintest drop of
other than African blood in his veins. The
story so delighted James Anthony Froude,
the English historian, that he embellished
1t like his other historical fiction and made
1t a classic.
Opposed to Foreigners.
In spite of the ambition of the educated
classes in Haiti to be known as of the
Latin race the mass of the people have no
such desire. They are what they are and
have no wish to be otherwise. Their jeal-
ousy Of foreigners is intense. Sometimes
they have been called anti-American, but
in reality they are anti-foreign. Tradition
still lives OF the bloody struggles with the
French. The restrictive laws regarding
citizenship and against property holdings
by foreigners were no more aimed at Amer
leans than at Europeans. These have kept
back the development Of the country i'm
mensely, yet also it must be said that Haiti
has farmed out it's resources to speculative
syndicates wi tn much less prodigality than
have its ne1ghbors. The anti-American
feeling, where 1t exists, usually is due to the
race question. The incidents of southern
lynchings are not unknown in the coast
towns and sometimes they penetrate into
the interior. The educated Haitians send
their children to Europe in preference to
the United States. They resent bitterly dis
elimination on account of color.
In its relations with the other West In
Ola countries Haiti, II not amiable, at least
manages to be friendly. The boundary dis
pute with Santo Domingo apparently never
will be settled. and at times other acute
disputes arise, but somehow the two gov
ernments manage to settle them without
getting into war. The Haitians themselves
show little tendency to leave their noun
tains and their valleys The goat path is
n ore to them than the railway.
Not Given to Emigration.
The negroes from Jamaica and Santo Do
mingo are to be found in Cuba, Porto Rico
and the other islands. There is a con-
slant migratory and return movement. But
with the Haitian negroes it is different
Not many of them are found of the main
land. Few Of them even care to cross
the imaginary boundary line into Santo
Domingo. except for the smuggling which
arises from the two governments having
different tariffs. This going back and forth
rs not very large. for the Illicit trade is not
great. =. -
The seacoast .towg. 3, 81 HALT seem lit
tie hotter than the ,ptheE seaports in the
West Indies, This may be because the
mountains lie 50, c4ese behind and by their
Yet any one who has put into a Haitian sea-
port knows it is hote Goasting along the
islands l heard an army lieutenant give his
ideas He had been dstatiened In Arizona,
but private business bad taken him to Port
au Prince in mdsumper. Yuma he said.
everybody knows is the, hottest place this
side of hades. but there Is hotter place
on the other side. t'stPast au Prince
An Undevel6ped Country.
While all the other West India Islands
groan under the depression OF the sugar In
dustry, little is heard Of this cause from
Haiti. even in times of peace. The rea-
son Is that sugar cane never has been fully
developed. In spite Of the mountainous
nature OF the country there Is large cane
area which could be utilized, but the failure
to do this has left the island free from
the economic crisis so common to Its neigh
bOrs. Coffee has received more encourage
ment. yet as whole Haiti Is almost an UNI
developed country: The exploitation may
come or may begin in the next few years.
That win depend on the kind of govern
ment 1t has. a
Whenever the present civil war is ended,
whatever administration is established will
be likely to have irritating disputes with
European governments over damages and
claims. The practice in the past has been
for them to take individual claims and by
gunboats or other equally effective threats
to force settlement on basis which
would be an average for all the claims Of
their citizens. Germany and France have
taken the lead in bullying Haiti. They
have enforced claims which had no stand
ing In international law and which never
would have been entertained by strong ma
lions. The justification has been that this