The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-10-12
REPUBLIC OF HAITI
LIVE HORNETS NEST
UNITED STATES SURE TO HAVE
A WORLD OF TROUBLE IN
THAT COUNTRY.
AFFAIRS IN BLACK REPUBLIC
Though the Haitian Is Simple and
ChiIdIike in Nature He Becomes a
FerOcious Savage and Cunning
Fighter When Aroused.

Ferocious Savage and Cunning
Fighter When Aroused.
WASHINGTON taking over
the financial management of the re-
public of Haiti the United States gov
eminent is undertaking a difficult
task, and prominent authorities who
know conditions in the black repub-
lie say that it is far more difficult,
both from military and sociological
viewpoints than people in the United
states realize.
Although the treaty under which
the United States will assume a fl
nancial protectorate over Haiti can
not be made effective until ratified
by the United States senate this win
ter the United States will at once as
sumo control over the financial af-
fairs of the republic through a modus
vivendi. While opposition to the
treaty is expected to be raised in the
senate the administration proceeded
on the belief that by presenting the
facts in the serious disorders that
threaten Haiti, with the possibility of
interference by some European pow
er, this opposition will be removed.
While the American forces are in
control of the important seaport of
Haiti the government of the inte-
rior of the island must also be taken
in hand, at least so far as the finan-
cial end of the government of Haiti
is concerned. 1t is in the interior
that the hidden stings will be en-
countered. The country is mountain
Gus and in the lOwlands are dense
forests. There are no roads and the
whole route of the Americans will
be infested with the savage natives.
1t may be a second head hunting
campaign, like that in the Philip
pines, all over again, say military
men. For although the Haitian is
simple and childlike in nature he
becomes a ferocious savage and a
courageous though cruel and cum
ming fighter when aroused by his re-
ligious leaders. In that state of mind
he will sacrifice his life willingly be-
fore he will admit to the control of
white man. He will murder every
white person that he encounters when
he is aroused and endure endless
persecution in his warfare.
Educated Glasses Despised.
In the face of this hatred the
Americans, Germans and French
who have occupied the coast territory
of Haiti have established a govern
ment of Haitians of the educated
classes who are despsed by the ma
tives of the interior almost as bitterly
as are the whites themselves. In the
interior where the savage natives
live, no white man dares set foot, ex-
cept here and there the fearless mis-
sionaries who have established mis-
sions in the face of the hatred of
their race. Nominally Haiti is a
Catholic country, but actually the
great bulk of the people are voudou-
lists. 1.-THE voudou priests and priest
esses exercise a complete control over
the ignorant and superstitious ma
tives.
To control an island of 100000
negroes, loorly armed and knowing
nothing of modern warfare, might
seem at first blush to be an easy I'M
dertaking. But when it is considered
that 95 per cent of the people are not
only illiterates but are fanatical pos
sessed with the idea that the white
man is their natural enemy, it be-
comes evident, say students of the
situation, that the situation will be
extremely difficult for the Americans
to handle.
In other caribbean countries the
United States has been able to inter-
Vene, restore order set up a govern
INIT and withdraw its forcs. In Mica
ragua it has been obliged to leave
behind a guard of so marines as a
sort of reminder. In San Domingo
and Cuba it has proven necessary
from time to time to send expedi-
tionary forces to suppress disorders.
However, it has always been possible,
with a few lessons of this sort, to
keep those countries in comparative
peace.
In Haiti it is going to prove a diff
ficult problem, according to the few
white men here who have been
through the interior of the island
and who really know it and its peo-
pie. One man who has large inter
ests in Haiti and who has been ad-
vising with the state department
over the policy there says that in
places where he has travelled
through the interior of Haiti he was
the first white man on whom the
natives had laid eyes for 100 years,
or since the French planters were
driven from the island.
How Haiti Became Independent.
Haiti entered upon her existence
as an Independent republic through
the issuance of an order by the first
president of Haiti commanding the
people to kill every white man wo-
man and child on the island. That
was President Dessalines, who had
invited the whites to return to Haiti
after they had been driven out by
the negro slave revolters. DessaIines
wanted the whites in Haiti because
ne thought they would raise the So
cal and economic standards of the
Island But after their return he
reared the whites would gain control
and rob him of his power. Then
came the massacre of those who were
unable 10 reach tha pOaSf and fec in