Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-02-26
. A LAND OF TROUBLE.

In view Of the revolution which has
Just resulted in the overthrow OF Prcsl-
dent Oreste and the formation of a
new Haitien government after some
bloodshed and the landing of Amerl-
can marines to preserve order and
save life in the capital, a few bits or
information aboute this little negro
republic are not amiss.
Originally Spanish possession, In
1926 Hispaniola, the island which is
now divided between the republics Of
Haiti and San Domingo, was French
colony with 10000 free inhabitants
and 100000 black slaves. The white
residents were a proud, inconstant.
idle and skeptical race. The negroes
were chiefly occupied with servile
labor, were superstitious and wont to
celebrate the rites of the horrid,
secret African voodooism in the fast
pared their fight for liberty, brewing
hatred of the other castles, the white.
the mulattoes and the free negroes. or
this racial hatred the Haiti OF the
future was born.
The French revolution was the
spark which fell on this combustible
material and the revolt of the slaves
was war of bloody determination,
the like of which the new world, at
least, has never seen. Three years
after the actual revolt of the slaves
the French convention formally de-
creed the abolition Of slaves and the
negroes without any prudent transit
tions thus attained complete political
and civil liberty at one fell swoop.
At first the Haitien hero Toussaint
Louverture ruled and considering
the material with which this ex-
coachman had to build, the first
years of the negro republic were en-
couraging.
The successor Of Toussaint Lower
ture was the. bloody Dessalines, who
ordered the killing Of all the whites.
Potion followed, and brought with
him an era Of peace, the last bright
spot in the troubled history of Haiti.
Ferocious dictators, whose only ideal
was the integrity of the negro race
and whose ruling passion was hatred
of the aristocracy of the skin were
his successors.
Once soulouque proclaimed him.
self as emperor, in 1S49, and taking
the name OF Faustinus I, and sur
rounding himself with a grotesque-
~ ambitious court, became Tia most
execrable Of despots. For almost fif-
" years the Haitiens exercised
horrible dominion over San Domin-
70, where the mulattoes abounded and
the Spanish traditions were not ex-
tinct In 1914 San Domingo sue,
ceeded in throwing off the hated yoke
of the blacks and became an lnde-
pendent II not happy country.
OF these two island republics one
Latin-American writer says:
"The future Of the Haitiens and
the Dominicans both is full Of grave
problems. = The peoples of the
Tropics seem incapable of order, Ia
borious patience and method. so that
the prodigal literature of San Do
mingo forms striking contrast to
the archaic quality of its political
life. Haiti is still barbarous DEM
ocracy. 1t is not easy to turn
colony Of negro slaves into an orderly
and prosperous republic merely by
political charters of foreign origin.
- In vain did General Legitime,
once president of Haiti, affirm that
had they been properly encouraged
and directed his people would al
ready have arrived at the highest de-
gree of prosperity and civilization
Haiti possesses immense natural
wealth, yet the taxes are crushing,
the railways go bankrupt laborers
emigrate and agriculture and indus
try are dwindling all because the
Incidence of the race does not permit
1t to take advantage of the fertility
of the soil nor to govern ITSELF"