The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-02
STRAINS OF LITTLE HAITI Threatened Expulsion the
 Cause of Trouble. DEGREES DISAPPOINTMENT NaturaliZed Americans Will
 Be Protected. Government of Republic Annoyed at Methods of Alleged Obnoxious
 EIement-Minister Powelrs
 Stand in Matter.

| Brooklyn haG arrived at Guantanamo | and proceeded immediately under the | Departments orders to Port au Prince, | Hayti. where Minister Powell reported | trouble was expected yesterday and to- | day. The reason the Rinister fixed
 these dates is believed here to, be be- l cause April I was the date originally | fixed by the Haytien government for l the expulsion of the Syrians and 1t may
 be that the general public in Hayti did l not know of the fact, which the min
 ister reported later, that the period l had been extended from April 1 to | May Is.
 1 The understanding here is that the decree of expulsion aces not apply to
 all of the syrians, but only to a few | score who were denounced by Minister Powell as holding fraudulent American 1 naturalization papers.
 l The officials here are certain that no 1 attempt will be made to expel any
 Syrians resident in Hayti, who have
 been lawfully naturalized in the United States. for these, as American citizens, are. under our treaty with Hayti. en-
 titled to the same provisions us Hay l liens to engage in business. Nor does 1t apply to Syrians under French pro- lection. as that government has taken l similar stand in the matter and the
 belief is that none of the Syrians who have been naturalized in European countries will be affected. 1 Anti-Syrian Law. Some time ago the Haytien govern 1 ment passed a law forbidding Syrians l to engage in business in Hayti as part | of general plan to drive this obnox- | ious element cut of the. country, but our government insisted that this law l could not be applied to such of the 1 Syrians as are naturalized American A nF | sequently exists In Hayti on the sub 1 ject and in his efforts to keep the l State Department informed of the facts
 the American minister appears to have l found himself f.contradicteu by the srov-.. ernment to which lie is accredited.
 though 1t Is suggested here that from his neutral position MT. Powell was l actually in much better place than the
 interested Haytien government to
 know what was going on in revolu-
 tionary circles and .,when disorder
 might be expected. However that may
 be. MT. Leger, the Haytlen minister
 here, has felt called upon to make ttrep-
 resentations to Acting Secretary. Adee
 regarding Mir. Powelfs report and at
 the Acting Secretary's suggestion he
 has reduced these to the shape or A.
 formal memorandum. which will be
 duly considered by the State Depart | ment.
 The attention of the minister was di-
 rected to press publications from va | rious sources, all indicative of impend- | ing trouble and even of reports of riot | ing, as an evidence that Minister
 Powell had accurately described the
 situation.
 The agitation against the Syrians in | Haiti appears to have assumed an
 acute phase March IS. when it was | publicly proclaimed that on March 31,
 all Syrians must close their stores and
 leave the Republic on the following | day.
 The Syrians were naturally much
 frightened and even the foreigners of
 other nationalities became very appre- | hensive. It was known that many Syrians had threatened to refuse to 1 leave and as the Government contem- | plated tho use of force the business in-
 terests looked for riotlng and serious
 results. as the passions of the lower
 element of the population had become | greatly infamed by the publication of | the newspaper articles directed against | the Syrians.
 The American minister was assured
 by the Government of It's ability to prevent trouble.
 Dangers Threatened.
 Not only was there danger of riot,
 but also of a confiagration; Port Au
 Prince had been several times burned
 
 hcnd the use of the torch by the dis
 orderly clement. Those Syrians who
 wished to leave tried vainly to sell
 their goods at 50 per cent. of their
 value, but failed and the greatest ex-
 citement and distress prevailed among | this element.
 The motive assigned by the Govern
 ment for deporting them was. in the
 first plnce, a general charge that the syrians were seeking it's overthrow | but there were many other charges They were accused of shipping all of l tho small coin out of the country | though it was said that the practice waa not confined to the Syrians. They were denounced as smugglers and l eounterfeiters and charged with the practice of naturalization frauds and | finally 1t was alleged that they were not good citizens because as soon as | they had accumulated small fortunes | they left the country. Members of the resident diplomatic body found little substantial in these charges and they did not withhold their sympathy for l the Syrtans.
 On March 23, there came despairing appeal for help from a number of Sy- rians who were not American citizens on which account Mir. Powell could do nothing for them beyond advising them quietly to obey the decree of the Gov ernment, looking for redress in the future through their own Governments. for these Syrians were in many cases naturaliEed French citizens. However, i 1t appeared that many of them. msr- chants, had consigned to them in the | customs houses large quantities of American goods. and 1t was pointed out that as the Haytien Government re- fused to permit them to take out their | zoods or return them, the American | shippers would be heavy losers. That consideration appeared to warrant the | American minister in approaching the Haytien Government with an intima- tion that these losers would be sure to require repayment and the upshot was a postponement of the projected ex- puision until the middle of May Soldiers on GwAEd.
 Port au Prince. Hayti. April i.-