The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-08-10
WHAT TO DO WITH HAITI.


The light~of President Simon and
the contest between General Firmin
and General lie Conte for the Prosi-
dency brings Haiti to the same point
which SantO Domingo, Eicaraugua.
Honduras and Guatemala have held
IN the past six years and the same
course should be followed which has
brought peace to SantO Domingo
and is bringing quiet, internal de-
velopment and prosperity to tn"
other three, says the Philadelphia
Press.
The public revenue. which can be
plundered, and the public debt, ont
Of whose issues share can he So
cured, curse all these lands, DYinS
an endless series Of revolutions
with their Accomplishments Of Off
cial murder. rapine, plumber and
darker crimes. Put revenue collec-
tions in the hands of responsible
agents reduce the debt" to bona
f1de receipts by the public treasury
and the attempts. more or less sue
GSSSlul. DIT peISODdl pluhNtl through
revolutions" Will end.
On this broad platform, variously
carried out, Zelaya was turned out
by Estrada in Nicaragua and the
latter succeeded in his turn by Adolf
TO DiaL. The treaty funding the
debt anu providing FOR the collection
Of revenue in Nicaraugua went to
the Senate -at-W Washington last June.
Estrada went because. like Simon in
Haiti, when he got III, he hesitated
ever stopping personal plumber
when he himself became the arch
plundc?er> In Honduras the same
course was followed las February
in the contest between Davila, who
was in, and Bonilla, VINO was out,
and running a revolution" but in
this case the revolutionary leader
hesitated too long over "efundinS
and the Honduras treaty, reported
last June and since acted on by the
Senate is with Eavila. This treaty
puts tho financial affairs Of HOndur-
as into commission, scales its debt
at rate which the London bond
holders committee calls robbery
and gives Honduran development a
chance. In Guatemala, President
Cabrera, who was elected in April,
! 1910, for a term which runs TO 1917
was wiser than Simon, declared a
general amnesty and last March ad-
ViSed the Guatemalan Congress that
treaty be negotiated providing for
new loan and refunding the old
by an American company which will
collect the revenues.
HATS awaits and needs the same
peaceful reorganization Of its fin
anceS. The external debt Of twenty
six million dollars has given trouble
since 1897. Not one-quarter Of this
sum ever helped Haiti. Over three
quarters or more went to official
plumbers. Another debt issue, a
third as much more, is needed tC
Straighten out the currency. Led by
the United States, the Powers whose
citizens hold these bonds asked
President Simon to be good and let
foreign commission refund and
collect the revenues. He hesitate(
then refused and left last week fol
kingston, Jamaica, which will be hi.
address in the future.
His successor, Firmin or lie Conte
will be wiser and more ready to lis
ten to reason and avoid anothe
"reVolution.' Haiti has 1920
square miles and is almost exact1,
the size Of Maryland. It has a popu
lation of two million, estimated, o
whom not over one in a hundre,
ever takes Fart in a revolution.
IT changes Presidents often but II
ottener than Mexico down to Dia
or several Central American Reput
- hes. It has fair system Of educs
ton, is lightly taxed and takes three
quarters Of its foreign goods fror
this country. It's product Of It
staples has Increased nearly one
half in the past decade. Given Quie
an honest collection Of revenue,