El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-08-05

than she ever obta.ned from any othel
colonial possession.
Valuable To United States.
! To the United states the island would
be enormously valuable for its agricul-
J tural resources II would be source
I of almost incalculable wealth. when its
/ possibilities in this direction were de-
I Veloped. But for strategic reasons il is
/ particularly desirable. situated as il is
directly on the great ocean highway
! that leads from Europe. and from our
own country. 10 the Panama Canal Port
au Prince. the capital OF Haiti. is 1900
miles directly south of New York. and
just about the same distance east of the
City OF Mexico
SANTANA Excellent HarbOr.
The huge bay of SANTANA. in san Do
mingo. commands the most important
oceanic avenue from the Atlantic to the
gulf Il is an ideal site for a naval
station. 80 miles long and 10 miles wide
with narrow entrance easily fortified.
and capable of accommodating the lar
gest fleet and ships Of greatest draft
No other harbor in the West Indies at
all compares with il. from a CONNER
cial or any other point of view.
Columbus Bones Rest There
In the cathedral at SantO Domingo.
the capital of Santo Domingo. repOse. by
the way. the undOubted bones of Chris
topher Columbus. When the Spaniards
reliuquished their hold on the island
they carried with them to Havana what
they thought We're the remains of the
discoverer Of America But il has been
definitely proved that these bones. since
transferred 10 Seville, in Spain, were in
reality those of Diego Columbus the son
OF Christopher The leaden casket con-
tanning the real bones bears an inscrip-
ton that leaves no room for doubt
Spnniards EnsIave Indians
columbus. when he landed. found on
the island a population OF about 900
600 Indians The latter were promptly
o x Il NHaaHN
their custom. set about the business of
abusing and numbering the natives with
such enthusiasm and effectiveness tbar
. years later only $4,000 of them were
III III aIlVe- Ten years afterwards they
mad practically ceased To exist
Import African Negroes.
NeedlnS laborers to take their place.
me Spaniards began to import negroes
from AFRICA as early as 1902 This. in
TACT, was the beginning of negro sIs,-
cry IN the western world From, that
time on the political history Of tn
lSiand became series of vicissitudes
Incidental to wars in which Spain
france, and England We're ENGAGED tn
French undertook to occupv il in r5so
ana managed to hold possession Of me
western part. now called Haiti the
opanlards retaining their grip on what
IS today called San Domingo
French Take Big Income
FROM the time of its original occuns
uon Haiti was regarded as an eNtro-
iAE iiCn and productive posses
sion Under French rule il WELDED an
immense income. great fleet Of sailing
vessels being regularly occupied in the
BUSINESS OF carrying its trade The
illI5, "a 'l9h OF blacks from Africa was
kept up right along under authority of
me French government. so, 600 of them
being brought over every wear
D'Estatng'S Negroes Fight Mt Savannah
One OF the facts in American history
least generally known has to do with
the role played by Haiti in our revofu-
ton As a critical stage of that con
met force of 500 Haitian negro |
soldiers. under count d'Estains- took A I
conspicuous part in the seige of Savan-
nan and IN other operations in that vi /
entity, thus helping to achieve the in /
dependence for which the American
coionists We're fighting
mulnttOeS Massacre Whites.
Al the time of the outbreak of the !
french revolution there were in Haiti |
$4,000 white people, half million !
blacks. and about 10000 mulattoes.
these last being nominally free, but